Well my friends, this is not goodbye to you just a goodbye to our wordpress blog site! It has served us well over the years but it is time to move on.
We are opening the door tomorrow to our brand new website which we are super excited about and hope that you will now follow us over there…see you soon x
Well my friends, a shiny new website is long overdue but those following this blog will understand that I’ve kind of been a wee bit busy this year with other things! Here’s a reminder (if you needed one) to see how bloody hard all the small businesses in Hebden Bridge have worked to get back open again …
The top picture here was taken by Helen Baron at Ribbon Circus just down Market Street from Heart Gallery as I don’t have one of the gallery because I couldn’t get in to the town.
Eventually we started ripping out the interior and working behind the scenes on any salvaged furniture we had.
Then we started to stitch ourselves back together … properly!
Concrete was poured and walls sandblasted and we were making great progress …. then we had the ‘Flood from Above’!
A burst water pipe in the early hours of the morning one Sunday saw gallons and gallons damage all the work we had done and bring ceilings crashing down!
We really didn’t want any further delays so we just cracked on behind the scenes renovating the cabinets, weeks prepping and painting them and using wallpaper kindly donated by local artist Hannah Nunn from her new range, and the floor had to be put down before the decorating began as we had to dry out again!
The decorating finally began and the ‘West End Boys’ started on the interior from my brief whilst Eco Deco and Charlie started on the exterior … we finally felt like we could see the finishing line! Vince at Abacus came to help us finish the new cabinets we commissioned Wood & Wire to make for us.
With the builders off site finally towards the middle of June we had a tight schedule to get the counter and cabinets in and start to dress our lovely new space in time to open for the 24th June!
But we managed it! Re-opening on 24th June was amazing and emotional. There is still so much to do but we are getting there and really excited to be revealing our shiny new website soon with the help of local company Futureproof Media. Here’s a little sneaky peek and watch this space, we are aiming for it to be live for our Birthday celebrations at the end of the month x
Elizabeth grew up in Yorkshire and is currently based in Hereford; her interest and awe for the British countryside are instantly recognisable throughout her collections of handmade, contemporary jewellery.
In her studio, she surrounds herself with pinecones, sycamore seeds and all the botanical treasures she gathers from her woodland walks in Herefordshire.
Forever collecting and taking note of her rural surroundings, Elizabeth is drawn to the silhouettes and simplicity in nature; the smooth lines in leaves and subtle textures of tree bark.
She adopts these qualities and creates elegant, silver jewellery with an essence of tranquillity that rests softly against the skin of the wearer.
Since graduating from Hereford College of Arts in 2012, Elizabeth won a placement with Alloy Jewellers and she has exhibited and sold her work widely through galleries across the UK.
Elizabeth is currently exploring, designing and working towards producing new collections, watch this space!
Since graduating from Hereford College of Arts a year ago Laurence has been making elegant turned vessels and jewellery boxes from his small workshop in Lancashire.
Laurence uses striking native hardwoods sourced from trees he cuts and seasons himself. His work aims to celebrate honest and minimal design, elevate beautiful materials, and bring to light the rich process of making.
The relationship between wood and other materials excites Laurence: elegant and harmonious combinations such as rich English walnut and sumptuous burgundy pig suede, or ebonised young ash paired with warm, radiant brass provide endless inspiration.
Heart Gallery is proud to have been carefully chosen to showcase Laurence’s amazing work in 2016 and we hope that you will come to love his work as much as we do.
Just look at the detail in these gorgeous wooden boxes suitable to store your precious jewellery in x
Fi has been designing and making silver and gold jewellery for over 25 years.
She was based in Wiltshire for the 20 years but in 2015 moved to East Sussex where she now designs and makes all her own work from a beautiful, purpose built workshop.
After discovering her passion for making jewellery at evening classes Fi was accepted into the Birmingham School of Jewellery and trained there for 3 years.
She worked for trade jewellers in Sussex and Bath before eventually setting up her own workshop.
Fi loves designing jewellery as much as she loves producing it and her work has been inspired by her travels, the Wiltshire countryside, local history and, since moving nearer to the sea she has created designs inspired by the coast and her new surroundings.
Heart Gallery has stocked Fi’s work for well over 7 years now and it has been a pleasure to work with her and see her confidence and her collections grow.
Clare is a textile artist working primarily in felt and print. Using British wool she makes beautiful items to use in daily life as she believes it is good for the soul to go beyond the utilitarian and into the aesthetic.
Living and working in Todmorden, at the edge of the Pennines, she is surrounded by stunning scenery and wildlife and celebrates this in her drawings.
A lifelong love of British countryside and wildlife has lead to the choice of subjects she portrays in her prints.
Her 2016 collection for Heart Gallery includes notebooks and travel journals but Clare also produces beautiful lampshades for the home and you can ask about this service.
Catherine Graduated from Cumbria Institute of the Arts in 2004 and now works from her own studio in Thursby Carlisle.
