Trip to Thorns Art Gallery at Semerwater

Leaving Memorial Gardens at 9 am we will travel by minibus to Thorns Gallery, arriving at about 11 am in time for tea/coffee and biscuits. This is a rare opportunity to visit this contemporary art gallery opened in 2025 in a beautifully converted cattle shed overlooking Semerwater, near Leyburn, where Jake Attree is holding an exciting solo exhibition. Friends may know Jake through visits to his studio in Dean Clough and his paintings of the Minster in York Art Gallery. In an exhibition catalogue for Messum’s in Cork Street, London, his work was described as ‘somewhere between the epic and the folkloric: the high impasto surfaces of his panoramic studies centred on York Minster and his earlier homage to Breughel show an eye for the infinite, enduring details of his ancient city’ and, I would add, elsewhere. The gallery owners, Graeme Black and Jonathan Reed will join with Jake to meet us to discuss their project and Jake’s new exhibition. There will then be time to wander through the gallery and, depending on the weather, enjoy a little of the peaceful countryside. Please bring a packed lunch as there are facilities for eating both inside and outdoors. We aim to be back in York for 5pm. Owing to narrow roads around Semerwater, we are limited to a minibus and hence spaces, so early booking is advised.

Cost: £40. To include minibus transport, coffee & exhibition.
If paying by cheque, contact the organiser, Dorothy Nott.

Booking opens 9 March