Two ceramic murals, created by Booth House Gallery’s Jim Robison, have been installed in the Holmfirth centre’s newly renovated ‘King’s Head’ Park, opened ealier this month by councillor Nigel Patrick and local MP, Jason MacCartney.
Mural one comprises tiles made with Jim’s help by members of Holmfirth Friend to Friend group, a luncheon club for older folk. Each member decorated a tile after Jim had demonstrated the possibilities, with some image related to the last 50 years in the Holme Valley. (Funded by a Queen’s Jubilee Year Grant). The tiles were fired in Jim’s kiln and assembled on a board which will decorate a wall in the park.
Mural two is a larger commission for Jim from Kirklees Council and it depicts the landscape of the Holmfirth Valley as well as having tiles depicting past and present activities in the area. Included are quarrying, woollen trade (sheep), farming, ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ Bamforth’s postcards and a nod to the July’s Tour de France, cycling.
The murals also contain some real local texture, as images are surrounded in tiles made by pressing slabs onto dry stone walls. Outer edges are finished off by an extruded clay profile.
Made from Smooth Textured Crank (Valentine’s ES60), the tiles were painted with coloured slips and sprayed with stoneware glazes when dry. The finished raw glazed work was then fired to stoneware in a reduction gas kiln.
The mural completes a trio of sculptural works by Jim over the years in Holmfirth-panels depicting the floods, in the Civic Hall; a seat/map on the bridge in Victoria Square; and this current landscape representation. The renovation of the park is nearing completion and will be a welcome facelift for that part of Holmfirth.
