The Gallery celebrates Hackfall

The nights are starting to get darker, the temperature has dropped…there’s no denying it, we have entered Autumn! But what better way to welcome this beautiful season the  by taking a wander through a glorious and magical woodland? And the best part is, you can stay indoors while doing it!

What is she talking about you may ask, well I’ll tell you. This month in The Gallery we are Celebrating Hackfall with an exhibition of contemporary work from a fantastic selection of northern artists. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Hackfall, the landscaped wood, studded with mystical follies winding pathways is situated just outside Masham, and has been a popular spot for woodland walks for over 200 years.Written about by Wordsworth and sketched by Turner, Hackfall has long been a source of creative inspiration, and so it seems fitting to devote an exhibition to it.

The show of contemporary work at The Gallery is one of four exhibitions created for Celebrating Hackfall, which is supported by The Woodland Trust and Hackfall trust. Artists involved in our exhibition include Ian Scott Massie, Simon Palmer, Ed Kluz, Rosie Scott-Massie, Janis Goodman, Hester Cox, Heather Dormer and John Degnan, so it’s a pretty incredible selection of talent – many exhibiting together for the first time. An exhibition of Hackfall photography is also on display at Masham Community office, a show of Hackfall – inspired work by Turner and other old masters is exhibited at nearby Swinton Castle, and a collection of ametuer local artists’ work is hanging at The Crown pub in Grewelthorpe.

As for our portion of this fantastic event…we opened our doors on Friday the 10th for our preview, and sold a piece from the exhibition within 5 minutes! The evening continued to be a success, with lots of interested visitors coming from miles around popping in for a glass of wine and some tasty nibbles.

Thanks to everyone who attended the preview, if you happened to miss it, please do drop by this month to see  this brilliant show, and maybe even take a stroll through the wood itself? Celebrating Hackfall runs until October 3rd – to find out more visit the Hackfall website here.

Summer is here!

Hurrah!

Yes, summer appears to have arrived, in Masham at least, and besides the odd shower this week we have had constant glorious sunshine, and heat!

Last week we said goodbye to Janis Goodman’s solo exhibition – it’s been a great show and really well received – thanks to everyone who popped by to see it. If you didn’t manage to stop by you can still see the entire exhibition on our website. We also still have a selection of our favourite pieces from the show on display here.

Now we are preparing for our second solo exhibition of the year. Ian Scott Massie, whose just completed a successful solo show at Rydal Mount, Cumbria, will be unveiling a new collection of work this August titled ‘Journeys’, an exploration of The Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria, following two significant journeys in Ian’s life “The paintings reflect the experiences and memories of two combined journeys: the first to a number of places in the Yorkshire Dales of particular personal importance and the second to the places my wife and I visited on our honeymoon nearly twenty years ago.In undertaking this body of paintings I had in mind the concept of Schubert’s Winterreise – the cycle of songs he wrote to the words of Tobias Haslinger – in wishing to create a group of works with a single emotional theme fragmented into different lights and angles by circumstance and memory”

‘Journeys’ opens at The Gallery August the 6th until September the 9th. More details wil be available on our website soon, but for now, heres a sneek peek at what to expect…

As for now the exhibition room is sporting a summery selection of works, inlcluding pieces by Hester Cox, Heather Dormer, Rosie Scott Massie. Pamela Knight and Josie Beszant. We have also found some fantastic new supppiers lately, including Melanie Tomlinson, whose tin butterfly and bird brooches decorated with Edward Bawden-esque patterning are something to behold!

To see the full selection of new artists in The Gallery, why not visit our Facebook page here.

summer?!

August is upon us and the Take to the Skies has flown. Now on the walls we have a lovely collection of Heather Dormer’s pastels, including one stunner she did at Monet’s waterlily garden. Joining them is work from Gareth Buxton, Pamela Knight, Ian Scott Massie, as well as a couple of vibrant new Colin Smithson paintings including an unusual one where St. Cuthbert plays a banjo to a whale!

We have new craft work in this month including some beautiful wooden boxes from the Big Black House Design Company in West Yorkshire. Also new out this month is a book by Ian Scott Massie entitled “Under Northern Skies”. It features around 40 of his atmospheric paintings and around 40 poems/lyrics to accompany them. This is available from The Gallery at £15 along with his “Spirit of Place” book of paintings of Fountains Abbey (exhibition starts on the 8^th).

Lots of other new work adorns the shelves and walls giving the place a summery feel inside if not out. We hope you find the sun somewhere this summer and hope to see you soon.