The new show at Castlefield Gallery brings together the nostalgia of the past with new themes on the reinterpretation of memory, time and place. ‘For Posterity’ explores the human interaction and manipulation of materials by putting different methods in the hands of six artists each with their own individual artistic intent.

Led by curator and CG Associate member, Lucy Harvey, she has garnered together an exhibition emblematic of materials from long-since-established craftsmanship. From Hannah Leighton-Boyce’s ‘The Last Yarn’ a homage to Salts Mill with the last 13 balls of spun yarn through to Harvey’s own handmade creation of fictional artefacts from the viewing point of a traditional workman’s bench which she will periodically inhabit during the length of the exhibition. Film also plays its part with a series of documentaries by Burnley based filmmaker Sam Hanna’s ‘Old English Crafts’.  Another highlight of the show are Cherry Tenneson’s vinyl lettering ‘mishaps’ which allows for playful accidents she finds all too often in her trade of sign writing.

I’m not sure all of the art on display ties into the theme as a cohesive whole. For the viewing public this could make it hard to understand and it is a shame if it displaces Harvey’s strong central idea of history and authorship.

But by putting themselves (the artists) at the core, creating new work based on past heritage, the shared acquired ownership of these once-historic skills can be recorded for posterity. The show has the potential to bring out interesting and vital new additions of value within the place of tradition seizing these ideas for our modern times. And making it one we can all be proud of again.

Manchester, M15 4GB