Annual Arts Group Showcase At Batley Art Gallery

ArtsLifestyleLocal NewsMuseum

Commemorating and reflecting upon the centenary of the First World War, Batley Art Gallery has a new exhibition entitled ‘Lines of Conflict’ opening on Saturday 6th September. Members of Yorkshire Sculptors Group will be showcasing pieces alongside invited artists, to create an exhibition which looks at the war from many different perspectives. Domestic responses to the tragedy of war are explored alongside visual analogies to disfigurement and amputation; whilst other artworks offer a more tranquil meditation on war, its devastation and renewal, through the symbolic depiction of poppy fields and memorials.

 [private]The Yorkshire Sculptors Group, whose work forms a large part of the exhibition, held a successful exhibition at Scarborough Art Gallery which explored the bombardment of the town by German warships in the early hours of 16th December 1914. Some of that work also features in this exhibition, alongside newly created images and objects. Other artists have responded to a call-out for entries to the exhibition, and will have their work included alongside the work of YSG. This includes members of Oakwell Art Group, plus a number of local photographers, illustrators and painters. In total 20 artists will showcase their work at the gallery.

YSG member Terence Hammill is presenting a series of drawings entitled ‘Mugshots’. From 1914 to 1918 Henry Tonks, a qualified surgeon and professor at the Slade School of Art, made a series of drawings of the facial wounds of soldiers disfigured during WW1, which Terence makes reference to: “Using the image of a mug (also slang for face) I have attempted to explore how far that image can be ‘disfigured’ without losing its identity and to link it to Henry Tonks who saw the results of mechanised warfare.”

Linda Thompson’s sculptural works focus on children and the family. Her pieces are a reflection of the fragile vulnerability of children & family within a bombardment situation. In one artwork, names written within a fractured and broken doll’s head are those of some of the individuals who died in the bombardment of Scarborough early on in the war.

Victoria Ferrand Scott, also of YSG, has been inspired by old photographs of shells lined up in factories during the First World War. Her pieces also refer to the Scarborough bombardment, which was the first time that the civilian population was targeted by “German Raiders”. By using curtain fabrics to cover the shell forms Victoria re-envisages the daily ritual of drawing back the curtains being abruptly interrupted by the enemy attack. Posters were produced with an image of a child holding a baby outside the wreckage of a house, its frontage in ruins and windows smashed… “No 2 Wykeham Street, Scarborough after the German bombardment on Dec 16th. It was the Home of a Working Man. Four people were killed in this House including the Wife aged 58, and Two Children, the youngest aged 4” The headline reads “MEN OF BRITAIN! WILL YOU STAND THIS? 78 Women & Children were killed and 228 Women & Children were wounded by the German Raiders. ENLIST NOW.” It served as powerful propaganda to galvanize the population into action.

Amongst the work on display there will be a variety of other responses to the conflict: Paul Heeley and Richard Yeomans depict rain-soaked soldiers treading their way across the trenches and no-man’s land;

Andrew Pert represents the anonymity of war with rows of identical figures in battle; John Chamberlain illustrates the kindness of strangers, in his drawing of a nurse giving a solider a cigarette in the American hospital in Neuilly, France.

Photographer Ruth Robson shows a series of memorial photographs which emphasise the debt we owe to those who fought and fell, by juxtaposing the Batley Memorial and the Library, Batley’s community hub.

Exhibition coordinator Mark Milnes is pleased at the response to the exhibition theme so far: “we’ve had great enthusiasm from the artists who are taking part, and some very thoughtful and original responses to the theme. I’m interested to see how the work will all sit within the gallery; though I’m certain, given all of the imaginative work I’ve been presented with so far, that it will all work together beautifully and create a coherent and thought-provoking statement for our gallery visitors.” In addition, a special piece of artwork will be created by visitors to the exhibition on Batley Festival Day, 27th September. Those visiting can make their own decorative poppy with artist Kay Dawson, and plant it in a specially created poppy field which will remain in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition.

Further information about First World War commemorative projects and exhibitions can be found on the Kirklees website at www.kirklees.gov.uk/lestweforget. Batley Art Gallery is situated on the first floor of the library building, and is accessible via stairs or lift.

Exhibition dates: 6th September to 18th October 2014

Open day: Saturday 27th September, Batley Festival day, related arts activities (suitable for all ages) throughout the day – 10am to 4pm

Gallery opening times:

Mon 9.30am – 7.00pm          Tues 9.30am – 5.00pm

Wed 9.30am – 7.00pm          Thurs 9.30am – 5.00pm

Fri 9.30am – 5.00pm             Sat 9.00am – 4.00pm[/private]

You May Also Like

Box Office Opens For Leeds International Orchestral Season 2014/15
New Environmentally Friendly Biomass Boiler To Arrive At Historic Leeds House

Author

Must Read

No results found.

Menu