Kitty North at Salts Mill

There's a lovely exhibition in Salts Mill Gallery 2 at the moment. The canvasses are huge, colourful. exuberant acrylic paintings by Kitty North, who works from a studio in Arncliffe up in the Yorkshire Dales. The work was commissioned in memory of the late Jonathan Silver, who, thirty years ago, ''got the keys and began to fill the mill with art, love and life." The paintings loosely suggest scenes from the life of Salts Mill, both past and present. There are depictions of the mill as it was during the Industrial Revolution and some that reference the cutting-edge technology firms that these days occupy much of the building. There are several that contain both Victorian and modern figures, some recognisable (David Hockney is there, and Jonathan Silver) and some not; past and present meeting in dream-like images. Plenty of lions and alpacas too. The mill's success was founded upon alpaca wool, and the lions were a symbol used by the mill as well as being seen in the four statues at the heart of Saltaire village. I found it very uplifting and unexpectedly moving. Local people, do go and see it if you can.
(Exhibition runs until 15 April 2018.)