CHARLES HUTCHINSON reports on the weekends when art in York opens up...

IT began in frustration. "When I came up to York from London four and a half years ago, I found that the art scene was ever so slightly slow," says East Parade artist Anne Hutchison, who set to remedying the situation by establishing Create, the York Open Studios Weekend, with Stillingfleet ceramicist Gail Fox.

The inaugural event was held last March, involving 19 artists across York being selected to open their studios and houses for public perusal and the chance for visitors to buy arts and crafts at source in an "informal, non-gallery environment".

The Open Studios showcase returns for a second year this weekend, when 26 artists and craftsmen - half new to the event - will be participating in central York, Clifton, Shipton by Beningbrough, Fulford, Heslington, Osbaldwick, Heworth and Stockton on the Forest. Painting, print-making, ceramics, sculpture, textiles and weaving all will be represented; most of the artists will have work for sale; some are offering demonstrations and activities for children.

"What made us do it originally was that these open studio weekends were happening all over the country," says Anne, who will be exhibiting mixed media drawings inspired by her observations of nature.

She and Gail met with instant enthusiasm for their voluntary project, so much so that it has attracted the financial support of Yorkshire Arts, the National Lottery Awards For All and City of York Council.

The enthusiasm is even greater this time. "As soon as we announced we'd being doing it again this year, all these artistic people came out of the woodwork and we thought 'Oh, isn't it great that all these people are doing this work'. There really is a feeling of something artistic happening in the city."

Around 50 artists submitted work, from which a panel of Anne, Gail, Jerry Scott, Simon Mitchell and Lynn Wait selected the 26 on show this weekend. "We worked late into the night and it was difficult to select the list but a big factor was the way work was presented for consideration. If someone just sent a cloudy photograph, it didn't pass muster," says Anne.

York Open Studios will be held tomorrow and Sunday, 10am to 6pm, and admission is free. Free artists' directories with a route-planner map showing each venue and details of all artists are available from galleries, libraries, hotels and tourist information centres.

For those planning to travel from studio to studio by bike, cycle route maps are in stock at YORTime, in Back Swinegate, York, tel 01904 553440. "A lot of people cycled around all the studios last year; it had never occurred to us people might need places to put their bikes and helmets, but they really enjoyed it," says Anne.

Any artist keen to participate next year is asked to contact Anne Hutchison on 01904 422193.

Artists taking part in York Open Studios Weekend...

Rachel Antill, abstract sculpture, mixed media, drawings, Bootham School, Bootham; Ben Arnup, slab-constructed stoneware pots, Peter Baker, plaster panels, and Ruth King, salt-glazed stoneware, Rose Cottage, Main Street, Shipton by Beningbrough; Julie Bailey, non-figurative printmaking, 76 The Village, Stockton on the Forest; Richard Barnes, paintings, digital imaging and collage, Bootham School.

Judy Burnett, pastels and paintings, and Adrienne French, semi-abstract paintings and prints, 85 East Parade, Heworth; Sally Clarke, collagraph prints, 103 Tang Hall Lane, York; Amy Dennis, landscape and still-life drawings and paintings, and Sue Dennis, oil paintings, watercolours and drawings, 35 Wentworth Road, York; Isabel Denyer, ceramics and silver jewellery, and Lesley Seeger, semi-abstract paintings, 33 Priory Street, York.

Gail Fox, ceramics, drawings and prints, and Anne Hutchison, drawings, 108 East Parade, Heworth; Mary Greene, paintings and print making, 3 West Moor Lane, Holmefield Lane, Heslington; Jacqueline James, hand-woven rugs and wall hangings, 4 Rosslyn Street, Clifton; Pamela Knight, collagraph prints and paintings, and David Patrick, York drawings and paintings, 11 Norfolk Street, York; Debbie Loane, expressionistic, abstract paintings of northern England and Scotland, 29 Emerald Street, York.

Lucy Monkman, illustrations and collages, 11 Lastingham Terrace, York; Ilona Sulikova, raku-fired pots and domestic earthenware pottery, Holmefield Community Centre, Peel Close, Heslington; Sallie Temple, scarves, throws and hangings, Danesmead, Workshop 11, Fulford Cross; Sarah-Louise Wilson, print making, photography, collage and painting examining dreams and anxieties, Bootham School; Linda Wormald, landscapes and seascapes in oils and prints, Woodside Studio, 3 Windmill Lane, York; and Peter Wray, paintings and print making, Print Workshop, rear of Fox Inn, Stockton on the Forest.

All studios and homes will be displaying a Create, York Open Studios 2003 sign.

Updated: 09:39 Friday, March 21, 2003