Ilkley Solar Gallery

Ilkley Solar GalleryIlkley Manor House 🤣

1. Jackie Knight
2. John Gamble
3. Lucy Howell/Saffron Skies

All on the theme of 'Vulnerability'. Come and see the exhibition upstairs in Ilkley Manor House on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 4pm, and chat to the artists about their work!

This stunning piece is entitled "Next Generation" by Jackie Waring. Look out for Jackie's artist spotlight and more examples of her work, coming up soon!

Vulnerability is open every weekend, 11am to 4pm, at Ilkley Manor House. Entry is free and no booking required. There are so many beautiful artworks, jewellery, textiles, cards, and prints for sale. See you soon!

Vulnerability... Its flip side is care, a concept so very relevant today.

As a museum of local history, our home, Ilkley Manor House, with its information and artefacts from the past, enlightens our present day by reminding us of the changing nature of life.

So how fitting this place and time is, giving local artists the opportunity to share their thoughts, ideas, and feelings about vulnerability through the power of art. The media is loud, shouting above the tenderness everyone shows at home. It carries urgent messages about vulnerability from endangered species or the changing climate, to war and peace. The media reports ever-growing threats to essential services. In everyday life, there is a common awareness of vulnerability of personal mental and physical wellbeing.

With this new exhibition, we will show our visitors what art can do. We can give voice to serious issues. Let’s showcase why and how we care.

See the exhibition every weekend at Ilkley Manor House from 11am to 4pm! We love this floral corner, made up of artwork by John Giles and Saffron Skies (Lucy Howell).

The new Solar Gallery exhibition opens today! Here are some photos from Saffron Skies of the artists setting up 'Vulnerability'! Visit us at Ilkley Manor House every Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 4pm.

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Please note! We look forward to seeing you all when the House reopens on Sunday, 14 July.

👋 Just a heads up that Ilkley Manor House will be closed this Saturday, 13 July, for a private event. We look forward to seeing you all when we reopen on Sunday, 14 July!

If you were planning to visit the House this Saturday to buy tickets for upcoming events, you can buy tickets from the links below instead:
✨ CONCERT: Janice Burns and Jon Doran, 19 July - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/918749824457
✨ WORKSHOPS: Medieval Embroidery, 20 July - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/882045801737
✨ COFFEE MORNING TALK: Homes of the Gascoignes, 26 July - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/881469187067

Photo credit: Sam Chipman Photography

🌞 Sunday Spotlight 🌞

Today's featured artist, John Gamble, works from his studios in Ilkley. He is co-founder of Art School Ilkley, which offers workshops for young artists and adults. His work is intuitive, responding to memory, soundscapes and place. He allows himself the joyful freedom to erase, obliterate, remove and then to repair, whilst slowly shifting the painting's focus. The resultant paintings contain hints of story and narrative related to the human figure contained within imaginary landscapes.

His three small paintings (images 2-4) reflect on the theme of overlooked. They each depict simple constructions within an imagined landscape. Henry David Thoreau in his book “Walden” explores a way of living a simple life in natural surroundings, whilst recording the ever-changing states of Walden pond. He chose to withdraw from a busy life, built himself a basic home and began to live a new life of solitude, whilst alert to the natural world. Maybe he chose to be overlooked, to examine the everyday world on his doorstep.

🎨 Favourite Artists:
Paula Rego, Keith Vaughan, Nicola Tyson

🖼️ Favourite Artworks:
Susan Rothenberg - Drawings of Horses
Paula Rego - The Depression Series
Lee Krasner - Figurative Drawings

💭 Biggest Inspirations:
Quality materials, art shops, life drawing, students' work and conversations.

🎶 Favourite Music:
From Tribe Called Quest to Bach, depending on the stage the work is at.

🌞 Any other important favourites that should be included:
A lovely book of poems: Mary Oliver - Blue Horses

🌞 Sunday Spotlight 🌞

Meet today's featured artist, Gillian Gilroy - Artist!

🎨 The works Gill produced for our current theme, The Overlooked, were musings based on two different interpretations of 'Overlooked'. The tulips have been overlooked by not being watered and left to die, and the woman in the bath is literally being overlooked from a view we are not normally privy to.

She has used line drawing in both, as Gill loves the simplicity and immediacy of the line, but also likes to introduce some colour and texture through carefully considered collages to help create a different impact on the viewer.

🌈 Gill says:
"My favourite artists are many and varied but I love Alice Neel, Humphrey Ocean, Chantal Joffe, and Tracy Emin. I love the line of Egon Schiele and Elizabeth Blackadder.

