When Manchester-born artist Anne Aspinall used to visit her aunt in Harlech as a child, she didn’t realise that one day she would become widely known for her oil paintings of the coastal North Wales landscape.
After 50 years as an artist, working across different media and subject matters, Anne is continually drawn back to this beautiful part of the country to capture the majesty of the landscape and scenery.
A Welsh Connection, a new exhibition launching at Contemporary Six on May 12, celebrates the strong affinity that people from the North West have with North Wales. The exhibition of 35 paintings, capturing coastlines and harbours, illustrates Anne’s skill in depicting reflections, light, and movement.
Anne, 68, who now lives in Macclesfield, said: “I have always loved that North Wales hides its best places and keeps them a secret. If you are open to its charms, it’s a place that gradually seeps into your being. Whenever I go there, I have that feeling of going home.”
Anne explained that as she gradually preferred painting landscapes, the buildings came to represent people in the composition. “Very few people inhabit my paintings,” she said, “but the ghosts of the past are there in the old buildings and the still-visible scars on the landscape. I am drawn to places where people have lived and worked over centuries, the edge of land and sea, harbours, hill-farms, the remains of the early Industrial Revolution.”
“Chapels also fascinate me, their original role all but gone, but they survive as a link to the past and continue to have a place now as community centres, play groups, artists’ studios and family homes. Or they sit, gently decaying and waiting.”
A Welsh Connection takes place at Contemporary Six, located in Central Manchester, on Princess Street. It begins with a preview afternoon on Saturday May 12, from 1–5pm, in which Anne will be available to chat with visitors. The exhibition will run until May 31.
Contemporary Six owner Alex Reuben said: “Anne is one of the most technically gifted painters in the North West, and this exhibition is an opportunity to see many of her beautiful works. Her landscapes appeal to all kinds of art-lovers, and they will make you love the Welsh coast and countryside as much as she does.”
Anne Aspinall was born in Didsbury in 1949 and now lives in Macclesfield. Having trained at Manchester College of Art & Design, Anne’s work has been exhibited across the UK and internationally, and can be found in collections in Europe, the United States and Australia.
Contemporary Six offers the Own Art scheme, which enables people to buy a piece of art over 10 interest-free payments.
Contemporary Six, 37 Princess St, Manchester M2 4FN
