Spreading a little happiness at the Hatton Gallery
Cheerful art from young and old
An exhibition called HAPPY! proves hard to resist and it does indeed have the power to send gloom off with its tail between its legs.
Take, for instance, Yinka Ilori’s enamel screenprints, six of them displayed tightly together, a celebration of shapes and colours with titles such as Ripples of Stillness, Moments of Reflection and Humbled by Your Sun Rays.
The artist, brought up on a London estate and of British-Nigerian heritage, was asked what brings him joy.
Being outdoors, he replied, was “so incredibly uplifting”, giving him space to think.
“There’s something about light, colour and the energy of the world around you that sparks happiness and creativity,” he elaborated.
“But also, what I find really touching is seeing people’s reactions to my work. There’s something so special about knowing that the joy I put into my pieces can spread to others and bring happiness to communities.”
The question was posed by one of the young people (aged 16 to 24) of L-INK, a group that works with the Laing and Hatton galleries to liaise with artists, create art and co-curate exhibitions.
Members of L-INK collaborated with Hatton Gallery staff on this exhibition which has been put together in association with the Jerwood Collection.
Comprising artworks owned by the Jerwood Foundation, a charity which has been supporting the arts and young people since 1977, it made a terrific resource available to the young curators.
In the two smaller rooms of HAPPY! we can wallow in the work of artists who either forged their reputations in the 20th Century or, like Yinka Ilori, are still working today.
Some names visitors will recognise instantly and others might prompt them to make a mental note to investigate later. In the gallery, though, the best advice is to enjoy the moment, and I’m sure Yinka would agree.
But there’s joy to be found in more muted and mundane tones than he revels in.
Quirky, characterful paintings fill a wall in the first room, including an insightful early portrait by Maggi Hambling of her next-door-neighbour, Frances Rose.
To one side of it are two oil paintings by Nicola Bealing, based in Cornwall, which are comical and ironic, notably Mermaids Ashore showing two women on a beach looking not at all like the mermaids of popular imagination.
On the other side is a painting by the late John Bellany called The Old Sailor Dreams of his Past, which he is doing alongside a solemn-looking seagull.
The Scottish painter’s works, we learn, became more colourful and vivacious after his liver transplant in 1988.
In the second smaller room, contrasting with the radiant Ilori prints, are works by Basil Beattie (born in West Hartlepool and still working in his nineties), Paul Feiler and Victor Pasmore, the latter represented by Relief Construction, comprising wood painted in contrasting stripes of black, white and brown.
This, from the Hatton’s own collection, hardly makes your heart sing but it shows the artist – who would later give us Peterlee’s concrete Apollo Pavilion (hurray/boo according to taste) – experimenting, playing around with materials.
It’s significant because it was made the year after Pasmore joined the staff of Newcastle University’s fine art department (then part of King’s College, Durham).
Along with fellow artist Richard Hamilton, he designed a new approach to art teaching and evidently there was an Art Education Exhibition in this very gallery in 1957 giving visitors a taste of what it entailed.
Sepia clippings from Newcastle paper The Journal show the exhibition was reported under the headline ‘School art is no bore’.
“What is successfully brought out is the wide choice of media now used in schools, and the freedom with which the child is allowed to use them,” stated reporter Desmond Bland.
“The days are gone when the ‘drawing lesson’ was a burden and a bore. Today the boy who can’t draw may discover a talent for moulding papier-mâché hand puppets, and the girl with an eye for colour and texture can exercise it on the composition of appliqué fabric pictures.
“If anyone thinks that this is as much of a waste of time as the old method of copy-work, they should visit this exhibition.”
The newspaper cuttings are in a display case in the biggest and most joyous of the three rooms where there’s abundant evidence of children having been anything but bored while involved in art.
A class from three different North East schools was set the task of exploring a particular Jerwood Collection artwork with the pupils then challenged to make a piece of their own.
The results are stunning, the children’s contributions showing clearly how much they enjoyed the task and the results imaginatively displayed next to each chosen artwork in a sort of shoal or starburst of creativity.
Some of the children’s delighted responses are also painted on the walls.
“Oh my days, these are actually good!” exclaimed a year nine artist pupil at St Mary’s Catholic School where inspiration was provided by a Prunella Clough oil painting, Backdrop, from 1993.
The year four class at Archibald First School, meanwhile, worked with Fish Charm no. 1, a 1965 work in oils by Alan Davie, creating collages and painting their own responses during a visit to the gallery.
The year six children from St Paul’s C of E Primary School had an untitled 1993 work by Gillian Ayres, acrylic on paper, to spark off and made artworks related to everyday things that make them happy.
Given the happiness this project clearly generated for all the young participants, you’d like to think it’s indicative of every pupil’s experience of school – although, sadly, you wouldn’t want to bet on it.
As Desmond Bland wrote more than 65 years ago, anyone who thinks art is a waste of time should visit this exhibition.
Julie Milne, chief curator of art galleries at North East Museums, which manages the Hatton, rightly called it “an education and inspiration to us all”.
L-INK group member Sara said the collaboration with The Jerwood Collection had enabled the group to get “a bit out of our comfort zone”.
And she added: “The collection itself is rich and full of potential for a great outcome and we have been lucky to get to work with it, especially when it comes to the Hatton Gallery because, as a historically significant space for the contemporary art world, it is the best place to have this exhibition and I am glad to be part of it.”
Lara Wardle, executive director and trustee at the Jerwood Foundation, said: “HAPPY! reflects the Jerwood Collection’s commitment to meaningful engagement with modern and contemporary art.
“Inspired by Victor Pasmore’s pioneering 1957 Art Education Exhibition at the Hatton Gallery, this project places young people at the centre of curatorial thinking, encouraging learning through making, questioning and experience.
“We are delighted to work with L-INK and Hatton Gallery on an exhibition that brings works from the Jerwood Collection into dialogue with new generations of artists and audiences.”
HAPPY! runs until May 9 and the gallery is open Monday to Saturday, 10am - 5pm. Entry is free. Find more details on the Hatton Gallery website.