In this issue our Editor, Denis Taylor and the gifted photographer Lee Harrison had a mission to interview and photograph the legendary Gallery owner Dave Gunning. The interview also include the full story of how W.R.Turner was re-discovered by Dave and reported by the Times Magazine Supplement.

painters TUBES magazine issue number three

3 T U Bpainters E S magazine for Art, Artists and Art Galleriescontentsp4 Editors pages p34 “not just another art gallery”Looking forward to summer and a few words Saul Hay opened late last year with big ambitionsabout the recent passing of Martin Regan. to become a leading contemporary art gallery. WeDirector of Gateway Gallery Hale. visited and took a gander at their space.p6 “ a morning and an afternoon with p40 Catching up with Hugh Winterbottom.Steve Capper A cancelled appointment led the editor to re-visitthe Editor scoffs some rare (for him) English food a mill where several artists have their studios.after having a long and interesting chat with fellow He was told that Hugh was a ‘really nice guy,’ heold boy from the Manchester High School of Art. finds out Hugh’s is not a bad painter either.And looks deeper at Capper’s authentic work. p44 Harry Rutherford has a toothache...p13 Cover Story. Dave Gunning ...and the Central Art Gallery in Ashton-u-LyneThe Editor and our very gifted photographer Lee has a pain in the pocket. One of the North’sHarrison had a mission to interview and phto- great artists work, moved from his own Gallery ingraph the legendary Gallerist- Photographs are Hyde found itself in a Town miles away. Why aregreat & the Editor picked up an original copy of a provincial galleries so poorly funded and how canstory. And they both had biscuits and tea, they possible survive in the 21st century?p19 Paul Barker and W.R.Turner p50. Spike - on Money and ArtPaul Barker wrote a brilliant article back in 2003 Acid tongue Spike has a go at the trendy curatorsabout one of the North’s great artists William of the art system big boys and their establishedR.Turner. The original article is published again, artists. And how they may manipulate the pricewhich we believe has been unread by the many. tags of the contemporary art scene. And then reaches a conclusion that left him with a severep22. “talking the Real Deal” depression - cheer up mate, it’s not that bad, is it?The longest artists interview on record-18 hours p54. Artists Callof talking the real deal with Dean Entwistle. We are looking for some painters to feature inOur Editor goes the distance with a really good a study article about the new moves in abstract.artist and finds out he shares some complex psiexperiences, and looks at some super sky’s. p55. Artists Offer For the price of couple of pints of beer, you canp29 Where are the women artists? have your personal printed copy of our MagazineDiana Terry asked Tubes that question and we Delivered to your door...it’s an Artists must have.responded by asking her to write an article aboutexactly that. A series we want to explore further. painters Tubes magazine produced by Studio 5 Sweden. registered office: Ekerodsvagen 253, 266 95 Munka Ljungby. +46431441050 Tubes is available to the public free on line. Printed single copies or annual subscriptions email:[email protected] - www.painterstubes.com ptmag- #3 - 2017- 05-13

4 photograph ©Marianne Arnberg Editors pages May already! - How quickly the time flies when you are physically flying in and around Europe interviewing people and talking Art all the time. This is our third issue, which means almost half of the year has gone in the blink of eye. I guess it’s a good time to slow down a little and savour what, we all hope, will be sun filled days of a really great Summer and some marvellous art exhibitions. First - I wanted to say a few words about the sudden death, in April, of Martin Regan, a partner of Gateway Gallery, Hale. I’d spoken with Martin only a few times, the first being with an extended telephone call, when the Gallery had opened its doors in Hale only months before. Martin started his career as a journalist and had been a collector and dealer for some time before he set up Gateway Gallery LLP in Macclesfield. When he went into business partnership with Susan Eyres, the gallery moved to Hale and carried on with the “Northern Art” specialism with some Modern British art added into the mix. Martin’s responsibilities in the new gallery called upon his journalistic background as well as his art knowledge – it was Martin who was behind the (sometimes controversial) Facebook page and it was he who wrote Gateway’s book “The Northern School: A Reappraisal” after 5 years of talking about it. (the book reviewed in our Jan Feb issue).Martin was a passionate lover of Art and even though I personally may have not gone along with his viewpoints on that score, especially where contemporary art was concerned, I certainly respected him for standing his ground. He had a polemic style of argument about him, some would say he was darn right rude at times. And I guess he did upset a few people (which were usually artists). However, there was never any lack of lively controversy surrounding his opinions, assumed from the telephone calls and text messages that I personally had been receiving over the last year or so. At least none to indicate that Martin was, in any way, mellowing or undertaking a charm offensive to gain favour from any Artist, ones that many other Galleries were promoting and profiting from.

5obituary Martin Regan. (1962 - 2017)Martin had chosen to work in the Art-World because he genuinely loved paintings - ‘Northern Art’ was hispassion and it may well be that his insistence on the constant branding of it (especially on social media) furtheralienated him from the younger (and some of the not so younger) artists in the Greater Manchester area.I think he saw this ‘branding-mission’ as his duty to overcome or ‘put-right’ what he viewed as the ‘dominance’of London Art. And perhaps his activities were tinged with bitterness of how the Art system, particularly in theSouth of England, had undermined and castigated the ‘industrial north’s’ art and dismissed the artists asnon-serious creatives, as they once had done.What Martin may not have been aware of was that the ‘London centric art tendency’ may have been truea decade or more ago. It has in fact changed dramatically, as has the attitude to the North has altered frombeing seen as an industrial wasteland to a land of opportunity both economically and culturally.I have to say, I was in a shocked state when I heard of Martin’s passing. It was totally unexpected even thougha little bird had told me he had been unwell for a short time, his death still came sudden and I think took mostpeople in the art gallery ‘business’ by surprise. But, life goes on, as one artist said to me the other day, andtherefore I cannot dwell on the loss too much. For, despite everything that may have been said about Martin,that was negative, he was a real character. And it’s characters of all ilks that the art world needs certainly moreof, especially today.Perhaps his passing will signal an end to all the nostalgia that surrounds the old Northern art scene and Artistswill stop from pretending that those visually grey and endless rows of brick dwellings with factories spewingout carbon killing smoke in the industrial heart of the North of England, usually illustrated from the 1950’s orbefore, is a positive subject matter - And just maybe, they will turn towards creating work of colour and beautythat is very positive and very much of ‘today’ or even ‘tomorrow.’The first exhibition (after Martin’s death) that will be shown by Gateway Gallery is a solo show of a painter thatdemonstrates the sort of thing I’m talking about - Steve Capper.Many readers will know his work but few will know the man.personal comment: I interviewed Steve before Martin had died (in hospital) and had formed my own opinionsof his work after I had taken more than cursory look at it, that opinion you can read in this issue.In some way the two events (Steve Capper’s interview and Martin’s untimeley death) helped to clarify mythoughts and firm up my opinion that the Galleries in the North of England need to start to ‘look’ around moreand expand their art parameters. A few are already doing precisely that. And a number of artists are beginningto question what ‘Art’ actually means to them, and why they do it.I hope you enjoy this issue and look forward to hearing your views, comments and critic, as I always do. Denis Taylor. Editor.

6 a morning and an afternoon with... ...Steve Capper photograph: ©Denis Taylor for painters Tubes Magazine

