We had a lovely festive break here in Masham, and are now enjoying the sudden but beautiful frosty weather. This time of year is fairly quiet here, so we are occupying ourselves with organising the year ahead – namely, exhibitions!

So here it is, brand new and exclusive to you. The Gallery’s exhibition schedule 2012:

Close To Home May- 18^th  – June 31^st

To celebrate 20 years of the charity Herriot Hospice Homecare The Gallery will be putting on an exhibition to highlight the charity and support them. Featuring a diverse and exciting selection of artists.

Edge of the world  20^th July – 31^st Aug

Inspired by the 1937 Michael Powell film (of same name), a selection of renowned artists have been invited to display work exploring remote, isolated or untouched landscapes which inspire them.

Including work by: Ian Scott Massie, Pamela Knight, Winifred Hodge, Gareth Buxton, Lesley Birch

Of A Feather –  September 7^th  – October 31^st

A bird-inspired exhibition from printmakers Hester Cox and Pam Grimmond.

Treasure – November 16^th – December 31^st

We hope you find the forthcoming shows as exciting as we do, and we look forward to seeing you here…

Remember for more up-to-date information and developments within The Gallery, including fresh photos and brand new exhibition updates, find us on facebook.

Have a great start to the year!

Things are turning chilly here in Masham, and most of our visitors have one thing on their mind….Christmas. We have unbelievable quantities of fantastic presents in The Gallery this year, from creative toys to unique works of art. If you’re not sure how to tackle present buying this year, pop round and we’ll be more than ready to advise and recommend. You’d also be shopping locally, which is thoroughly appreciated by us and all of our suppliers. If you can’t make it to us before the big day, there are still a number of ways that you can shop with us:

Website - we keep a big selection of artwork, jewellery, ceramics and glass online which reflects our current stock. If you see anything you like on the website, you can send us an enquiry form and we’ll tell you more…

Facebook – Our facebook page is updated regularly with new stock, current exhibitions and event information. This is the place to see our newest, shiniest stuff.

Twitter – Follow us on Twitter and find out about our exhibitions, new artists, what the weather is like, what we had for breakfast etc etc……

Mailing List - sign up with our mailing list and receive our newsletter. We promise not to email too regularly so we won’t clog up your inbox, we simply compile  all our news, new suppliers and exhibition information into a handy email once in a while!

Breaking new Ground

Last week we opened our final exhibition for 2011. I can’t believe it’s gone so fast! We’ve ad a really great response to all our shows this year and hopefully this one will be no different.

For this exhibition artists who are regularly represented in The Gallery were asked if they would like to show work that was different for them, challenged them artistically, showed new techniques or subjects…broke new ground for them.

So alongside work for which they are best known each artist is showing some surprises. Hester Cox has worked with linoprint and monotype on to porcelain (below).  Ian Scott Massie has returned to a love of 30 years ago – screenprint. He has developed new techniques in this and painted over the top of them. His subject matter has concentrated on the amazing Undercliffe cemetery in Bradford. John Degnan has shown his diverse artistic skills in wood and stone carving but maintaining his focus on the rural subject. Colin Smithson’s lovely sense of humour shows through in his photographic collages, so different from his paintings but with a love of colour and humour linking them. Janis Goodman, known for her incredibly detailed monochrome etchings shows a freedom in brightly coloured paintings and linocuts (above). Finally Josie Beszant whose work often has layers of intricate collage in dark frames has combined acrylic and collage on perspex giving a sense of space and light to subject matter that remains distinctive to her.

The exhibition looks great. What do you think?

Another reason to join our mailing list…

In the run up to Christmas we are compiling our very own Christmas Shopping Guide, available exclusively to mailing list recipients. Including helpful advice, presents to suit different budgets, suggestions on what to buy for different people or children, we aim to help solve your pressie buying dilemmas.

Join our mailing list here.

Thats it from us, have a great few weeks!

Our Dreams and Fairytales, our autumn exhibition, opened last week and has been causing a lot of excitement amongst The Gallery’s visitors. The exhibition room has been transformed again and couldn’t look more different from the Trace exhibition in August/September. Everywhere you look there is something unusual, fun, or sometimes sinister. Here are a few snaps of the exhibition…

See what I mean? You really need to visit to get the full impact, but I’m sure you will be soon, as Masham Arts Festival opens today!

If you haven’t heard already, Masham Arts Festival is a bi-annual, week-long extravaganza packed with exhibitions, workshops, music and food, with a few crazy interactive sculptures thrown in for good measure. At this point every two years, the festival committee, made up entirely of volunteers, are dashing about putting the finishing touches to everything in time for the big opening tonight. As is the tradition, the festival opens with a preview of the open art exhibition in St.Mary’s Church on the market square at 6pm, showcasing a wide selection of contemporary artists from the area and beyond. The exhibition preview is accompanied by a performance from northern acapella group Voicequad, then at 8pm festivities move to the town hall, for a performance from acclaimed Harrogate-based band The Birdman Rallies (back by popular demand).

