I work as a painter and printmaker and 'people' are at the heart of the things I make. I do depict 'nature' too, but this is likely to be nature either as a metaphor for human activities or nature very much affected by man.
Much of my work falls into specific series, with the series itself being fundamental to an appreciation of individual pieces.
Looking back it is evident that there are on-going themes in the work and possibly the most constant of these is 'identity' or, more precisely, degrees of engagement we have with each other. My work in the 1970's focused on anonymity in society: for example, 'A Search for the Man in the Street' - a card index consisting of drawings, photographs and texts which was a meditation on life on a London overspill housing estate in Norfolk. In the intervening years 'intimacy' is more evident, as in my self-portraits, and a desire for empathy is behind a work like 'Collateral'.
Back in 1985 I began making lithographs after winning an award from the Gulbenkian Foundation to 'experiment in printmaking'. To start with most of my prints were made in response to hill farming on the Northern Pennines. Then, in the mid 1990's after a three month residency on the Falkland Islands, my prints became much more minimal. I feel sure that the vast open space of the Falkland Islands is somewhere behind these pictures, but then so too is the landscape of east Cumbria where I live and work: on overcast days the presence of Cross Fell diminishes and rooks and hawthorns appearing through the mist take on a great significance. The many thousands of thorn trees on the lower parts of the fell are truly wonderful in their great variety of shapes and sizes - some gnarled and bent by the elements and others with seemingly charmed lives.
Solo Exhibitions
2014 - 'Nature . . . . and Man', Severn Studio, Brantwood, Cumbria
2012 - 2014 - Alan Stones' Lithographs, CREA, Penrith, Cumbria,
2005 - Alan Stones' Lithographs, Chelsea Arts Club, London
2001 - Exhibition, Galerie Sud, Leipzig, Germany
2001 - Great Expectations, Borsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels e.V., Leipzig, Germany
2000 - 2006 - Alan Stones at Rheged, Penrith, Cumbria
2000 - Thorn, Gateshead Central Library
1999 - Paintings, Drawings and Prints, Penrith Museum, Cumbria
1996 - Alan Stones, Hartlepool Art Gallery
1996 - Looking out from Within, Tullie House, Carlisle, Cumbria
1995 - Touring Exhibition, Falkland Islands
1994 - Oddfellow Gallery of Contemporary Art, Kendal, Cumbria
1994 - Open House and Studio Week, Blencarn, Cumbria
1993 - Eden And 50 Associated Studies, Penrith, Cumbria
1987 - 2012 - Open Studio - one afternoon every week, Blencarn, Cumbria
1986 - Fell Farm Labour, Carlisle Art Gallery and touring
1985 - Abbot Hall, Kendal, Cumbria
1985 - Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery
1985 - Oldham Art Gallery
1985 - Open Studio Week, Blencarn, Cumbria
1985 - Work Land And Livestock, Peterborough and Touring
Group exhibitions
2016 - C-Art Cumbrian artist of the Year Rheged, Penrith, Cumbria
2015 & 2016 New Light Art Prize, The Bowes Museum County Durham, The Mercer Gallery Harrogate and Panter and Hall, London
2015 - Winter Exhibition, Gavagan Art, Settle, N.Yorkshire
2015 - C-Art Cumbrian Artist of the Year, Rheged, Penrith, Cumbria
2014 - Printfest 2014, Ulverston, Cumbria
2013 - Alan Stones and Rebecca Payn, Bellwood and Wright, Lancaster, Lancashire
2013 - Alan Stones and Rebecca Payn, Castlegate House Gallery, Cockermouth, Cumbria
2013 - C-Art @ Rheged, Rheged, Penrith, Cumbria
2013 - The Threadneedle Prize, The Mall Galleries, London
2013 - 'What is Drawing', Customs House Atrs Centre , South Shields, Tyne and Wear
2012 - Alan Stones and Rebecca Payn, Connections and Differences, The Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, Cumbria
2012 - C-Art @ Tullie, Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle, Cumbria
2012 - Das Kleine Format 2012, Blaues Haus, Diessen, Bavaria, Germany
2012 - Winter Exhibition, Castlegate House Gallery, Cockermouth, Cumbria
2011 - 'Bite - Artists Making Prints', Mall Galleries, London
2011 - Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Competition, Kings Place Gallery, London
2011 - 'Twelve', Rheged , Penrith, Cumbria