For those of you that are regular gallery exhibition 7 goers, then Steve Capper’s work will be more thanfamiliar to you. I’d seen Steve’s distinctive paintings in above - “Yellow Light” below- “the Old Cottage”a few Galleries in and around Manchester for a number The first thing was to have a drink of hot coffee andof years (at least I thought I had). Truth be told, I first after saying hello to his wife Jan, in the kitchen, weviewed his work by way of a contact I’d made with him both moved into to the Studio and carried our drinksquite a number of years ago. I was trying to gather with us. The ‘Studio’ was actually one of those all glassartists from the Manchester High School of Art together double glazed extensions attached to a modern brickas a group and create an exhibition of ex-pupils, of house which was positioned as to be almost impossiblewhich I was one. Steve was enthusiastic about it, but to be overlooked. The sunshine flooded the room asthat idea never really got off the ground due to a lack of the view outside was exactly what you would expect ofinterest and the reluctance for any of the other ex-pupils the rolling contours of the Pennine hills. Immediately,the make an effort to bring the project into a reality. It’s it became evident that Steve’s work did indeed reflectsad how many a good (art grouping) idea falls by the the atmosphere and scenery that was in front of mywayside because people simply can’t be bothered to eyes and much more besides. Serene, is a much underput any effort into a project, if it doesn’t benefit them used and under estimated adjective for that feelingdirectly. of an untroubled tranquil sensation, the one that I experienced whilst sipping my coffee and chatting toMany years later our path, or rather my path and Steve about Art. It was like were were sitting in one ofSteve’s work, was to cross again, this time it was a his paintings talking about paintings -result of research for an article I was writing for the - a surreal moment for sure -International Art Market Magazine, one that wastracing the Art of the North West of England from 1900 Jan had brought us both a plate of hot croissants toto 2016. During my research, and by coincidence, I complete the sheer enjoyment of the moment and wesaw an example of his work in the Contemporary Six happily began discussing the broader art scene inGallery in central Manchester. His work was easy to Manchester. It was almost like Steve was interviewingspot as Steve’s style is so distinctive that sometimes me on what I thought about this artists work or thatan experienced artists eye tends not to look at the work artists work and the general state of contemporary artin depth, but just scan the surface to identify the style, in the UK. Never one to shy away from an opinion onsomething many full time artists are guilty of. A year art, when I am asked that is, Steve then evaluated myor so after that coincidental path crossing, I attended thoughts and in general, concurred with my analysis ofthe opening of the Gateway Gallery exhibition “A each artist in turn with a knowing and wry smile.Reappraisal of the Northern School of Art’ which washeld last November (2016). Once again some of Steve’swork was on show.This time my attention was taken by him in person,along with Geoff Key, who was also an old boy of theMSoA - I’d also brought along an old classmate tothe show, so you can imagine the four of us natteringon about the Old School and some of it’s great artist-teachers.Once again my absolute attention was taken away fromSteve’s work, even though his work stood out from therest of the paintings on show, from a ‘catching oneseye,’ point of view, and by some considerable margin.And so, early last month I decided that it was high timeto make a personal visit to see Steve in his Studio, andthis time look at the work in a more concentrated way.At least that was plan.Steve lives and works in Delph, a small cute villagenestled at the foot of the Pennines, getting there bypublic transport is a bit of grind, but nonetheless myjourney of nearly two hours from central Manchesterwas, I hoped, going to be worth it. I arrived in Delphon a bright but slightly chilly March morning. I’d textedhim on the bus to tell him I was en-route and madearrangements to be picked up from outside theVillage pub. We shook hands and made the customarysmall talk greetings. “I could have picked you up inOldham, if you’d texted me earlier.” He said to me aswe entered his driveway. “I know Steve”, I said in fullagreement with him.

8 above: “the old road.” Again, as with Steve, the surface of Bonnard’s work is met with a hurried opinion, without the “I couldn’t paint, when I was teaching..” absolute depth and originality of the work having been considered in any meaningful way. Steve said to me. I knew Steve had been Not unlike Bonnard, Steve’s work is colourful working as an Art teacher in a state School for and employs easily recognisable themes, decades. Apparently it was only when he left his landscape and still life’s in the main. They are not full time teaching job that he dusted off his easel representational in the academic sense of the and brushes and began painting again. word, neither could they be termed strictly abstract as such. Yet they are filled with all the joy and “It was was like I was 30 years pleasure that art promises us, some may even say younger, it filled me with such pleasure the work is charming. that I simply can’t stop working now.” Abject critics would say most of the work (of Bonnard and Steve) is decorative, and I can He said in a sort of ironic way. It was that understand that point of view to an extent, that is same ‘pleasure’ that you feel when you are stood until you read into the work further. in front of one of his paintings. It’s a symptom of contemporary art that the ‘pleasure’ aspect of art It is perhaps, that today people have little time to creation is surprisingly overlooked and much art really look at original art and that the fact that the [paintings] is negated because ‘pleasurable art’ has public have been optically bludgeoned into been derided as ‘not-serious’ by them that pull the a sort of art-blindness by the cacophony of images strings of the contemporary art scene. on the www and the mass media, that they (and This reminded me of the work of Bonnard and how sometimes even me) have simply forgot how to his paintings have been sidelined because they are look at good Art when its right in front of us. obviously a pleasure to look at.

And again, like Bonnard, Steve does not 9copy what’s in front of him, he uses visualmemory integrated with his feelings about above: ‘the Yellowwhat he is painting. Which, technically, table’puts him (and Bonnard) outside being left:Bonnard atlabelled an impressionist or a surrealist or work in his studio.an abstract painter.What Steve does is all his own work.The American philosopher andpsychologist William James wrote in oraround 1890......“Remembrance is like directfeeling; its object is suffusedwith a warmth and intimacyto which no object of mereconception ever attains.”This statement could well apply to Steve’swork in general. And that’s the feelingsthat I [personally] got from his work whenI really allowed myself time to look at it.An opinion that many people have(including me, I might add), about Steve’swork is that it is seemingly so ubiquitous?I asked him that question directly to tryand pin down the reason.He told me that examples of his work havebeen promoted by Galleries, especially online, but the truth is he has only a smallnumber of original works actually in agallery. Some galleries have bought oneor two of his paintings and exhibit them atregular intervals.

10 This may go some way to explain the opinion that his work is shown everywhere, (and as a consequence dampens down the uniqueness of it). His main Gallery (for most of his work) is Gateway Gallery in Hale, although he has shown, over the years, in a few others in Manchester (Contemporary Six, being one other). For me it seems the absolute reason is that ‘once seen, you easily remember’ Steve’s work - And the feel it carries with it, which sort of engraves itself on the very fabric of your memory bank. Perhaps this is because they are so easily received by the eye and the mind. I mean, who doesn’t like a pleasurable image when it is presented to you? - And for those painters who think it is easy to paint an original work with this quality, I can assure it is not, especially landscape painting. Anyone can paint a landscape, impressionistic or post impressionistic or otherwise from a photograph or even from real life, very few can paint a landscape with the authority of an original style as Steve does. - Even fewer can paint a still life with that same imbuded quality. ‘still life with oranges’

11 ‘the big Hayfield’As the time approached for me to leave, having had all the positive thoughts that I had during our longconversation, Jan re-entered the studio bearing plates full of sandwiches, and I soon succumbed toagreeing to stay for lunch, (as Jan had made sandwiches that were English Cheese with Piccalilli andEnglish Cheese with Branson pickle, a wonderful treat, one that I can rarely find in Sweden.All washed down with English tea, followed by one of my favourite sweets, hazel nut chocolate bars.After lunch, we talked for another hour or so in which time I discovered that Steve (and his fellow artistfriend, Peter Stanaway) were actively engaged in helping another artist exhibit his life long work.The painter had been recording the village of Delph on canvas, all his life and was now approaching 90years of age. That artist is Russel Howarth...“Maybe you should go and speak with him Denis..” Steve said to me.“He really has a unique bank of work, and one that deserves writing about...”After my own realisations about ‘really looking deeper’ at paintings and beyond the surface, as I did withSteve’s work...perhaps I should do exactly that. Denis Taylor spent a morning and an afternoon with... Steve Capper. (April 4th 2016). Steve’s next solo ehibition is at Gateway Gallery, Hale, 19th May - June 9th. 2017

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photograph: ©painters tubes magazine 2017 13 COVER STORY the mission......to photograph and have a cup of tea and biscuits with a very special art gallerist.” the Editor and photographer Lee Harrison, go to visit an art legend.

14 photograph by Lee Harrison ©2017 our mission “to photograph and have a cup of tea and biscuits ...with a very special art gallerist.” written by Denis Taylor with photography by Lee Harrison It would be incorrect for me to say that this visit and mission meeting with Dave Gunning at Todmorden Fine Art Gallery was my first trip. It wasn’t, this was my third or more. My second visit was to enable me to accompany Mr Gunning to view the largest collection of William. Ralph Turner’s paintings in the UK, one housed in a very private Art collection. Dave had arranged the visit after I had spoken with him after our first meeting previous to a lengthy telephone conversation (from my studios in Sweden). At the time I was writing a series of articles for another publication (the International Art Market Magazine) which discussed the artists and the art of the Industrial Revolution, and how that had affected painters like, W.R.Turner, Theodore Major, Alan Lowndes, Emmanuel Levy and Harry Rutherford, to mention just a few.

15“Dave Gunning, first opened the doors of Todmorden Fine Art to the public in 1981.”photograph ©Lee Harrison 2017 Dave had told me of a a great story, one with a set of etraordinary coincidental circumstance, that I couldn’t resist the chance to spend time with him on the long car drive to a destination to view a private collection of W.R.Turner’s art in the flesh. Besides which, viewing the collection was a privilege, one that not many other people shall experience. It was during that drive that we chatted about art, art history, creative writing, his life in general and his introduction to the art world when he first opened the doors of the Todmorden Fine Art Gallery in 1981. Dave turned 79 years old this year, so I thought it was high time his own story was told to the world wide readers of our magazine, as he has played a pivotal role in the dissemination of the now famous paintings and the artists names that have become the backbone of the genre of Art that today is known as English Northern Art. A label that many artists (and galleries) attach to themselves, which also helps sell their art. In 1981 that commercial label didn’t really exist as such, hence the title of the gallery ‘Todmorden Fine Art’ - a title chosen by Dave Gunning and his friend and business partner, Brian Middleton. It was Fine Art that was loved, whoever produced it, and from wherever it came.“Dave greets us at his Gallery door” His love of art started when Dave Gunning was a child. Born in London on March 16th,1938, it was when he was only six years old that his ‘art- collecting-tendency’ took hold. A year or so before the World War ended (1944) Dave’s mother divided 18 old pence (about seven and half new pence) in to equal amounts (6 old pence each) between him, his brother and his sister to buy something from the jumble sale, being held at their local Church Hall. His brother bought a football. His Sister bought a doll. And Dave bought a large gilt framed oil painting depicting trees, cows and farm in a typical Victorian stylisation to illustrate the pastoral peace and tranquillity of the English countryside (inspired no doubt by John Constable). A few of his friends helped him to carry the mega-sized painting back home. His mum, on seeing what she viewed probably as a monstrosity, refused to have it in the house and Dave was made to return it to the jumble sale where he traded it in for some comics.“His love of art and collecting it, started when Dave was just six years old.”

