THE Weavers Factory gallery in Uppermill has kicke -off a year of new exhibitions with a project close to the hearts of owners, Julian Bovis and Nigel Durkan.
Horizontality and Verticality, which runs until February 13, 2022, tells the story of a 1949 thesis by Joan Charnley who lived at the New Street premises and later bequeathed her former home to Julian and Nigel.
Joan’s thesis lay undiscovered for 70 years while the exhibition also includes the launch of a first ever book, plus art prints, furniture, fabric and new work by students from Oldham College.
To celebrate the year ahead, including exhibitions by John Hewitt, Anthony Mark and Sarah V Battle, curator and artists Julian has created a super-sized Saddleworth collage. It includes 40 of the area’s landmark villages.
Julian said: “Like many people I used lockdown to get fitter. I spent most mornings walking around each of the villages and must have walked down every single street in Saddleworth.
“It gave me the idea to create something that recorded that unique time when you could walk down Uppermill High Street and not see a single soul.
“So, I started recording all the buildings I saw; not just the landmark ones everybody knows.
“But the less famous ones too such as the sleepy 1970s bungalows in Greenfield and the cobbled Victorian terraces in Dobcross.
“My idea was to create a collage of Saddleworth to show what the villages are really like, not what you see on postcards or tourist brochures.
“I started with our regular haunts: Wilberrys cafe in Uppermill, Station Brew and the Old Cobblers in Greenfield.
“Then I began to paint buildings I had never seen before. It is amazing what you see when you have time to look.
“It took me nine months to paint all the buildings. When I was finished, I combined them all into one fictional Italian mountain village style collage.
“Saddleworth has never looked so lovely. The original collage is six-feet wide and will be on display at our re-launch exhibition in January.
“I’m hoping somebody will be able to identify every single building because I’m having trouble remembering what I painted.”
• The Weavers Factory gallery is now open to the public at 13 New Street, Uppermill, OL3 6AU. Thursday to Sunday 10am to 4pm.
Find out more online: www.weaversfactory.co.uk
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