Tracey Hebron

Catherine Mawer was a master sculptor and stone mason based in Leeds in the 19 th  century. As a woman working in a male-dominated profession, she was highly unusual for her time. She established a successful stone-yard and studio with her husband Robert. After Robert’s untimely death in 1854, she continued to run the business on her own, eventually founding the Mawer group of architectural sculptors with her nephew William Ingle and three apprentices – Benjamin Payler, Matthew Taylor and her son, Charles Mawer. Her incredible legacy in shaping some of Leeds landmark buildings, including Leeds Town Hall, has been celebrated in recent years, but her mark on Barnsley is less-well known. Under her guidance, the Mawer group created beautiful carvings for two iconic Barnsley buildings; the Barnsley Mechanics Institute and Public Hall (now the Civic, Barnsley) and the Queens Hotel on the corner of Eldon and Regent Street. Barnsley Mechanics Institute and Public Hall The Barnsley Mechanic...

Kenneth Graham (1900 - 1979), was born in Yorkshire, the only son of school teacher Thomas Graham (who taught at Holgate Grammar School, Barnsley) and his wife Lavinia. 

Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829 —1908)  was often described as one of the last of the Pre-Raphaelites. Born in January 1829 at Cannon Hall in Cawthorne, the home of many generations of the Spencer Stanhopes family, Roddam was the second son of six, of John Spencer Stanhope, and Elizabeth Wilhemina Coke.

This weeks blog is a little 'off topic' as I have taken a break from writing in recent months to complete my AMA with the Museums Association, (which I am thrilled to say I was awarded in March this year). I have also been doing some family research. Now back in my writing routine, I thought I would share with you some words on a little lost chapel.  

Georgia O’Keeffe was one of the first female artists that I studied at Barnsley art college. I fell in love with her colourful paintings of flowers. Twenty plus years later it is a real joy to see her work in my hometown of Barnsley. The current exhibition at Barnsley Civic is called Memories of Drawings. This exhibition features 21 photogravures of drawings created by O’Keeffe between 1915-1963. It’s a small collection but the intricate simplicity of these works tell a story through delicate shading. It is worth a visit to the gallery to view them. 

Back in December 2020 I was lucky enough to work on an episode of the BBC One programme ‘Fake or Fortune?’. Philip Mould and a television crew came to the Cooper Gallery to look at some sketches purchased by Samuel Joshua Cooper. They also visited Barnsley archives in the Town Hall to view Mr Cooper’s notebook, all as part of an investigation into a work by the French artist Jean Leon Gerome.