16 “his deep seated dream of opening his own Art Gallery remained unfulfilled.” That particular story from his early childhood has been told me a few times by Dave and yet I still read into it different aspects of just how much Fine Art means to him and by what value he sets on the Art that speaks to him. He continued his art collecting forays by acquiring (cheap) old watercolours and an extensive collection of Art Post Cards (which incidentally were first introduced to the general public at the famous 1900 International Exhibition held in Paris). Dave’s cards must have included all the great masters from the previous century which surely provided him with a deep well of visual information and knowledge when he was still in his teens.photograph ©Lee Harrison He attended university where he studied French, Latin, English and the History of Art. He elected to become a teacher (of French) which must have provided the financial basis for him to continue with his Art collecting compulsion. He lived and worked in North Wales where he became very keen on the artists of the Royal Cambrian Academy. He became friendly with members of the Academy, ones that included artists like, Donald McIntyre, George Anthony Butler, Millicent Ayrton and several other artists. Yet his deep seated dream of opening his own Art Gallery remained unfulfilled.

17 one of Dave’s many portrairts by an artist friend.. photo©Lee Harrison “ one day Brian told he was considering resigning from his teachers job, the very next he did, so I did the same.”It was Brian Middleton, a great friend of Dave’s, who become tired of teaching (mathematics) andinformed Dave one day that he intended to resign his position and encouraged Dave to the sameand make his dream become a reality. And he [Brian] would be his business partner. Dave had beenhesitant to give up his secure job, but then Brian telephoned Dave to inform him that he had resignedhis position as the Head of Maths at Alder Hill School (in Rochdale), the day after Dave gainedcourage and did likewise.He knew it was a gamble, but with Brian’s previous position he probably made connections inRochdale and so the decision to open a Gallery located in that area was obviously the right place tostart and try to make a go of being a gallerist. Dave used his own collection of around 250 paintings asthe opening stock. The first few years proved challenging but slowly and surely the word spread thatTodmorden Fine Art was the place to acquire really great art and at a great price.Gradually more artists were brought into the Gallery as Dave expanded the base of its stable ofartists, these included, (from the Liverpool School), the calibre of artists like; Donald McKinley, GeorgeJardine, Nicholas Horsfield and George Kennerley.After a while Dave tireless search for the art that he loved took him into other artists studios wherehe secured more work for the Gallery. The list includes well known national and local artists such as:Geoff Key, Peter Stanaway, Gordon Radford, Mike Knowles, Russel Howarth. Sue Atkinson, RegGardner, Ian Norris, Olivia Pilling, Mike Weeden, Richard Clare, Anthony Marn and Adam Ralston,names that many international art collectors and those in the North of England will be very familiarwith. Standing above those Artists (for me) is the name William Ralph Turner (1920-2013)

18 photograph: ©Lee HarrisonWill Turner enjoyed considerable success in the 1980’s, when he sold through the gallery run by Wendy Levy in Cheshire.However, later on he became forgotten, until he wasre-discovered in the year 2000. He is an artist with whom Dave Gunning and Todmorden Fine Art have becomesynonymous. That story is best told by the journalist who related the circumstances surrounding the resurrection ofW.R Turner’ art and him as one of the UK’s great painters.The journalist was Paul Barker who wrote articles for the Sunday Telegraph Magazine.I was going to tell the story of how Turner was ‘rediscovered’ myself for painters Tubes, but I’d already told it in my ownway a few years ago in series of articles I’d written for another magazine. When I visited Dave Gunning, last month, alongwith Lee Harrison, who by the way takes many great photographs for Tubes,Dave handed me an original pristine copy of the Sunday Times Magazine dated, 24th August 2003.For the first time I could read the original article in it’s original published form.I considered that like many others, I had never read the original article and so I have taken the respectful liberty ofreproducing it in this issue of painters Tubes magazine. (see the special pages following).The upshot of the Sunday Telegraph Paul Barker story, and Dave Gunning’s part in making the artists work known, wasthat William.R Turner, was given a retrospective exhibition at the Gallery Oldham in 2005 where, and as you may expect,Dave not only attended but made a video of the whole exhibition opening day, for posterity. I’m proud to say I helped toedit the original video to enable Dave to watch it again on his computer and secure it in a digital form, just in case theVCR tape should deteriorate.Dave Gunning is a true character. He has a fantastic dry sense of humour and is a kind and gentle man. Make nomistake from outward appearances, Dave Gunning’s mind holds a veritable treasure of art knowledge and intimatepersonal details of artists that should be written down for future generations....maybe I should do that? Besides, it woulda great excuse to share yet another cup of tea and biscuits with him and listen to a man who gave the chance to artistshe believed in, by showing their work to a wider public, those who today have become highly regarded artists and mayotherwise have remained totally unknown or ignored at best, or totally forgotten about, at the worst.

19 William Ralph Turner by Paul Barker. The story about how one of the North’s old masters was resurrected from obscurity having been forgotten about since he was identified as a rising star of art in 1963. The following article on William Ralph Turner was original published by The Sunday Telegraph Magazine 24th August 2003 written and researched by Paul Barker ©Telegraph Group Limited 2003 Reproduced here as a compliment to the man behind the story, Dave Gunning of Todmorden Fine Art Gallery.It is like a vision of the end of the world.A yellow and orange flame spurts up into a red and blue sky. Two huddled figures movealong below, like lost souls on their way to purgatory. But what looks like Judgement Dayis, in fact, an oil plant at Ellesmere Port, near the intersection of the Manchester Ship Canaland the river Mersey. The painting is by William Turner, an 83 year-old artist who is only nowgaining the credit he deserves.At Turner’s house, an enlarged cottage in a suburban street in the town of Congleton,Cheshire, I’m greeted by a spry, wiry man, with bright blue eyes that light up behind hisrimless glasses. The artists is dressed in a grey shirt, dark trousers and polished brownshoes. On his left shirt pocket, he wears a tiny golden six pointed Star of David, in honour ofthe Jewish mother he hardly knew. She died when he was five. He paints in his garage, theSaab stays outside.Back in the 1960’s the Manchester Guardian hailed him as ‘rising star. But even the mosttalented painters can slip through the net. Turner says he hawked pictures around LondonGalleries - ‘wearing my shoes out’ - but metropolitan dealers, in their ‘antipathy towardsnortherners,’ rebuffed him. But then, Turner didn’t always want to be artist. When he grew upin inner Manchester he wanted to be a speedway rider - ‘that or boxing were the only waysout’ - but he couldn’t afford £80 for a motorbike. So he settled for racing cycles instead. Inhis hall he has three, leaning up against each other: one from the 1950s, one from 1970s,and one he has just bought. It’s bright red and specially built. He still goes for 30-mile rides.He tells me he was passed the other day by a younger rider who patronisingly asked, ‘Areyou all right?’ ‘But I realised I could overtake him.As I went past him, I said, “Are You alright?” You don’t lose the spirit of competition, even atmy age.’Even Lowry, who died in 1976, suffered from anti-northern prejudice, though his pictures ofstick -men and bleak mills became more widely known from the 1950s. But rather than helphis fellow painters of the industrial north, Lowry’s success overshadowed them. There isn’ta single picture by Turner, born and bred in Manchester, in any of the city’s art galleries.He has never had an exhibition at Salford’s Lowry Centre.

