WAKEFIELD.- Yorkshire Sculpture Park presents Birds and Beasts, an exhibition by artist and designer Mark Hearld featuring his trademark brightly coloured collages and lithographic prints. The exhibition opened at the Park near Wakefield on 17 November 2012 and runs until 17 February 2013.

Birds and Beasts showcases Hearld’s practice which stems from a love of the British countryside, curiosity for objects and a magpie approach to collecting. Hearld has taken inspiration from YSP’s 500-acre historic estate and its inhabitant wildlife to create new work, all of which is available to buy.

The Park’s visitor centre and Upper Space gallery are decorated with Hearld’s hand-painted wooden animals; three-dimensional, hand-decorated ceramic hares; collages in hand-painted frames, lino-cuts, and limited edition litho prints. A flock of hand-decorated wooden pigeons hang in the concourse and found objects chosen by the artist feature in a characteristically eccentric window display.

Hearld works closely with skilled craftsmen to realise his ideas, using Curwen Studio in Cambridge to make litho prints and Daniel Bugg at Penfold Press, Selby to produce linocuts. For this latest project, Hearld has established a new relationship with a Stoke-based mould maker to produce a range of limited edition ceramic hares, exclusive to YSP.

Hearld has also designed and produced a limited edition litho print entitled Autumn Fox, alongside other exclusive merchandise including a silk twill scarf, cotton canvas bag and creamware mug.

Amanda Peach, Craft Officer & Buyer at YSP says: “Mark Hearld could be one of the Romantics – he has an intensely creative mind and a poetic focus to his work. He displays a love affair with the natural world, depicting creatures, birds and everyday life in a way that reaches out to everyone. Mark’s show at YSP is an opportunity for him to express his creativity, not only producing artwork but also managing production of products and working with other local artists on collaborative projects.”

Born in 1974 and based in York, Hearld studied illustration at Glasgow College of Art before completing an MA in natural history illustration at the Royal College of Art. His work is now exhibited all over the UK and commissions include set design for 2005 film Nanny McPhee and a range of ceramics for Tate. The exhibition coincides with the publication of a first monographic book, published by Merrell, and the launch of Hearld’s first hand-printed wallpaper for St Jude’s, which has been shortlisted in the Elle Decoration British Design Awards 2012.