Outdoor Gallery

Open 24/7 (you might not like it in the dark though!)

Explore the mill and visit our outdoor gallery.

Featuring the work of 17 artists; Sunny Bank Mills studio holders, alongside previous exhibitors from our annual Ones to Watch exhibitions! All of the work is bright bold and colourful and guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

If you’re interested in discovering more about the history of the mill with children, you could also have a go at the mill trail: download the map here, and bring crayons or pencils for the brass rubbing panels.

“In the first lockdown, we started rethinking how to reach audiences and promote artists at a time when no-one could physically visit us the gallery. The wide open space at Weavers Yard has given us the opportunity to continue to promote artists and culture in lockdown, whilst at the same time animating our outdoor spaces. Visitors can now walk round the new Weavers Yard, look at the art and enjoy a little lockdown exercise.”

Jane Kay, Arts Director

The Artists

Jake Mullins

Jake Mullins featured in Ones to Watch 2017, as well as Establish | Emerge (also 2017). His work depicts realistic still life compositions of private and public interiors capturing the small, beautiful details of everyday life.

Jenny Beard

Jenny Beard featured in Ones to Watch 2018 and 2019. Jenny is a painter working within contemporary painting, and her process is built upon automatic drawing, using digital tools to create and manipulate sketches. Abstract imagery is used to explore optical space, depth, and flatness.

Jack Gaunt

Jack Gaunt is a photographer specialising in wildlife photography.

Julia Pomeroy

Julia Pomeroy featured in Ones to Watch 2020 and was selected for the Ones to Watch Residency. She is interested in transforming personal and seemingly ordinary everyday scenes into compelling depictions through large oil paintings.

Katie Bennett Rice

Katie Bennett-Rice featured in Ones to Watch 2020 and was selected for the Ones to Watch Residency. Katie creates large scale pen drawings inspired by nature and marine landscape.

Nel Whatmore

Nel Whatmore is a Twisting Gallery studio holder. Nel Whatmore is an award winning artist who works in Pastels and Oils. She is a regular exhibitor at Chelsea Flower show and has exhibited and sold work for 30 years internationally.

Vanessa Plews

Vanessa Plews featured in the Potential of Pattern 2020.
Vanessa Plews is an artist and textile designer working both from home and from her studio at Cornmill Art Space in Ilkley.

Watch Vanessa in conversation for The Potential of Pattern

Des Pattison

Des Pattison is an artist and printmaker. He makes work that combines print, paint, drawing, and collage.

Sarah Chandler

Sarah Chandler is a Twisting Gallery studio holder. Sarah’s many talents include being an artist in inks and other mediums, a professional musician and a composer (film and concert scores).

Zoe Eady

Zoe Eady is a Spinning Mill studio holder. Zoë is a glass artist specialising in traditional and modern stained glass windows. She is also a laser cutting aficionado!

Jane Walkley

Jane Walkley is a Spinning Mill studio holder. Jane is a visual artist exploring the interplay between place, memory & attachment. Blending jesmonite and woven tapestry.

Jenna Coulthard

Jenna Coulthard is is a Spinning Mill studio holder. She is a textile designer, printmaker, our screen printing tutor and mural artist.

Mel Davies

Mel Davies is a Spinning Mill studio holder. He is a painter working with oils. He has exhibited extensively at Sunny Bank Mills Gallery. His work is bold, bright, and full of hidden myths and narratives. He is also our life drawing tutor.

El Riordan

El Riordan is a Spinning Mill studio holder. She is a textile designer and printmaker running her own business.

Helen Dryden

Helen Dryden is a Spinning Mill studio holder. She is a contemporary visual artist, painter and curator. She creates drawings and paintings with atmospheric or emotional resonance, which can often veer into absurdity.

Clare Lane artwork

Clare Lane

Clare Lane is a Spinning Mill studio holder. She is an artist working with textiles and a lecturer at Leeds Arts University.

Mairi Beaton

Mairi Beaton is a Spinning Mill studio holder. She is an artist, graphic designer and our life drawing tutor.

We celebrated International Women's Day in style l

We celebrated International Women's Day in style last night with a sold out Sofar Sounds gig in the Gallery!

We heard sets from Katie Malco, Satnam Galsian & Philippa Zawe amongst the artwork of our 2024 Ones to Watch artists. 10/10 experience.

Sofar Sounds run secret intimate gigs across the UK. See their website for upcoming shows - we would highly recommend.

