Anna Gibson - Blog

Water Street Gallery solo exhibition

13/2/2020

So I've been informed that almost all of my work is on the walls but very unusually I have had nothing to do with the hanging. Rosemary and Mike have done it all between them :) It does make me feel sadly redundant as I do enjoy the whole process of curation - finding connections; placing, moving and placing again; picking out the details or colours that make for a good flow. It's going to be interesting to see the arrangement and it will be fine....it will be fine!
All I have to do is show up in my glad rags at 6 ...except I don't have any glad rags!
Forty two paintings have been selected from my delivery of forty four, I'm very pleased with that and can't wait to see them up.

I'll be there at 6pm on the dot with my camera at the ready.

The Private View is tonight, Thursday 13 February 6 - 8.30 pm - all are welcome!
(RSVP please to the gallery for catering purposes.)

GALLERY INFO
Water Street Gallery, Todmorden
Contemporary Fine Art & Craft

OPENING HOURS
Monday –Saturday 9:30am – 5:30pm
Sunday 11:00am – 3:00pm
CLOSED TUESDAY
Or by Appointment

+44(0)1706 839714
info@waterstreetgallery.co.uk
25 Water st | Todmorden | OL14 5AB

My Solo Exhibition at Water Street Gallery in Todmorden

15/1/2020

January diary entry:

It's a new year, a new decade and I'm having a very good start to them both! 🎨

I have an exhibition coming up next month at Water Street Gallery in Todmorden. So far I have forty paintings which are almost ready to hang, and a few yet to resolve. I'm looking forward to delivering the selected ones to the gallery at the beginning of February, ie in a couple of week's time... Yikes! My work will be on the walls from Thursday 13 February until Sunday 22 March. Gallery opening times are detailed below.

The Private View is on Thursday 13 February 6 - 8.30 pm - all are welcome!
(RSVP please to the gallery for catering purposes.)

Gallery Information:
Water Street Gallery, Todmorden
Contemporary Fine Art & Craft

GALLERY OPENING HOURS
Monday –Saturday 9:30am – 5:30pm
Sunday 11:00am – 3:00pm
CLOSED TUESDAY
Or by Appointment

+44(0)1706 839714
info@waterstreetgallery.co.uk
25 Water st | Todmorden | OL14 5AB

Artsmill solo exhibition 2018; more photos

24/1/2019

Solo Exhibition at Artsmill 25 November - 19 December 2018

2/1/2019

Here are some of the seventy five paintings which made up my exhibition at Artsmill

Press release

10/12/2018

'High Heather'
2018
Acrylic
760 x 760mm

(now sold)

What has been your artistic journey?
My training was not as a painter but as a ceramicist. I spent a few short years working in clay and developing my ideas; then our young family came along. When I eventually returned to art it was in the role of art technician and then art tutor within further and adult education. From there I slowly started making my own work... this time paintings. After several studio moves in and around Hebden Bridge, having my own small retail and workspace by the canal was an unexpected and happy turn of events.

'Into the Light'
2018
Acrylic
440 x 440mm

(now sold)

Where did you train?
I went to college in Staffordshire. My course was Multidisciplinary Design and, for two out of the three years of my time there, I was absorbed by hand-built and raku fired clay forms. After finishing my degree, I made and sold my vessels in local shops and galleries in Chelmsford and Hemel Hempstead. Alongside this I worked as a ceramics tutor with a group of young disadvantaged people.

'Staithes II'
2018
Acrylic
500 x 500mm

Describe your creative process
My work is often a construct from memories and observations gathered from my sketchbooks or photographs rather than a literal depiction of a 'real' landscape. Fear plays a part in my process; the uneasy start to a painting when addressing the white of the canvas and then, once started, the following fear of messing up. I like to add collage elements in the form of printed matter and fabric scraps.

'Swell'
2018
Acrylic
700 x 800mm

SOLD

What inspires you?
I am inspired by the land, the weather that surrounds me and by objects that carry associations and personal meaning.

'Bronze Forest'
2018
Acrylic
560 x 500mm

What is your exhibition about?
My recent work has focused on landscape, hence the title, 'OF Place'. I have lived in different places around the country but generally have found myself in rural or semi-rural locations. Living on 'the tops' above Hebden Bridge, I can't fail to be mesmerized by the changes imposed on the land by the changing light and weather conditions. Aside from the landscapes, I have included some earlier works such as 'Cloth Shoes' and 'Left Alone'; these speak of the loss of familiar and loved people.

