If you know the Harris, is an icon ‘Hannibal’s Sister’ or ‘Pauline in the Yellow Dress’?  Your choice, but on 28th April we took in a talk by two Sisters from the St Elisabeth Convent in Minsk about creating religious icons.   In the afternoon you could make your own icon but that was booked up.  The Harris has a lot on at the moment and we followed up by viewing the special exhibitions; Lubaina Himid: Hard Times,  The Courtauld Connection, Before Sound and The Gentleman’s Wardrobe.  The strange thing about the Harris is there is something new everytime you go, although the staff claim it was always there, is it an in joke?

Starting with the icon talk we learnt that creating icons is an exacting task taking several weeks, starting with the wooden base and building it up.  Especially a large one, perhaps with many figures and painted for a special family event. As well as the icon studio the Convent works to help the destitute.  There was a display of  fine icons and some made for a cheaper budget.  It was fascinating to listen to and meet the Sisters from Minsk, Belarus.

The Lubaina Himid Exhibition Hard Times contains several works including the Turner Prize winning work.  Also on the stairs in the gallery are 2 more works and another in the Fine Art Gallery as part of the Harris collection.   The adjacent rooms have items by other artists that are part of the exhibition.

Preston once had a large rayon producing factory owned by Courtauld’s. A display in the Fine Art Gallery  shows the history of the factory and the lives of the workers. This is set around a painting by Eugene Boudin on loan from the Courtauld Gallery in London. The painting was selected by former employees.  See our separate write up.

The Gentleman’s Wardrobe is a work around the story of male carers who feel they were let down by the system.  Their voices can be heard inside the wardrobe while you can sit inside with the doors closed for the full experience.

In front of the Wardrobe is The Cart Room, a collection of carts with paintings of fish and insects.  Quite novel and rural feeling.

Before Sound is an elegantly hung work showing a huge Musical Stave with the treble clef at the bottom.  Such a note could be almost in the visible spectrum, although probably no-where near.

Preston Street Style is a longer term exhibition.  Preston is my Paris is a clever take of an advert and was used in the 2012 Preston Guild.  An exhibition of street clothing through time.   I can’t help but admire who-ever thought of Preston is my Paris, it’s one of those phrases that comes to mind in certain places in Preston,  ironic perhaps.  In Certain Places is familiar too.

Yes, a good day at the Harris.

The Preston Open Exhibition for local artists is held at the Harris Art Gallery during December and finishes on the 21st January 2018.  This year’s has a wide selection of creations, some tableaux based on the gallery’s own collection plus a range of paint, photo, sculpture, pottery and more.

Here are 11 selected for one reason or other and with random comments:

If the artists want their name mentioned or to explain the work please let us know.

A pleasing representation of the painting in the Harris ‘Why War?’ by Charles Spencelayh. 

Pea green boats and owls, what’s not to like. Wish you were here:

An imposing multi-layered quite large work with ivy leaves on the hat:

Well done for this mosaic of vivid colour and flowing fragment shapes, a volcanic eruption perhaps:

A tableau of the painting ‘Pauline in the Yellow Dress’ which has been in the Harris since the 1940s, she’s an old gal with a sophisticated air:

A fullsome piece of meadowland flower bringing bright summer into our dark winter:

These are good. The wooden ones have a haunted feel of garden decay, but good decay.

Good colour and old city feel.  Edinburgh Old Town perhaps except for the flag.

This seems like all the elements of the world from our beginning as reptiles in the sea to a bed of cash with cars and elephants representing man and nature feeding off this bottle of fuel but then it might not be.  An interesting piece:

This is good as well, the wiring is different, don’t label is the message, an autism piece:

Peaceful reflection on the Lancaster Canal, enjoyed for the reflections.  There’s another reflection piece of a well known garden that’s nicely done as well:

Big maps always drive the imagination, and well drawn on each continent.  Is this our planet with hunger, war and greed reaching to a world of complacency and conceit or is that too much? Heaven, life and hell maybe.

Well done to the artists.