Forging ahead

WHEN Matthew Dwyer first laid eyes on his wife Louise, 25 years ago, he says it was love at first sight. It took a while longer for him to grow on her, he says.

Then, he was a metalwork machinist, who had just got a new job in a factory. She was the secretary who showed him around. But both of them wanted to do something more creative so each encouraged the other to change their careers.

Today, Matthew, 48, is an awardwinning blacksmith and artist and Louise, 46, makes stunning contemporary jewellery. Through the innovative gallery and workshop the couple have created in Helmsley North Yorkshire, their work and lives are now inextricably forged together.

The pair, who have four children, took a massive leap of faith three years ago when they invested their savings in the Saltbox gallery, a showcase for fine art and crafts from the region.

Their tiny, unprepossessing 17th Century shopfront in the middle of the bustling market town of Helmsley only hints at what lies beyond.

The door opens, tardis-like, into a huge, bright space which stretches way back, opening out onto a beautiful courtyard.

In these rooms and in the garden, Matthew and Louise have gathered together a stunning collection of paintings and carvings, alongside ironwork, jewellery, handbags, scarves and ceramics.

The Saltbox (named after the original old oak saltbox in the building) has the cool, elegant feel of a contemporary gallery, with some works of fine art costing as much as £2,500.

But then there is the added attraction of smaller, gift shop-style purchases, such as the little felt sweet ornaments from £2 each. There are even quirky pieces of furniture and bird boxes and unique pieces of embroidery.

“You never know in this business who is going to walk in the door and what they are going to like. There is always the element of surprise that exists,” says Matthew.

Some of it is love at first sight.

Other bits tend to grow on you.

But what is most impressive is the fact that most of these artworks – about 80 per cent – are created in our region.

It was because they found it so difficult to promote their work that Matthew and Louise, who has her own jewellery workshop at the back of the shop, decided to set up a gallery for artists and craftspeople like themselves in the area.

Matthew, originally from County Meath in Ireland, had a farming background and first came to England to work as a groom and exercise rider in the horseracing business. It was Louise who encouraged him to follow his dream.

Matthew had always wanted to work with his hands: “Around 1993, I found myself at a bit of an impasse and wondering what to do with myself.

At the age of 16, I had wanted to become a farrier, so Louise passed some magazines my way with some articles about artist blacksmithing.”

After studying at Hereford College of Art, he was lucky enough to get a job with Chris Topp in Thirsk, working on projects for Chatsworth House, Castle Howard, The Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace.

“I felt I was part of a team involved in some of the most prestigious blacksmithing contracts in the country,”

he says.

AWARDED a bronze medal by the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths, he now produces his own elegant fireside companion sets, candle sticks, railings and furniture, as well as one-off pieces, such as a wrought-iron music stand, priced at £650.

Louise, who creates rings, brooches, necklaces and earrings using silver, gold and semi-precious stones, grew up in nearby Hovingham, where her parents ran the Worsley Arms Hotel.

“Growing up in this beautiful part of Yorkshire, I was influenced by my surroundings and was always making and painting things,” she says.

Like Matthew, she served an apprenticeship with an inspirational mentor in the region. After studying for her degree at York University, she worked for goldsmith and jeweller Robert Feather’s in York.

It was working with such well respected and skilled craftspeople in their fields in their local area that partly inspired the couple to open Saltbox.

“We already had many associations with other artists and makers, which was a great help,” says Louise.

“We felt there was nowhere within the immediate locality to provide a shop window for this sort of work. It is not just art we are talking about, it is other crafts, produced by highly- skilled and technical people. Most crafts people don’t go into business, it takes you away from making. We just felt there was a need to provide a space.”

It cost them £40,000 to set the business up and takings are steadily increasing.

“We had a three-year plan and now it’s started to give us back just a little. We are getting a lot of repeat custom,” says Louise.

“People will come in with a dream and it is your job to help them realise it. We always try to keep good quality work and change things regularly.”

About 150 artists have exhibited through Saltbox over the past three years and the gallery also organises innovative workshops, demonstrations and talks. “There are lots of possibilities,” says Matthew.

Scarborough textile artist Sally Greaves-Lord, whose work has been bought by Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake, Conran Associates and is also displayed at Sheffield Cathedral, recently gave a talk on her hand-painted silk banners. Customers have also been able to learn about bead-threading, hand-weaving and forging at workshops and demonstrations.

ARTISTS who exhibit here include Stephen Lunn, from Morpeth, Northumberland, whose huge abstract forms made with forged steel and stone, and costing more than £2,500, dominate the garden area. There is also a large urn, in the shape of a female figure, by Iris Wilkinson, of Easingwold.

The natural setting of the garden also provides the perfect space to display the beautiful sandstone animal sculptures by self-taught Jennifer Tetlow, who has a workshop in the North York Moors National Park.

A recent exhibition, featuring some of North Yorkshire’s most distinguished artists, celebrated the rolling landscapes, purple heather, windswept moors, dramatic cliffs, waterfalls and unforgiving seas of our Great Northern Landscape.

It was brought together by Scarborough painter Kane Cunningham, who has a studio in an old baiting shed on the West Pier, and featured work by County Durham-born Janet Moodie, now based in Robin Hood’s Bay.

“The moors and coastline have been my inspiration all my life. I have drawn strength from its magnificent power,” she says.

Peter Hicks, former head of art department at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, in Darlington, also took part, as did John Creighton, from Kirkbymoorside, and Richard Barnes, from York.

“Landscapes are a perennial favourite to which our visitors are frequently drawn back,” says Louise, who admits that juggling being a mother of four (her youngest daughter is 11) with a job that often lasts well into the evening can be stressful at times. “Getting Saltbox off the ground has meant a big change in lifestyle,” she says, “but it is also very rewarding and enjoyable.”

She recently organised a garden shed and allotment-themed exhibition, for which Ripon artist Dorothy Thelwall contributed a work in tissue and oil, featuring a garden lit up with Chinese lanterns, Scarborough’s Paula Zimmerman painted dogs among the runner beans and Selby’s Helen Roddie produced a series of quirky linocut prints.

For Louise, working with artists like this is what makes all the hard work so worthwhile. “It’s just wonderful to be able to bring together such a variety of talented artists.

There is so much fantastic work right on our doorstep,” she says.

“This is even better than I dreamed it would be.”

■ Saltbox gallery and workshop, 2 Castlegate, Helmsley, North Yorkshire, Y062 5AB. Tel: 01439-770881; saltboxgallery.co.uk