My biggest inspirations are living in Ilkley and walking my dog on the moor. I love visiting art galleries and I enjoy taking my sketchbook to beautiful places and recording my reactions. My favourite materials are graphite pencils, watercolours, and magazines for collaging.

💭 My favourite places are Ilkley Moor, Salts Mill, Northumberland and Scotland! I also love to meet friends and drink coffee!"

You can view and buy Gill's amazing original artwork, prints, and cards at Ilkley Manor House, 11am-4pm, every weekend. Our Summer Makers' Fair is also coming up on 29 and 30 June - pop down from 10am to 5pm to browse!

[Image description: The first image states 'MEET THE' in bold, black letters and 'ARTIST', which contains examples of Gillian Gilroy's flower collage artwork within each letter. Underneath that is the artist's name, 'GILLIAN GILROY', also in bold, black letters. The black text is slightly curved. Beneath Gillian Gilroy's name is her Instagram handle, '', in a smaller, regular font. At the bottom of the image, there is a brief description of the artist's current focus: "My recent obsession is with flowers - I am constantly drawing them and also I am enjoying using watercolours to quickly record them in my sketchbooks." In the bottom right corner is the Solar Gallery logo. It features a small yellow circle with the text 'Solar gallery' through and next to it, contained inside a white rectangle.

The second image features Gillian Gilroy's artwork in a white frame. It depicts wilting flowers with brown, yellow, and green leaves and purple petals in a clear vase. The plant is made up of paper collage, and the vase is a line drawing. Gill's signature is in the bottom right corner.

The third image is a sketch from an upwards perspective, looking down on a n**e woman with long hair in a bathtub.

The final image is a card in cellophane. Its design is a thick black line drawing of a lightbulb with text underneath saying, "You light up my life" in capital letters.]

We are delighted to be participating in the Ilkley Manor House Summer Makers' Fair 2024! The House will be open from 10am to 5pm on Saturday, June 29, and Sunday, June 30—free entry. You can admire our exhibition (current theme: The Overlooked) and purchase beautiful artworks, from ceramics to jewellery, textiles to paintings, cards to prints. There's something to tempt everyone!

🌞 Afternoon, all! This week's featured artist is Carolyn Hird-Rogers - Rogers Ink. Carolyn's first love and degree is in ceramics. She fell in love with salt glaze whilst at uni in Cardiff, and two of her long-standing favourites are and .

🎨 Carolyn's love of surface texture has transferred from ceramic work to the paper collage of recent work, including The Overlooked Dandelions in this Quartet's exhibition.

🖌️ Carolyn says, "A line, whether torn or drawn, is the constant theme of my work".

🗓️ The Solar Gallery is open when Ilkley Manor House is, every weekend from 11am to 4pm.

🌞 Sunday Spotlight 🌞

Meet our second artist of this feature, Linda Dewart!

🧵 Linda works in mixed media with stitch, and her 'Connections' pieces (images 2-4) have been inspired by both the vibrant colours of India and the fabulous cones of colour left over by weavers closer to home.

🎨 Linda says, "to me, threads are like paths. They will get tangled and messed up if overlooked and not cared for properly, but they are also great for tying things together, whether it be a button on a coat or connecting homes, villages, and towns together."

👀 The last photo is 'OVERLOOKED or OVERLOOKED' - a piece with two interpretations!

You can view and buy Linda's beautiful original artwork at Ilkley Manor House, 11am-4pm, every weekend.

☀️ We are open! ☀️
Visit us this weekend from 11am to 4pm to browse the beautiful artworks on the theme of 'The OVERLOOKED'.

🌞 Sunday Spotlight 🌞

Meet our first artist of this feature, Sharon Crosby!

🧵 Previously having studied as a painter-printmaker at Chelsea School and Wimbledon School of Art, Sharon now often opts for mixed media materials, including fabrics, watercolours, and machine embroidery.

🎨 Her work is mainly based on land and seascapes of different coastlines around Yorkshire, Scotland, Northumberland, and more - let us know if you recognise any of your favourite spots in the comments!

You can view and buy Sharon's amazing original artwork, prints, and cards at Ilkley Manor House, 11am-4pm, every weekend.

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Welcome to the new page of Ilkley's Solar Gallery, located upstairs in Ilkley Manor House! We are an art gallery showcasing ~30 local and regional artists, with new exhibitions three times a year. There are beautiful artworks using a variety of mediums to admire and for sale. Our current theme is The Overlooked. Visit us every weekend, 11am to 4pm!

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