For a treat, I took myself off to Halifax's Bankfield Museum, to view the latest exhibition by my favourite artist, Kate Lycett. Called 'Engineers and Chocolatiers' (which refers to two of the main historic industries in Calderdale), she has created a number of new paintings, a celebration of scenes from towns up and down the Calder Valley. Several of them are collages of the most significant buildings and sites in each small town. They're all in her signature style, highly coloured and embellished with intricate little 'tiles', with touches of gold leaf and gold thread. I loved them all but perhaps the one of Cragg Vale (below left) was my favourite, for its composition with the road drawing you into the picture. See HERE for Kate's own musings about the exhibition and some more of the artwork.
The Bankfield Museum itself was formerly a grand Victorian house belonging to Colonel Edward Ackroyd MP (1810-1887), the son of a rich mill owner, Jonathan Ackroyd. He vastly extended the originally modest house. When he died in 1887, it was sold to Halifax Corporation and has been a museum ever since, now considerably restored. Ackroyd also built Akroydon, a village for his millworkers (akin to Saltaire but smaller), designed by the celebrated architect George Gilbert Scott.
The main entrance to the house has a grand staircase with opulent painted ceilings and walls, which I always feel demands a Cinderella-style ballgown to properly grace the stairs. Alas, I'm inevitably wearing my jeans!
As well as hosting temporary exhibitions, the museum has a fascinating permanent collection, among which are numerous lovely etchings of local landmarks, like Shibden Hall (below).
The Bankfield Museum specialises in textiles and, whilst I was there, there was a lovely exhibition by the Textile Art Group. I loved these subtle little works (below), made in paint, gesso, fabric and stitch by Margaret Brown, portraying Calderdale's moorland in its various moods and shades.
NB: If you think some of the pictures aren't properly 'square', that's because I had to photograph them at silly angles to avoid the worst of the reflections in the glass. Then I attempted to straighten them up in processing, with mixed results!!
I love those little moorland scenes!
ReplyDeleteMy favourite is the next to last one! :)
ReplyDeleteI can see why you'd travel a few miles to see Lycett's work in a gallery. And I checked her site only to find a different style of painting that she's doing with architectural elements of different towns. Thanks for introducing her to me. Nice ceiling work in the museum. Though I like the mixed media moors, I would probably keep staring at it looking for something that is only suggested.
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