Latest News

WORDS BY THE WATER 6 – 15 March
WORDS BY THE WATER 6 – 15 March 10th January 2020 The programme’s out! This is something I and many others look forward to each year. This year’s line-up of speakers is great – from famous names to people I’ve never heard of with interesting stories to tell. I’m looking forward to hearing Tim Waterstone of bookshop fame, John Crace the Guardian satirist who makes me laugh out loud some mornings, Ruth Davidson erstwhile Scottish politician and novelists Deboragh Moggach and Sally Vickers. I will be chairing art critic Martin Gayford again (Freud... Read More »»
20:20 VISION
20:20 VISION 21st December 2019 Above; No ordinary robin. This is a Percy Kelly robin  .(lino print on card).     Today is the shortest day. Things can only get better from now on – but will they?  It has been a madly busy year – I’m looking forward to a sit down and a good think this Christmas! 2019 began with the Legacy exhibition at Tullie House which finished in February, then rolled on to When Percy met Norman at the Settlement in Maryport which led to work in local schools and the launch of Have a Humbug the children... Read More »»
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL 4th December 2019 I recently came across a folder of very small Percy Kelly drawings and sketches. They are obviously prototypes of things to come and ideas to be developed. But they are delightful in themselves for what they are.  Some have faint grid lines on them to help him scale them up into fully realised works. It is interesting to see his thinking and planning. I have spent a long time looking at them trying to link them to bigger works that have sold (I mostly failed at that!) but I must now let them go... Read More »»
MORETURNER IN KESWICK 20th November 2019 It was good to see many familiar faces at the special showing of Mr Turner at The Alhambra Cinema in Keswick yesterday. Charli Summers from Tullie House gave an enlightening and interesting 5 minute introduction. Afterwards several people told us they were going to see the exhibition as a result. I first saw the film when it was released in 2014 but had forgotten much of it and the 2+ hours passed very quickly. I think it meant a lot more to me having seen the sketch books and watercolours in th... Read More »»
MEET MR TURNER IN KESWICK 11th November 2019 J.M.W Turner visited Keswick several times as a young man and was enthused when he saw this mountainous landscape appearing through mist and rain for the first time. He subsequently painted Derwentwater, Friars Cragg, The Lodore Falls, Buttermere, Crummockwater, Ullswater, Windermere, Carlisle, Whitehaven, Ambleside, Cockermouth Castle and more. He couldn’t get enough of it.   And – he’s coming back again!  In response to Northern Exposure - a spectacular exhibition of his northern paintings and... Read More »»
CORRECTION - AGAIN! 11th November 2019  Sorry I looked at the wrong dates. got mixed up with Theatre by the Lake.in my diary and pressed the button too soon. Thank you to those who quickly spotted it. I have now corrected it on the newsletter but too late. Alhambra Keswick. Mr Turner. Tuesday 19th November at 5.00pm and  Friday 22nd November at !.00pm. Apologies chris ... Read More »»
WOOPS! 20th October 2019 First of all, an apology. I was wrong when I told you the 3-venueTurner Exhibition – Northern Exposure – began in Harrogate. It actually began in Berwick on Tweed last May, continued to Carlisle where it opened yesterday and will continue until 5th January 2020 when it will move on to its final venue, The Mercer Gallery in Harrogate from 18th January to 18th April 2020. The exhibition is full of atmosphere. Cumbria particularly delighted Turner despite it raining almost every day - so much so t... Read More »»
MAKING NOTES 14th October 2019 There are three exciting exhibitions opening in the two major Cumbrian galleries next weekend. It is a happy coincidence that a major exhibition of the work of J M W Turner opens at Tullie House in Carlisle just as the artist has been chosen to grace our new £20 notes against a background of his best known and loved painting The Fighting Temeraire.  Turner is one of our finest watercolour painters who could capture light and atmosphere like nobody who had gone before. It is great that he should... Read More »»
SHEILE FELL RA 1931 - 1979
SHEILE FELL RA 1931 - 1979 13th September 2019 Buying a work of art is a memorable occasion – especially if you queued for it on the doorstep of the gallery as many of you did.  I clearly recall buying my first Sheila Fell painting in 1991 from the Rev Geoffery Bennett’s solicitor Ian Sutcliffe in his office in Castle Street Carlisle where it was hung. This was shortly after attending the opening of Fell’s Retrospective at the Royal Academy in 1990 which then travelled the country. Subsequently a surprising number of her works went through m... Read More »»
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
NORTHERN EXPOSURE 6th September 2019 A Percy Kelly charcoal drawing, Church by the Bridge dated 1958, sold at Mitchells Auction a few months ago. I was pleased when the successful bidder got in touch to tell me she had found exactly where the artist had stood to make it.  Although it had passed through my hands at some point, I had no idea it was Calder Bridge.  She told me of the frisson of excitement she felt as she stood where Kelly had stood to take the photograph which she sent to me.  Calder Bridge hasn’t changed much in 50 y... Read More »»