Extraordinary Portraits 2026

Following the success last year of 'Extraordinary Portraits, with Bill Bailey', the 2026 series is on display in Bradford's Loading Bay gallery space until July. I went along with a friend for an early look. The BBC TV programmes each match artists with 'ordinary people who have done something extraordinary', to create a portrait. Having watched all six episodes on TV and been moved and uplifted by the stories, it was a delight to see the artworks for real. 

The standout painting for me was this one (below) by Jack Dickson. It depicts Seema, who ran a local Post Office and became caught up in the Post Office scandal, a gross miscarriage of justice where many people, over many years, were wrongly charged with false accounting (which turned out in the end to be a faulty computer programme). In Seema's case she was wrongly convicted and sent to prison whilst pregnant. The subtly layered painting has many symbolic references to her life, including a layer of postage stamps at the base. She is depicted standing tall, proud and beautiful, in a huge but quiet statement of strength and resilience. Wonderful. 

I also enjoyed the bold statement made by the portrait of Eddie aka 'Iron Gran', a lady who - at age 72 - was the oldest British woman to compete in an Ironman event and now runs a charity promoting fitness and companionship for older people. Painted by Caroline Pool, it shows strength and Eddie's fun-loving persona but also a moment of reflection. I loved her sparkly manicure!  

Two brothers, Jordan and Cain, painted by Unza Saleem, lost their mother at a young age due to a rare form of dementia and have since found out they both carry the same gene and are likely to develop the disease in their 40s. They are now channelling their energy into raising funds for dementia research. 

Two sisters, Grace and Amy, share an unusual bond. Grace was born without a womb. Amy donated her own womb to her sister, in a pioneering operation, enabling Grace to become pregnant and carry a miracle baby. The sensitive portrait by Karen Turner captures their special relationship of love and sacrifice. 

The artwork I expected to like the most turned out, for me, to be somewhat disappointing. The sculpture, by Nick Elphick, refers to the heroic act in 2019 when Darryn, a civil servant attending a prisoner rehabilitation conference in London, helped to apprehend a man who attacked and killed two people. Darryn grabbed a narwhal tusk off the wall and used it to fend off the terrorist, before grabbing his wrists to try and disarm him. Though his actions were heroic and he was awarded a gallantry medal, the aftermath was difficult and has had a life-changing effect on him. Nevertheless he dedicates his life to rehabilitating former offenders. 

It is in many ways a commanding sculpture, using the Japanese art of kintsugi - accentuating and healing broken pottery with gold - and including the narwhal tusk. The 'gold' appeared simply to be painted on rather than actually holding the cast together. The lump on his shoulder, which I think was intended to signify the burden he still carries, just looked to me a bit odd and the inclusion of the huge tusk, though symbolic, meant he appears to be standing in a box! Not only that but to me it doesn't even really look like Darryn, who is an extremely handsome young man. So, not a complete success in my eyes - but powerful nonetheless. 

The other one I didn't much like was a portrait by Ricky Wilson, of Lindsay who runs a rescue centre for exotic animals in Wales. It does actually carry a sense of her energy and the wild dedication that she brings to her work but I didn't like the random, coloured brushstrokes across her face. 

Alongside the exhibition you could watch a video of clips from the programmes or paint your own picture on acetate by tracing your face in a mirror. Many of those self-portraits were a lot of fun. 

 

Mono squares

Here are a few more 'squares' from my previous visit to Bolton Abbey, this time in monochrome. Mono sometimes feels like an odd choice in woodland and nature but it brings out the different tones and emphasises shape and texture. It's fun to play with this sometimes. 

Picture perfect

It was a perfect day for 'chocolate box' pictures at Bolton Abbey when I went for a stroll there with a friend. Blue skies, fluffy clouds, a slow-flowing river reflecting the sky... Lots to like, though the photos wouldn't win any prizes in a competition. The stepping stones seem to have been reordered a bit since the winter, so that the big gaps have been lessened. I still wouldn't be trusting myself to hop over them! 

We had lunch in the Tea Cottage, overlooking the view. There was a cool wind but it was just about warm enough to sit out. In recent times, my usual coffee/lunch spot at the Cavendish Pavilion seems to have gone downhill a bit, with more of it self-service (and I don't much like coffee out of those machines) or a long queue for a barista coffee because they are clearly short-staffed. So we walked from the Cavendish car park to the Priory and the Tea Cottage in the village, which made a change anyway. 

There are nice views on the way back too, though it clouded over quite suddenly. 

