Meet The Maker – Sue Leslie

Sue Leslie – Artist

Sue lives in Hebden Bridge and has been making things since her childhood. She loves incorporating old books, envelopes, maps and other ephemera as well as her passion for stitching and origami into her work.

Butterfly book sculpture

After designing and making original stationery, table and venue decorations for her daughter’s wedding last year and recognising the need for a bespoke service, Sue launched ‘A Thousand Paper Wishes’.

Willow and paper rose wreaths

Her new business venture takes its name from the Japanese tradition of making 1000 paper cranes when a daughter gets married to bring good luck to the couple.

Hair comb

Sue makes a range of paper flowers combining beautiful papers, old books, maps and comics to create bouquets, corsages, hair decorations, table decorations and favours.

Bouquet of paper roses with handmade papers

She will work closely with a couple in order to incorporate their own papers, colour schemes and personalities into her bespoke creations.

Delicate paper daisy wreath

Heart Gallery loves Sue’s work and she is always coming up with new ideas for us.

Buttonhole

Sue will be at the launch of our Wedding Exhibition ‘I DO’ on Sunday 23 June to chat to you about your requirements so do come along to meet her if you are looking for something really different for your Wedding Day.

Personalised small rose keepsake

Meet the Makers – Claire and Amy

Claire and Amy – artists, makers and sisters!

Claire and Amy create intricate, quirky sculptures of winged creatures from abandoned and reclaimed materials, both organic and manmade. Their fragile figurines often resemble insects, fairies, angels, or hybrids of these. Each creature is mounted in a simple white box frame labelled with a unique name; often containing a short narrative describing their secret activities and mischievous nature, giving the piece a humorous twist. They draw inspiration from the insects they observe in their own surroundings, and the displays in natural history collections. They then fuse this with memories from their imaginative play as young sisters, and ideas from popular mythology and legend. 

Claire and Amy – creatures

Claire and Amy imagine their creatures to be members of an unclassified species; the protectors and preservers of common everyday objects, the value of which has diminished in our modern age. They come to life when humans are absent, scurrying through the mundane and unused items people keep but never use. Their work is linked to nostalgia and memory, as the materials they use have had past lives; the man-made items are now without purpose due to changes in social practices and fashion.

Claire and Amy – creatures

The wings symbolise transformation, where new life force is breathed into the items people discard. They believe that their work helps to focus the observer on the beauty of everyday objects and forces them to reconsider the notion that ‘new equals beautiful’, and to make a statement about the throwaway society in which we live.

Claire and Amy – creatures

Claire and Amy combine unusual materials such as skeletal leaves and scraps of plastic. These are obtained as we go through our everyday lives, in the garden or park, on beaches, as we empty our bins.  By using personal items they imbue their creatures with their own essence.  They use their imagination to manipulate the function of everyday objects; a pen nib becomes a beak; watch cogs, ornate keys and lightbulbs become fragile bodies; fragments of silk scarves become delicate wings. They fuse traditional and contemporary techniques.  Conventional stitching and beading is then burned and distressed; welded wire is partly covered in tiny scraps of newspaper.  We work together allowing our creatures to evolve in response to the shape and texture of the materials.

Claire and Amy – creatures

Meet The Maker – Mike Topham

Mike Topham – Artist

Michael was born in Yorkshire in 1954 and studied design at Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham. After a brief spell as an exhibition designer he travelled to Qatar to work with a leading British sculptor and environmental artist, for the Emir’s office.

Old Boot

Here Michael was involved in a diverse range of design activities including interiors and furniture, landscaping, conceptual design, architectural drawing and model-making.

Avoiding the Trap

After four years Michael moved to Dubai where, for a further fourteen years, he was mainly involved with landscaping design/construction and project management.

Takeaway

During his busy career in the Middle East Michael managed to exhibit art works in Qatar and Dubai.

Lying in Wait

Uphill Struggle

He returned to the UK in 1996 to be a self-employed garden designer and contractor, and continues to produce amusing creations in a variety of materials including wire, plaster and paper, in both two and three dimensions.

Windy Day 1

Windy Day 2

Mike’s collection for Heart Gallery is fun and right up our street so I hope you enjoy the selection …. I don’t know about you but I can certainly relate to this last one!

