Exhibition Gallery Archive

A Year: Creativity, Connection & Community

Mon 15th January – Mon 26th February 2024

Pioneer Projects present an exhibition of exciting and beautiful artworks that document a year of creative collaboration across Craven.

Celebrating positive change for mental health and wellbeing through community connections.

Contemporary Craft: Threads of Tradition

Monday 2nd October – Saturday 23rd December 2023

This unique exhibition brings together contemporary crafts by talented makers alongside our own Craven Museum objects, which delve into the rich tapestry of crafts throughout the ages.

From early jewellery pieces created by our Bronze Age ancestors to the cutting-edge creations of today’s artisans, Contemporary Craft: Threads of Tradition explores the enduring and evolving spirit of craft.

This exhibition highlights ceramics, woodworking, textiles, metalworking, and jewellery.

Our museum objects spotlight crafting through different time periods, offering insights into the ways people used their skills to create functional and artistic objects. From ancient pottery to mid-century woodwork, these objects tell stories of innovation and tradition.

Artists and makers continue to push the boundaries of creativity. Mirroring the types of craft exhibited from the museum collection, the contemporary work displayed celebrates the diversity of talents and materials employed by today’s artists. From intricate sculpture to sustainable textiles – the fusion of tradition and innovation is explored. The examples displayed in the exhibition are by contemporary makers living and working in Yorkshire.

We hope to celebrate contemporary craft and how artists are both honouring and reimagining traditional practice.

North Yorkshire Open Studios Showcase

Wednesday 5th July – Sat 16th September 2023

This summer gallery exhibition featured the selected artwork of thirty artists and makers from across North Yorkshire, that opened up their studios to the public in June 2023.

Visitors to the exhibition had the chance to discover everything from sculpture and oil paintings, to textiles and ceramics – as well as purchase pieces on display. The exhibition highlighted diverse artwork from artists from the coast to the moors, dales, and beyond.

Sidor Avoda

From the Kibbutz to the Calendar Girls’ Yorkshire

Thursday 23th March – Sat 17th June 2023

Celebrating twenty years since the release of the ‘Calendar Girls’ screenplay, we presented a unique exhibition displaying photographs from a reimagined calendar from Israel.

The Sidor Avoda (meaning ‘Work Schedule’) exhibition came about when members of the Shaar-Hagolan Kibbutz, 2600 miles from Craven, saw the 2003 film ‘Calendar Girls’ and started a conversation with a local designer.

The creative project evolved and connections were made between the past and the present, the young with the elderly, traditional core values with those of the modern-day kibbutz environment.

As well as looking at the Israeli project the exhibition will delve into the Craven Museum collection, showcasing objects related to the original Calendar Girls story, 24 years after the original ‘Alternative WI Calendar’ was released by the members of Craven based Rylstone Women’s Institute.

We were delighted that members of the Kibbutz travelled all the way to Skipton to join us at the exhibition launch and had the oppotunity to meet some of the original Calendar Girls.

Skipton Girls’ High School: Art & Photography Exhibition

Sat 14th January – Sat 11th March 2023

A showcase of artwork from Skipton Girls’ High School Year 11 & Year 13 students.

Every Leaf Speaks Bliss to Me:

Emily, the moors, and the landscape of creative Craven

8th Oct – 23rd Dec 2022

We are teaming up with upcoming film “Emily” for this exciting new exhibition.

“Every Leaf Speaks Bliss to Me: Emily, the moors, and the landscape of creative Craven” will look at the world of creativity inspired by the amazing Craven Dales landscapes. At the heart of the exhibition are exclusive items from upcoming theatrical release, “Emily”.

The iconic dress worn by lead actress Emma Mackey made by Academy Award winning costume designer Michael O’Connor – will be displayed alongside film stills and behind-the-scenes interviews with cast and crew.

As well as delving into the creative process behind the film and some of it’s filming locations here in Craven, the exhibition will showcase other great examples of the landscape weaving its magic into creative practice, drawing on Craven Museum’s extensive collections of fine art, natural history, literature and music to tell the tale.

Transient Treasures

by Ekaterina Sheath

9th July – 17th Sept 2022

Illustrator Ekaterina Sheath presents an innovative exhibition and explores Craven Museum’s unique ephemera collection, challenging our interpretation of an item’s ‘value’ and how this changes over time. Bespoke illustrations accompany the ephemera objects on display, seeking to bring to life the stories hidden behind each item.

Whether it is tales of hidden mice or social dances for mill workers, Craven Museum is full of stories.

The Roebuck Collection

Dale, City & Sea

20th Century Landscapes

19th March – 5th June 2022

Dale, City & Sea is a showcase of 20th century landscape work from the Roebuck Collection. The Roebuck Collection is 145 paintings, watercolours, prints, drawings and sculpture, all collected by Clement Roebuck. He left the collection as a bequest to Craven Museum & Gallery which is now its permanent home.

Visitors are invited to get creative by adding colour and detail to three large scale community landscape pieces.

Colours of Nature – Rotary Young Photographer Competition

15th January – 5th March 2022

The photography of over 70 entrants to the Skipton Rotary International Young Photographer Competition, was displayed in a colourful exhibition in our gallery.

Young people aged 3 to 17 from a group of schools and community organisations across Craven took part in the contest, responding to this year’s exciting theme of ‘Colours of Nature’.

The Rotary International Young Photographer Competition takes place in Great Britain and Ireland every year. It aims to encourage young people to experiment with photography, develop creative skills, interpretate the topic and respond to their surroundings through the medium of photography.

Alongside the young people’s photography work, visitors were able to see a selection of work by the competition judge, Juliet Klottrup. Klottrup is an award winning Artist combining photography and filmmaking, based in North Yorkshire. Her work explores themes of youth, community, rural living and the relationship we have with our landscape.

Kitty North: A Yorkshire Vision

8 November – 23 December 2021

Kitty North’s solo exhibition ‘A Yorkshire Vision’ showcases works created during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. North was entirely absorbed in her art during these times. She was to be found up hill and down dale, sketchbook in hand, documenting the peace and beauty of the natural world and the creatures within it.

Kitty North’s work has been widely exhibited and collected around the world. Recent years have been full of many different projects across the UK, including multi-part works for Salts Mill, Chatsworth House and Bolton Abbey.

Echoes: Material memories of inhabited space

13 September – 30 October 2021

Cononley-based artist Barbara Greene uses contemporary artworks, prints, cyanotypes, artist books and 3D installations to give new insights into our local history.

Barbara explores some of the mix of arts and sciences, events and discoveries, which influenced the growth and development of 400 years of life along the Aire valley. An exhibition for the curious.

Celebrate!

21 June – 2 September 2021

In Celebrate we wanted to explore how individuals across Craven celebrate some of the important things in life – birth, marriage, family get-togethers, festivals and galas.

The exhibition also celebrated the reopening of Skipton Town Hall showcasing ‘before and after’ pictures of Craven Museum, the Concert Hall, Education Room and the Visitor Information Centre – now our Grade II listed building has been revitalised into a cultural hub for Craven!

For this exhibition we received lots of creative input from individuals who worked with Pioneer Projects; through Yesmien Bagh Ali talking to and working with members from the Pakistani, Chinese, Turkish, Syrian, Indian, Swedish and Polish communities in Skipton; and contributions from the Skipton Stitchers embroidery group.