Baba Yaga's Hut

Our little Hirst Wood Nature Reserve has become the home of Baba Yaga's Hut. Baba Yaga and her enchanted hut on chicken legs are an established part of Slavic folklore. She is a mysterious witch, an old crone who roams the woods in her hut on chicken legs, looking for 'bad children'. She's rather fearsome and unpredictable but also a teacher, protector and wise guardian of the forest, offering refuge and answers to those who show wit and respect. There's a helpful analysis of the tale's origins and meanings HERE.

Our Baba Yaga hut has been crafted by the workers in Baildon, Shipley and Saltaire Men's Shed, supported by Bradford 2025's Our Patch programme. It's then been decorated by the Women's Sphere group, which works to support and empower women in our local communities who originate from Eastern and Central Europe. The wonderful elves were crafted by Homey Elves.

I just happened to be passing as they were setting up for the 'grand opening', so I took the opportunity to have a chat and take a few photos. It's so lovely when people come together to create a little magic. 

Unrenovated

The sculpture exhibition in Salts Mill (see yesterday) is displayed in a relatively unrenovated part of the mill. The far end of the room led into an even more 'raw' area, full of peeling paint, dust and debris. That was barred off for safety but I could see enough to compose a few photos. To be honest, I found this more stimulating than the exhibition. (Maybe I'm odd!) 

These spaces seem to me to be alive with the ghosts of the folk that laboured here over more than a century to produce the fine wool cloth for which the mill was renowned. 

My pareidolia - that uncanny ability to find faces and recognisable shapes in random or chaotic stimuli like clouds - had a field day in here. I can see a pretty good rendition of the world map below! 

 

'The Nature of Things'

There's a new exhibition in Salts Mill, just for the month of May. 'The Nature of Things' is work by members of the Yorkshire Sculptors Group. The explanatory blurb, too complicated to explain here, made it all sound quite interesting... and indeed it was. The artists are 'responding to this unrenovated part of Salts Mill' and to the materials they chose to use. Interesting... but none of it was, to me, particularly attractive or evoking of any real emotional response. If you're interested to delve further, the catalogue is available to read HERE. 

The pieces above are the work of Sarah Villeneau: 'Salvage' and 'Tenderness Chords'. 'Using the body as a starting point, these works use an assemblage approach to making as a way of exploring materiality and unexpected combinations. The use of found, discarded and repurposed materials with a make do and mend approach is somewhat transgressive and definitely playful.'

Below is Deborah Gardner's 'Invasive Species': 'influenced by the botanical gothic, plant horror and imaginings of future biospheres as a means of expressing anxieties as to our relationship with other species on earth, our climate crisis and a seeming lack of agency.'

Sally Barker's 'Dark Cloud' (above) was more immediately appealing to me, reminding me of a kind of Gothic chandelier: 'a shower of black, individually squeezed [ceramic] fingerprints, like a negative sunburst.'

I didn't know what to make of Christine Halsey's 'Domestic Landscape': 'stacks of clean white china and folded laundry sandwiched between ‘dirty’ or heavy building materials to create a precarious tower loaded with conflicting associations related to gender stereotypes' - but at least here I could discern some meaning. Similarly with her installation called 'Cold Dark Heavy Light', part of which is pictured below. This 're-imagines the West Yorkshire landscape as a vertical cross-section taken through its canals, rivers and moorlands, constructed from the earth, water, pollution and debris found there.' The hanging bottles contained liquid and some on the windowsill held earth. 

Finally 'two painted works are details taken from a map that was created in Saigon, Vietnam where I walked a relatively new neighbourhood of the city, known as District 7, collecting data. The squares containing the black and white cross hatching pattern represent building blocks, while the squares featuring colour represent road intersections.'  This is by Patrick S Ford, using a mobile phone app - and was quite pleasant but seemed a very complicated way to create what is essentially a few patterns. 

Maybe I'm a philistine! I did, however, enjoy the experience of looking round and trying to puzzle them out. It seems, particularly with sculpture these days, that it is more about the artist's relationship with the materials, their ideas and their emotional journey than the finished product per se. I think that's a bit different from painting or photography, but I know from my visits to the world class exhibitions at The Hepworth that some modern sculpture does have the power to move and excite me. 

Perhaps I'll revisit this, when it might be quieter, and see if my opinion shifts. 

A busy day in the park

There was something for everyone in the park last Sunday. 