Bad Hair Day

Meet The Maker – Holly Levell

Holly Levell – Textile Artist

Holly graduated from the University of Huddersfield with a degree in Textile Crafts but her love for textiles, making and general crafty-ness has grown since childhood. Holly is a Textile Artist specialising in the everyday through soft sculptures, softening the lines of a usually solid idea. Holly is inspired by her daily surroundings and the unnoticed aspects of life and how as an artist she can challenge the status and meaning of the humble object, using her personal textile craft techniques.

Holly Levell collection of textiles

Holly’s current work came from exploring ideas of the objects that feature in our everyday activities. She began to focus in on the idea of shopping and was stitching a flat bean can in her room and thought it may be possible to make the bean can but from stitched textiles completely softening the solid idea and producing a soft and nostalgic object, and that’s when Supermarket Stitch was born.

Holly Levell collection of textiles

Each of Holly’s soft sculptures are completely handmade using a variety of fabrics and take her a few days to complete. 

Heinz Beans anyone?

Meet The Maker – Caroline Parrott

Caroline Parrott – designer/maker

Caroline works in anodised aluminium, which she hand prints and dyes to create a range of jewellery, home and garden accents and mixed media automata.

Butterfly pendants on ribbon

Caroline runs her business as a maker alongside working as an arts education officer at a popular contemporary craft venue in Dorset. This combination of pursuits has led her to develop her role as a workshop tutor, she now runs regular creative classes using colourful aluminium, as well as outreach work and community projects with local schools and children’s groups. Projects have included giant swarms of butterflies adorning public spaces and school grounds.

Wall mounted butterflies

Caroline’s love of making automata was born out of the need to allow people to touch work in a gallery environment. Its endless possibilities, limitless humour and accessibility to all make the work a joy to design and create. She relishes the interaction that can be created between a viewer and a moving object.

Anodised aluminium and mixed media automata – Caroline Parrott

Caroline often chooses to combine her metal with vintage ephemera and old-fashioned containers found at antique markets. She takes much of her inspiration from traditional insect collections and Victorian apparatus, including wood and brass fittings wherever possible.

Coil Bangles

Heart Gallery loves Carolines work and finds it really cheery – particularly making us smile us through the start of a very wet and soggy June in Hebden Bridge! We hope you love her work too and will be wearing your little piece of Caroline when the sun peeks out!

Meadow Flowers

Meet The Maker – Rozie Keogh

Rozie Keogh – wire artist

Rozie was born in Middlesex and spent the first part of her life living in West London, moving to Herefordshire in 1974 where she has continued to live and produce her work. She originally learned illustration and typography at Harrow School of Art. On leaving college she worked in the painting room at the Royal School of Needlework, painting designs for embroiderers.  After moving to Herefordshire she worked in the print and publishing trade as a typesetter. In 1990 she returned to college at Hereford College of Art and Design where she completed the Small Studio Practice course, later to become Applied Arts). It was here where she started producing three-dimensional work.

Rozie Keogh ‘Hindu Fairy’ sculpture

Her work draws inspiration from historical costume and ceremonial religious artefacts. Many of the pieces contain a narrative, sometimes taken from fairy stories, sometimes from popular culture. They can be both amusing and poignant.

Rozie Keogh ‘Riding the Storm’ sculpture

Most of Rozie’s work is made in various metal wires, including iron, brass, copper and knitted enamelled copper wire. She includes sequins, beads and some found objects to enrich the pieces and add a magical quality.

Rozie Keogh ‘Dancing Mergirl’ sculpture

The sculptures are usually in forms of mythical female characters. She has also produced larger pieces that are more abstract, particularly when working in a site-specific context. Often using garments to represent concepts and to suggest, rather than depict an actual wearer. Although now working three-dimensionally, she continues to illustrate life and stories with her work.

Rozie Keogh ‘Falling Angel’ sculpture

Heart Gallery loves Rozie’s work and hop you do too and we have 3 gorgeous mergirl sculptures hanging in the gallery at the moment, here is a video of one Lorelei !

Meet The Maker – Jane Strawbridge

Jane Strawbridge – artist

Jane has worked as an artist for over twenty years, in a variety of materials. Her sculptures are always strongly influenced by her everyday life.

