A Welsh Connection: Celebrating The North West’s Affinity with North Wales

Chloe Deakin | 21st April 2018

Porthdinllaen from the headland – Anne Aspinall

A Welsh Connection: An exhibition celebrating the strong affinity that people from the North West have with North Wales is launching in Manchester at Contemporary Six on May 12.

The exhibition will boast 35 paintings, capturing the familiar coastlines and harbours of North Wales, by Manchester-born artist Anne Aspinall.

After 50 years as an artist, Anne is continually drawn back to this part of the country and is now well-known for her paintings of the landscape.

Anne Aspinall was born in Didsbury and trained at the 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.

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.”

Porthmadog after rain – Anne Aspinall

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.”

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.”

Setting Up, Llanbedrog – Anne Aspinall

A Welsh Connection takes place at Contemporary Six. 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 Thursday May 31. 

Contemporary Six offers the Own Art scheme, which enables people to buy a piece of art over 10 interest-free payments. For more information visit their website: www.contemporarysix.co.uk.