ART LIFE

What Makes Us Tick

by Jeremy Morton

Aroom at Tenants Hall in Middleton has been turned into an art gallery thanks to the work of local people attending support groups run by Health For All.

I went along to the see the exhibition and speak to some of those involved in the project.

Jill Scanlon is a community based mental health worker who supports a number of support groups locally. She invited local artist Sue Bowden to work with the Be Yourself women’s group at Middleton Family Centre.

“We started by mind mapping what they like, what they’ve missed during Covid, what makes them tick. and they produced these lovely works of art that are really personal to themselves” said Jill.

The artworks draw on the work of Maria Rivans, a Brighton-based artist, who had created a collage of herself featuring images that represented her influences. Jill and Sue invited the members of the group to create their own collage.

Jill continues: “We had people that said to begin with they had nothing at all to put on a picture, nothing positive, and then they went away and thought about it; and as the weeks went on they started thinking ‘well, yeah, I have got this and I used to do that’. People who said they weren’t the slightest bit creative have come up with the most amazing ideas.

“But it’s also about the conversations that we have in between the making.”

Leslie, who attends the Blossom kinship carers group, explained that her collage was based on her love of holidays. It includes images of exotic destinations, but also of birds that migrate to sunnier climes. And agreed with Jill saying:

“It’s very therapeutic to do things like this because it takes your mind off the everyday worries.”

As well as Blossom, Jill has taken the project to the Teen Spirit and Men Behaving Dadly groups.

Artist Sue Bowden told me:

“During lockdown everyone’s kind of lost track of what makes them tick. The aim of the project was to remind people of who they are: where they love going and what they love doing. I think it’s really important for their self-esteem to have their work on display. They also keep a copy to give themselves a visual reminder of what makes them tick.”

Sue’s also adapted the concept for the Inspiring

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Donate it to support people with Learning Disabilities Call us to arrange a free pickup 0113 270 4005 South Leeds AlternativeTrading Enterprises Ltd Registed Company no 6394383 | Registered Charity 1149293 Atkinson Grimshaw’s moonlight masterpiece returns to Leeds

One of the most beautiful paintings in Leeds Art Gallery is “Iris” painted in 1886 by John Atkinson 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 parents, left his job as a Great National Railways clerk to follow his passion.

Grimshaw died on 13th October 1893 of tuberculosis and is buried in Woodhouse Cemetery (which is now St George’s Fields). One of the houses he lived in is in Cliff Road in Headingley and has a Leeds Civic Trust blue plaque. Four of his children went on to become painters. One of his sons Arthur Edmund Grimshaw (1864-1913) was the master of the choir at Leeds Cathedral and was a conductor of the Leeds Symphony Orchestra.

When Leeds Art Fund and Leeds Art Gallery were alerted to the sale of a Grimshaw painting that had been housed in a private collection for years, they were able to secure it for future generations, thanks to the generous support of the Hurst bequest. “Reflections on the Aire – on strike” was painted by Grimshaw in 1879. Whilst the painting is one of his signature moonlit scenes it is also combined with a social message, making it a rare example of his work. The painting depicts a lone female figure looking out over the dark waters of the River Aire, a somber industrial cityscape in the background. The scene is thought to be a painting of Knostrop Cut, across from Hunslet Mills. It is thrilling to imagine this great Leeds artist surveying the same area we can still see to this day (minus the industrial cityscape) and memorializing it in his inimitable style. The location for the artist’s viewpoint was established by gallery curator Nigel Walsh and curator of Industrial History, John McGoldrick. In conjunction, they discovered that this was a dire time for industrial workers and that strike action was prevalent in early 1879. At this time, Grimshaw lived just along the river at Knostrop. Councillor Jonathan Pryor,

Futures group at Beeston by Hazel Millichamp ‘Reflections on the Aire - on strike’ by John Atkinson Grimshaw, 1879 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.”

Village Community Centre. The group of local teenagers with Chinese, eastern European and Asian heritage were working with the Violence Reduction 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 Artists and their work at the exhibition in Middleton Live Well Leeds.

Tiny Tetley - a new free art space for pre-school children

by Hazel Millichamp

Ispoke to Jack James the Participation and Engagement Officer at The Tetley, Hunslet’s own art gallery, about the new Tiny Tetley Studio.

Tiny Tetley runs from 10am until 5pm from Wednesday through to Sunday. The sessions take place on the second floor and are absolutely free!

The Tiny Tetley Studio is a new artist-designed space for children under five. Jack explained to me that he and his team wanted to make sure the sessions were free in order that they can be accessed by as many people as possible.

Although The Tetley is a very busy venue, hosting exhibitions, events and weddings, Jack had noticed that the second floor was less well used.

This was where his quiet office was housed and he realised that due to more blended working since the pandemic this space could be better used as a new play area for under 5s.

Jack dedicated lots of energy into getting the space organized and invited initial proposals from artists. Stephanie Jefferies is the artist they chose – not only is she as an artist she has been a nursery school teacher and is a trained Montessori teacher too.

Together they worked with Three Create, Yorkshire’s leading play space designers. Stephanie has designed a series of toys and objects for children to play with, and the freshly designed space includes a climbing frame and a slide.

A bespoke sound installation by Buffalo Sound Design provides relaxing background music. There are three small spheres, each with a unique track, hidden around the space and waiting to be discovered by tiny hands. The team even have breastfeeding aids crocheted by Leeds Bosom Buddies fb.com/Cityand HunsletBosomBuddies/

Jack describes the warm, bright light in the room as “exceptional” – and as a safe, secure, beautiful space for families to spend time with friends and their small people.

Watch this space as Jack and the Tetley team will be leading outreach workshops in South Leeds at the Hamara Centre shortly.

For access to the artistdesigned play space at Tiny Tetley, you need to sign up for a free Family Pass here: bit.ly/TetleyPass

With the pass you will also receive: • Special discounts in The Tetley Bar & Kitchen • Access to other free family activities • Updates on their family events The Tiny Tetley Studio includes an inviting slide

The Studio has “exceptional” warm light