keighley college exhibition

Art @ the Cut Club Exhibition - 2003

As part of the final year of her degree course, Anna was briefed either to exhibit or find a commission. She chose the former, and to that end was fortunate to be offered space at the Cut Club on High Street in Knaresborough in which to exhibit some of her work.

There were two underlying themes to this exhibit.

The first of the themes was the linen mills of Knaresborough and the textile industry as a whole. Anna was interested in this for many reasons. Her own background harked back to Scotland, in particular the jute mills of Dundee where her grandparents worked all their lives. Also, this was a part of the history of Knaresborough which is often overshadowed by events surrounding the castle which was built in the 12th century A.D. and she wanted to redress the balance through her work.

Secondly, and here is where the imposing castle exerts its influence as mentioned above. It is difficult not to be moved when seeing the castle in its position of strength overlooking the gorge carved out of the rock by the River Nidd as it wends its way from its source Upper Nidderdale. Anna found this place to be a calm repose in an increasingly hectic life and wanted to reflect how she felt about the effect the castle, its grounds, and its panoramic views had on her through her paintings, but in a non-traditional way.

The dates of the exhibition were:

Thursday 2nd January 2003 9am to 6pm

Friday 3rd January 2003 9am to 7pm

Saturday 4th January 2003 9am to 2pm

Please see the flyer below.

Art @ the Cut Club flyer

Personal statement

My objective for this exhibition was to create a connection between the outcome of my artwork and Knaresborough itself. To do this I focused on two aspects: - The Knaresborough Linen industry and Britain’s textiles industry as a whole, and Knaresborough Castle grounds as a place of beauty.

Exhibit one

Knaresborough Linen industry and other textile industries of Britain.

The textile industry in Britain now more or less faces extinction! However, what lives on are the memories passed on to subsequent generations.

Old mills are very distinctive and when the opportunity arises to be inside them, it conjures up the reminiscent sounds and smells of the working mill machines, the camaraderie of the workers and the tactility of the associated materials.

For the purpose of the exhibition I decided to focus on the tactile elements in memory of the mill workers’ handling of materials and the fixing of machines through a passage of time.

However, we now live in the 21st century and I wanted to reflect such in my paintings both in context and with the outcome to my final artworks.

To achieve this, I incorporated contrasting textures, some materials being Linen, Hessian or prints of such, combined with more modern materials, such as tile cement and hardboard. To maintain some elements of the past, I kept the colour palette simple! These simple colours also allowed the contrasting textures to remain as a focal point in my paintings and collages.

Exhibit two

When I visit Knaresborough Castle grounds.

The focus of these paintings for exhibit two was to reflect on the event of standing within the grounds of Knaresborough Castle. A visual account of my personal experience rather than to recreate what’s already there!

For this, I completed four paintings. Three of these were grouped together as they were all about my emotional responses and the fourth was about the permanence of the ancient building and the feeling of something being sacred. All four paintings were titled as follows: -

Cherished: - Oil on Canvas.

When I visit Knaresborough Castle: - Oil on Canvas.

Standing within the grounds of Knaresborough Castle: - Oil on Canvas.

Permanence: - Oil on canvas.

The paintings for this exhibit were done in a non-traditional way using brush marks, colour and the composition to convey the appropriate emotion.