20And while his paintings often depictStockport (he lived just outside the townfor more than 30 years) and its bizarrelandscape of hills, factories and 27-archVictorian railway high above the streets,Stockport’s art gallery owns only one ofhis pictures. In southern galleries, there isnothing.Things are, however, looking up. Onecollector in Wales now has more thana hundred Turners, which he intends tobequeath to a public gallery. And, not longafter he turned 80, Turner found an agent forthe first time.When Dave Gunning, who jointly runs asmall art shop in Todmorden, Lancashire,went to supper with a customer he wasstunned to see on the walls three paintingsby William Turner, whose work he knew onlyfrom a brief passage in a reference book.Where was the artist, he asked. ‘Oh, he’sbeen dead for years,’ he was told.‘The pictures are like gold dust. You’ll neverfind any.’ But Gunning did, and he also foundthe artist alive and well. He already handledthe work of Geoffrey Key, a Salford painter,who, it emerged, knew Turner.Gunning went along to Turner’s house in Congleton and ‘it was like I imagine taking heroin must be. The wallswere full of paintings, going back to the 1940s.’ Gunning took 20 away with him - all sold within two days. Sincethen he has sold about 1,000. For the time being you can get them at prices between the low hundreds and thelow thousands. But even Lowry’s were once cheap. Turner, in fact, painted Lowry, in 1976, shortly before theartist’s death, and the portrait now hangs in his sitting-room, above a portrait of his late wife, Anne. Turner sharesa subject matter with Lowry - a nostalgia for past industry - but his pictures, unlike Lowry’s, swirl with life. Heacknowledges the influence of Utrillo, Vlaminck, Soutine, Roualt, Chagall and the expressionist Max Beckmann,who recently had a retrospective at Tate Modern.“I find English painters very stiff.” He says. The Royal Academy is exhibiting another German expressionist.Ernst Kirchner. Perhaps this switch in art’s febrile fashions will also help Turner, who you could cal a ManchesterExpressionistSun and smoke are as important in Turner’s work as in the late masterpieces of J M W Turner: a huge yellow sunpeers through fog: a blue sun hangs above Salford Park, like a visiting meteorite. The 19th-century painter is norelation, though Turner’s Aunt Clara, who encouraged his painting when he was young, thought he might be. Andso one wall of his cottage is a copy of a small J M W Turner water colour which he executed at the age of 17.Turner’s father was a commercial traveller, his grandfather a restaurant porter. William left school at 14, in 1934,for numerous odd jobs: storekeeper, scales-maker, mail-order packer. But he found he ‘wasn’t much good atanything else but painting’.During the War he worked in the Royal Ordnance Corps, and briefly went to Derby School of Art on an Armygrant. Not that it helped: ‘You’ve got to learn yourself, in the end.’For 11 years he made a living hand-colouring photographs for a studio in Manchester. ‘It’s what they called“picture faking”. Modigliani and Soutine used to do it.’ After that he taught art at a further education college inManchester and at Hulme Hall independent school, near Stockport. And he kept on painting throughout, inspite of all the rebuffs, north and south. ‘But I never sold much’ he says. One fan was the Warrington- basednewspaper publisher Eddie Shah. Turner has pinned up a yellowing press cutting in which Shah is photographedwith a painting on the wall behind his desk; Shah now owns 14.

21 Only in his sixties did Turner become a full time painter. He had accumulated a mass of work by then (he had so many canvases stacked under the stairs that they fell on the gas-man when he crawled in to read the meter). Reds, whites and blacks add to the paintings’ apocalyptic drama; many of them suggest Milton’s description of Hell as ‘darkness visible’. Others are derived from Turner’s past: a policeman flashing his torch at a canoodling couple in a park; a brick-faced newspaper-seller; a landlady grimly slicing bread. He saw hard times, even painting tourists’ portraits at Polperro in Cornwall’ (‘quite enjoyable.’ he says with a grin). He had a few exhibitions in small Manchester Galleries. But he lived from the sale of one painting to the next, till he met David Gunning. Turner is a romantic. ‘My painting comes out of the 1930s, he says, ‘when there was no work but high expectations’- though a number of his pictures also evoke post-war bomb-sites and even oil refineries.His memory is phenomenal. He says he’ll paint a picture he thinks is imaginary, ‘then someone comes along andsays, “I had a shop on that street corner.” And he has visions. ‘They sit there as clearly as you’re sitting on that chair,’he tells me. Sometimes they speak, sometimes they don’t.At a mediums house he received a message from a painter who had, apparently, died 200 or 300 years ago inVienna. He said he was an ancestor on Turner’s mother’s side and claimed to be the principal influence on his work.‘I don’t know who he was.’ Turner says. ‘but I think I know what he painted. I saw it in a vision and sketched it.It was a big hall, with people. It sounds just like one of my pictures.’The article finished with ‘ For more information on William Turner, contact Todmorden Fine Art, Lancashire.(01706 81 4723) www.todmordenfineart.co.ukwritten by Paul Barker for the Sunday Telegraph 24th August 2003note: painters tubes have reprocessed the article article verbatim, the originators copyright remain theproperty of Paul Barker. “the phone never stopped ringing from 8.am to midnight”Dave Gunning told me many years after this article first appeared that the next day, the phone never stopringing from 8.am to midnight...” Since this time, Dave Gunning has seen almost all of Turner’s work passthrough his hands and into private collections, and commercial galleries.This article has been inserted in the ‘Dave Gunning Story’ by way of education and art historical interestonly. It remains the copyright of the writer and the publishing house: Telegraph Group Ltd

22 “talking the real deal... ...withDean Entwistle.” photograph: ©Contemporary Six Gallery

23Spending time with Dean Entwistle, a painter who has been creating meticulous work for quite some years, was always going to be an exhaustive exercise. Exhaustive in the real sense of the word, and not the negative implication of it. What I mean by exhaustive, is the examination and consideration ofall the elements of art creation. One that needs a full and comprehensive discussion with discourse that is farremoved from the normal run of the mill informal ‘chats’ that one may have about Art with people who perhapsare not artists. Personally, I found our discussion enjoyable, probably because as a painter (of longevity)I really do understand the nitty gritty hard graft and thought process’s that goes behind the creation of Artper sé. If you don’t know in detail the process of painting and it’s mystical complexity, then it is difficult tounderstand why many people said to me before I met Dean in person, that, ‘you may find him a tad intense.’Our actual discussion(s) span over two months. First there was a session in a central Manchester artistswatering hole (Sinclairs Oyster Bar) in February - that lasted 8 hours. The second discussion, in March, wasmore focused, as we had already come to a mutual respectful understanding, from the first session.Therefore we could talk outside of the box and the usual limited parameters of the socially aware artcorrectness. As a consequence the second session went on for just under 10 hours and only ended the nextmorning, when we jumped aboard our respective trams heading in opposite directions, after spending thenight at my sisters home in North Manchester.To write in legible sensibility what we discussed over those two sessions, is almost impossible, as wespoke in a sort of artists shorthand, which when transcribed would make no sense at all to most people, asinevitably, essential volumes of art history knowledge is required to report the conversation verbatim. - Butthat knowledge, that both Dean and I have attained over the years, as have many painters, are are continuallygathering knowledge from past masters, at least those who create paintings as an ‘Art Form’ rather thanimage creation. For Dean, it seems to me, is that Art is the challenge to achieve a universal understanding,the essence of which is perhaps, coming to grips of what makes a flat image on a flat surface resonate theessential power to stand alone and communicate something that is beyond the spoken word.Unification and harmony of nature, art and a human being, is the ultimate goal.To many past masters the artist himself is the mere ‘facilitator’ of bringing the work into existence, with workthat has this unifying power. With each piece Dean creates, (which takes a great deal of time to finalise) andsimultaneously as he paints, he subconsciously and consciously cross examines the work and himself as hetries to unravel what exactly it is he is achieving with each colour layer that he applies. Layers that eventuallyreach the ‘power’ levels he desires (or perhaps the work demands) to be imbued with. Only then is thepainting complete and prepared to make it’s own way into the world to succeed, or fail as the case may be.This is more of an intellectual approach integrated with a mystical fourth dimensional thinking process, moreso than it is a human instinctive mark making method (i.e. expressionism). study for the painting opposite

24If you have knowledge of the idea surrounding the physical existence of the fourth dimension (the identification or concept of, has been around a very long time, you can understandhow absorbing it can be, And how it opens understanding of yourself and away from themyopia of purely three dimensional thinking. This sort of metaphysical realisation revealsmore questions than answers to a creator of art, so the quest continues (as all art explorationshould) to discover more about its importance and how it can be utilised.It’s the never ending path of discovery to reach the limits of the human intellectual integrationwith the creative force. Many artists are still unaware of that force, or more accurately believeit is them that are somehow blessed with a special gift. My own belief is that every humanbeing on the planet can paint and create images - it is those artists who go beyond imagemaking that engage with and are subject to being taken over by what I have termed as the‘creative-force. And as a consequence of that contact, it enables more than simply interestingimages. Some artists, have a belief that the creative act is simply a reflection of their ownsubconscious. Many will tell you that ‘time and space’ becomes condensed (to the consciousself) where they become ‘part of the painting’ they are working on. I could take JacksonPollock as a good example. He is reported to have said that: “when I am ‘in’ the paintingeverything is fine, it’s only when I am not [in the painting] that it becomes a mess.”The deep connection to what I call the creative force takes time to acquire and it is not easy tounderstand, or deal with, once you have become used to being connected to it on a daily ora regular basis.This creative force connection also has consequences, some good, some not so good.Dean Entwistle is definitely connected to it, as are many artists of his calibre of the past andof the present, although he may call it by another name. He also told me that he believes helives in a sort of twilight-zone, (where strange things happen beyond the normal coincidentalor the incidental). Although, the twilight-zone may sound to most people like ‘an artists fancifulmind’ playing tricks on itself, or perhaps a sort of induced state of psi - or even esp (extrasensory perception). Personally I have no reason to disbelieve him. To a great extent I thinkit is an absolutely true phenomena Dean experiences, having had many similar ‘twilight-zone’experiences myself (and on a regular basis) over these last 30 years of making Art. It seemsto me that as humans developed a large and complex society, we have shod or suppresseda natural, or genetic inherited, extra sensitive ability to communicate with each others feelingsor emotions over close or even great distances, in favour of language and technology.Which for me is humanities loss. Perhaps creating art can indeed re-energise thosemysterious abilities, ones that we probably accepted as normal, once upon a time.If we allow them to come to fore of the frontal cortex of our mind, then I do believe it’s possiblefor all of us to re-employ that gift from nature.©Dean Entwistle