Paper sculptures by Jane Strawbridge

People and animals met on daily dog walks set the seed of an idea. The materials then come into play and direct each piece’s development. Jane uses found materials wherever possible, giving each figure a strong character. These materials give a sense of a history to the existence of each piece.

Paper sculptures by Jane Strawbridge

All surface colours and patterns are from papers and books giving an aged and subtle finish. The only paint being the tiny lips. Each resulting piece is unique.

Paper sculptures by Jane Strawbridge

Heart Gallery is proud to showcase Jane’s work in Hebden Bridge.

Jane Strawbridge’s work in Heart Gallery

Love the shadows Jane’s pieces create on our walls

Spot the Dog!

MAY ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE

May all your dreams come true exhibition invitation

May all your dreams come true exhibition invitation

We are all so excited at Heart Gallery about this magical exhibition and hope that you are too – it is going to be one of our best, we can sense it! The wire Mergirl on the invitation has been made for us by Rozie Keogh and we have 3 of them swimming around the gallery to keep an eye on you all as you browse the amazing new work we are showcasing. Here are a few sneaky peaks but please make sure to come to the launch on Sunday 13 May – you will not be disappointed!

Alice in Wonderland framed papercut by Yasemin Wigglesworth

Mars necklace by Rachel Lucie

Storybook by paper/textile artist Alix Swan

Feather Fox by glass artist Rachel Elliott

'Like Ghosts from an Enchanter Fleeing' Nicola Taylor, self portrait photographer

Lovers' Triptych Brooch by Catherine Chester

'Untaken' Cyanotype print by Moira Fuller

Recognised phrases and stories on bags by Alison Hughes

Lucy Palmer's fairytale inspired silver jewellery

Lucy Harding's illustrations inspired by customers she meets on her milk round

So, a few images to whet your appetite but if they haven’t tempted you enough then maybe Ursula Holden Gill can! Ursula is one of the North’s most innovative, award winning Storytellers. Her quirky, unique sets are influenced largely by 19th Century Music Hall, Lancashire Dialect, Westmorland Clogging, Folk, Traditional and Original Song, Contemporary Dance, Puppetry, Clean but Cheeky Stand Up Acts and essentially, life. This has led her to be frequently described as a cross somewhere between Gracie Fields and Billy Connolly!

Urusla Holden Gill

Ursula will be spending Sunday 13 May with us presenting a song and story set she calls Sightings of the Little People – suitable for adults and children alike. It explores the idea that fairy sightings have been associated with – and are responsible for – the naming of more places in the British Isles than anywhere else in the world and that in the North of England alone we proudly boast numerous fairy bridges and glens, a few sets of standing stones, waterfalls, cottage gardens, and a variety of hills and wells! By revealing how such places came to take their title Ursula will welcome all who attend the launch into a most controversial debate that has fascinated artists for hundreds of years – are fairies real or not… and if so, what are they? Fanciful Friend or Malevolent Foe? Further, who can see the little people and how?

See you all at Heart Gallery, Hebden Bridge on Sunday May 13 from 12pm – 5pm for fairy cakes, angel dust and magical stories and of course an eclectic mix of jewellery and craft inspired by fairytales, folklore, myths and dreams to tempt and delight xXx

Dreaming of the dwelling place original painting by Gillian Lee Smith

Meet The Maker – Louise Wilson

Louise Wilson - Contemporary Wire Artsit

Louise is a contemporary wire artist based in Staffordshire. She uses wire and found materials to create 2D and 3D drawings and sculptures of everyday objects and day to day life.

Wire Spectacles

Her inspirations include found objects and vintage items, and also anything she finds particularly interesting in the environment around her.

Wire Gloves

The wire is simple and elegant allowing the focus to be on the line of the object, something so simple and yet so often missed. Louise aims to bring a feminine and personal touch to the wire using thread wrapping and also including real objects within her work.

Wire Sewing Kit In Vintage Tin

Each piece is handmade and individual which is important to her as she feels every object has its own history and a story to tell and she allows this to happen through the use of wire and found materials.

I Want To Ride My Bicycle Wire Work In Vintage Tin

Heart Gallery is so proud to showcase Louise’s amazing work for the first time and hope that she will continue to produce new collections for us.