Gallery

Exhibition Programme

Harry Bell

Home Thoughts of Abroad

Fine Artist

25th January – 6th March

In his poem, Home Thoughts From Abroad, Robert Browning put himself in the position of one who has been away from home and is missing it dearly. Harry Bell has cheekily turned the concept around and named his exhibition Home Thoughts of Abroad.

After two years of enforced isolation in the north east of England, this lover of European travel keenly feels the loss of strolling in the sun-filled streets of Greece, Italy and Spain, and even the chillier streets encountered on a visit to the Czech Republic. To ease that heartfelt need, he’s put together a collection of his favourite paintings of those places in the hope they’ll cheer us through the winter months and hint at what we might regain.

Harry Bell is an award winning artist from the north east of England; born in Gateshead in 1947 and graduating from Newcastle University in 2001 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. His work has been exhibited extensively throughout the country both as a solo artist and in group exhibitions, and his paintings are in public and private collections in the UK, New Zealand and the USA.

 

 

 

The Elemental Art of

Clifford William Blakey

Fine Artist

8th March – 17th April 

Working for over 35 years painting the landscapes and seascapes of Northumberland, Clifford has become one of the most influential artists working in the region. He has exhibited regularly in Northumberland, the South of England and Scotland. He has also has won many awards for his work and has paintings in private collections all over the world.

After a long period of illness, which restricted his ability to paint, Clifford is now painting with renewed vigour. His sojourn is to record his responses to the natural world and the elements which act upon the Northumberland landscape and the North Sea. With a passion for working in Watercolour and Acrylic paint, Clifford has developed a very personal style based on the traditions of Romantic landscape painting and has a distinctly modern attitude. Continually developing his technique and pushing it to the limit, in this exhibition, Clifford explores the staggering beauty of Northumberland and the pure power of the sea.

 

Travelling without Moving…

 Julie Smith

Mosaic Artist

19th April – 30th May

‘We are travellers in the wilderness of this world and the best that we find in our travels is an honest friend’ – Robert Louis Stevenson

The subject and form of mosaic artist Julie Smith’s designs can be prompted by listening to a piece of music or an observation of the everyday things we take for granted, such as the foliage on a tree or the pattern on a piece of fabric. An expression of celebration opens up a dreamscape of colours, patterns and textures connecting her love of ceramics.

Oh I do like to be…

1st June – 3rd July

Environmental Artist

Artist Diane Watson focuses on the myriad of plastic items washed up along our beaches. The exhibition explores the types of plastic pollution around the British coastline Diane visited ten different beaches around the coast, took a mile-long walk and developed wallpapers made from the objects found at each different location. The aim is to see if common objects appear at different locations. Every beach had single use plastic bottle lids, eight of the 10 beaches had tampon applicators, 8 had fishing line 5 had gloves!

We are now producing nearly 300 million tonnes of plastic every year, half of which is for single use. Small objects that once belonged to children such as toys, spades, plastic sand moulds and discarded Lego bricks have only heightened the significance of raising awareness of environmental issues. The UK coastline is more than 7000 miles long, in just 10 miles 373 items were found. When we multiply these miles by the hundreds of thousands of miles worldwide, the extent of ocean plastic pollution becomes alarmingly evident.

Diane’s work challenges the viewer to inspect these objects in an unfamiliar context and re-evaluate their relationship with single use plastics. Look again and consider not just the manufacturing cost but the cost to the environment.

 

Summer Open Exhibition 

13th July – 18th September

Artists are invited to apply to exhibit in our 2022 Summer Open Exhibition

The summer open exhibition is open to both professional and amateur artists with a maximum of 3 artworks that can be submitted for selection. The successful applicants will only then pay a one off fee of £10 per artwork showcased with no commission to pay on their art sales.

How to Apply?

All work must be submitted online via email for consideration to gallery@alnwickplayhouse.co.uk

Closing date 1st July

Please use OPEN EXHIBITION in email subject heading.

Images must be in JPEG format and under 5MB, a maximum or three works can be submitted per artist. Please include title, dimensions, medium and price. The measurements of the works must not exceed 4ft.

Pre selection from online entries will take place initially and artists will be notified by Monday 4th July. All chosen works must be suitably framed, presented and ready to hang.

 

Atmospheric Landscape

Jill Campbell

20th September – 24th October

Abstract Artist

“The constantly changing light and weather of the Teesdale landscape provides a limitless source of material for my paintings”

Jill graduated from the University of Sunderland with a first class degree in fine art and has since exhibited throughout the UK, including the Royal Academy Summer Show 2019 and 2020, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Prize Exhibition, the Ferens Open and the New Light Art Prize Exhibition.

“I fell in love with the drama and beauty of the Teesdale landscape when I moved here 18 years ago and this inspired me to take up painting. Most of my work is based on an ancient mining landscape called Cockfield Fell where I regularly walk. I use elements of what I see and combine these with my imagination to create my paintings. I am fascinated by the Fell’s strange, other-worldly atmosphere with its abstract shapes defined by the morning shadows framed by big dramatic skies. Its pools, pathways, mounds, dips and curves are my motifs. I sketch and take photographs then, in my studio, decide which shapes and colours to play with, drawing and applying layers of paint until I find a balance and a painterly world emerges which celebrates this landscape”.