25 “I can hear many readers now turning the page as they wonder what all this talk about the twilight-zone, psi and esp has to do with Dean’s (or any other artists) actual work. I believe it has a lot more relevance than you may have considered before today.” Dean’s preferred medium is tempera (pigment bound by egg). It’s a very ancient medium and many say it dates first from ancient Egypt or middle asia. It was the primary method of painting images used in the West up to about the 1500’s when it became superseded by oil paint. It’s a fast drying medium which allows for a steady build up of glazes (layers). This method enables the artist to work on top of a base line and introduce a resonance which, many feel, has a greater colour nuanced depth than say, oil paint or water colour. It also means to build that depth takes much more time, more so than oil colour or water colour - Although I feel sure Mark Rothko would have argued the opposite (e.g. his paintings were made up from hundreds of layers of extremely thin oil pigments diluted with litre upon litre of balsam turpentine). An enforced and extended time period of creating just one painting is indicative of the psychological framework that I have outlined. e.g: the more the concentrated time spent with the creative force - the more the experiences of ‘twilight-zone’ experiences. It can be troubling experiences for many artists, and can lead to personality and or social negative issues, or excessive consumption problems i.e. alcoholism, with reference here to Mark Rothko & Jackson Pollock in particular. Sometimes even psychological breakdowns (Van Gogh, perhaps). Yet with balanced acceptance, it may also promote a level-headed approach to view life. And a long and very productive creative life at that. say: Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky or other artists that we have all come to appreciate, (some people albeit, with hindsight). Dean told me that he had always wanted to be an artist. His father however believed it to be an ‘unworthy-career’ to follow and so he struck a deal with his son. Dean agreed to join the RAF after which he could pursue what ever path he wished. Dean started his Art-Career, after serving his time in the RAF, as an illustrator and made a great success of it. When he changed path’s and stepped onto the fine art road, at first he began creating ‘abstract’ work. I haven’t seen any of these paintings so it is difficult to ascertain their worth or why he changed from abstract to figurative. Under the usual artistic academic formal way of thinking, an artist would be expected to do the exact opposite and move away from figuration to abstraction as a matter of a personal aesthetic challenge, having first totally mastered figurative painting. I found his ‘decision’ interesting, perhaps painting abstracts did not challenge him enough? Or maybe he felt that all that could be achieved with abstract had been achieved by the great 20th century painters? - or even, maybe it was too difficult to remove himself from the strict visual disciplines of illustration? Be that as it may, Deans current subject matter is fairly conservative and traditional, i.e. Landscapes and City Scapes - nothing different to what many painters are choosing to concentrate on, subject wise, in the North West of England.©Dean Entwistle

26

27 What separates Dean’s painting from the many of the same subject matter or genre, I think, is the ‘sky’s he paints - they are quite beautiful and give off a radiance and the sensation of other worldliness - It’s the creative force in full swing, you could say. For example, a recent work (left) is of a fairly every day city scape, a subject commuters and shoppers inhabit seven days a week. Technically excellent, as his is normal high level of draughtsmanship, this particular ‘scape’ is part of the City where the Manchester Central Library and Metro link (trams) intersect with the old Midland Hotel in the background and human figures skilfully arranged in the composition. But it is the sky that makes the painting become more than a commuters or shoppers view of the City. It’s as if the sky is looking on the scene and the invisible power of nature is looking down and saying to all on the ground... “...it doesn’t matter what you build or have built or what technological designs you employ, I am the creator of a beauty that you will never achieve.” It’s a statement I happen to agree with. From my stand point, I should love to see Dean’s future paintings perhaps move away from the empiricist subject and to a more obvious metaphysical viewpoint, employing his unique ability to imbue a painting with the power of the ‘real deal’ which is part of the creative force, as in the painting I described above. And perhaps one day he will try that, just to see if he can create another ‘type’ of work where ‘pure painting’ is the subject matter. One that has the ‘real-deal’ engrained within it, as witnessed in his past and current paintings. I guess, we shall all have to wait and see. Denis Taylor - was talking ‘the real deal’ with Dean Entwistle - February to March 2017.©Dean Entwistle Dean Entwistle is represented soley by Contemporary Six Gallery, Manchester City Centre. Left: Two charcoal studies for the painting of the Manchester City (main image) - with another completed work on the same theme.

28 ’New Lines in Space’ by Colin Taylor a solo exhibition at Contemporary Six 1 – 22 June 2017Two years ago, artist Colin Taylor The preview evening will be held on 31 May.was commissioned to create If you wish to attend please contact:twelve paintings to document Contemporary Six 0161 835 2666 orthe construction of the building email Alex at [email protected] 1 Spinningfields by as places are limited.SimpsonHaugh architects to marktheir 30th anniversary. Colin recordedeach stage of the architecturalaccomplishment and created a uniquebody of work that will be exhibitedat Contemporary Six, following hissuccessful show in 2015.The upcoming exhibition is a rareopportunity to view the innovativepaintings in the flesh.Contemporary Six, 37 Princess Street, Manchester, M2 4FN. www.contemporarysix.co.uk

29“Diana Terry asksthe question...”“...where are all thewomen artists?”

30 In early April, our Editor was asked why we did not feature women artists within the pages of painters tubes magazine. It was a question already under discussion with the editorial staff members. Without further discussion the magazine asked Diana Terry, the artist who asked that question, to present her case for the obvious gender imbalance that seemingly exists in the commercial galleries in the North of England. It is perhaps worth noting that painters Tubes magazine identifies the art and artists who create painting without specific gender preferences and in most cases it is the Art, not who created it, that interests the Editor responsible for choosing the artists he wishes to interview. None the less Diana had raised a valid point and one that this magazine will try to address in the future. In the meantime we delighted to publish this article, written by Diana, which we hope will stimulate a greater conversation around this subject and we hope, will ensure that ‘female’ painters will contact the magazine directly with proposals for an in depth look at their work they are for consideration for a feature. Where are the Women Artists? by Diana Terry To want to paint is a basic urge. To make marks, use colour, make sense of where we are, these are part of what makes us human. To become an artist is another kettle of fish. Like any other activity that is worth doing it requires massive amounts of dedication, time, energy and commitment. The analogy of the chicken and the pig works here. In this fable the chicken that produces the egg is involved but the ham is really committed.Above: “Chew Hill Farm by Diana Terry.

31We all have to decide individually how much we want to sacrifice and what divides the players from the simplyinvolved. So only a small percent of the population want to put themselves under this pressure and feel enoughmotivation to keep going. There is after all no guarantee of any success, worldly or otherwise. For me drawingand painting has become something I cannot live without. For me after bringing up my sons as well as careersin education and heritage, it is only now that I can allow myself to think that this is what I want to do.This is my proper job. It is enormously good thing to be able to make work in a way I never thought inmy wildest dreams I would be able to.As the population grows older and retires there are many who have taken up art as a hobby and there are manyclasses to support their interest. The growth of the numbers of amateur untrained artists has made me thinkabout my own training at the Manchester School of Art in the 1970s.and what it was that I learned there to equip me to continue. Certainly I didn’t see what I was doing as a hobbyand wanted to learn what I could I do to progress my own practice. My experiences as an art student were notencouraging. When a tutor declared that women could never be artists to a group of mainly female art studentswe believed him, or at least we never challenged him. Some of us were irritated enough to use it later to livea good life surrounded by our own and other women artist’s work.I was interested to find out about professional women artists especially thosewho were born or were from the north of the UK. A brief scan of the internet produced very few results. I thoughtthat courses, books, and museums dedicated solely to women artists might be somehow exclusive. Theysomehow sidelined cultural production by women by declaring them something separate from traditional arthistorical canons. It is well documented that women were systematically excluded from the records of art history.This was due to a number of factors: art forms like textiles and what we call the“decorative arts” were often dismissed as craft and not “fine art”; “This is so good you wouldn’t know it was done by a woman.” many women were kept from pursuing a general education, let alone arts training; and finally the men, like my tutor who dominated the discipline both in practice and history often believed women to be inferior artists. As artist and instructor Hans Hoffmann once said in a “compliment” to the influential abstract expressionist painter Lee Krasner in the mid-20th century: “This is so good you wouldn’t know it was done by a woman.” This marginalisation is also true of the description of Northern Art, the term given to the gritty 20th Century works of industrial and urban landscapes as well as men, women and children particular to the North West of England. However, there is not a Southern Art group, presumably given to softy landscapes of rolling fields and toffs in red riding jackets, nor a Society of Male Artists. Very few female artists are represented by galleries in the North West amongst them are:- left: “Trinacle Rocks” by Diana Terry.

