In memory of Alan Gummerson

 

Alan died in November 2020, aged 92. He was an active member of the Yorkshire Sculptors Group for over thirty years.

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Born in Bradford in 1928, he attended Bradford Regional College of Art from 1945 to 1947 and taught at Leeds College of Art from 1957 to 1984. He exhibited widely including internationally in France, Switzerland and the United Stated of America. Alan worked in a wide range of media including textiles, printmaking, painting, ceramics and sculpture. His work was quirky, individual and strongly influenced by his love of  'Outsider Art'.

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'I first met Alan over thirty years ago at an exhibition at Dean Clough. I had purchased one of his Bi-plane sculptures and we got talking. He had recently separated from his wife as had I. So we had a good whinge about women and it turned out we were both fans of the work of George Fullard. 

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Alan was a prolific artist whose work relied on his imagination rather than his technical ability. He felt the inadequacies were an essential part of the results and life would be empty without the making. His faith in evostick and blutac as an adhesive gave his sculptures a charm and immediacy, but also a fragility. I still have to regularly repair my Bi-plane after thirty years, but it's worth the effort.

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I'll miss our friendship and days out.'

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Barry Midgley