Harrogate gallery to close as it searches for a new home and a bigger future

Since it launched in February 2020 just before the national Covid lockdown, Harrogate’s Watermark Gallery has staged 23 exhibitions featuring 90 artists and sold more than 1,250 paintings, as well as many items of jewellery and ceramics.

Its final show – for the time being – will be a solo exhibition by the acclaimed land-and-seascape artist Pascale Rentsch .

Called Light and Shade, it will featuring 35 stunning new landscape paintings and run from this Saturday, October 19 to to November 9 before the curtain falls on Watermark Gallery at its Royal Parade home after five successful years - before it embarks on a new beginning.

The gallery’s owner Liz Hawkes said: “We have come to the end of our lease and the landlord has other plans for the property so, reluctantly, we have to move.

"Over the years, the award-winning Pascale has been one of our most popular artists so it is very fitting that her solo exhibition should be the final one in our current home.

“We want to take advantage of the situation by securing larger premises where we can develop the next stage in the Watermark story and make the gallery a real art destination.

“We are still looking for our next location, so, if anyone knows of an inspiring space of 3-5,000 square feet, please get in touch.

"I’m happy to look at a redundant building in the centre of town, an old school or even a cowshed.

"We have exciting plans for the future.”

The Swiss-born Pascale, now based in East Lothian, Scotland, is a member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Water Colours (RSW) and draws and paints plein-air, capturing nature and the elements, from stormy, wind-lashed seas to sun baked cliffs, from secret coves to untrodden beaches.

In the meantime, Watermark has been invited to stage a pop-up gallery at the historic Swinton Estate, near Masham, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, on November 29, 30 and December 1.

More information: https://www.watermarkgallery.co.uk/