32above: “segregation unit” by Ghislaine Howard Barbara Baker, Jeanette Barnes and Helen Clapcott. So it seems that being an female artist working in thenorth is a very exclusive group indeed. The increase in social media has opened up more opportunities forwomen artists mainly because of the lack of opportunity elsewhere. Which is why I was particularly excitedto be able to see Ghislaine Howard’s recent exhibition.A passionate and painterly painter, Ghislaine was born in Eccles and now lives inGlossop. Her paintings speak to us all and have The Human Touch, the title of the recent book about herlife and practice. She has painted images of mother and child that could hardly have been painted by anymale, at any time, anywhere. This is in the context of a massive body of work encompassing religiousamongst other themes. They are above all compelling, powerful and empathetic. Indeed she took part in anexhibition called Women and Men in which work was shown in pairs, one by a man and one by a woman.Her work, Pregnant Self Portrait was paired with Epstein’s large marble sculpture Genesis. This was aclever juxtaposition which contrasted personal intimacy with a grandiose view of the origins of humanity.Her enthusiasm for life and compassion towards people are the real subjects of her work.This for me is encouraging stuff, even though most of my work is based on the landscapeit is the emotional content of painting that I like. As I used to ask my bewildered parents withe question...So the work of other female painters, Jenny Saville, Gillian Ayres, Jeanette Barnes as well as sculptors,Phyllida Barlow, Rachel Whiteread and Mona Hatoum will inspire many women like myself who can feel

33 “...What does it make you feel?” excluded in what was the male bastion of fine art. I don’t imagine that I would ever be in that league but my own practice where I can work full time on my art is relatively short lived. Therefore I have something to prove to myself as well as any who see and judge my work. I am an artist who happens to be female and live in the north of England. My recent solo exhibition Saddleworth Edges, at Saddleworth Museum and Art Gallery takes a closer look at where the built environment ends and the millstone grit breaks through the peaty moor. I work in my studio in Woodend Mill, Mossley, in Greater Manchester, using gesso, layering the plaster of paris before applying oil paints to create textured dynamic landscapes. I particularly like observing places that are away from obvious beauty spots. It is not a coincidence that one of my favourite books is Wuthering Heights. There have been enormous changes to attitudes to women’s sport recently and I live in hopes that as women have succeeded which once was considered to be “a shed - a place which men created to escape from women,” - women can break through the restrictions in the art world by being focused and disciplined. And by using, professionally, the many on-line galleries and encouraging buyers direct from personal art websites, which have provided many artists (both male and female) a method of selling their work. Art is a deep mysterious place. Simply surviving and to keep going and remaining true to yourself are what matters. Diana Terry for painters Tubes - April. 2017. To view more of Diana Terry’s paintings go to: http://www.diterry.comabove: ‘new work’ by Diana Terry.

34the ‘all new’ Saul Hay... ...not just another commercial gallery.’Saul Hay gallery located at the Railway cottage in Castlefield Manchester, opened it’sdoors late last year (October) with its first exhibition entitled rather appropriately ‘ONE’.The owners Ian and Catherine Hay had looked long and hard before selecting a property that they felt was the bestposition to realise their ambitious plan to establish a leading new contemporary art gallery in the North of England.Both Ian and Catherine have been avid collectors of art for many years with their taste being diametrically oppositeto the flat cap and chimney stack type of art that seems to have dominated the high street commercial gallery scenefor a number of years. Of course there has always been an active ‘new’ contemporary or exploratory art platformin the North. For example, in Manchester the Art Council funded ‘Cornerhouse’ which generally exhibits art with astudent graduate bias, has generally lead the way, even if it is with the sort of art that the majority of the populationof the City tend not to be attracted towards, most of whom do not really buy for their homes.Like many other parts of the North, the gap between ‘new and different art’ and the ‘landscape and city scapes’type of art has seemingly widened rather than it has narrowed. But things are changing as the playing field slowlyre-levels itself to satisfy the taste of the next generation, which is more universal and inclusive.

35 Saul Hay Gallery seem destined to provide a bridge towards integrating different forms of art mediums (when I was there they also talked about, video and ‘talks on art’ in the future) and they still maintain a commitment to bring ‘new art’ and ‘new artists’, including painters, into their own collection and growing gallery stable of art- ists. Ian and Catherine Hay are culturally open minded with a view of art that holds its emphasis on the actual quality, authenticity and originality as the core of the Art and not merely exhibiting art which embraces a modern art that imbues the negation philosophical dogma, one which was promoted within the post modernists academic doctrine for decades, or indeed the nostalgia based type of art that some galleries still put on their walls.Ian Hay, Gallery Director photo:©Saul Hay 2016 The exhibition area is not the biggest space I’ve seen in Manchester, but it is rather unique, visually very attractive and with a great karma about it. The building is nestled near a Victorian Railway Arch and next to the Rochdale Canal and within shouting distance of the modern Beetham glass tower building (built in 2006).

36 photograph: ©Saul Hay Gallery 2016 The gallery can be found, over a footbridge - Ian & Catherine have a made a video to show how to walk to building from Deansgate, you can see the video on their website:www.saulhayfineart.co.uk - Located the well known area of Castlefield, the area hasu undergone something of a cultural regeneration over the last decade. It now attracts the 30 something’s cool suburban types to its bars, cafe’s and open stage for music and other performance art. And of course just down the road, (to be situated at the Old Granada studios), there will be the new sparklingly modern culture centre which is to be known as St John’s [district]. So, from a posi- tioning point of view Saul Hay seem set to be the ‘place’ to see new art, meet artists and talk art - and hopefully buy some too. With the Cornerhouse Gallery, just round the block, then the owners wish to become a respected and well known gallery for great contemporary art of quality with something to say, seems set to be realised in the coming years. When I visited the Gallery, (in early April) their third exhibition was on-going. The mix of art shown was paintings, some digital work and some sculpture pieces. To be honest, I felt it a ‘bit thin’ on the ground. The sizes of the 2D art was sort of lob-sided (with one long large painting and a few smaller works one side of it). So the hanging wasn’t really ‘perfect’ in a balanced artistic sort of way (but I am a bit finicky when it comes to hanging paintings). Although I was so pleased to witness the standard of the presenta- tion of the exhibition in general, that I easily overcame my critical viewpoint. After only a few months of opening, and with no previ- ous experience of running an art gallery, with a couple of more shows under their belt, Ian and Catherine will be able to pick and choose from the array of art and artists with their keen and discern- ing eye, from the many artists, who no doubt, will be queuing up to submit their work on a regular basis for consideration of a solo show. One very good point to make is that Saul Hay are looking at art from all corners of the UK, and not just the North (music to my ears). I do hope that will lead to an international art development in the future, as international art and artists now represented are still a bit thin on the ground in the current Manchester Contemporary Art Scene. Ian said to me that he doesn’t want Saul Hay to be “just another commercial art gallery.” And with the owners attitude and seriously minded love of ‘new-art’ which holds a definite exploratory feel to it, I feel sure they will stand out from the crowd. They are one of the few galleries (in Manchester) that has undertaken from the onset, to offer a mix of Art that crosses out the the pay-off line or being ‘labelled’ as specialising in any specific genre, or concen- trating on, what you may call, traditional images of the North of England. Personally, I am delighted to see that and I hope they will be welcomed with open arms. If you find yourself in Manchester I encourage you to visit Saul Hay Gallery, not only to view some very good art, but also to enjoy the surrounding area where the industrial revolution energy still per- vades that part of the City. It’s where the new Manchester instead

37 above: Catherine Hay, Director.of trying to replace the past, actually does a pretty good job of integrating the greatness of the City’s historical buildings with a new dynamic power of the new and renovated buildings that surround them. It’s a kind of cultural revolution that is slowly but surely happening, and one that will dominate the future of Manchester, but it is already palpable and can be experienced by the visitors of today. Over the page are three artists I’ve selected. They are artists that choose three different mediums and approaches to painting note to readers: whilst writing this article Saul Hay Gallery have announced their 4th exhibition: “Colour and I are One” Opening 20th May and running to the 16th July. It’s a group exhibition with contemporary painters and sculptors and a film maker. ..it will be worth making a note in your diary.

