‘Hares leap, foxes hunt and birds hide in the hedges in Harding’s block prints, which give nature a robustly drawn, iconic intensity.’

- The Guardian

Flights of Memory was Angela Harding's largest ever solo exhibition, presenting a striking collection of prints and paintings inspired by the thriving wildlife of Britain.

Harding is an established painter and printmaker who works from her rural studio in Wing, Rutland. Recurring inspirations are the changing seasons and the flora and fauna of the British countryside, from which her work expresses the mood and atmosphere of the landscape. The artist principally works in block print, combining vinyl or lino with layered coloured silkscreen, which gives a strong graphic emphasis to the work.

Her paintings often feature observational drawings of places visited such as North Yorkshire, Suffolk and Shropshire, and contain bird or animal motifs on dissolving multi-layers of colour.

Harding draws inspiration from words, describing herself as a ‘narrative illustrator’ as well as a fine artist. In recent years she has made regular contributions as an illustrator for Gardens Illustrated, BBC Countryfile and Country Living Magazine.

Flights of Memory was a collection of new paintings and prints inspired by British birds and animals in their natural landscapes. Harding spent some of her childhood in North Yorkshire and revisited locations reminiscent of that time for this exhibition, to produce works which are observational and also rely on a combination of imagination and memory. Harding’s delicate and intriguing style was further shown through her mainly British bird alphabet, exhibited for the first time at YSP. This featured a series of 26 wood engravings that took joy in the shape, form and pattern of our British birds.