State of the art: Harrogate’s boom in independent galleries

If you have wandered around Harrogate, you may have noticed a boom in the number of independent art galleries in the town.

In recent years, at least three have launched, including Messums Yorkshire, Watermark Gallery, and Bils and Rye.

And this is in the addition to the established galleries in the town, such as the Mercer, Silson Contemporary, RedHouse Originals and York Fine Arts – to name but a few.

All have proved to be a major draw for both artists and collectors, with many placing an emphasis on promoting Northern talent.

Silsen Contemporary Art Gallery, based at Sarah Collier’s home on Harlow Oval.

Liz Hawkes, director of Watermark Gallery, which opened on the historic Royal Parade in March 2020, said:

“I think there are lots of reasons why Harrogate is great for art. There is the town’s antiques and art heritage.

“There’s also Yorkshire’s art heritage. From Hockney to Hirst, you have got very well-known Yorkshire artists. This area is very well-served by local artists who love to come here and paint, because it’s so beautiful.

“A lot of people also love to visit Harrogate and it’s a very affluent area, with lots of residents who like to buy art.”

Liz, who owns the gallery with her husband Richard, said all the galleries in the town offered something completely different, from ultra-modern contemporary art to traditional Victorian watercolours.

She said:

“You’ve got some fabulous galleries. Each have their own identity.

“We have 57 artists across all media, which is the main point of difference for us.

“Not everybody is always in the market for a painting, but you might pop in for some ceramics or jewellery.

“I think the other thing about us is accessibility. We have really focused on making this gallery accessible to all people. So many people find galleries intimidating.”

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Liz explained that art had become more accessible than ever in recent years thanks to the Own Art scheme. The national initiative makes buying contemporary art and craft affordable by providing interest-free credit for the purchase of original work.

The Watermark gallery is holding six exhibitions this year, with the next, Off the Beaten Track, featuring Yorkshire ceramicist Michele Bianco and Scottish-based Swiss painter, Pascale Rentsch, planned in March.

A number of workshops, courses and lectures will also take place in the studio space at the back of the gallery.

The Watermark Gallery. 

Liz said:

“I think the days of dusty old galleries have gone. The modern gallery is one where things are happening. It’s interactive and fun.”

Johnny Messum, director of Messums Yorkshire, also known as Messums Harrogate and Messums North, agrees that the town is a perfect location to showcase artistic talent.

After an extended stay on James Street following a successful temporary pop-up exhibition in 2020, Messums is moving out of the building at the end of this month.

However, the contemporary art dealer is hoping to find another location in Harrogate and is currently looking for a new site.

Photograph: @messumsyorkshire, Instagram

He said:

“We really want to stay, we just need to find the right venue. We hold very good relationships with our collector base here and have a strong presence in Yorkshire.

“Harrogate is a great place to act as a lightening rod for drawing attention to creativity in the area.”

Johnny said the quality of the art and the number of galleries in Harrogate attracted to people to the town, with many collectors making a special visit.

The gallery’s most recent exhibition, Routes North, has just come to an end, which brought together multiple artists whose work reflects the variety and vibrancy of the region, from Knaresborough to Newcastle.

The exhibition represented the first presentation in the North of this programme, which has been championing emerging talent across Messums sister galleries in London and Wiltshire for the last five years.

It’ also set out to prove that that all roads don’t lead to London when it comes to the quality of work and artistic talent.

Johnny said:

“What’s driving the future of our stay in Yorkshire is that the creativity of the art produced in the area is really exciting.”

Work by Jill Tate and James Thompson at the Routes North exhibition. Photograph: Messums Yorkshire.

Pret A Manger set to arrive in Harrogate

The Harrogate district’s first Pret A Manger looks set to open.

The Stray Ferret understands the sandwich shop franchise will open on Harrogate’s James Street in the unit currently occupied by Messums Yorkshire, a gallery curated by artist Johnny Messum.

It is not yet known precisely when Pret will open but it is believed to be some time in March.

Besides sandwiches, Pret is also known for coffee so its arrival will add to the wide range of options available for caffeine fans.

The landlord of the unit was not available for comment but a well placed source told the Stray Ferret that Pret would be arriving soon.

Photograph: @messumsyorkshire, Instagram

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In the last six months, James Street has seen numerous retail units open and close; Hotel Chocolat opened a cafe in October; this was followed by a new yoga studio Ebru Evrim arriving in the former Laura Ashley building. Harrogate Discount Store is due to close this week.

Pret currently has over 450 cafes in England, with 310 of those in London. Currently, the closest to Harrogate is in Leeds.

StrayArt with Johnny Messum: The role of patronage

StrayArt is a monthly column written by Johnny Messum, Director and Founder of art gallery and centre, Messum’s Wiltshire, London and Harrogate. Johnny’s passion is for contemporary art and sculpture.

Each month he will look at art, exhibitions and events across Yorkshire and sometimes further afield with the aim of guiding and inspiring us.

 

We must all be patrons of the arts and that means taking part as well as supporting artists. There is a vital capacity to art that brings people together and I think we will see this become increasingly important as the high street and the reasons we find for getting together continue to be questioned and asked to adapt. At the core of this narrative is the relationship that the process of making creates between the maker and the viewer. Art is the greatest of story tellers and objects – however formed  – define  capacity of human beings to connect to each other through inanimate objects.

