Current Exhibitions and Events
| Gallery | Artist | Dates |
| Crossley Gallery | George Hainsworth | 22nd Feb – 25th May |
| Mosaic/Upstairs | Peter Stanaway & Kevin Haynes | 19th Apr – 25th May |
| The Focus Wall/Tiny Gallery | Claire Murray | 1st May – 9th Jun |
| Walkway Gallery, IOU | Two Rivers: collaborative project | Current |
| Walkway Gallery, IOU | Stewart Knights | Opens 13th March |
| Installation D Mill | Lost Workers | Permanent |
| Lego Brick Gallery | Lego Model | Permanent |
| Photography Gallery | Photographers including Martin Parr | Open now |
Claire Murray
Under (No) Illusion
The Focus Wall and Tiny Gallery
1st May – 9th June 2025
Exploring perception, instinct, memory and belief in a digital world
It is natural, when looking at an image of the landscape, to feel a sense of recognition, a fleeting memory of somewhere once visited. Our lived memories are real, and informed by ‘being’, but memory can be skewed by an external feed of fictional imagery, either from our imagination, the media or AI. In terms of ‘seeing’, our perception of reality can be manipulated, altered and confused with what is real and what is not. Our own perception fills in the gaps of what we think we are seeing, and what we perceive and see, are often quite different from reality.
Our personal visual perceptions are informed by our senses, smells, textures, sounds, smells and tastes, the temperature, light, all instinctive connections made in response to a place, and this is how we develop our ‘sense’ of place. Without these sensory ‘feelers’, recognition might be vague or superficial, and a connection to a place is lost. For me, the landscape gives us everything we need in order to turn our attention towards natural life sources, universal energies and systems, to the minutiae of what it is to ‘be’. This is perhaps a grand statement, but in my paintings, the landscape is everything, and I see strong metaphors that connect us not just with our surroundings and environments, our selves, and the health of the planet, but also with shifting political, economic, and financial systems across the globe.
My paintings have been described as expressive progressive, as opposed to abstract, as they are never without a reference point that relates to something recognisable. There is almost always a sense of up and down, left and right, attempting to make sense and harmonise with the natural world. If we lose our sense of the natural equilibrium, or upend our sense of ‘truth’ in what we see through the eyes of the media, AI and entertainment industry, we feel disoriented, unable to recognise or trust the familiar, akin to misinformation. Think of this in relation to a person suffering from dementia, who no longer remembers their home or their family, or someone who finds themselves uprooted and a long way from home. What happens to ones sense of belonging when the recognisable is no longer accessible? How does one feel a connection, or feel secure, safe?
Our instincts still play a vital role in our increasingly digitised lives, and the textures, colours, light, shade, line and form in my paintings attempt to inform the perception of place, memory, instinct, belonging, safety and feeling, and not airbrush or smooth away the very details of human existence. The grit, earth, sea and rock, ground us, serve to remind us that we are also part of the natural order, made of molecules, atoms, energy and matter. I am interested in what artists often refer to a ‘space’, finding depth and perspective, creating a journey into and through a painting. But equally, I can’t help but zoom into the details, the microscopic, noticing the delicacy and frailty of nature in contrast to its vastness and inherent power. This exhibition has been curated to show those contrasts of scale, power and fragility.
Claire Murray is an expressive painter based in Fletchers Mill, Dean Clough in Halifax. Claire has been painting for 35 years, teaching art and running her own studio practice, and has work in private collections internationally.
Peter Stanaway & Kevin Haynes
The Mosaic and Upstairs Galleries
19th April – 25th May 2025
Peter Stanaway and Kevin Haynes are northern artists whose subject matter is primarily concerned with the industrial landscapes and people of the textile mill towns in Lancashire. Both members of MAFA (Manchester Academy of Fine Art), they have exhibited widely both locally and internationally.
While having in common a graphic quality of painted depiction through delineated sections of colour, Peter’s work is reminiscent of the modified cubism of Fernand Léger. He uses the texture of the surfaces he works on to add depth and variation, sometimes exposing the process of building up the image. Kevin simplifies complex images into very carefully mixed sections that create a sense of depth. His faceless workers express their individuality through clothing much like one of his influences, L. S. Lowry.
George Hainsworth
A Retrospective
The Crossley Gallery
Saturday 22nd February – 25th May 2025
“Much of my work has links with that exemplified by Chardin, work that requires to be valued, understood and appreciated by an intimate and domestic audience. The paintings aspire to being ‘used by the eye’ as part of domestic life, and therefore make possible the enrichment that is implied by this experience.”
