Art at The Old School House, Leyburn

A DIVERSE and fascinating range of work by Dales artists was on display at The Old School House in Leyburn during the first week in October.

The exhibition in The Studio ended on October 9 but that by Carol Tyler in the Café Bar continued, soon to be replaced by paintings by Barbara Braithwaite.

Tyler states: “I desire my work to look old, like a found object”, and for me she especially achieves that in her depictions of Coverham Church, whether in Church with Stencils or in the view across the gravestones.

In The Studio I was drawn to Daphne Chandler’s playful portraits of cats and Swaledale Burning showing smoke from heather burning mingling with brooding clouds over the moors.

As a Dales landscape, Carolyn Stephenson’s Where earth meets sky was equally effective. Her art ranged from an oil of a Swaledale lamb, still life paintings and dry prints to the fringed delicacy of white peonies in full bloom.

Floral studies provided an integrating theme, from the technically brilliant and captivating studies of Margaret Rivers to Chandler’s enjoyment of the beauty of a purple poppy.

That contrasted well with the delicate fronds of Nigella Hispanica painted by Rivers and a pen and ink study of spiky hemlock seed heads by Connie Fairweather.

Fairweather explained that the driving force behind her work was to celebrate the wealth of beauty and the reality of what nature provides and, in many ways, that summed up the whole exhibition.

The Old School House continues its support of local artists with Yoredale Art Club members showing work in The Studio from November 11 to December 2 followed by Whorlton Art Group.

Pip Land