Visit to Harrogate

#harrogate #mercerartgallery #watermarkgallery

This was our first visit to Harrogate and a chance to relax after a busy few weeks. We treated ourselves to a visit to the Turkish baths, certainly something completely different and an interesting experience. 
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The next day was more of a cultural one with visits to the Mercer Gallery and several private galleries. Our intended visit to the Pump House museum never happened as it was flooded from recent heavy rainfall. 

​Total Recall: Myth and Memory - from 13 July 2023

This exhibition interweaves contemporary art with works from the Mercer Gallery’s permanent collection, finding new connections between artists from the past and present and creating fresh dialogues between art works.
Five northern artists have been invited to exhibit alongside selected works from the Harrogate Art Collection to present perspectives from our own time and communities. Sally Barker, Ka Bird, Jill McKnight, K Walker, and Hang Zhang each bring different media that expand the scope of the exhibition. 
The exhibition includes favourites from our permanent collection including John Atkinson Grimshaw’s Silver Moonlight, along with new acquisitions such as a series of prints by Caroline Walker which will be displayed for the first time thanks to the Friends of the Mercer Art Gallery who have supported to the costs of framing.
Total Recall responds to the unprecedented uncertainty of our era with works that explore the flux of time and the fleeting nature of memory. 
These artists raise questions about how we view everyday objects, how we engage with experiences and how we remember the past. Visual and emotional links between their works mimic the experience of human existence, where following the thread of one memory can unleash

The exhibition at the Mercer was a little un-nerving at first with traditional paintings by Atkinson Grimshaw and John Piper next to abstract work from the collection. Reading about why these were displayed together did explain this, although the curator had to show us the theme on a computer as there was no relevant literature to go with the exhibition, only a few notes on the walls.

​Another aspect of the gallery was an area where workshops could be run and some interesting artwork was displayed from a recent collage day.
There were also worksheets and materials for children to use. 
An interesting gallery with lots to see and a mixed range of artwork.

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