News

Pit Girls Come Home to Wales

Exciting news – the Cyfarthfa Castle Museum in Merthyr Tydfil has agreed to host my series of 12 “Pit Girl” portraits as part of a new exhibition titled “Forgotten Women“!

  • Photograph of British artist Hilary Barry's painting in oil on canvas, titled "Molly Donavan". Size 30 x 40 cm. Part of the "Pit Girls" series of portraits.
    Molly Donavan
  • Photograph of British artist Hilary Barry's painting in oil on canvas, titled "Nesta Lewis". Size 30 x 40 cm. Part of the "Pit Girl series of portraits.
    Nesta Lewis

The exhibition runs Tuesday 3 March – Sunday 31 May 2020. Opening times:
• 1 Oct – 31 March: Monday (Closed); Tuesday-Friday: 10am-4pm; Weekends: 12pm-4pm
• 1 April – 30 Sept: Monday-Friday: 10am-5pm; Weekends: 12pm-5pm.

You can learn more about the Pit Girls’ history and how I came to paint their portraits here.

The museum is located at:
Cyfarthfa Park, Brecon Road, Merthyr Tydfil, CF47 8RE
T: 01685 727371 | W: http://bit.ly/Cyfarthfa

Cyfarthfa Park is located north of Merthyr Tydfil town centre on the A470. The museum is 20 minutes’ walk from the centre or there is a regular bus service.
By car: Satnav postcode CF47 8PA.

BBC Look East films Suffolk Open Studios Showcase artists

A good evening at last night’s Suffolk Open Studios 2019 Showcase, at the Apex Gallery in Bury.

As well as having Ania Hobson there as our special guest, the BBC recorded the event for that night’s Look East broadcast, and interviewed several of the participating artists.

Click here to watch the video – my piece is at the end!

The show runs till 31 March so get there if you can, as there’s some excellent work on display.

Photograph of Hilary Barry showing her work at the Suffolk Open Studios 2019 Showcase
Hilary Barry with her work on show at the Suffolk Open Studios 2019 Showcase, 26 Feb-31 March
Photograph of the crowds at the Suffolk Open Studios 2019 Showcase Main Gallery
Good turn-out for the Suffolk Open Studios 2019 Showcase

Easterly Artists in the News

Some nice coverage of our art group Easterly Artists’ exhibition “Change” at the Gallery Upstairs (Fisher Theatre) in Bungay, which runs till 14 March (apologies for the poor quality of the image).

8 artists have combined forces to put on a remarkable display of work across a wide range of media – catch it before it goes!

Press cutting from the Beccles & Bumgay Journal, 1 Feb 2019, on the Easterly Artists group exhibition titled "Change", at the Gallery Upstairs in Bungay.
Beccles & Bumgay Journal, 1 Feb 2019

New Show: “Change”

Very proud and pleased to be taking part in the inaugural exhibition of our local artist group: Easterly Artists.

You can learn more about them and the remarkable artists who make up the group at www.easterly.org.uk but, meanwhile, hope very much to see you at the Private View:

4-6pm, Sunday 17 February
Gallery Upstairs at the Fisher Theatre
Broad Street, Bungay NR35 1EE

And if you can’t make that, the exhibition runs 10am-3pm, till Thursday 14 March 2019. That said, the gallery isn’t open on Sundays and not every day in the week, so it’s worth checking the theatre website or calling 01986 897130 beforehand!

Hope to see you there!

Work In Progress

I’ve recently started a new project, focusing on the Pit Girls and women – also known as Patch Girls – who used to labour in the Tredegar iron and coal works.

Photograph of British artist Hilary Barry’s preliminary work in oil on canvas: “Tredegar Tip Girls project #1”
Preliminary work: Tredegar Pit Girls project

Photograph of British artist Hilary Barry’s preliminary work in oil on canvas: “Tredegar Tip Girls project #2”
Preliminary work: Tredegar Pit Girls project #2

Photograph of British artist Hilary Barry’s preliminary work in oil on canvas: “Tredegar Tip Girls project #3”
Preliminary work: Tredegar Pit Girls project #3

Photograph of British artist Hilary Barry’s preliminary work in pencil on paper: “Tredegar Tip Girls project #4”.
Preliminary work: Tredegar Pit Girls project #4

One of the most striking features in the few photos that exist of them, taken by William Clayton in 1865, was the extraordinary hats they wore with their daily work clothes. I’ve attempted to recreate a few examples here.

Tredegar Pit Girls hats

Good day for good news

First came the news that one of the first paintings I produced since moving to Suffolk, “Here for the Spirit”, had sold at the annual Southwold Art Circle exhibition.

Photograph of British artist Hilary Barry's painting in oil, titled "Here for the Spirit". Size (36 x 28 cm)
Here for the Spirit (36 x 28 cm)

If you haven’t visited already, there’s some excellent work on show: it runs till 3 Sept 2018; see the Southwold Art Circle website for details.

Second, it was nice to learn that mine was one of the first cards to go at Mandell’s Gallery’s postcard sale, held to raise funds for painter and printmaker Sarah Cannell’s son, Henry.

Photo of British artist Hilary Barry at Mandell's Gallery postcard sale 18/8/18, held to raise funds for artist Sarah Cannell's son, Henry
Mandell’s Gallery postcard sale, raising funds for artist Sarah Cannell’s son, Henry

The exhibition runs till 1 Sept 2018; more about Henry and about Sarah’s work at www.mandellsgallery.co.uk/exhibitions/henrys-odyssey.

New Easterly Artists’ Trail in North East Suffolk

Very pleased to be taking part in the new Easterly Artists Trail, 11am–5pm, Saturday– Sunday 16-17 June.

Easterly Artists' leaflet, showing details of the new artists' trail in North-East Suffolk over the weekend 16-17 June 2018, in which British artist Hilary Barry is taking part.
Easterly Artists’ leaflet

I’ll be joining 4 other local artists in the Waveney area in Suffolk, to open our studios to the public and give visitors the opportunity to meet us direct and ask us (almost!) any questions about our practice.

Other artists taking part are:
Hugh Davies
Lisa Hurcum
Fiona Shreeve
Nina Roffey

If you’re in the area that weekend, do drop in to see us. Click here to download a copy of the trail leaflet.