We used the photographs that were taken just after Anne died, to recreate the gallery as a house. The house used to be known as Hollins Hill. Children, passers by and even professional illustrators came to contribute to creating a paper house of Hollins Hill.Personal touches were added, and an artistic license was used by all!
And look at the Gallery now….
I had the pleasure of being invited to the Mela festival in Oakhill park on saturday. We had so much fun making fans and naming our fans! We had ribbon fans, family fans and polish fans……but everybody was happy to give their ‘fan to Anne.’
I shared the story of Anne Haworth with the interested fan creators throughout the afternoon. The community were interested to hear about Anne as a sister, devoting her life to Accrington community and then finally giving the community the house that we now call Haworth gallery.If you would like to make a ‘fan for Anne’ please come and visit me at Accrington market and your fan will contribute to the commemorative exhibition at the Haworth
Accrington is a beautiful market and if you haven`t been it`s worth coming, not only to see me, but there is an amazing old fashioned sweet shop near my stall! The market has a friendly community feel and i felt welcomed into market life, but somewhat watched……….the butchers opposite me seemed to take delight in watching eccentric characters approach me, one of which swooped and swiped a fan as if a sword!
My first conversation was unfortunately with a man, who having never been to the Haworth Gallery was adamant it should be sold and the money ‘put to good use.’ I asked what he would spend the money on, to which he replied,’ a new market floor,’ ( i later discovered that the floor he wanted to replace was the original stone flooring.) He insisted Accrington people agreed with his point of view……i was glad to find out he was wrong. Accrington community didn`t disappoint, and although there was some puzzlement as to what an artist was doing in their market, i heard from a lot of locals about how much they valued the Haworth. One local spoke about childhood visits there and described it as a ‘treasure.’
I am very excited to be working on this Open Shop Project with the Haworth Gallery in Accrington. Working closely with the curator of the Haworth Gallery i have developed this programme to use and explore the unseen collection with the community in Accrington market. The story of Anne is a fascinating one, one of the only objects that would have belonged to her is the fan and the gallery was denoted to the community after Anne died so it was their home previously.