The Gallery is open as mnormal this weekend, so come along and see Ones to Watch for yourself. 10-4 Saturday & 12-4 on Sunday FREE ENTRY.

[Image 1 shows host Bonnie introducing the night to a seated crowd in the middle of the exhibition space in the Gallery. Image 2 shows musicians Phillipa and Satnam smiling together in front of a large painted tapestry by Kennedy Drake. The banner features a statuesque female figure with her arms in the air. Image 3 shows Katie performing to a smiling crowd playing an electric guitar. Image 4 shows Satnam perfoming into a microphone in the Gallery. Image 5 shows Phillipa performing to the crowd playing an acoustic guitar, illuminated by yellow fairy lights.]

#SunnyBankMills #Farsley #Leeds #SofarSounds #InternationalWomensDay

🏅Appreciation post for the fantastic drop-in wo

🏅Appreciation post for the fantastic drop-in workshop teachers at Printed Bound 🏅

We're all about emerging artists at the Mills, so were thrilled to have students from Leeds School of Design (Uni of Leeds) and Leeds Arts University running zine making and gelli printing sessions throughout the weekend. In exchange, the students were given free stalls to exhibit and sell their work from.

We also had a wonderful group of volunteers from West Yorkshire Print Workshop creating letterpress prints from words inspired by the Mills' textile heritage.

Over in the Twisting Studios, Sarah / The Nature Narrator ran a family collaging session, which went down a treat with our young visitors (the cakes did too).

Thank you to everyone involved for helping to create a great atmosphere and lovely memories for our visitors!

[Image 1 shows student Jie smiling as she teaches a young visitor how to create a folded zine during her drop in workshop in the 1912 Mill. Image 2 shows a pair of students smiling from behind their stall in the print fair. Image 3 shows the Gelli print set up for Leeds Arts Uni's drop in session in the 1912 Mill. Image 4 is a close up of a pair of hands pushing down a traditional letterpress printing press. Image 5 shows volunteers from West Yorkshire Print Workshop chatting next to their drop-in workshop space in the 1912 Mill. Image 6 shows a letterpress printed postcard with the words ' warp and weft' in black ink. Image 7 is a close up of the collage table in the Twisting Studios. Young visitors are creating collages on wooden coasters with ripped up paper scraps, beads and pva glue. Image 8 shows a family creating collages in the Twisting Studios. The workshop space is decorated with flowers and bunting draped across the large mill window.]

#SunnyBankMills #Farsley #Leeds #PrintedBound2024 #EmergingArtists #LeedsEvents

If you enjoyed the wonderful displays of books and

What do wonky vegetables and a cheese box have to

What do wonky vegetables and a cheese box have to do with our Museum & Archive? Read our latest blog post using the link in our bio to find out more.

[ Image 1 shows Alison talking to the audience and laughing. She is wearing dungarees and a red cardigan. Image 2 shows The Bobbin Room at Sunny Bank Mills with an audience seated listening to a woman at the front of the room and watching slides. Image 3 is of a number of dirty fibre samples wound into bundles resembling root vegetables! Image 4 is of a damp looking cardboard box with the words Primula Cheese printed in bold typeface.]

#TextileArchive #Sustainability #Fibres #TalkingProgramme

It's Mother's Day on Sunday! Don't forget to show

It's Mother's Day on Sunday! Don't forget to show your appreciation to the influential women in your life. We've just had a huge change around in the shop, with loads of new books, homewares, jewellery and cards in stock.

If you want to avoid material gifts, have a look at our upcoming creative workshops or just come along for coffee, cake, and a look around our new exhibition, Ones to Watch 2024.

We're open 10-4 Tuesday to Saturday and 12-4 on Sunday. FREE ENTRY.

P.s - If you can't decide, we also sell gift cards 👀

[Image 1 shows the wooden corridor leading in to the Gallery. The left wall is lined with card racks and a bench with displays of jigsaw puzzles, ceramics and prints. Image 2 shows a display of books on an old wooden mending table in the Gallery. Books include 'Trailblazing Women Printmakers' and 'The Story of Art'. Image 3 shows a selection of Mother's Day cards displayed on a table in the Gallery Shop. Image 4 shows a display of colourful jewellery on an old wooden mending table in the Gallery Shop. Image 5 shows the Gallery Shop area on a sunny day.]

#SunnyBankMills #Farsley #Leeds #LeedsGalleries #ShopLocal #ShopIndependent #MothersDay #LeedsShopping #IndependentLeeds

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Culture at the mill

Studio Holders at the mill