38 Melinda Matyas Melinda Matyas work shows what seems to be a growing popularity among today’s younger painters. That is figurative semi-realism. It is created with (probable) accurate first workings out and attention to detail and then later rendered with a deconstructionist painterly style approach.The artists use of colour palette is controlled and deliberate and shows some knowledge of a classicism Pontormo famous palette comes to mind when I first saw her work.

David Stanley 39 Jason Thompson David Stanley’s work also show- shows how todays painters are re-visiting the ‘Rembrandt’ method of applying paint ‘in the thick’ - and lots of it - to create not only texture but atmosphere with an ethereal quality. The colour lines of his work are generally quite dark rising to very light tones from red to blue, which propels the viewer to think ‘sky- scapes’, ‘landscapes’, ‘seascapes’, ‘sunsets’ etc. - Generally it would appear nature rules his creative impulses. Jason Thompson works with constructed patterns. These shapes of colour are almost totem like. As though they are some sort of tribal offering, which is why he probably chooses to paint them in enamel on wood. His work reminds me of the South American Inca’s art or the sand paintings of the North American Indians (influential on Jackson Pollock, of course).when I first viewed his work. And for some strange reason, Jason paintings also remind me of the earlier less febrile work of Jackson Pollock. Saul Hay Gallery Railway Cottage (Behind Bass Warehouse) Castle Street Manchester Sat Nav: M3 4LZ Telephone: 0161 222 4800 www.saulhayfineart.co.uk open: Wed to Sat 10am to 6pm Sunday- 10am to 5pm

40 “catching up with Hugh Winterbottom.” after a few cancelled appointments and two months later, the Editor finally manages to get to the artists Studio in Mossley, (near Ashton-u-lyne) and catch up with Hugh Winterbottom, just to discover for himself why with whomever he spoke to, in the art scene of Manchester, said that Hugh....“was a really nice guy.”

41 “...I’d made arrangements to visit Hugh at his Woodend Mil studio (Mossley, Aston-u-lyne) some time ago...”... However, due to an extended conversation with another Woodend artist in the Mill, time ran out on thatparticular trip, I was forced to re-appoint after an apology to Hugh. And rearranged our meeting for somemonths later. I eventually made the second trip to Mossley, this time Hugh was first on my list.My determination to visit him was three fold. In February of this year I’d had a conversation with theSaddleworth group of Artists and one of them was actually Hugh’s Art Teacher (Phil Hughes).“He’s nice lad, is Hugh.” was the recommendation from Phil.I’d also seen a couple of examples of his work at the Cheshire Art Gallery when I was undertakingresearch for a feature on them. Once again the ‘nice lad’ comment was given to me about Hugh,when I enquired about him and few others had made that remark also. So, my third reason for getting tosee Hugh was that I was ‘intrigued’ enough to meet him for myself. I was more than happy to discover thathe was not only a ‘nice lad’ but a determined and dedicated young artist.(Young in relative terms to the other artists I had been interviewing these last few years).His day job had been (and maybe when the need arises, still is) a painter and decorator of interiors -which is a very good way to finance yourself for an artist. He’d always drawn and painted from childhood,as many painters have. He found he experienced (and to some extent still does) ‘visions’ which he tries totranscribe into a physical imagery.His determination to become a full time artist was helped along when he finally found a good sized studiospace at the Woodend Mill in Mossley in or around 2008. He described to me how he sort of ‘clicked’ ontoa certain way of painting after a holiday in Greece. Having lived in Greece myself, I can well understandthe special magical creative uniqueness, that Greece, can sometimes, enpower an artist with.

42 On his return from Greece, he began making ‘city scapes’ and as his confidence grew it coincided with an invitation from the Salford Museum and Art Gallery to mount an exhibition within the ‘guest-artist’ space that most provinsional public art galleries have allocated to otherwise unused room(s). The invitation came after he had submitted examples of his work for consideration for a solo exhibition of his ‘City Scape’ work (that is the six of them that he had painted since returning from Greece). The exhibition Manager advised Hugh that she would need around 40 paintings, which made him gulp, not surprisingly so, as this is the sort of unreasonably request (for quantity) from that type of ‘free-entry’ public spaces normally ask Artists to produce (with no fee or promise of remuneration). However, it would provide him with a steep painting learning curve and some sort of street credibility. And possibly expose his painting talents to a few commercial galleries, if not the greater general public (as these shows in the provincial galleries are never great crowd pullers). Some of the work I viewed in the studio were the typical [current] City scapes that are ubiquitous these days and in many of the Manchester commercial galleries. Although the subject matter is reasonably common (in Manchester), Hugh’s own loose brushwork and colour handling is different enough to gain notice by a culturally post-industrial art buying hungry public, who, no doubt, have been energised into preferring this motive by various movers and shakers within the North’s contemporary art scene.My first impression of Hugh’s work, in general, did not totally surprise me, as the eclectic mix of style withfigurative and semi abstract explorations in imagery dotted about the walls (and the floor), were very interesting,some being more successful than others of course. But they did give the feeling that this was a serious Artistwho has been dipping his creative toes in various forms of expression, both out of curiosity and for the sheerenjoyment of painting and exploring different mediums to create a work of Art -And not just image making. And, I presumed, he wanted to find out which methods suited him best at any onegiven time. Whilst we chatted, he told me that he becomes so involved in creating his Art, that time sort ofdisappears, often a month becoming a week.Which although is not a unique experience for many painters (see the article “getting real with Dean Entwistle inthis issue, for a full explanation of this phenomena) - it is howevera very good sign that Hugh is involved, in a very earnest way, with the creative force. I also presumed the colourblue was important to him. A colour he seems to have been using over an extended period of time. You maywonder at this point if Hugh had been influenced or guided by the knowledge of Picasso’s ‘Blue Period’ andcynically think the colour blue may turn Pink or Rose (as in Picasso’s case) - But one would be wrong thinkingthat, because later I considered what he had said about the ‘lights’ he saw as a child (he also used to sleepwalkas a kid) and how these lights must have affected him. I suspect the lights were a ‘special blue’ - This would bepossibly the result of a hyper visually stimulated part of the [creative] brain, which goes in some way goes toexplain why many other children walk about, when the rest of their body is in sleep mode.

43Hugh, sketches and draws on a regular basis and takes a sketch bag with him whenever he isoutside of his studio or wherever he goes (and I suspect he takes photograph also, as we all do).He says he really enjoys painting City scapes, which I can understand, despite my own personalcynical viewpoint for the almost guaranteed current sale-ability of that genre of painting,(he has to pay his rent, after all). Although he indicated to me that he will investigate(and is already doing so) different subject matter... “...something from deep inside myself.”which from my perspective, I felt was much more of a worth-while subject matter and train ofthought, for his own artistic development, rather than the no-brainer repetitive various images of‘Cities of the North’, which tend to dull ones eyes, especially after viewing hundreds of them. Andin every conceivable painting style from the naivistic, the hyper-real to the contorted formal realitypaintings, one can see in more than one Art Gallery in the North of England.For now, I’ll leave you with Hugh’s own words of how he sees his painting future and one dayhope to return to his studio where I can hopefully experience a form of art that will demonstrateHugh’s greater authentic talent as a painter - in all its full glory. “ I don’t struggle for ideas and inspiration, it’s endless. I feel I’m headed in a good direction. The fires burn bright inside me, deep inside, which is really good.” Denis Taylor was “catching up with Hugh Winterbottom...” April 2017

44 “Harry had a toothache... “...and the Central Art gallery has a pain in the pocket.”

45Central Art Gallery is located within a wonderful above: the Central Art Gallery, Ashton-u-Lyne,Victorian building which originally was a highly Greater Manchester, current custodian for therespected Art School in the Town centre of Ashton- Harry Rutherford Collection.u-Lyne north east of Manchester and housesa dedicated large room of the much respectedartist, from another century, Harry Rutherford.Many readers of this magazine may have nevervisited the Central Art Gallery in Ashton-u-Lyne, northe many people who live in East Manchester, itis more than likely that they have visited the hugeIKEA consumer outlet situated not that far awayfrom it. Today, the Gallery performs more than onefunction, first as library, come community centre onthe ground floor, with the Art Gallery on the secondfloor. Painters Tubes visited the Gallery specificallyto view ‘in the flesh’ the original paintings ofHarry Rutherford (1903- 1985) an important andrenown Artist in his day. For those unfamiliar withthis artist he was born in Denton, an area on theoutskirts of Manchester. He studied at the HydeSchool of Art, a town not too far from his birthplace, and continued his studies at the ManchesterSchool of Art. His teacher was Adolphe Valette,well known not only for his magnificent paintings ofManchester City, but also because it was Valettethat taught and encouraged the North’s mostfamous son, L.S. Lowry.Harry Rutherford was a man of many talents.His natural abilities and precise observation witha powerful visual memory allowed him to employthe knack for making accurate and extremely quicksketches. His sense of good humour and comedymanifested as drawings of brilliant cartoons, hewas also an extremely fine painter.These broad based talents gave him opportunitiesin various creative industries.In 1931 he moved to London and by 1936 secureda job with the BBC to present a light entertainmentprogram called ‘Cabaret Cartoons.’ In 1950 hestarred in his own TV show called ‘Sketchbook.’He also exhibited his paintings in various LondonArt Galleries and was the first British Artist toexhibit in Asia (Borneo 1957).The list of his artists achievements didn’t stopthere. In the late 1950’s he returned to Hydeand became the elected President of MAFA(Manchester Academy of Fine Arts) and also taughtat the Regional College of Art. His paintings are ina host of public and private collections including;The Royal Academy, Manchester Art Gallery, TheAtkinson Gallery, Gallery Oldham, and RochdaleArt Gallery. Around 2008, twenty three years afterhis death, the Tameside Council created a specialexhibition space in the Town of Hyde within arenovated building that was named in his honour,‘The Rutherford Gallery’ and intended to celebratethe life and work of this highly respected artist bothin and outside the UK.