'The Bay Below'
2018
Acrylic
210 x 150mm

SOLD

Where to find more of my work

'Of Place' at Artsmill in Hebden Bridge. This is a solo exhibition that runs until Sunday 16 December. Open Wednesday to Sunday 11 - 4pm.
For more details, go to www.artsmill.org

'Small Rare Things' at Water Street Gallery in Todmorden. A group exhibition that runs until 27 January. Closed on Tuesdays. I have six flower paintings in the show. Paintings may be bought 'off the wall'.
For more details, go to www.waterstreetgallery.co.uk

For the very short foreseeable future I have my own canal-side studio/gallery at Hebble End Works on the Rochdale Canal towpath in Hebden ...however, I will be leaving this work-space at the end of December 2018 and my new chart will be plotted!
.......Opening times vary; please contact me before travelling.

Questions put by Fiona Pattison of www.happy4pr.tumblr.com/

Update December 2018

22/11/2018

'It's been a while' is quite an understatement but I freely admit, I'm just plain bad at the business side of my business!

In my defence, Instagram has become an easy way of publicising my work. It’s not that I don’t like writing, more that Instagram is snappy…hahaha and requires a lesser application of time, unless I am sucked into Alice’s rabbit hole of wondrous things in which case minutes and hours pass with ease.

Now
My first solo exhibition of paintings is on the walls at Artsmill in Hebden Bridge. Please do visit www.artsmill.org for more info. At the time of writing, there are just five more days in which my work may be viewed there.

How this came about
In the last week of July, I had a phone call to say that my application to the Artsmill gallery had been successful and the opening of my very own solo show would be in just eighteen week’s time. Yikes! I know the space well and knew that this afforded an opportunity to work on a much larger scale. My work up to this point was proportionally unambitious. But as the prospect became more real, I knew that this was a leap I wanted to take and became hungry to size-up.

The work
Many canvases were bought over the next month or two and slowly the body of work started to stack up, and backwards, and almost out of the door of my smallish studio/gallery. The gallery area became choked with works in progress. Fortunately at one point, I was able to borrow a larger studio; my canvases gained some breathing space and I no longer had to clear away equipment on a daily basis.

The plan
Initially, I had thought that I would fill the gallery with new work but then I had so many existing smaller works that it started to make sense to include the smaller pieces; small works in the Upper Gallery and on the Mezzanine level and the larger works downstairs. This worked really well once I put one or two of the larger in amongst the smaller.

The watershed
In just three and a half months, my exhibition had materialised and I had arrived at a watershed. With seventy five paintings hanging at Artsmill and my studio full of works in progress, I knew that it would be difficult to fit back into my studio. That, together with the fact that my landlord plans to develop the old mill building where I have my studio, means that I have decided to leave Hebble End Works at the end of this month (December 2018). I need a plan but I have no plan. One thing for sure, a new story is about to begin!

National Open Art Competition

7/8/2017

I'm posting here two images from a draft which has been languishing in a quiet corner of my website for over two years. I entered the above competition in 2017 but unfortunately didn't get past the first shortlist. My thought is it's better to put them up here than leave them to catch more digital dust!

The Space Left
Monoprint with ink wash

To Mend, Again
Monoprint with ink wash

Spirals...

14/2/2017

Earlier this month I delivered two paintings to Spirals Fairtrade Eco Store in Hebden Bridge. I was very happy to see that they have grouped these two new ones together with my prints and cards in a small area beside The Artroom desk in plain view as you enter the room upstairs. Here's a snap:

The new ones are "One Day When" which is at top left and "Custard Sky" immediately below on the white shelf unit. At the bottom is my painting "Coal Hills". And the prints are "Intense", "Many-coloured Birches" and "History", seen from the top down.

My last slot at Artsmill

15/12/2016

It has been a quiet morning so I thought I'd show some love for the artworks and take a few snaps of parts of paintings. If you like the little parts you'll just have to down to see the 'wholes'!

I hope you're tempted!

Here are two 3D pieces to finish my mini gallery.

And now it's just about time for me to leave Artsmill and go and put the lights on in my little space at Hebble End : )

Christmas at Artsmill

14/12/2016

I'm sitting in Artsmill, invigilating the Winter Exhibition , listening to Ludovico Einaudi and it's very pleasant! I'm surrounded by some wonderful work both 2D and 3D : ) Happy to have my two paintings next to Richard Wincer's lovely pieces. Other personal favourites are Louis Benoit and Moira Benoit and Joseph O'Reilly. These three artists offer very different styles of work: Louis' energetic, sensitive line, Moira's earthy palette and strong composition and then the timeless quality in Joseph's fine paintings. The exhibition closes on Friday of this week so, if you're gonna come over YOU'D BETTER GET YOUR SKATES ON!!!

A favourite corner! Richard Wincer, and ceramic pieces by Kay Kennedy and Jen Altman. Paintings by David Kennedy, Dorothy Ann Simister and two by me!

Sculpture by Sarah McDade, painting on left is by Moira Benoit

Cats jumping off the page by Louis Benoit!