Feature
| NORTH YORKSHIRE |  | | | CLEVELAND | | | | COUNTY DURHAM | |
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Chance to explore an inspirational garden and a tranquil art gallery
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| VISUAL ADVENTURE: Nancy Murgatroyd with some of her paintings |
AN OPEN studio event this
spring will provide visitors
to Middleham with
an opportunity to explore
a jewel of a gallery set in a
secret garden.
It is the garden at Hill House
which has provided so much of
the visual richness which has inspired
artist Nancy Murgatroyd.
She created it with her late husband,
Keith, after he became a
tetraplegic.
She said: "It shows that wheelchair-
friendly can still be beautiful
if you use different shapes and
textures, and create interesting
vantage points."
Over the years, the garden grew
into a lush tapestry of brilliant
flowers, shrubs and trees. But, late
last year, she allowed a friend with
considerable horticultural experience
to cut it back heavily.
"She was far more daring than I
would have been. She has revealed
the whole structure and
lightness that I never knew was
there because you plant things
and you don't realise how much
they have grown.
"It has really been a delight to
work with someone who has completely
different knowledge to you,
and comes to the garden you have
created completely afresh.
"And then there was that hoar
frost and it was magical out there.
I have enjoyed the garden so
much this winter."
The creation of more light in the
garden has accompanied a
change in her artwork. She was
encouraged to take up painting
when her husband became paralysed
and she could no longer continue
her own career in fabrics
and clothing, colour forecasting,
and buying and directing design
teams.
As the garden developed, she became
renowned for her studies of
flowers in acrylics and oils.
Whether they are quite intimate
or up to a metre in size, they are
designed to engage the viewer in a
visual adventure, encompassing
both balance and contradiction.
Her work often touched on the
light and dark side of our thoughts
and, following the pain of bereavement
in 2005, she felt drawn
to painting large, abstract canvases
which allowed the mind to explore
all kinds of emotions.
As the processes of adjustment
have continued, her work has become
lighter and clearer, just at a
time when her garden is being
transfused with light.
She also enjoys painting fruits and
vegetables, even finding inspiration
from one of the smallest
country shows in Yorkshire - at
Thornton Rust in Wensleydale.
From May 17-18 and May 24-26,
her gallery will be open as part of
North Yorkshire Studios 08. This
year, Jackie Hunt will be showing
her glassware against the backdrop
of the garden.
Mrs Murgatroyd said: "That will be
a lovely time of year in the garden
because I have planted a lot of
bulbs."
She has enjoyed preparing for the
event, and an earlier exhibition, as
they have provided her with opportunities
to work with others.
"It's fun sharing with others and
seeing things from a different
point of view," she said.
Her gallery, like the garden, is a
living memorial to her husband.
As with all the work on the house
and garden, she shared every detail
with him so that he could be
part of the project.
Originally, the gallery was a
derelict building. As it had two
fireplaces and chimneys, it is possible
that it was originally two medieval
cottages. Or, as one of the
fireplaces was in the yard, it might
have been a stable with a smoking
room for curing bacon.
The archway which frames the
window looking out on to the garden
was blocked in with stone.
Once opened up, the light from
the garden poured into both floors
of the gallery.
But, upstairs, the floor was rotten
and Mrs Murgatroyd said of the
crook beams: "The only things
supporting them were the woodworms
holding hands."
They kept those as a design feature,
but had new beams installed
to support the old stone slates.
They managed to retain the Yorkshire
sliding windows by adding
new frames and glass to keep the
upstairs room warm and cosy.
"It wasn't until towards the end of
the project we realised it would be
super for the gallery," she said. "It's
an amazingly tranquil and peaceful
building.
"The concept of the gallery is important
- it needs to be relaxing
and unpretentious.
"If people are going to do something
important, like buying a picture,
they should be able to do it
in a relaxed manner and take as
long as they want."
That peacefulness is equally important
for Mrs Murgatroyd as she
has a busy life.
For many years, she was chairwoman
of the Middleham Key
Partnership, which was responsible
for implementing the £2.8m
Rural Challenge project. She was
also chairwoman of trustees of the
Middleham Key Centre, built as
part of that project.
She is a member of the Middleham
Heritage Group and, for the
past ten years, has worked as a
non-executive director in the
NHS. Her most recent appointment
was to the Yorkshire Ambulance
Services in 2006.
She has always been passionate
about the delivery of good health
care and enjoys all the challenges
involved in developing and modernising
the service.
She said: "Sometimes people
think that it is strange for a painter
to be chairing a governance committee
in the NHS, but it makes
perfect sense to me. I can use my
analytical and business skills to
help improve something I believe
in, and then come away and do
something entirely personal. So I
am really very fortunate.
"But I sometimes feel that, if I didn't
have to get up and go to work, I
might spend all my time just enjoying
the garden and never leave
Middleham.
"There is one thing for sure -
every time I drive back into the
town, I think what a great place it is to live."
1:30pm Friday 11th April 2008
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