By Martin Plant
Everyone has a story to tell. Based on this simple idea, the article called Saddleworth Voices is a feature of Saddleworth Independent.
Originally, it began as an oral history project when at the start of the new millennium a group of volunteers, with some funding provided by Saddleworth Parish Council and Delph Community Association, interviewed over 70 local people.
The recordings can be found in Delph Library.
The project finished in 2015 when the North West Sound Archive in Clitheroe, our main supporter, had to close down for financial reasons. (Its 140,000 sound recordings were relocated to city libraries in Manchester and Liverpool.)
The guiding principle behind the written articles is to continue to show something of the richness and diversity of the lives lived by people in Saddleworth.
Here, Martin Plant speaks to Delph-based artist Richard Clare, who has a studio, gallery and picture framing business at Saddleworth Crafts Cooperative.
Established in 1979, the village’s is the oldest crafts cooperative in the country and includes a crafts shop, Crumbles Cafe and the artist John McCombs’s studio.
Richard was born in Sheffield in 1964.
He said: “My father was a lorry driver for a stainless steel company. My mother did various jobs to help support the family.
“I have a younger brother, David, who is now a lecturer in Shropshire.
“It was a happy childhood and from an early age at school I discovered art lessons at school were my favourite.
“The art teachers encouraged me and I spent all my pocket money on art materials!
“Living on the edge of the Pennines and enjoying walking and being outdoors meant that the landscape became the focus of my attention.
“I learned to always take my sketchbook when I went out!
“I tried various painting mediums but became more comfortable using oils, acrylics, and watercolours. Watercolours are more convenient for painting outdoors.
“When I left school, I studied graphic design at college for four years. It was a great course, very practical.
“The subject was all about visual communications to do with corporate identities, logo design, advertising, posters, brochures, typography, anything printed, because, of course, the internet hadn’t been invented then!
“My first job after leaving college was in Worcester with Kays Catalogues, a mail order catalogue business.
“We worked on sections such as pets or fashion or toys, designing the pages. It wasn’t very exciting creatively but good experience.
“After a while I moved to Cheltenham, working for a small design company doing brochure work and packaging design.
“Their customers included The National Gallery and W H Smith. However, the cost of living was too much down there, so I moved back up north, working with an advertising company in Sheffield then in Manchester with BDP, a major practice of architects.
“In the graphic design department, I helped to support the architects with submission proposals.
“After four years, the recession of 1998 caused redundancies so a friend and I decided to set up our own design company.
“We bought two computers, Apple Macs, costing £5,000 each!!! We had contacts but we had to ring people up and sell what we had to offer. We did well.
“Two of our biggest clients were Manchester Business School, designing leaflets about its courses, and Green Flag.
“We were able to undercut some of our larger competitors in bidding processes because we didn’t have big overheads.
“After a successful nine years, in 1998 I decided it was time to do what I always wanted, which was to paint, to make it as an artist.
“I began to collect a portfolio of paintings, many of landscapes of the Peak District, to take around galleries in the north west.
“I kept my hand in with occasional graphic design work too.
“Then I met my partner, Julie, moved to Delph and obtained a studio space at Knarr Mill.
“When painting a landscape, sometimes I work from a sketch or a photograph, other times I paint from memory, especially for the more abstract paintings, say of moorlands, when the aim is to capture an atmosphere.
“In 2003, we decided to move to Italy, to Barga in Tuscany.
“Julie could work anywhere as a technical translator and our daughter, Mariella, was up for it and soon became bilingual.
“We were there for eight years. I would pop back to the UK with paintings of Italian landscapes for exhibitions and galleries, as there is not the same network of galleries in Italy as there is here.
“It took me a while to adjust to the light in Tuscany, as, of course, it’s completely different!
“Mind you, you don’t get as many clouds over there – it’s either a flat blue sky or grey. You get better clouds in Saddleworth!
“For work reasons, we moved back to Saddleworth. Ivan Parfitt, who was more than 80-years-old, ran a bespoke picture framing business in Delph Crafts Centre.
“He trained me to take over from him. It’s where I am based now. It is very satisfying to frame a picture and see customers’ pleasure that results from the transformation.
“It makes such a difference when something is framed. Customer service has always been very important to me.
“My own artwork allows me to be expressive which contrasts with the accuracy required by picture framing!
“When I receive painting commissions, some customers want something specific. Others want more of my own interpretation.
“I am a member of Saddleworth Group of Artists and do the labelling for the two exhibitions we have every year In Saddleworth Museum and Art Gallery.
“The art group was founded more than 70 years ago and is flourishing with more than 50 artists.”
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