Photographer, writer, teacher, lecturer, and film-maker, Simon Warner, is the co-founder of the Whitestone Arts Research Centre, based at Stanbury, near Haworth – a venue for both creating and hosting creative, often multi-arts based projects. He has a particular interest in the relationship of people with their local landscape, artistically, culturally, environmentally, and historically. For example, the history, ecology and social impact of watercourses in the Yorkshire region and elsewhere is a recurring feature in his work.
Patterns, the River Tees. Image: see artist’s website, below.
Simon’s photographic work includes landscape, theatre and television productions, and projects in museums, galleries and theatres. He also works on photographic commissions with publishers and countryside organisations and has illustrated numerous publications (see below).
His films have included the video triptych ‘A Guide to Yorkshire Rivers'(2003), using radio controlled boats on the Rivers Ouse and Aire to film the rivers at water level ; a video installation ‘Leaving Home’ at the Brontë Parsonage Museum; and ‘Undertow’, a film selected for the Holmfirth Arts Festival 2011, exploring the movement and colour of a whirlpool at The Strid on the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey.
Simon graduated from the Cambridge in 1973 with a MA Cantab. (English), followed by a post-graduate award in Radio, Television and Film Studies from the University of Bristol.
In 2006 he was awarded a Research Fellowship by the innovation charity, NESTA, that enabled him to pursue and develop his work as a performer and lecturer. This has resulted in Simon organising, leading or contributing to a wide range of workshop, seminars and performative lectures, for example, an interactive workshop/demonstration of traditional silhouette portrait techniques around the UK between 2008-14; and ‘Seven Streams’, a research project combining film, public participation and live performance in Bradford during 2010 exploring the history of Bradford Beck and its impact on the city, past and present. He was long-listed for the Northern Art Prize 2011-12.
Bank Street Arches, Bradford Beck. Image: see artist’s website.
His film and photographic work has been featured in both solo and group exhibitions in the UK, including at the Royal Geographical Society, London; Florence Nightingale Museum, London; Matthew Gallery at the University of Edinburgh; and Shrewsbury Art Gallery. In Yorkshire his work has been shown at major venues, including Harewood House; the Impressions Gallery, Bradford; Huddersfield Art Gallery; Bronte Parsonage Museum; Cliffe Castle Museum; and the Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate.
Cotton Grass, image from ’50 Steps, Walking and Dancing the Pennine Way’
He has a FE Teaching Certificate and has worked over the years with many young people and adults on science, art and other creative projects, including during his Artist in Residence in 2003 at Impressions Gallery and Castle Museum, York, and for the Watershed Landscape Project in 2012.
Publications
He is the author or contributor to a wide range of catalogues, journal articles, film scripts and books commissioned by organisations, including Natural England, National Trust, The Environment Agency, Yorkshire Dales National Park, and Screen Yorkshire. Editorial photography for magazines and publishers has included commissions for Sunday Telegraph Magazine, Country Life, Country Living and The Countryman.
Books written by Simon Warner:
- Discovering West Yorkshire, 1999, published by Smith Settle.
- The South Pennines & Brontë Country (with Judith Warner), 1984, published by Town & County.
- Pennine Landscapes (with Judith Warner), 1978, published by Dalesman.
Books illustrated by him:
- The Brontës at Haworth, 2006 (2013), by Ann Dinsdale, published by Frances Lincoln.
- Brontë Country, Lives and Landscape, 2004, by Peggy Hewitt, published by Alan Sutton.
- In Our Neighbourhood, 2001, by Dick Downing, published by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
- An Enduring Flame, 1998, by Wendy Bardsley, published by Smith Settle.
- The Lake District, 1995, published by Aurora.
- Made in Yorkshire, 1992, by Maurice Colbeck, published by Springfield.
- Peddars Way & Norfolk Coast Path National Trail Guide, 1992.
- Pennine Way National Trail Guide (2 volumes) 1988 (1990).
Website: http://www.simonwarner.co.uk/