Thursday, 30 May 2013

End of an era at Artsmill

Hebden Bridge based artist and founder of Artsmill David Wright passed away on 14th May after a short illness.

David has been based at Linden Mill since 2003. He founded and continued to be the driving force of Artsmill and was responsible for bringing some of the biggest names in the art world to Hebden Bridge including Goya, Paulo Rego, Quentin Blake, Bridget Riley, Frank Auerbach and Matisse. A love of literature meant he welcomed poets such as John Hegley and Glyn Hughes and other cultural groups to perform at Artsmill.

David's work spanned six decades and included a major retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Pakistan in 2008. Many of David's paintings can be seen at the University of Bradford on permanent display.

His wisdom, humour, generosity, professionalism, belligerence and sense of fair play made him many friends in Hebden Bridge.

He was a great advocate of local artists. His studio was always open and his willingness to offer support help and advice as well as exhibition space meant he became a mentor to many.

He will be missed greatly by his friends and colleagues and is survived by his wife Judy and his children Georgia, Dominique, Joss and Jake.

A celebration of his life will be held later in the year.