Hockney and Saltaire

A couple of months ago DH and I took a trip up to Yorkshire (God's own county) to visit the village of Saltaire, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The village was built by Sir Titus Salt for the workers in his textile mill.  Production at the factory has now ended and one of the main buildings now houses artworks by David Hockney and others and also various shopping outlets. 

Salts Mill has a long association with David Hockney through his friendship with Jonathan Silver who saved the site from dereliction.  Part of the reason for our visit to Salts Mill was to see the Hockney paintings as there is a plan for quilters living in Lincolnshire to make quilts inspired by Hockney's work.  So, what did we see in Saltaire?

I don't know a huge amount about David Hockney's work and intend to do some research but there is quite a variety of styles in the work on show.  The top piece is a folding screen and the piece below is made up of fax prints.  I supose that appeals to me because of the wave structures in it. 

This huge room would have been one of the mill workooms but now houses many of Hockney's works and many and varied artbooks.

This is part of another fax work and there are obvious connections with fabric.
 

These blinds which line one of the galleries were designed by Hockney too.

 Saltaire village is not a museum, it is a normal community albeit in beautiful victorian buildings.  The building above is the renovated part of the site containing the galleries, shops and restaurant.

 This is typical of the houses in the village.

 The unrenovated parts of the mill have wonderful decaying surfaces that fire the imagination.

The mill sits alongside the Leeds and Liverpool canal and there are plenty of opportunities to photograph reflections.  Just watch out for all the cyclists!

I don't yet know how my Hockney inspired quilt is going to develop but I've got a lot of inspiration here and this week I get to go back for another visit with my pals Wendy and Tina.  You know the ones!