The
Out of the Ordinary Exhibition was taken down on 2nd November, 2015.
It was the end of an era for our family. Colin Rodney Burrows (b. 1945) had passed away in April, 2002 and I had wanted to do something in his memory for a very long time. This exhibition, when it finally happened, fulfilled all that I had hoped for.
Over the span of the exhibition, from 18th July until 1 November, the exhibition had many visitors. There were over sixty at the preview, mainly friends, family and members of our various art clubs. The then Director of Salford Museum and Art Gallery had arrived towards the end of the afternoon, very apologetically, saying that he had been waiting for his car to be returned so that he could travel from Liverpool to attend.
"Gravy Jug", acrylic paint on cotton duck
"Hot Water Bottle Stopper", acrylic paint on cotton duck
"Sir Anthony Blunt, former Keeper of
Queen Elizabeth II's Paintings",
"Soldiers", water colours on paper
One of Colin's best friends, a former student of the Slade School of Art, Jackson, he used to call him, arrived on the dot from the South of England, and he was visibly overwhelmed by the wonderful display of Colin's paintings and cartoons, some of which he had never seen before, as the friends had lost touch for several years. Jackson, who owns the Chapel Gallery and Book Shop in Saxmundham, Suffolk, was kind enough to lend the exhibition two early paintings, which Colin had either sold or given to him. One was a large, rather abstract self-portrait in their flat at Highgate in London, and we were able to show a black and white photograph of Colin painting this, in a display cabinet. The other borrowed painting was an early still life of many of the objects which had been important to Colin when he was a student at the Slade.
The items consisted of pipes, medicines and other personal items, painted in a naive style. This still life is a really beautiful
painting which I am loathe to return, but I have no choice, unfortunately, as Jackson loves it too. I had never actually seen these paintings before, but I had seen slides of them.
Cover of the Catalogue for the "Out of the Ordinary" Exhibition, July - November, 2015
Something rather peculiar caught my eye one day, as I turned on my personal computer to view some photographs of Colin's works. There were a couple of black and white photographs which I didn't recognize, but, on closer inspection, I realized one of them was of me, eating a meal at our kitchen table in the mid -1970s, just before our first child was born. The other photograph was of a girl in our living room. I then realized it was one of my friends from Secretarial College. On researching further, I found numerous photographs sent to me by Jackson, that he had taken during several of his visits to our house in Higher Blackley in Manchester. What was interesting was that some of them showed Colin's set-ups for several of his paintings, for instance, of the
Trousers and Shoes. Colin had dressed the bottom half of a tailor's shop dummy in black tights, a pair of let-down trousers and a pair of shoes from that period and stood it on a wash stand in front of a picture window. Many months later, when he had nearly finished the painting, our neighbour inquired whether Colin had finished painting the ceiling.
As a growing family, we had to live around the set-ups of Colin's on-going painting, and I didn't realize it was that unusual. I just took it for granted. Visitors and tradespeople were visibly shocked when they stepped into the cramped room, with this strange activity going on by the window.
I am very indebted to Jackson for loaning the exhibition the two paintings and for all the photographs he sent to me prior to the exhibition.
The Exhibitions Team from the Gallery designed and installed the displays. I was asked my opinion on their suggestions beforehand, and was very happy indeed with the result. The
Artists and Illustrators magazine chose this exhibition as one of the best in the North of England to visit for both September and October, 2015, so we were all very pleased and proud.
The Exhibition wascommended in the "Best Exhibitions" in the North of England for both September and October, 2015 in the "Artists' and Illustrators'" magazine.
"Washing Up Tubs",
acrylic paint on cotton duck
"China Flowers", acrylic paint on cotton duck
Exhibition "Out of the Ordinary", paintings by Colin Rodney Burrows, in summer, 2015 at Salford Museum and Art Gallery also with works by Lorna Fellas, Sean Caherty,
Fiona Moate, Jo Carlon and Gerard Highland