Our role as a gallery is to help artists with a platform on which to create, your role is to take part, whether going to visit, commenting on an artists page, buying works of art or joining in a conversation. Our face to face talks and now online talks with artists and makers allow people to connect with them and to understand what frames their thinking. They are hugely popular because we are fascinated by a fellow human being’s capabilities. Who knows you may find your own object of significance and discover an eco system of creativity that enriches your life in more ways than one.

Patronage as the name suggests is about more than collecting, it is about discerning input into the artist’s career.

A collection of art at Chatsworth House. Credit: Chatsworth House Trust

In Yorkshire there are many examples of discerning patrons – the great English painter JMW Turner found sympathetic patrons in two Yorkshire men – Walter Fawkes at Farnley Hall and Edward Lascelles at Harewood House – whose support and friendship fostered his creative genius. Edward Lascelles also enjoyed a special relationship with another great man, the extraordinary furniture maker Thomas Chippendale from Otley, who received the largest commission of his career furnishing the newly built Harewood House in 1767. The present Earl and Countess commission artists and craftsman today continuing the family tradition of supporting living artists, and in their Biennale focusing on Why Craft Matters Chippendale’s creations were juxtaposed with contemporary furniture, aware as they are that one generation of artists inspires the next.

As I drove back down to London passing through Derbyshire, I passed the sign for Chatsworth House, the seat of the Dukes of Devonshire, where 16 generations of the Cavendish family have collected contemporary art from Elizabethan times to now. The current Duke and Duchess continue the tradition today, and the potter Edmund de Vaal’s vessels are exhibited next to a garniture of Chinese vessels to demonstrate both continuity and difference.

When the current restrictions lift, and these great houses re-open I urge you to visit them and reflect on the many gifted men and women who thanks to the enlightened patronage of their owners have been able to shine and pay their bills and be an inspiration to the next generation of artists and craftsmen, and revitalise us as we look at what they have made.

As you open your parcels on 25 December and find that someone has chosen to give you a beautifully made piece, spare a thought for the person or people who made it, and the ideas, imagination, skills and sensibility that lie within it. Patronage or supporting the arts is not just for Dukes and Duchesses, it is for us all to help bring objects and moments of significance together when ever we choose a hand made piece over factory made items.

Next month I shall be talking about plein air painting, the artists, who like Monet and his fellow Impressionists choose to work primarily, not in their studios, but out of doors.

Messums Yorkshire, 4-6 James Street, Harrogate is open Thursdays to Saturdays from 10am – 5pm. The current exhibition of the leading landscape environmental artist Kurt Jackson continues until 2 January. Two new exhibitions of of Australian artists Daniel Agdag and Atong Atem open on 7 January.  The displays of glass artist Dante Marioni and artist Charles Poulsen continue to 30 January.

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StrayArt with Johnny Messum: The Inside Story

StrayArt is a monthly column written by Johnny Messum, Director and Founder of art gallery and centre, Messum’s Wiltshire, London and Harrogate. Johnny’s passion is for contemporary art and sculpture.

Each month he will look at art, exhibitions and events across Yorkshire and sometimes further afield with the aim of guiding and inspiring us.

 

Setting out to write for the Stray Ferret – which I am delighted to see is going from strength to strength – I had in mind that my articles would look first at Art in the landscape in its last flush of autumn and then look at Art inside. I had not appreciated that we would all follow these instructions so assiduously!

Our home may be where our heart is, and it is also a place that is playing an increasingly important role in our lives, acting as the location of not just living, but work, and often indeed of socialising, which is done increasingly on-line nowadays. There is even a subgenre of interior design specialising in the perfect backdrop for your online video calls. But is your collection just for show for others to see, and if not does it really matter how it is presented? The answer is yes and no to both questions.

Glass art by Dante Marioni, Elliot Walker, Makoto Kagoshima

If you are thinking of collecting it is easier to say what you are not doing than what you are. For example, I am not interested in only buying ceramic works by British designers from 1950-1965, or I am only buying in the price range of £x, or I am only interested in furniture with mouse carvings on them.  Some of the greatest collections have been inspired by very simple principles and not always with big budgets. Most collections I have visited or taken part in designing have always had to concede to the object and give objects primacy in the visual narrative.

But how do we live with Art? I hope you will go along with me if I suggest that Art is not just the object but also the process of how it is made – and that process gives an object its beauty. I am not an interior designer but what I do look at – and very good interior designers do this too – is the materials and the craftsmanship of an object. So in that sense a contrast can work really well. For example, well made vintage furniture – Heals mid 20th Century – with craftsmanship and good design – can set off something really expressive and even unruly. Contrasting materials is really satisfying as well, and Glass is a material at the heart of European art history and yet all too rare in this country.

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Well placed objects can be an inspiration on a daily basis as we pass them or stare at them over the top of a desk top. They are portals to the world of their creative makers, to memories of when they entered your life and assets to enjoy. So think about them as characters and imagine who or what they would like to share space with and you have probably latched onto your next thing. Remember matching is pleasing but contrast is interesting.

When we come off lockdown on 2 December and you wish to look at beautiful and beautifully made objects and see how they are displayed, I recommend visits to Temple Newsam in Leeds and the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle – each offering important collections of European fine and decorative arts in room settings – real treasure houses in a county so rich in country houses.

Messums Yorkshire, 4-6 James Street, Harrogate is usually open Thursdays to Saturdays from 10am – 5pm. The exhibitions of glass artist Dante Marioni and artist Charles Poulsen are now extended to 2 January, due to closure until 5 December, following government guidelines.