2011 - Wrexham Print International, Oriel Wrecsam , Wrexham and touring
2008 - Connections and Differences, Alan Stones and Rebecca Payn, Farfield Mill, Sedburgh, Cumbria
2008 - 'Because, Because I Do, I Do', University of Cumbria, Ambleside
2008 - 'Jerwood Drawing Prize', Jerwood Space London, & touring
2008 - 'Originals 08 - Contemporary Printmaking', Mall Galleries, London
2008 - 'Outside the Glass - Perspectives on the poet Norman Nicholson', Theatre by the Lake Keswick, & touring
2007 - 'Stone Plate Grease Water' - International Contemporary Lithography, MOMA Wales, and touring
2006 - 'Originals 06 - Contemporary Printmaking', Mall Galleries, London
2005 - 'Daffodils', Brantwood and Keswick Museum, Cumbria and touring to South Africa
2003 - 'Jerwood Drawing Prize', Jerwood Space London , & touring
2002 - Love, Labour and Loss, Carlisle Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter Museum and Art Gallery
1999 - Cheltenham Open Drawing and touring to Brussels and Hull
1999 - East North East, Northern print studio and Nagoya Printworks Japan
1998 - Cheltenham Open Drawing and touring to Berlin and Hull -commendation
1998 - Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
1997 - Robert Horne Printmaking, Carlisle Museum and Art Gallery and touring
1994 - Art In The Garden, Oddfellows Gallery, Kendal, Cumbria
1989 - The Advent Calendar, Gallery North, Cumbria
1988 - Impressions Of Cumbria, Gallery North, Cumbria
1987 - Northern Prints, Edinburgh Festival
1987 - The Self Portrait - A Modern View, Artsite Bath and touring
1986 - Tradition And Innovation In Printmaking Today, Milton Keynes and touring
1983 - Artist In Industry, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield and touring
1982 - Six East Anglian Artists, Kettles Yard, Cambridge
Residencies
1996 - Printmaking Residency, Lowick House Printworkshop, Cumbria
1995 - Falkland Islands, Falkland Islands Government, South Atlantic
1984 - Artist in Industry Fellowship, Cooplands Bakery / Yorkshire Arts Association, Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Awards
?2017 - Cumbria Visual Artist of the Year, Cumbria Life Culture Awards - Finalist
2015 - Cumbria Visual Artist of the Year, Cumbria Life Culture Awards - Finalist
2015 - C-Art Cumbrian Artist of the Year - short listed and winner of The People's Choice Award
2015 - Upfront Open Exhibition, Unthank, Cumbria - 1st Prize
2008 - Originals Contemporary Printmaking, Mall Galleries, London
2000 - European Union/Northern Arts Cultural Business Venture
1998 - 1st Hartlebury Award, Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, Cumbria
1997 - Eden Arts Bursary
1996 - Lowick House Printmaking Residency
1988 - Northern Arts Loan
1987 - Northern Arts Travel Award
1986 - Northern Arts
1984 - Gulbenkian Foundation Printmakers Award
1979 - Eastern Arts Major Award
1978 - Eastern Arts Award
1976 - Eastern Arts Award
Major Commissions Include:
Falkland Islands Government, The National Science Museum, Portsmouth Central Library, Copeland Borough Council, IBM UK Ltd, Viscount Devonport, Eden District Council for Penrith Library, Count Fritz von der Schulengurg, Dista Products Ltd, Lord and Lady Inglewood, Mr William Irving, The Hon. Christopher and Margaret Vane, Culgaith Parish Council for Kikland Church
Collections:
The National Science Museum, London
Cumbria County Library (Penrith)
Carlisle Museum and Art Gallery
Portsmouth Central Library
Cooplands (Doncaster) Ltd
St Marys Hospital, Isle of Wight
Count Fritz Von der Schulenburg
Lord and Lady Inglewood
Viscount Devenport
Paintings in Hospitals,
Sheffield City Art Galleries
Derbyshire Museum Service
Bolton Museum and Art Gallery
Tyne and Wear Museums
Darlington Museum
Howarth Art Gallery Accrington
Gulbenkian Foundation
Wakefield Art Gallery
Imperial College of Science & Technology
Bradford Industrial Museum
Grundy Art Gallery Blackpool
The Leicestershire Collection
Penrith Hospital
Nature in Art
Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery
MAFF
University of Aberystwyth
Qualifications
1971 Dip Ad Fine Art, St Martin's Scool of Art, London
Influences
The news (world events), the life and landscape of the Eden Valley in Cumbria, psychology, and other artists - particularly Piero della Francesca, Hokusai and Michael Andrews