…acapella group Voicequad (above) and alternative voice-harmony band The Birdman Rallies (below)…

There are so many more things going on throughout the week, it would take a lot of blogging to tell you about them all, so why not visit the Masham ArtsFestival website, facebook or twitter, or better yet, just come on down tonight.

Have a great half term!

This year we’ve welcomed a lot of new work into The Gallery, and Our Dreams and Fairytales is no different. You may recognise Vic Sayers’ work (above) from our Tea and Sympathy show earlier this year, and Colin Smithson‘s paintings and prints (below) have been admired in the gallery for many years. Here are a few artists you will not have seen here before…

Carine Brosse - Ceramics and Sculpture.

Gillian Lee Smith – Textiles and Ceramics.

Fiona Wilson - Printmaking and Sculpture.

Anna Kopp - painting.

Clare Lindley - paper cutting.

Clare exhibited in The Gallery some years ago, so it is a pleasure to welcome her back.

Our Dreams and Fairytales opens on the 14th of October for one month. For more information and images, check out our Facebook page.

If you’re looking for more of a reason to visit Masham this month, here’s a big one. The Masham Arts Festival, a bi-annual week long event featuring creative workshops, music and art events all over town, is opening on friday the 21st for the half term week. There are different events taking place all day every day that week, so if you are planning a visit in the near future, take note!

For more information visit the Arts Festival Website

Have a great October!

We have one week left of our current exhibition Trace, which opened on August 26th. The time has flown, but we’ve had some great feedback from our visitors. Something people have mentioned again and again about Trace is how delicate and detailed the whole exhibition is – every piece, wether it’s the elegant ceramic envelopes by Amanda Mercer, or the intricate paper jewellery by Phiona Richards, is drenched in minute details – almost too much to take in!

So for this blog, as we head towards the end of this exhibition, we’ve selected some of the ‘best bits’ of Trace – some of the exquisite detail that you may not have noticed in previous photographs, or even if you saw the show first-hand! Enjoy, and if you can make it, Trace is open until the 26th of September.

Here are a few tempting shots of Trace…

Trace is on display until September the 26th. For more information on our current/forthcoming exhibitions, click here.

It’s been a funny few weeks here, one minute we’ve had pouring rain and forks of lightning, the next (like today), beautiful ice-cream-eating weather. This unpredictability fortunately hasn’t deterred visitors to Masham, and The Gallery is enjoying a busy Summer. We’re busy in the exhibition department as well this month, as our current exhibition Impression runs until mid-August, and our next show Trace opens at the end of the month. Our arms will be aching from all the hanging we have to do, but it’s exciting to have lots of changes and new artists on display.

Looking for something to do when it rains? Read on for a few creative ideas from us.

Impression

Our printmaking exhibition has been really well received, with lots of interested visitors asking questions about the unusual and complicated techniques involved in the work. There is less than a week of the show left, so if you haven’t had a chance to drop by yet, pencil it in for this weekend, else you may miss your chance to see some gorgeous work by Helen Peyton, and Catherine Sutcliffe-Fuller (below), amongst others…

Trace

Once we have finished our Impression exhibition, we have about 10 days to get ready for the opening of our next show, Trace, which features even more artists new to The Gallery. Trace is a mixed media show, including everything from ceramics to collage to jewellery, and explores the meanings of the word ‘Trace’, from the point of view of six different contemporary artists;

Rosie Scott-Massie

Josie Beszant

Amanda Mercer

Charlotte Morrison

Angela Davies

Phiona Richards

The preview for Trace is on Friday, August the 26th, 7.30 – 9pm. Come on down for a glass of wine!

Summer Fun

At the moment we have a great selection of activity and craft kits in our toy room from Buttonbag and Flights of Fancy, ideal for occupying any bored little ones this summer holiday.

From top left: Flights of Fancy Pond Dipping kits, Buttonbag Elephant Sewing craft kit, Buttonbag Mouse House kit, Flights of Fancy ‘All About Bugs’ kit, Flights of Fancy Animal Prints Casting, Dice Games, and Portable Sun Dial mini kits, Buttonbag ’3 Lucky Kittens’ sewing kit.

And for you…

Kate Bowles creates these amazing books by hand, and includes mixtures of recycled papers and fabrics in each one. So if you feel like doing a spot of writing or drawing this summer, do it in style!

Thats all from me, enjoy the summer holidays!