George Hainsworth describes his work as figurative in the most expansive sense. He can go from large paintings of vases of flowers composed of confident gestural impasto marks, to simple geometric assemblage. Born just before World War II, George was strongly affected by war-time events, particularly Hiroshima, which led to the production of many anti-war works throughout his career.
A student at Leeds College of Art 1955-60 and the Slade School of Art 1960-62, he went on to work in Higher Education for many years alongside his own practice, which also drew from his experiences in teaching.
“The influences upon my work are too numerous to mention. They derive from other painters and sculptors, but also from films and dance, archaeology, science, politics and philosophy. I feel that as an artist one is and should be embedded in the wider culture, interacting with it and hopefully enriching it.”
George draws on a wealth of sources, but what he produces is distinct stylistically, full of physicality and always completely sincere.
Read a review by Art Critic Nigel Ip here.
Two Rivers
IOU’s Sculptural Sound Installation
IOU Walkway Gallery, Dean Clough, Halifax, HX3 5DJ
Monday-Friday: 08:00-20:00
Saturday-Sunday: 09:00-17:00
Created in collaboration with artist Richard Wincer, writer Louise Oliver, composer Dan Morrison and sculptor Andy Plant.
The installation fuses woodcuts, sculpture, technology, spoken word, and sound art to explore themes of evolution, heritage, legacy – the circle of life, the passage of time, the cycles of nature.
Walk through the installation and take in the sounds that echo around this atmospheric art space.
esK : ‘Cuiridh mi clach air do chárn -I’ll Put A Stone On Your Cairn’
IOU Walkway Gallery, Dean Clough
Opens 13th March 2025
Monday-Friday: 08:00-20:00
Saturday-Sunday: 09:00-17:00
IOU Artist in Residence esK (Stewart Knights) new exhibition reflects on his experience living at the IOU Hostel Hebden Bridge and his time in Calderdale.
Over his time in South Pennines, Stewart has developed a love for the cairns (purposefully stacked stones) of the hills and moors.
“Memorials and compasses pointing towards the mishmash of ideas and histories that I have come to know and love whilst here in Calderdale”.
This has led him to choose, for his final project as Artist in Residence, to create interactive cairn-like structures out of found and gifted objects. The exhibition explores how cairns could form in urban contexts using everyday materials. The original use of cairns and standing stones for rituals, navigation and memorial purposes are preserved in these interactive sculptures while also encouraging storytelling and play.
The Iron Man by Chris Mould
Please note: The Iron Man is currently on temporary display at The Bankfield Museum.
The Iron Man is currently on show in the entrance to The Dean Clough Galleries. Chris said “My interest in Ted Hughes’ The Iron Man began when I first found the book in the school library at a young age. It had been published in the year before I was born (1968) and continues to be a strong selling title in the children’s market today.
After being asked to produce my own illustrated version of the story I became fascinated with the idea of taking the artwork to the next stage and building the character three dimensionally.”
Copies of The Iron Man, Illustrated by Chris Mould are available in the Design Shop at Dean Clough.
The Lego Model
Visit the Lego model of the 22 acre Dean Clough site situated in the Lego Brick Gallery in D Mill next to the Upstairs and Mosaic Galleries. This model, constructed out of approximately one million Lego bricks has been created by Lego artists Michael Le Count and Tony Priestman.
Also displayed in the gallery are artefacts and photographs of the Crossley Carpet era and of the renovation of Dean Clough in the 1980s.
The Piano Club
The Piano Club started over 30 years ago, a forerunner of the many piano meet-up groups found throughout the UK. Based at the Crossley Gallery in Dean Clough, The Piano Club offers a forum for pianists to play, perform and develop within a sympathetic and friendly environment and the opportunity to discuss aspects of piano playing and repertoire with fellow musicians. Our aspiration could be summed up as mutual self-improvement through the knowledge and experience to be found within the group.
The group meets on the first Sunday of each month from 10am to 1pm. Membership is free and meetings are open to observers.
The Crossley Art Gallery at Dean Clough has a beautiful Fazioli grand piano and seats 150. It is situated close to Halifax Bus Station, and the Dean Clough car parks are free on Sundays.
The Piano Club is run by David Nelson, formerly the Artistic Director of the Hebden Bridge Piano Festival. Please contact David by phone or email for further information. Tel. 07704 873 894
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/pianoclubhalifax
Purchasing Artwork
Purchase exhibited items by debit or credit card from the Design Shop next to the Dean Clough Main Reception. When the exhibition finishes purchased items may be collected by arrangement.
Prints of some artists’ work are also for sale in The Design Shop.