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.

Welcome to the Archive Advent Calendar! We are rea

Welcome to the Archive Advent Calendar! We are ready to add 4 more objects to our Online Collection, one a week throughout December.

This week it's our singer sewing machine. Obviously, this is currently being used by the elves at the North Pole in Santa's Workshop, but you can still view it in 3D via the link in our bio and find out how it was used around the Mills.

[Image 1 A wooden box shaped like our Sandsgate Building, overlain on the windows with the numbers 1 to 4 in bold type. Image 2 Close up version of the box with window number 1 highlighted in red font.
Image 3 Close up of vintage black Singer Sewing Machine against a stark white backdrop]

#AdventCalendar #TextileArchive #MysteryObject

We had a very festive evening in the Gallery last

We had a very festive evening in the Gallery last night for our first Overtime Art Club Christmas special! Louise Press are back next Thursday with the last session of the year, creating monoprinted Christmas cards.

LINK IN BIO for tickets.

[Image 1 shows workshop participants sitting around large wooden tables in the Gallery. In the background is a large Christmas tree and other decorations. Image 2 shows a collaged Christmas card of a snowman made from coloured paper. Image 3 shows a collaged Christmas card with a photo of a teddy bear and a golden star.]

#SunnyBankMills #Farsley #Leeds #ChristmasWorkshop #ChristmasInLEeds

Huge thanks to our friends at Sutcliffes of Farsle

Huge thanks to our friends at Sutcliffes of Farsley for delivering and installing some monumental Christmas Trees in time for the Market last weekend!

They've got loads available this week down by Farsley cenotaph - just in time for decorating this weekend as we head into December!🎄🎄🎄

[Image shows a group of 3 men stood on a patch of grass next to a huge Christmas tree. In the background is a ladder, another tree and a red brick building with the words 'Weaver's Yard' painted on it in bold letters.]

#SunnyBankMills #Farsley #Leeds #ChristmasTrees #ChristmasInLeeds

Last week, we were thrilled to welcome Artmakers a

Last week, we were thrilled to welcome Artmakers and staff from Henshaws Arts and Crafts Centre to the Mills! Some of the Artmakers, including Clare, Oliver, Ann & Sarah, were able to see their work in the Gallery & Shop as part of Woven Stories before Sonia gave the group a tour of our Artists' Studios and Archive and ran a yarn-bombing workshop in the Bobbin Room.

It was brilliant to meet more of the Artmakers whose work we all know and love from the '.artmaker' exhibition in the Gallery last Christmas. Thanks to Sharon, Shaeron and the rest of the Henshaws team for arranging the visit and being wonderful as always!

Henshaws Arts and Crafts Centre enables people living with a range of disabilities to discover their talents, put them into practice and realise their full potential through a range of creative workshops.

Their shop in Knaresborough is currently open Monday – Friday from 10am to 4pm. You can also pop by for a coffee and cake or take a stroll around the gardens. Visit Henshaws.org.uk for more info.

We'll also have lots of Henshaws prints, cards, decorations and mosaics in the Gallery up until Christmas.

[Image 1 shows artmaker Oliver smiling into the camera doing a thumbs up as he holds one of his handprinted wooden baubles. Image 2 shows Henshaws staff and artmakers yarnbombing with colourful yarns and strips of fabric during a workshop in the Bobbin Room. Image 3 shows Henshaws artmakers and staff exploring the exhibition in the Gallery. Artmaker Ann is pointing to a piece of artwork displayed on a white plinth. Image 4 shows more yarnbombing action in the Bobbin Room. Image 5 shows artmaker Clare smiling into the camera as she stands next to one of her prints on display as part of the exhibition. She is wearing a bright red jumper covered with pink hearts. Image 6 shows another view of the yarnbombing workshop in the Bobbin Room.]

#Henshaws #HenshawsArtsAndCraftsCentre #Yarnbombing #SunnyBankMills #Farsley #Leeds #LeedsGalleries #ArtsEngagement #YarnWorkshop #Artmakers

It's Farsley Light Night! The Gallery is open for

It's Farsley Light Night! The Gallery is open for late-night shopping and mulled wine until 8ish. There's food and drink set up in our car park just off Town Street too, so come along and get in the festive spirit.

[Image 1 shows a pot of mulled wine with sprigs of holly and other foliage around the pot. Image 2 shows a gazebo with the words 'German Sausage Co.' stuck on the front.]

#SunnyBankMills #Farsley #FarsleyLightNight #ChristmasInLeeds #LeedsEvents

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Culture at the mill

Studio Holders at the mill