Landscapes treated in two very different ways

Art Exhibitions

Water Street Gallery, Todmorden

Water Street Gallery recently launched two exciting new solo exhibitions.

Both focus on landscape, though in very different ways - one topographical, the other inner landscapes.

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Celebrated artist Paul Finn grew up in Batley, and having trained at the Slade and Norwich Schools of Art, he now lives in Suffolk taking in the landscapes which so inspired Constable some 200 years earlier.

His exhibition ‘In the Footsteps of Constable’ explores through oil paintings, informative drawings and etchings of the magnificent Stour valley where Constable spent his formative years.

The artistic processes of remixing his own take on these panoramic views, are as important to Paul as the topographical elements .

Vivid brush and drawn marks and vibrant colour, are skilfully balanced between observation and improvisation.

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There is a fascinating 15 minute feature video to view alongside 30 works in the gallery.

Todmorden artist Lucy Atherton’s beguiling works in her solo exhibition ‘I Waited till Winter’ explore inner landscapes, moods of the mind and emotions, leaning towards symbolist genre.

Though the stark imagery is often softly veiled, she avoids the pitfalls of fantasy, offering hard won, memorable paintings.

Lucy graduated from the Royal College of Art, London in 2009 having spent early years in South Africa and Gloucestershire, this being her second solo exhibition in Water Street Gallery.

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Says Lucy: “These new paintings have been forming and gathering momentum in the pages of a sketchbook started during the summer.

“Now they have been eked out in my freezing cold studio beneath Eagle Cragg in Lydgate over the winter months.

“The colours are often the weather I see. I guess you could call them emotional landscapes.”

The exhibition which started on March 22 runs until April 29.

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