Rosie

Anyone following our facebook page will know by now that ‘Impression’, our printmaking exhibition, opened on Friday last week. Featuring work from five completely different printmakers, the exhibition really has something for everyone, and was really fun to hang. Part of the aim of this show was to explore the incredible range of processes in printmaking – from etching to solarplates, collagraphs to linocuts, each method uses different materials and produces different textures and effects. It’s great to see the results first hand, so why not pay us a visit? But if you haven’t got a chance to do that, here’s a brief explanation of some of the printmaking methods featured in Impression, and the artists that use them…

Collagraph

In the true sense of the word, a collagraph is a print made from a collage but it has become a more general term for mixed-media printmaking. The plate, which is usually made from board or stiff card, is collaged onto with textured materials (such as leaves, feathers, sand and PVA glue), or cut into which will create definitions in colour. The plate is then sealed (varnished), ink is applied and the plate is passed through a press on top of a piece of damp paper. This method is commonly used by printmaker Hester Cox.

Linocuts and woodcuts

Woodcuts are created using a plank of wood or plywood on which the artist draws a design and then carves away the wood in the parts of the picture that are not to be printed. The raised surface retains some of the pattern of the wood grain which shows up in the finished prints. Ink is applied with a roller and the image is transferred by apply pressure using a press or by hand. Linoleum cuts, or lino cuts, are almost identical to woodcuts.  Angie Roger’s beautiful birds are achieved through woodcuts, and Helen Peyton’s cooker is created using lino cuts.

Etching

Etching is a method of making prints from a metal plate, usually copper, into which the design has been incised by acid. The copperplate is first coated with an acid-resistant substance, called the etching ground, through which the design is drawn with a sharp tool.

The plate is then exposed to acid, which eats away those areas of the plate unprotected by the ground, forming a pattern of recessed lines. These lines hold the ink, and, when the plate is applied to moist paper, the design transfers to the paper, making a finished print.

Printmakers Catherine Sutcliffe-Fuller and Janis Goodman both use this process in their work.

Impression is on display until August the 15th, so don’t miss it!

Trace

Our next exhibition begins on the 26th of August, and has been organised by me (Rosie)! Titled ‘Trace’ this show will feature a plethora of skills from a handful of brilliant artists and makers, all responding to the many meanings of the title. Ceramics, jewellery, collage, painting, and  papercraft from Charlotte Morrison, Josie Beszant, Amanda Mercer, Phiona Richards, Angela Davies and Rosie Scott-Massie. Just to tempt you in, here are a few examples of what will be on offer…

Have a great month, we look forward to seeing you soon!

I served a customer at Open Studios last weekend. He told me a common tale:  they are collectors of art and he listed some of the places they’d bought over the years –  festivals, open studio events and art fairs. He emphasised that he made a point of never buying from galleries because of the outrageous commission they charge. At this point I admitted to being an artist and a gallery owner before he dug himself in any further!

In North Yorkshire Open Studios all of us artists pay to be part of it. This payment goes towards the tremendous advertising, the lovely brochures, all the press releases, the signs, admin etc. On top of paying to be part of the selection process, and then again if we are selected, we also agree to pay a commission on any of our sales. During the Open Studios weekends we have to agree to be there, and open, and are largely unable to do any artwork. Many artists send information to their own mailing lists and to the newspapers, redecorate their homes/studios to get them looking ship shape, get childcare cover and so on. It costs A LOT!  The result is that I don’t know of any artists who sell their work for any less than they do in galleries. The commission that a gallery takes is in effect going in a different direction, but the costs are still there. North Yorkshire Open Studios do a tremendous job of promotion, but nevertheless they do this because they are paid to do it.

In many local art festivals it is the same situation. In fact a festival very near us charges a hanging fee for work as well as a commission that is more than The Gallery takes. The same goes for art fairs where artists often have to spend at least £300 for a stall. There they take their chances on sales are largely reliant on the art fair’s advertising and press coverage. These organisations are often businesses and at the end of the day they have to make the books balance.

The lazy assumption is that galleries are  fat cat middle men. This is often far from the case. Personally, I find I tread a line between showing what I believe to be excellent art that pushes at boundaries, and art that I know is also good but perhaps more commercially saleable. I do it because I love it and my world is art and craft.

My knowledge of the skills involved is excellent – and that’s passed on to everyone who works here and those that purchase from The Gallery. I feel it is my responsibility to assist all of the Gallery’s artists in the development of their careers, often signposting them to competitions, commissions, residencies, festivals and, of course, open studio events. They in turn tell their potential customers that they are represented here, where their work is available six days a week. This makes for a great long term relationship with most of the artists I represent. Many people would be shocked to know that despite being a very longstanding, well regarded independent gallery my take home pay every year is considerably below the national average wage.

So this blog probably preaches to the converted. But y’know maybe I just needed to say it. Artists often need galleries, and good galleries can and should do wonderful things for the artists they represent. It’s fine buying from the artist, but it’s also folly to believe this means you are putting more money their way. By shopping for art in galleries you  support artists, keep open often small independent galleries that make the high street just that little bit more interesting.

I’d love to hear what you think, Josie