Art for all in two vivid shows.

Byline: DAVID HAMMOND 

ATOWN the size of Brighouse is lucky to have two galleries - one municipal and one commercial - which both produce exhibitions well worth visiting.

Such is the case at present with the Harrison Lord Gallery, Bradford Road, having recently re-opened after a big refurbishment and the Smith Art Gallery showing some intriguing textiles.

But you'll have to be quick if you want to see the Textile Art Group's eclectic show, which concludes tomorrow.

Steven Lord, of the Harrison Lord Gallery, is claiming something of a scoop as next month (from December 19) the gallery will be displaying originals by A J Callan, from Halifax, whose prints have sold around the world from Hong Kong to the States, but who rarely shows originals.

The exhibition will be opened by Christa Ackroyd, the BBC Look North presenter.

The extended gallery is to display a lot more ceramics in future, Mr Lord promises.

Currently, some excellent pieces are on show by Karen Hallinson of Holmfirth, who uses a rare sagger-fired process, with golf leaf added for decorative effect.

Kyokoa Takahasni, a Japanese artist from Bradford, hopes to bring a Zen feeling of peace with his quietly-coloured bowls, while Rob Whelpton has made raku-fired pieces with lustre glaze.

And so to something completely different - the small animal sculptures, where Garry Jones, from the Midlands, goes for comedy in his pieces, which have witty titles like Ewe-Tube and Ewe-nited we stand.

There's a more realist approach to donkey, pigs, dogs and hare from Christine Cummins who lives on a farm in Ormskirk.

These works are semi-moulded and semi-handmade.

Over at the Smith Gallery, there is much to admire from the textile artists who live and work in the Kirklees and Calderdale areas. One of the unusual displays comes from an invitation to the artist to pick out a well known film and illustrate an image from it in black and white.

Margaret Richardson's Easter Parade, June Taylor's Whiskey Galore and an amusing Brief Encounter by Joan Burnip, vie with the more recent 007 film Live and Let Die (Barbara Townsend). Roslind's Stirk's 101 Dalmatians and Vivienne Brown's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof also merit a mention. From Easter Parade, Margaret Richardson turns to the parade of hats at Ladies' Day at Ascot in another successful black and white venture, particularly when you read that the artist was suffering from a broken wrist when she sewed the hats and the comments on the races.

Vivienne Browns' floral studies are of exceptional quality, while Love in a Landscape, with fitting quotations embroidered, is a delightfully woven and coloured scene by Helen Winthorpe Kendrick.

Joan Burnip, who's interested in architecture, shows a woman in period dress outside the recently restored art deco Midland Hotel, Morecambe and Myra Turner, in her attractive Burnished Fabrics stitches on sheets of different metals.

The Smith Art Gallery opens today 10am to 12.30pm and 1-6pm and tomorrow 10am to 12.30pm and 1-4pm.

The next exhibition at the Smith opens next Saturday, November 28, 1.30-3.30pm when refreshments will be provided.

. IF YOU want an individual Christmas present there should be plenty of opportunity this Sunday, November 22 when Holmfirth Indoor Market again plays host to The Art Market from 10am-4pm. Entrance is just pounds 1 and you will see works by no fewer than 50 artists, from painters, photographers and sculptors to textile and wire workers, ceramicists and jewellery makers.

At The Art Market you'll be able to see, meet and chat to artists who exhibit their work nationally and internationally.

David Roberts, internationally renowned Raku ceramicist and Brendan Hesmondhalgh, a well known animal sculptor, will be demonstrating on the day as will award winning Jim Bond.

[e-mail]

CAPTION(S):

STUNNING VIEWS: Kate Lycett's Valley Gardens, one of the many art works on show at the Harrison Lord Gallery, Brighouse