Allendale Forge Studios

Alan Hayward

Boxwell — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 23:59:25 +0000

Alan was a great friend and long-time supporter of the Forge who is greatly missed by us all. Alan was a lifelong photographer, having won his first national award
as a school boy in the New Forest, and going on to exhibit in the UK, Australia and India. He had an artist’s eye for composition along with an awareness of colour and texture. He printed his own work, enjoying experimenting with formats and materials to great effect. “I regard my pictures as ‘visual haiku’; examining the essence of the subject, combining apparent simplicity with a broader awareness of nature.

Alison Harris

Boxwell — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 12:08:38 +0000

I am an artist and tutor living and working in Northumberland. Originally a staff nurse, I completed a one-year foundation course at Cleveland College of Art in Middlesbrough. Subsequently, I completed a Fine Art degree in Leicester. During the years of raising my family, I worked as an art therapist for a local charity, and then in later years, as a tutor for community art groups.

My choices of media include oil and acrylic paints, pastels, inks and charcoal. My early work comprised colourful and vibrant abstracted images. More recently, my work has been figurative and focused on figures and interiors, inspired by a sense of history and atmosphere in places and buildings. Over the years, I have further explored drawing of figures and portraiture, along with pet portraits. Lately, I have started to exhibit my work locally and I am now accepting commissions and displaying my work in several gallery spaces.

Alyson Bowen

Boxwell — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 12:35:27 +0000

I’m Alyson and I retired from work at the end of April 2021. My main hobby is photography but I also like walking in the countryside and gardening.

I was born in Sunderland and I’m a fairly recent resident of Northumberland after spending 43 years in the South West of England. I love both the people and the countryside here.

It was in 2018 whilst living in Bristol I started making photo cards and photo mounted prints which I sold at local events. I also had some of my photos featured in the local Bristol press and on the local BBC Points West news.

Anna Caygill

Boxwell — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 12:42:52 +0000

I am a Durham based artist using acrylic and oil paints. I have developed my skill over years without any formal training. I am guided by intuition and feeling.

My work is an exploration of nature and the way it makes us feel – wind, coastlines, flowers, light, and how they shape our inner and outer landscapes. I draw inspiration from the UK landscapes using layered brushwork and vibrant contrast to evoke atmosphere and emotion.

Through acrylics and oils, I balance abstraction and form. Each painting is a meditation on connection between earth, spirit and moment. In sharing these visions, I hope to bring nature into every space and to spark reflection on what we really are.

Anne James

Boxwell — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 13:05:21 +0000

I make both functional and decorative ceramics using hand building techniques, from my home studio in rural Northumberland. My work reflects the landscape around me, and a childhood growing up in Scotland, especially holidays to the West Coast. Each piece is uniquely textured with found objects such as wooden printing blocks, and wallpapers. Illustrating my love of the natural world, vases and flower bricks form a large part of my work. Originally a scientist, the chemistry of glazing is a particular interest. Celedon glazes are my main passion because of their ability to emphasise the delicacy of texture. My current range includes jugs, bowls, plates, tea-lights, soap dishes and vases.

Annette Poulson

Boxwell — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 16:13:50 +0000

From my origins in Lancaster to home near Durham, travelling back and forth in different seasons, weathers and light, I’ve enjoyed the wonderful wide Northern Dales landscapes. The richness of landscapes that I’ve walked and gardens I’ve worked, form the subject of my pieces. Abstract expressionism, patterned textiles and ceramics surfaces are some of my influences. In my workshop near Durham I take industrial tiles, pattern, reglaze and refire them. After smashing, I find an evocative sherd then the mosaic evolves over weeks as I add and revise until the piece feels complete. I hope that through my mosaics you can find memories of your own favourite landscapes or maybe new ones.

Bowlees is in the heart of the Northern Dales, is a special resource for lovers of the landscape. I feel that my work stimulates sensitivity to the landscape in keeping with the aims of the centre. I hope that people after seeing my work will look more closely and feel more intensely, the natural world around them. Perhaps they might seek to reflect it in art works they might make.

.My work retails at £85. to £130.00

Sizes vary from between 35x35cms to 150cms x 100cms.

Annie Bousfield

Boxwell — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 16:29:50 +0000

Annie Bousfield lives in Easingwold, North Yorkshire. She has embraced a love of painting following a career in nursing and podiatry.

Annie has sold paintings online and in galleries and shops for several years, whilst also attending various courses and workshops for further inspiration.

“I use various techniques and bases,” says Annie, “but most of my paintings are on either handmade blocks or on canvases mounted in handmade frames. My biggest passion is being out in the countryside, right in the middle of it all, and my colourful textured painting is in some ways just ‘what I bring home.'”

She concludes: “We aren’t on this planet for long so let’s do something that makes us happy.”

Barry Clasper

Boxwell — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 16:38:40 +0000

Why a book?

Someone asked me why I had decided to create a book?

I am not an author and I am relatively unknown as an artist.

I had over 100 paintings which were far too personal and in my opinion, were not for anyone to view but myself.

A gallery had been in touch asking to show my work but it was simply a general mail shot to lots of local artists.

It was enough to stimulate me, to open up and let the world into my heart and mind.

Scary stuff indeed.

To let the world know my inner thoughts and secrets expressed by my paintings.

I had been treading water in a broken relationship waiting for life to get better.

Seven years were wasted trying.

The paintings created, needed to be explained.

I had to be honest with myself.

I want men and women to recognize themselves within the pages and realise that there is hope and an alternative life.

Do not allow someone else control yours.

Happiness is possible.

Charlotte Thompson

Boxwell — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 16:44:50 +0000

Charlotte graduated from Reading University in 1996 with a BA in Art and Education. She has lived in Hexham for over 25 years. She divides her time between making her own art and teaching Art in a local school. She specialises in water-based mediums, including watercolour, gouache and acrylic. Charlotte also explores abstract art, collage and digital art and she is experimental in her way of working; a project in school can spark a new subject to explore; equally her own techniques and processes inform her practice as a teacher. Charlotte loves bird watching and walks in the countryside. Her paintings feature landscapes, flora and fauna, folk art and birds. She sells paintings, prints and cards as well as unique hand-painted baubles and painting kits. Charlotte also undertakes private commissions, delivers painting workshops and 1-1 painting tuition.

Christina Hargraves

Boxwell — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 16:52:21 +0000

Christina was brought up on a family farm in the North Pennines near Allendale. She lives in Acomb, near Hexham, in a cottage which has a beautiful garden and is surrounded by stunning countryside from which she draws much of her inspiration.

She had always drawn and painted but it wasn’t until her family had grown up and left home that she took herself off to college. Studying Interior Design first and then an Art and Design course, Christina gained a distinction in every module.

Christina says ‘I am very easily inspired. I just need to go for a walk in the countryside with my little dog and I will get an idea for a painting. Sometimes I can see a beautiful piece of fabric or wallpaper and will be inspired to paint’.

I love the whole process! Just to have the freedom to pick a bowl of flowers from the garden, mix some paints and then just go for it!