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South Leeds Life | March 2022
16 Art Life
What Makes Us Tick
Village Community Centre. The group of local teenagers with Chinese, eastern European and Asian heritage were working with the Violence Reduction
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Unit and used collage to express what’s going on in their heads when they think about local knife crime. One piece won third place in an art
exhibition and was exhibited at the Royal Armouries. Speaking to the assembled artists, Pat McGeever, Health For All’s CEO said: “The designs are so high quality that you’d be hard pressed to know that they weren’t created by professional artists. They’re gobsmacking, absolutely beautiful, the creativity that’s gone into them and I can just imagine the good chats that you had whilst you were choosing what to put in. We would love to keep the display here. You should all be very proud of yourselves.” The art workshops and activities of the groups were part of Live Well Leeds, Healthy Holidays and Violence Reduction Unit projects during summer 2021 and the Christmas period. The exhibition event was funded by Live Well Leeds.
People who said they weren’t Futures group at Beeston the slightest bit room at Tenants Hall in creative have come up Middleton has been turned with the most amazing into an art gallery thanks to ideas. “But it’s also about the work of local people attending support groups run the conversations that we have in between the by Health For All. I went along to the see the making.” Leslie, who attends exhibition and speak to some of those involved in the project. the Blossom kinship Jill Scanlon is a community carers group, explained based mental health worker that her collage was who supports a number of based on her love of support groups locally. She holidays. It includes of exotic invited local artist Sue Bowden images to work with the Be Yourself destinations, but also women’s group at Middleton of birds that migrate to sunnier climes. And Family Centre. “We started by mind agreed with Jill saying: “It’s very therapeutic mapping what they like, what they’ve missed during Covid, to do things like this what makes them tick. and because it takes your they produced these lovely mind off the everyday works of art that are really worries.” As well as Blossom, personal to themselves” said Jill has taken the Jill. The artworks draw on the project to the Teen and Men Artists and their work at the exhibition in Middleton work of Maria Rivans, a Spirit Brighton-based artist, who had Behaving Dadly groups. Artist Sue Bowden told me: created a collage of herself “During lockdown everyone’s featuring images that represented her influences. Jill kind of lost track of what and Sue invited the members makes them tick. The aim of of the group to create their own the project was to remind people of who they are: where collage. Jill continues: “We had they love going and what they people that said to begin with love doing. I think it’s really they had nothing at all to put on important for their self-esteem by Hazel Millichamp a picture, nothing positive, and to have their work on display. then they went away and They also keep a copy to give ne of the most beautiful thought about it; and as the themselves a visual reminder paintings in Leeds Art weeks went on they started of what makes them tick.” Gallery is “Iris” painted in Sue’s also adapted the 1886 by John Atkinson thinking ‘well, yeah, I have got this and I used to do that’. concept for the Inspiring Grimshaw, in my opinion. The painting exemplifies all of Grimshaw’s painting skills of portraying light and colour – it is otherworldly. Today, the artist is considered to be one of the Victorian era’s greater painters. Born in 1836 in a back-to-back in Leeds, he was a self-taught artist, who, to the dismay of his Donate it to support people parents, left his job as a Great National Railways clerk to with Learning Disabilities follow his passion. Grimshaw died on 13th October 1893 of tuberculosis and is buried in Woodhouse Cemetery (which is now St ‘Reflections on the Aire - on strike’ by John Atkinson Grimshaw, 1879 George’s Fields). One of the Leeds artist surveying the houses he lived in is in Cliff Hurst bequest. “Reflections on the Aire – on same area we can still see to Road in Headingley and has a Leeds Civic Trust blue plaque. strike” was painted by this day (minus the industrial Four of his children went on to Grimshaw in 1879. Whilst the cityscape) and memorializing it become painters. One of his painting is one of his signature in his inimitable style. The location for the artist’s sons Arthur Edmund Grimshaw moonlit scenes it is also (1864-1913) was the master of combined with a social viewpoint was established by the choir at Leeds Cathedral message, making it a rare gallery curator Nigel Walsh and Call us to curator of Industrial History, and was a conductor of the example of his work. The painting depicts a lone John McGoldrick. In arrange a Leeds Symphony Orchestra. When Leeds Art Fund and female figure looking out over conjunction, they discovered free pickup Leeds Art Gallery were alerted the dark waters of the River that this was a dire time for to the sale of a Grimshaw Aire, a somber industrial industrial workers and that painting that had been housed cityscape in the background. strike action was prevalent in in a private collection for years, The scene is thought to be a early 1879. At this time, they were able to secure it for painting of Knostrop Cut, Grimshaw lived just along the South Leeds AlternativeTrading Enterprises Ltd future generations, thanks to across from Hunslet Mills. It is river at Knostrop. Registed Company no 6394383 | Registered Charity 1149293 Councillor Jonathan Pryor, the generous support of the thrilling to imagine this great
by Jeremy Morton
A
Atkinson Grimshaw’s moonlight masterpiece returns to Leeds O
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Leeds City Council’s executive member for economy, culture and education, said: “John Atkinson Grimshaw’s stunning paintings captured the dramatically changing face of Leeds as an emerging industrial city, and, as we can see in this painting, his empathy for the plight of his fellow citizens. “We’re extremely fortunate to have such an extensive range of his work here in his home city and for this beautiful new addition to be joining the world class Leeds Art Gallery collection.”