46At the beginning of the New Year 2012 TamesideMuseums and Galleries Services faced somemomentous changes.“Along with other services in the Council we had substantial budget cuts to make and a service redesign was an obvious path to take.” Emma Varnam. Head of Stronger Communities (under Stephanie Butterworth Director of People,Tameside council)Sadly, the Art Galley Hyde was closed in 2012.No doubt a victim of the aftermath of the 2008financial crisis and the subsequent tightening upof spending that all councils have been pressedto undertake, as part of UK Governments publicausterity program, one that was questionably,deemed necessary to put the UK on an evenfinancial keel.This is when the Tameside Central Art Gallerycame to the rescue, as far as Harry Rutherfordpaintings are concerned. They planned andexecuted a dedicated space for his work. Theyhave also constructed part of his original studiowhich displays his equipment and the famous‘hat’ - one that he wore habitually.The Gallery manager (Rachel Cornes), providedus with a splendid brochure which hasa detailed and comprehensive background, of thelife and art career of this nationally recognisedartist. Cultural heritage values apart, the CentralArt Gallery also providesa fantastic gallery space for ‘local’ artists andcommunity schools who can mount originalexhibitions and educational installations.The delightful Learning Manager of the Gallery,who gave painters Tubes a tour and providedinteresting information about the Rutherford roomand the temporary exhibition gallery, talked brieflyabout the struggles that the Gallery have had toconfront over the last decade or so. The mainissue, one that could be easily identified, wasthe lack of consistent and a reasonable level offunding. The governmental cuts to public serviceshave been endured by most public art galleries ofthe North which has resulted ina chronic under-use of the Art Gallery.The lack of public use has subsequently reducedthe credibility of the Art Gallery as a dynamicspace for the independent visual artists toconsider them as an important venue for theirArt. This is not surprising when one considersthat increased foot traffic can only be realisedwhen the Gallery helps to ‘market exhibitions’to the 180,000 people that live in the immediatecatchment area. And that costs money, moneythat they simply do not have. For most visualartists visitor count is as important if not moreimportant to them than the odd sale to a knowncollector of their work.

47 “With the best will in the world & the most wonderful space to exhibit in with quality visual art hung around the walls, it is all a totally wasted effort, unless it is marketedsolidly, with a planned marketing strategy and a reasonable amount of hard cash spent on promoting each showing of any artists work.” [Editor]Increased audiences (i.e. foot fall) would ring in thechanges needed for publicly funded Art Galleries, in asmuch as private companies would become interestedenough to invest in them to ensure their ‘brand’ is seenby the people in their area, but also creatives from bothinside and outside the area would soon be knockingon the door to exhibit. Thus providing enough Art for amonthly ‘change’ rather than the three months that theexhibitions currently run for, This is perhaps far too longfor a local Art Gallery and results in non-sustainablepublic interest. The Central Art Gallery are not on theirown in this unenviable lack of foot traffic. For example,Stalybridge Art Gallery, in the same geographicalarea, can only afford to open once a week and otherprovincial galleries are in more or less the same boat.The major Cities (of the North) however have hadample inward public investment whilst the provincialsare, quite frankly, slowing dying on their feet from lackof an annual & reasonable budget to work with.Staffing is a major problem also, again this relates to‘allowed budgets’ from the local council authorities.In another provincial gallery we were told that theExhibition Manager had only one technician. Andbetween them they were expected to do everything andanything connected with mounting exhibitions. Anyonewho has curated or organised public exhibitions,understands this is a ridiculous state of affairs. It is alsounfair to expect ‘free’ labour from volunteers to fulfilpositions of importance, ones that should be filled byart educated, experienced or professional marketingexperts or at the very least art consultants who maywell advise on a pro-bono basis.It seems obvious to this magazine that a completerethinking of Provincial Art Gallery funding and functionneeds undertaking. It would be tragic for the generalpublic and irresponsible of creatives to allow thecontinuing slide of the local Art Galleries to continue. As it is not only a loss of the cultural heritage ofNorthern England in general, but there is a real dangerof losing local & fabulous spaces to exhibit visualartwork solely to private galleries . To some extent this‘funding come function rethink’ has already started.For example last year a Northern England 4-Gallerytour of culture program was put into place which wasfunded by ACE (£180,000 -divided by four Towns, fromNewcastle to Derby).This was a plan to encourage the younger generation(and their mums and dads) to visit Public art galleriesand it did indeed generate more footfall.

48 The programs however were aimed at and marketed towards the ‘very-young’ and the program did reflectLocal artist: Simon Parker - “towards the edge” that in the child directed art presentations created.exhibition at Central Art Gallery, Ashton-u-Lyne Applaudable, but that does not assist the mature artists (over 25 years old +) with a need for a viable exhibition space with the ‘street cred’ possibilities that any one of the provincial galleries could provide, if marketed right. It was welcomed that the House of Commons, Culture, Media and Sport Committee produced their fourth report (2016-2017-published in December 2016). The report addresses specifically funding and support for the Arts outside of London. Their findings are extensive, but in essence the report states, that the Capital and the Major Cities are given the lions share of the various culture grants that are available in the UK and indeed the Capital and Major cities are unfairly favoured when grants are being considered by central government bodies (i.e. the Lottery Funds). This is not a surprise to the Northern English visual arts community, who have complained that public money for the arts has been London and major City centric for decades.photographs courtesy of Adrian Lambert Photography ©2017 Artists can supply the raw material needed to engage and encourage the public to attend (and enjoy) their local Art Gallery. That raw material is clearly paintings - An art form which is still the most popular medium favoured by the general public. By artists grouping themselves into associations or temporary co-operatives, specifically for mounting interesting and understandable visual art within these spaces, will help generate the all important foot fall traffic. But, artists must understand that exhibiting in a public space will not mean financial gain. Artists today need to pay their way, so they tend to concentrate on placing their work in private Art galleries, knowing full well they stand a greater chance of making a sale. Whereas in a local public art gallery exhibition sales are almost negligible, as the audience sees these Exhibitions as a public service.

49“the public see these community Art Galleries exhibitions as a public service.”However, artists and art galleries could use the provincial art galleries as a sort of major showcasespace and that showcase will take money to promote. If the report by the The House of Commons,Culture, Media and Sport Committee is actually acted upon and in earnest, then the funding issuecan stimulate a fresh approach for the function of a public Art Gallery.If more money is allotted to local art galleries and museums, then it will be the task of the provincialArt galleries themselves to ask and seriously listen to new ideas from outside of Local Governmentcommittees and be allowed to make decisions on their own of how that extra funding can be bestspent to their and the communities benefit.below: premiere opening day at “towards the edge exhibition.”photographs courtesy of Adrian Lambert Photography ©2017It is a great pity that Harry Rutherford is not around to ask if he could help the Central Art Gallerytoday, but in a funny sort of way perhaps he is already doing that. For without this magazinesEditors keen interest in his work and life, then this article may never have been written and thesubject of local Art Galleries 21st century new dynamic function may never have been raised withinthe community or the Artists in the North West of England.addendum: before going to press the painters Tubes magazine has heard whispered throughan artists rumour-mill - that the days are numbered for the existing Central Art Gallery as it tobe possibly ‘re-located’, which if true, will be a tragic loss of a truly amazing cultural treasure thebuilding represents. And a sad loss for Art, artists and the public at large living in the North East ofManchester. That rumour begs the question-- So where will Harry’s work be been seen and enjoyed in the future? No one knows for sure.

50 “art & money, opposites attract, or so they say...” ...it’s a simple train of thought to have isn’t it, the thought that opposites attract each other. Is it true with Art and Money? (Spike asked and answers his own question). So, does money follow Art? - is that when the Art becomes a tradeable commodity? Or is Art just another product worth investing in - for the long term?