COINCIDENCES
Date Posted: 10th February 2025
I love coincidences. It’s great when things join up and make sense. There is one in particular which sets my imagination going. I wish I could have been around when 3 of my favourite and most interesting artists met in Cumbria. Each of them have had a solo show at Castlegate House in the past. Yes, it’s L S LOWRY, SHEILA FELL AND PERCY KELLY. They all met a few times in Allonby and Maryport between 1958 – 68. They chose the same subjects but painted and drew them in entirely different ways. Fascinating.
Did you know that Lowry appears to have stopped off in Keswick on one of his journeys from Manchester to West Cumbria. He made a pencil drawing and titled it Old House with Steps 1957 – but it is obviously Keswick’s Moot Hall. He’d love the town today with all the dogs and people it attracts. Did you know he once drew a dog with 5 legs on the back of a cigarette packet to prove a point? He was quite careless about animals’ legs. I will tell you more in an illustrated talk at Keswick Lecture Society on Tuesday 25th February at 7.30 – 9.00 in Keswick School. It’s called The Cumbrian Connection and you’ll find much more about these three outstanding mid 20th century artists. Everyone is welcome. Plenty of parking. No need to book (£7 on the door). Don’t forget that the major exhibition of Sheila Fell’s works continues at Tullie House Carlisle until 16th March when it moves on to Sunderland. Don’t miss it.
There is a lot going on in West Cumbria just now. The INSPIRED BY INDUSTRY at the Beacon is drawing people in My talk at the Beacon last Saturday -The Swinging Sixties - was fully booked and very well received. I am planning to be at the exhibition every Saturday (from 12 noon – 3.00) to meet and chat to people. (just the trip up to the 4th floor gallery and the view of the harbour from the top is breathtaking.) The exhibition which includes 11 newly discovered Percy Kelly drawings continues until 30th March. This connects with an exceptional exhibition SEKERS OBJECTS at nearby Rosehill Theatre which involves the whole town. Everybody in the sixties got exquisite fabrics at The Silk Mill in Hensingham run by 2 Hungarian cousins – Nicholas (Miki) Sekers and Bobby de Gara. They came to Whitehaven as Hungarian émigrés because the government provided much needed jobs at a time of depression and unemployment offering business incentives and, as Jews, they could foresee what was going to happen in Germany under Hitler. Sekers had a contract for parachute silk when war with Germany broke out and when it was all over they attracted major fashion designers like Dior and Hartnell to use their silks. Princess Margaret’s wedding dress used their silk material. Any of the factory workers at any level who were getting married were given silk for their wedding dress. There are samples of some of these. In fact there is so much to see we spent a long time and will go back before it ends 27th February. The beautiful little Rosehill Theatre is full of memories. Percy Kelly was given his first exhibition in the foyer and for me the Piece de Resistance is on the stage of the theatre. It shows a single large Kelly drawing of the silk mill interior (who else could make the drawing of a loom exciting!) lit by a crystal chandelier. Minimalism at its best. It reduced me to tears.
There is so much more in the pipeline. Words by the Water will be arriving in Keswick 12th – 16th March with a tantalising full 5 day programme at Theatre by the Lake. On Sunday 16th March I will be in The studio at the theatre at 4.00pm showing the surprise 1964 short film about Percy found recently in house clearance in Brittany and telling the story of how it reached me in perfect condition 60 years later. I will be joined by the daughter of Bill Hamilton who was Head Designer at Sekers Silk Mill. She was 13 when her father made the film in their house in Whitehaven to encourage Miki Sekers to look at Kelly’s work. He succeeded and the rest is history.
A new print show of lino cuts by Cumbrian printmaker Peter Fenton has opened at Shipping Brow Gallery in Maryport and continues until Sunday23rd February. They have a lovely permanent exhibition of works by Mitchell and Kelly.
Also the latest Bridget Jones film (About a boy) which was partly filmed in a barn near Derwentwater forms part of a fabulous programme of new films at Keswick Alhambra.
Don’t forget that The Sheila Fell exhibition at Tullie House moves on to Sunderland 16th March.
So much going on. I am overwhelmed.