Accidental gallery goes from strength to strength

Accidental gallery goes from strength to strength

Elephantstones Gallery, Hayfield, is celebrating its 3rd Birthday with an exhibition of Harry Ousey's abstracted landscapes.

The exhibition will run throughout the May Bank Holiday weekend (27th-29th) until Friday 2nd June and the gallery is open 10am - 4pm.

The gallery is run by Simon and Suzanne Bridges and their daughter Eve. Its beginnings were accidental. Simon runs a design and marketing consultancy from the same space and, having begun his career as a freelance photographer, put a few pictures in the office window “to brighten things up”.

“People kept coming in and asking how much the pictures were, so the penny dropped and we gave over all but our desk space to creating a gallery and we’ve really enjoyed the unplanned venture into the world of commercial art” said Simon.

“The photography on sale captures the local landscape and its landmarks through the seasons and our daughter, Eve, has produced some wonderfully sparing illustrated works of 20 trees and other iconic places around Hayfield. We’ve recently added vintage Scandinavian glass and pottery collectables from the 50’s, 60’s 70’s curated by Suzanne. Why? Well we love great design as part of our ‘day jobs’ and tracking down the pieces is great fun on trips to Copenhagen. Visitors to the gallery are always enthusiastic about how different we are and always ask if we have Viking connections!”

Harry Ousey (1915-1985) lived at Hill House farm in Hayfield in the late forties where he was inspired by the landscape. Harry's "edge movement" art draws upon elements of landscape - drystone walls, drifting clouds and the horizon of hills and simplifies them into abstraction.

Harry Ousey, born in Longsight, Manchester, has been described as "very important in the 20th century British art scene". His body of work includes oil, watercolour and collage and fragments are to be found in the Whitworth Gallery, Falmouth Art Gallery, The Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth House and the Salford Museum and Art Gallery.

Visitors to the gallery will find a time-line of Harry's life and a wide selection of his works. All the works will be for sale, so owning an original work is within reach!

“It’s another accident – Harry found us, well his niece Sue Astles did. Sue, who lives in Glossop, called into the gallery, shared the story and we immediately connected with Harry’s art. Making a space to hang these pictures is a great way to bring into the light works of such strong resonance with the landscape that surrounds Hayfield and it’s a great way to celebrate our 3rd birthday with something a bit special”

www.elephantstones.co.uk has all the dates, details and the location of the gallery.

 

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