A Maze of Magic Art Moments at Dean Clough

Alan Dearling suggests that you:

Go visit and take a look at this absolutely massive, extensive creative space, developed in the obsolete premises of the Crossleys Carpets Mills in Halifax: https://www.deanclough.com/

I went along to see the mix of permanent and visiting exhibitions in D Mill where the seven public galleries are housed. There seem to be about 11 conjoined old mills along a half mile site, which is now home to hundreds of creative businesses, artist spaces, an art school, eateries, bars, theatre and music venues and lots and lots of art, both inside and outside the buildings. Dean Clough Ltd was established in 1983 as a family-owned business to re-purpose the old mills. And how amazingly it is developing under the curatorship of the Arts Charity at Dean Clough (ACDC)…

I spent nearly two hours in the maze of spaces, corridors, stairs and odd nooks and crannies of D Mill. It’s a veritable treasure trove of eclectic art and photography. In the permanent collection there are extensive collections of art from specific artists such as the surreal art of Tony Earnshaw, Doug Binder, John Smalley, Christian Boltanski’s room celebrating the lives of the Mills’ ‘Lost Workers’, the Lego Dean Clough model, John Smalley, Anthony Davies, and Chris Vine amongst many others including works by Tony Caro.

During my visit there were four visiting exhibitions – I have included some sample works from these, along with a selection from around the seemingly limitless spaces in D Mill at Dean Clough:

Stephen Pinnell’s ‘The Cunning of 10000 Little Kittens’, which features montages of words and images, pasted in with found objects.

Claire Murray – ‘A Light to My Path’ – unearthly landscapes, observing the ‘otherness’ of natural space.

Frank Lawson’s photos of John Lennon, taken when Frank was just 15 years old.

Jeffrey Andrews’ ‘The Drawing is Not the Object’.

An intriguing array of art, located in an industrial space that is being constantly re-imagined! Impressive!