Yorkshire Sculpture Park's new exhibition set to open

Keepers of Time by Wakefield-based artist Tony Wade celebrates the majesty of trees, time beyond our lifespans, mindfulness and nature connectedness, inviting us to notice the beauty in our local environment.

It presents a series of 10 intricate digital drawings of the oldest trees at YSP, created over the last year as part of Wade’s documentation of ancient and veteran trees for the Woodland Trust’s Ancient Tree Inventory. This inventory is a record of some of the most important trees in the UK, which the Woodland Trust ask people to contribute to by populating their map.

Spending time at YSP in different seasons, Wade made drawings of trees both with and without their foliage. These include an ancient ash, veteran common sycamores, an ancient field maple and veteran beeches, some of which are aged between 300 and 400 years. Using a tablet and stylus allowed him to zoom in to achieve a level of detail not possible with pen and ink on paper. Working partly in his studio with reference sketches and photographs,

Wade completed the drawings whilst sitting in front of each tree, gradually refining the textures, lighting and composition.

Wade studied Fine Art at Bretton Hall College in the 1980s and currently has a studio at The Art House. Through painting, sculpture, drawing, light and music, his practice celebrates the everyday. He focuses on details that are often overlooked in the world around us and highlights the incredibly special things within them.

He often works within communities to facilitate access to art and spark moments of creativity. As part of Keepers of Time, Wade spent time with the Wakefield-based Appletree Ladies Group to explore and document trees within their local area and at YSP.

The artist has generously donated a drawing which has been produced as a limited edition, with all proceeds benefitting YSP’s work.

Wade explains: “This is a project that is very close to my heart and I am delighted to be returning to YSP to introduce Keepers of Time to a new audience. I want the works to invite us all to take a moment to notice the remarkable and sometimes unsung beauty that surrounds us.”

He added: “The process for creating the Keepers of Time series was stretched over several months and involved sketching the trees both in winter and the summer of 2024. I used new digital techniques to capture the finest of details of these amazing species.

“I drew the trees in winter between February and April 2024 - without the foliage you really get to see their forms better; ancient and veteran trees have a fascinating lack of symmetry. I then sketched the same trees between May and September. The summer trees were sketched from the same position but there were so many differences, including new growth and the lowering of branches due to the weight of the leaves.

“All in all, it was quite a long process, but the trees take their time and so did I.”