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Résumé of  ‘Les Journées des Peintres 2026′ – Sunday 10th to Friday 15th May 2026 > Toulon in 2027

Les Journées des Peintres 

‘Les Journées des Peintres’ is an international group of outdoor painters that meet up for a week each year in one of four countries. Each country organises a central venue, local “hosts” providing B&B , transport to and from the outdoor painting localities, packed lunches, evening meals and sometimes evening entertainment.  The group exhibit any completed paintings in the central venue at the end of each day and the week culminates in a full blown final public exhibition of each artist’s work followed by a “last supper” together.

The group tend to visit the UK once every 3 or 4 years. The current UK organiser is Helen Campbell and the current central venue is Saddleworth Museum and Gallery in Uppermill. Please see below the day by day diary of some group activities in Saddleworth this year/

The final exhibition on Friday the 15th included works from Bobbie Priebe, Carol Davies, Dave Ralston, Debbie Peel, Jacqueline Baby, Janet Sheehan, Kristian Holbrook, Laetitia Edo, Phil Hughes, Ruth Cheney, Sally Isaac, Salwa Eido-Mollon, Sandy Handsell and Tatania Eva-Marie. Please see below our vrtual exhibition.

Some images of the group’s daily activites

Each artist’s final exhibition

Potential Exhibition 2026 05 – Sept/Oct 2026 > From Saturday TBA to Sunday TBA “Title TBA” by Artist TBA

Awaiting an introduction to the artists

Awaiting an introduction to the exhibition

Awaiting images for this exhibition.

Potential Exhibition 2026 06 – Oct/Nov 2026 > From Saturday TBA to Sunday TBA “Title TBA” by Artist TBA

Awaiting an introduction to the artists

Awaiting an introduction to the exhibition

Awaiting images for this exhibition.

Potential Exhibition 2026 07 – Dec 2026/Jan 2027 >  “Winter Exhibition” by the Saddleworth Group of Artists 

Awaiting an introduction to the artists

Awaiting an introduction to the exhibition

This was the group’s 2025 winter exhibition

Preview 

All are welcome to the special opening preview on Sunday 7th December (from  1.30 to 3.30 pm).  Meet some of the artists, enjoy some music and light refreshments.

History

The group was founded in 1950 by Saddleworth artist Ellis Shaw and friends who had attended classes at Oldham School of Art. They hired an old weaving loft in Spring Street, Uppermill to hold exhibitions, meetings and classes.

L.S. Lowry was a frequent visitor and guest exhibitor at the first Saddleworth Arts Festival in 1957.

In association with the Carnegie Trust weekend schools were held over several years by nationally recognised artists including Ruskin Spear, Josef Herman and Kyffin Williams.

In 1979 when the tenancy on the Spring Street studio ended, Roger Tanner offered exhibition space at the new gallery attached to Saddleworth Museum. The group became affiliated to the museum and continues to hold twice yearly exhibitions in the spacious gallery overlooking the canal.

SGA also has a tradition of exhibiting at other venues which have included the Millgate Centre and Heights have to paint come to Saddleworth Chapel, Delph, Dobcross Countryside Centre and Gallery Oldham.

Since 2002, and usually every 4 years subsequently,  the SGA or some of its members have organised an event known as Journees de Peinture when artists from Europe and America have come to Saddleworth to paint the landscape. The museum was their normal base for meetings and an exhibition.

In the intervening years, SGA members visited the artists at similar events in their home countries.

The fiftieth anniversary of the group was celebrated in 2000 with a special show and a brochure with contributions from members describing their art practices.

The seventieth anniversary in 2020 fell during the covid pandemic when an online exhibition proved to be very popular.

The Saddleworth Group of Artists- November 2025

Visit our website at Saddleworth Group Of Artists

A few of the selected works featured in the summer’s 2025 exhibition.

Some images from this exhibition.