Catherine developed her unique design combination of slip-cast porcelain and stitch when she moved from West Yorkshire to Cumbria.
Catherine combines the two disciplines of ceramics and embroidery to create a finished sculptural piece with complimenting elements.
Each piece is hand crafted by Catherine Ball using fine white porcelain. Her Stitched ceramics collection challenges conventional ceramics through the development of an innovative technique and uses both stitching and buttons as a form of decoration.
Catherine’s work is clean cut and contemporary, ranging from stitched bowls and vessels to high-fired pieces with decorative detail.
Catherine was really pleased to be invited to showcase her signature range as part of our re-opening at the end of June as she knows how much we love her work.
I picked these stems on a lovely canal walk this week as I knew they would compliment Catherine’s vessels … what do you think?
I think they are simply perfect x
As September is our TENTH BIRTHDAY MONTH Catherine has kindly made us some ceramic hearts which we want to sell to raise funds for WATERMARK. This is a much needed scheme for Calderdale so please hop over to the blog to read more thank you. Here are Cath’s hearts but they are limited and only available throughout September at £6 each with the proceeds from the sale of these lovely pieces going to WATERMARK.
Anne creates individually hand crafted textile accessories and artworks from recycled fabrics.
Working in layers to achieve detailed embellished surfaces Anne draws, stitch by stitch, with her vintage wind-up sewing machine. Hand cut flower motifs, which are a feature of her work, are sewn onto the surface to create harmonious colour fields.
Working from a small home studio, Anne’s garden and the flora of the surrounding Pennine meadows are a constant source of inspiration. Her ‘Flower Garden’ and’ Meadow’ themed collections include: canvas and framed artworks, pin brooches, pocket mirrors, hand embellished prints and journals, greetings cards and felt flower posies.
As a textile artist, Anne has an established background in the field of textile arts, from designer and maker to inspiring and training others.Training at Central Saint Martins, London in the 1990s she graduated with a first class degree in textile design.
Between 1990 and 2008 Anne exhibited her woven textiles widely throughout the UK and was awarded Arts Council Research & Development funding, a Textile Fellowship and several major commissions and collaborations.
Following a period looking after her young family young family, Anne began creating embellished textiles under the name Daisy Florence Design.
During the last 5 years Anne has exhibited at The Knitting and Stitching Show London, The Makers’ Fair Saltaire, Settle Stories Settle, Crafted by Hand Masham, ‘MAKE’ Art Fair Wakefield, Art in the Pen Carlisle, The Arts Market Holmfirth, Yarndale Skipton, Artisans in the Palmhouse Liverpool and Just Makers at RHS Harlow Carr. Anne has also showcased her creations at Heart Gallery for the last 5 years and they always bring joy to our customers as they bring the outside in! x
Evie is a Yorkshire based jeweller working in Sterling Silver with semi-precious gemstones.
She takes her inspiration from geometry found in architecture and nature to create her angular silver jewellery designs.
She uses traditional silversmithing techniques and accompanies her designs with semi-precious stones and beads to create an organic contrast to the lines of her silver shapes.
Evie followed her creative passion by studying Jewellery and Silversmithing at the Birmingham School of Jewellery where her basic knowledge, learned from her jeweller parents, transformed into traditional skills.
Since graduating in 2010 Evie has done odd jewellery jobs while working in retail but in 2015, after starting her job as a technician on the evening jewellery classes at the Leeds College of Art, she decided to take the plunge and make jewellery her main focus.
Evie now work mainly from her workshop in the centre of York. Here at Heart Gallery we love Evie’s collection for us and hope that you enjoy her geometric collection in silver, oxidised silver and semi-precious stones she has made us.
Well my friends, September is nearly upon us as we count down to our next exhibition UNDER THE SAME SKY.
After a lovely breakfast meeting with Julia earlier this week, and a sneaky peek at some of the finished paintings, I wanted to share some of the news with you here and tell you about her painting workshop at Heart Gallery.
Julia’s walks to Gibson Mill, Heptonstall and Stoodley Pike looking across the valley or hills have informed the colours of her paintings; watching the seasons change under the same sky!
Back in her small but perfectly formed studio Julia starts work on creating a painting from something that has inspired her on one of her walks.
The changing skies show a new side to our valley’s character and Julia captures this in acrylic to give us insights of her lovely day. Julia doesn’t really know why her colours turn out like this but we love her paintings and know you will too.
You can be inspired by Julia too on Monday 10th October if you attend her acrylic painting workshop at Heart Gallery from 1pm – 4pm. Tickets for NORTHERN SKIES – PASSING THROUGH are £28 and available from Heart Gallery. Spaces are limited to ensure lots of one to one teaching so please do call in to buy yours soon so you are not disappointed.
Come to Heart Gallery for an inspiring afternoon with artist and qualified teacher Julia Ogden and create a beautiful local landscape to take home x
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