It must nearly be summer as the bandstand concerts have started. The wonderful Hot Aire Concert Band was playing. They are very polished and have a great repertoire of mostly lively and well-known music. I really enjoy listening to them (despite my less than good hearing) and their sound is loud enough to fill the bandstand and carry really well. 

The cricket season has started, so there was a match going on...

and the once-a-month farmer's market was lining the promenade. 

For children, the land train has started running, doing regular circuits of the park (though I didn't manage to get a photograph of that this time).  It's all happening in Saltaire! If only the weather would warm up a bit... 

Cat emulating cat

It's not often that I photograph Saltaire from this viewpoint. It's the back of Shipley College (the former Saltaire Factory Schools), looking across the former playground (now staff carpark) from George Street towards Upper School Street. It was the cat walking purposefully across that attracted my attention - and then I saw the cat cutout in the window. 

Faded beauty

Camellias are such pretty, showy flowers, akin to roses sometimes, with a wonderful depth of colour. Unlike roses, they come into bloom at quite an inhospitable time of year: early spring when hard frosts are still very likely. Once they get frosted, the petals turn brown and shrivelled but they often continue to hang on for weeks. I find there's a certain kind of beauty in this hybrid effect. 

Miss Tilly Flood

A beautiful, sunny walk was enlivened by all the activity on the canal and up at the lock. Saltaire's Titus trip boat was plying up and down, though it was having difficulty turning round at the lock. (Its tour doesn't go through the lock.) There was a widebeam boat berthed in the turning area, waiting to go up the lock. It couldn't move on, because there was a party of volunteers and Community Payback workers (offenders sentenced to community orders) busy repairing and painting the lock gates. 

Apparently they have returned to a traditional method of sealing the gaps in lock gates, using coal ash, now sourced from our heritage steam railways. The ash is floated on the surface of the water in the lock and gets drawn into the gaps in the gates, where it forms a tight seal.  Fascinating... Read more HERE.

I passed a narrowboat that I can't recall seeing before, and she was rather smart in her blue paint with an orange and blue canopy. She was named Miss Tilly Flood. I don't know the significance of that name. There are quite a few boats called 'Tilly', I think. 

She had not only her name but a quotation painted on her side. Well, it was a day for being dazzled by beauty. 

Here be monsters...

In the woodland...  Flights of fancy, figments of imagination... Strange creatures.

Arts Trail Day 3

 

Day Two of Saltaire Arts Trail was sadly marred by awful weather, very wet all day. Happily, I had other plans so I gave it a miss. Day Three was dry, though overcast, so at least the visitors didn't get drenched and the venues didn't have to contend with dripping coats, brollies and wet shoes. 

There was a Makers' Fair in the Victoria Hall, but I didn't explore that. They tend to be much the same year on year, and so much art and craft can be overwhelming, I find. I didn't want to be tempted into buying anything either and, if you're not on the lookout for a purchase, it never seems so meaningful. There seemed to be plenty of visitors though and I spotted lots of folk coming away with bags and boxes of goodies. 

I was more interested in the photography exhibition in Salts Mill's roof space, which was showing work by members of Leeds Photographic Society. There were some attractive images, though mostly in the familiar style of 'camera club competition' entries. I enjoyed the landscapes and some of the creative images.

Nina Hunter, an artist, illustrator and art teacher who lives in Saltaire, opened the Saltaire Art Gallery on Victoria Road a few years ago. She also founded the Saltaire Art School. The gallery seems to have evolved and is now 'Nina Hunter Gallery and Collectors Lounge', where she shows her own work and some carefully considered collaborations with other artists. Much of her work celebrates the feminine and mythology. I like the softness and mystery that she creates, which is at the same time quite powerful. 

Her current exhibition is 'Elysium' - 'a paradise of myth, imagination, and beauty... a world of paintings, embroidery, floral arrangements, and sound that celebrates the boundless possibilities of creativity.'

I loved her own painting in the window, though there were too many reflections (and writing on the window) to show it off well. I could quite happily live with that one on my wall!

In the room at the back, a sunny, yellow, expressive abstract by Clare Ninham sat rather nicely above the Victorian fireplace. 

The Gallery's basement had a series of paintings by Oliver Walton: 'The Common Place'. Deliberately counterpointing the other exhibition, these were precise depictions of 'the poetry of everyday spaces' - the kind of subject you more often find explored through photography than paint. NOT the kind of thing I'd hang on my walls but thought-provoking nevertheless, and it was interesting to see our local environment depicted in this way.