Artist’s cosmic collection of prints inspired by views from Bempton

Hull-based artist Andi Dakin used found objects from a chimney sweep’s brushes to the lid off a garden well for his showcase at University of Hull Art Gallery entitled Energy, Matter and the Milky Way.

The “Views of the Milky Way from Cliff Lane in Bempton” were created using the weather-beaten steel lid off a well which has long been filled with concrete and covered.

The paper was dampened in the shower of the house, the blotting took place in the kitchen, the steel plate was inked in the garage and the prints were made on the driveway.

Other components in the exhibition include ladles from a steelworks given to Mr Dakin 30 years ago and finally put to use, a mooring buoy found on the beach at Hunmanby Gap, and pitchforks brough from a Bempton antiques shop and now used to support a battered old wheelbarrow secured from some roofers after Andi offered his new barrow in exchange.

Mr Dakin said: “The exhibition is a fusion of two of my interests. One is the cosmos,everything about the cosmos is really fascinating for me. The other is taking artefacts and re-assigning them.

“The images are views that you might see if you were inside the well and looking up at the Milky Way in a place where the light pollution is so minimal that you get to see our galaxy in a glorious way.”

Energy, Matter and the Milky Way is at the University of Hull Art Gallery until Monday, May 2.