Neville Street Exhibition

A new artwork installation space has been created on the eastern wall of Neville Street as part of improvements delivered under the Leeds Station Sustainable Travel Gateway scheme.

Neville Street continues to be a key gateway to South Leeds. This installation space has provided a unique opportunity to showcase artwork celebrating the culture, industrial heritage and people of Leeds (particularly our communities within the south of the city) and further underpins the identity of Leeds as a culturally vibrant and creative city. 

This installation comprises a gallery wall featuring ten unique works of art. The artists have undertaken a considerable amount of engagement with communities in the development of their artwork which is represented in the final designs. A video on each of the following pages explains how each artist took inspiration from engagement with the community and the methodology behind their work. 

The commissioning of artwork has been a collaborative exercise undertaken in partnership with Leeds City Council, the Leeds Civic Trust, Network Rail, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and local Councillors.  

The Neville Street arch structure remains a Network Rail asset, and Network Rail will be responsible for the management of the space following installation.  

The artwork was unveiled in October 2023 as part of the city’s Year of Culture.

Neville Street Artworks - click the image to see each artist's information.

Kyle Prior - A Joyous Journey

Buttercrumble - Weaving Holbeck's Stories Through Time

Joss Cole - Leeds From Beeston Hill

Mike Winnard - Leeds Scenes

Andy Cahill - Historic Leeds - Work & Rest

Natalie Ratcliffe - Conversations in Nature

Melody Sutherland - Leeds 2073

Amy Hodkin - Life in Leeds

Megan Dobbyn - Strength in Community

Chris Eastham - Threads Through Time

Kyle Prior - A Joyous Journey

Kyle Brian Prior is a freelance digital artist and illustrator, specialising in using character illustration to bring stories to life. Based in Duke Studios, Leeds, Kyle helps people and brands tell their stories visually. His ability to design compelling characters and scenes that resonate with audiences enables him to elevate brand messaging and bring narratives to life in a memorable and engaging way. Whether designing for animation, immersive experiences, or augmented reality, Kyle seeks to communicate stories with authenticity and impact.

Click here to return to the main menu.

Buttercrumble - Weaving Holbeck's Stories Through Time

Design is everywhere. This fact, combined with a love of illustration, has always appealed to Chloe and Abigail because they could communicate whatever they imagined without limits. They could use imagery.

Buttercrumble is an award-winning creative studio founded by (twin sisters) Abigail and Chloe Baldwin. Buttercrumble likes to employ its expertise in human-centric design and co-creation. They show how beauty, play and functionality can exist in harmony. The team has loved achieving this for organisations such as John Lewis, Chester Zoo and Mamas & Papas. As well as exhibiting in London and Hong Kong.

Before moving to Leeds, the twins were born and bred in the sunny seaside town of Scarborough. In 2016, they both graduated from the University of Leeds with a BA (Hons) in Graphic and Communication Design before establishing Buttercrumble in 2017.

Buttercrumble wants to empower others to follow their dreams, and so, adopts a young-at-heart, optimistic vibe within their work. They create illustrations which make them smile, their collaborators smile, and in turn, audiences smile.

Click here to return to the main menu.

Joss Cole - Leeds From Beeston Hill

Joss Cole is an artist and painter who runs Cole’s Gallery, a small independent local art gallery in Leeds Corn Exchange that specialises in painting, prints, and progressive and traditional artwork.

Joss's work engages with visual and verbal puns and historical references to explore how a kind of poetry can be a part of painting. He received an MA from Wimbledon College of Art, University Arts London in 2011. 

Joss says certain images and lines recur in his mind, some charged with emotion more than others. The song of one bird, the leap of one fish, at a particular place and time, the scent of one flower, an old man and woman on a mountain path, kids seen through an open window playing basketball, or an old man reading a paper, these memories have symbolic meaning. But it's the poetic imagery he looks for.

Joss has exhibited at ‘The Bowery’ Leeds 2022, The Ferens Open, Ferens Gallery Hull, 2020; ‘There is Another Sky’, Granary Art Gallery, Western Park, 2018; Eureka! Open Arts Café, London, 2016; Bankside Gallery, Royal Watercolour Society, London, 2015.

Click here to return to the main menu.

Mike Winnard - Leeds Scenes

Mike Winnard is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Leeds, working out of a wonderful shared studio on Mabgate and his work is usually a reflection of whatever is interesting him at the time. 

For this project, Mike was inspired by the amazing, tenacious and always creative music scene here in Leeds, and drew inspiration from the Leeds DIY scene; gig and rave flyers, protest graphics, photo-copied textures, screenprinting, punk, jazz, hip-hop, club culture, street drawing and old sheet music books. 

Click here to return to the main menu.

Andy Cahill - Historic Leeds - Work & Rest

Andy Cahill's work is inspired by Leeds and the natural world. His paintings are mixed media, watercolour, pen and printmaking. Andy has had a number of challenges recently including overcoming cancer, but he draws his inspiration through art and local art communities. Andy lives in Garforth and has always been a part of South Leeds communities with his children gr up in Beeston

Andy's work is inspired by the world and an interest in living things. The subjects portrayed in his works don’t exist in nature; they are abstractions from how he sees them. He tries not to anthropomorphise them, although this is always open to interpretation by the observer.

Click here to return to the main menu.

Natalie Ratcliffe - Conversations in Nature

Natalie Ratcliffe is a textiles designer & printmaker based in Leeds. Her artwork focuses on the natural world around her and uses a combination of different printing techniques such as cyanotype, monoprint and collagraph. When she isn’t in the print room, she enjoys long walks, pressing flowers and finding colour palettes in unexpected places. In 2022, Natalie co-founded Still Studio; a workshop space in the city centre, encouraging creativity into the everyday and welcoming everyone to try something new, learn a skill or take a moment out through workshops hosted by a network of other creatives. For creativity to bloom, it’s important to be still.

Click here to return to the main menu.

Melody Sutherland - Leeds 2073

Melody is an artist specialising in large-scale, site-specific murals. She has worked with a wide range of clients, employing a research-intensive approach to produce bespoke artwork that reflects the ethos and ambitions of each individual client, whilst maintaining her bold, eye-catching style.

As well as running her mural business, Melody also enjoys illustration, documentary filmmaking and installation design. Gender equality, sustainability and local history are prominent themes in her work. Melody and her Mum, Nicola Sutherland, created the Merrion Gardens Gallery in Leeds City Centre last Summer -  an interactive installation shining a light on the challenges faced by people of marginalised genders living in Leeds.

Click here to return to the main menu.

Amy Hodkin - Life in Leeds

Amy works as an illustrator from her home studio in Yorkshire, England. Originally from the Midlands, she fell in love with the North after completing her B.A. in Printed Textiles and Surface Pattern Design at Leeds Arts University. She later earned her Masters in Illustration from Falmouth University.

Using a mixture of gouache, ink, pencil, crayon, and digital tools she combines vibrant colours and textural marks to create playful narratives and whimsical illustrations inspired by all things weird and wonderful.

Outside of making and creating, she loves to watch horror movies, visit antique shops, collect picture books, and play video games. She enjoys listening to obscure lo-fi mixes and daydreaming about adopting her first pup.

Click here to return to the main menu.

Megan Dobbyn - Strength in Community

Megan Dobbyn is a freelance illustrator living in Leeds. A lot of the work she creates centres around natural habitats and themes as well as a rooted interest in people and storytelling. Although she is inspired by Yorkshire's natural environment, magic and imagination play a key part in bringing her work to life. As well as illustration Megan also organises and teaches community art sessions. She is interested in the way art can be taught to give people a voice and empower them to express themselves and fight for positive change.

Click here to return to the main menu.

Chris Eastham - Threads Through Time

Chris is a Leeds-born artist who started her formal art training at Jacob Kramer College (now Leeds Arts University) where she gained a distinction. She has a Fine Arts degree from Nottingham Trent University and a PGCE in Art and Design from Reading University. Chris has taught art and design extensively throughout her career and currently teaches painting and printmaking classes at Leeds Print Workshop, an independent print cooperative.

Since 2017 Chris has practised as a full-time artist and works from her central Leeds studio based at East Street Arts. Trained as a painter she enjoys working within a range of media such as painting, iPad and printmaking. She loves to draw and paint the figure and has undertaken many portrait commissions.

In 2020 she was delighted to be chosen as a contestant on the popular television series Sky Portrait Artist of the Year in which she painted the actor Zawe Ashton.

Her work is characterised by strong and intuitive use of colour, rhythm and energy. She hopes that her work expresses ideas and emotions that are true and connect with her audience.  

Click here to return to the main menu.