Potential Exhibition 2027 04 – Aug/Sept 2027 >  “Summer Exhibition” by the Saddleworth Group of Artists 

Awaiting an introduction to the artists

Awaiting an introduction to the exhibition

This was the group’s 2025 summer exhibition

The exhibition showcases the work of over forty elected members. Paintings, drawings and prints in a variety of media including oil, watercolour, pastel, and pen reflect varied interpretations of landscape, figure and still life by the artists. There is a special meet the artists preview with refreshments and live music on Sunday 15th June (1.30 to 3.30 pm).

An introduction to the artists

The Saddleworth Group of Artists was founded in 1950 by the watercolour painter, Ellis Shaw, and some friends who wanted to promote the study of fine arts and hold meetings and exhibitions. They rented the top floor of a house in Spring Street, Uppermill, where, besides organising exhibitions and life classes, they held workshops funded by the Carnegie Trust. The Oldham artist, James Fitton R.A., and L.S. Lowry, who took a keen interest in the group and came to all the exhibitions, were among the many well-known tutor.

Potential Exhibition YEAR NO >from Saturday TBA to Sunday TBA >​”From the Museum Collections”> John McCombs & Joan Charnley

Introduction to the exhibition

We have these items in out collections and may exhibit them in the future.

The artist John McCombs 1943 – 2025

John McCombs was born in Manchester and studied at St Martin’s School of Art in London under Gore and Kossoff. He then returned north to become a professional artist, working from his studio in Delph.

He was a member of Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Royal Society of British Artists.

His landscapes were inspired by the Pennine area centred around Delph, and his figure paintings reflected the social and working life of the village.

The artist Joan Charnley 1928 – 2016

Joan studied at Manchester School of Art from 1946 to 1949. One of only a handful of female students, Joan excelled at art school and continued her studies with a Diploma in Textile Design. The period between 1946 and 1951 were the most prolific years for Joan, with over 100 landmark textile designs,

In 1950 she won the prestigious Heywood Prize for Design and in 1954 sold her ‘Beachcomber’ design to Alistair Morton of Edinburgh Weavers. Beachcomber was acquired by the V&A museum in 2009 as part of their mid-century textile archive.

In September 1951 Joan was appointed lecturer in textile design at Great Yarmouth School of Art and in 1958 promoted to vice principal. In October 1963 she married the Scottish artist Archibald MacDonald and moved to Uppermill in Manchester as principal of Oldham College. Throughout the 1960s, as principals of two northern art schools, Joan and Archibald were a Northern Art power couple, holding court in galleries and hosting dinner parties in New Street. Joan’s archive reveals photographs of Archibald and L.S. Lowry curation exhibitions together, and images of Joan and Archibald visiting galleries across the country. It must have been a fascinating time.

In the 1970s and 1980s Joan concentrated on botanical designs, producing tea towels, scarves, calendars for leading British designers. She taught field studies with John Nash at Flatford Mill and lectured extensively on Hebridean cruises. After Archibald died in 1991 she visited the USA, India, Japan, Australia, Europe, South America, and the Galapagos Islands, chronicling her travels with highly-detailed art journals.

Joan died in July 2016, leaving her home and extensive archive to her close friends Julian Bovis and Nigel Durkan, with a wish that her house be converted into an art gallery for the people of Greater Manchester. Three years later Julian and Nigel converted Joan’s home into Weavers Factory gallery, and in 2021 donated the Joan Charnley Archive to Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections Museum, where they can be viewed by appointment.

Some images from these collections.

Potential Exhibition YEAR NO >from Saturday TBA to Sunday TBA > “The Russel Howarth Trustees Collection” > an art exhibition with works by Russel Howarth

Introduction to the artist

Russel Howarth was born in Oldham on the Lancashire side of the Pennines in 1927. After leaving school he took up a career as an engineer which he did until his retirement in 1992. It was after completing his engineering apprenticeship in 1950 that he took up painting in his spare time. In 1951 he was one of the first members of the Saddleworth Art Group (now the Saddleworth Group of Artists).

Living his life within the boundaries of Oldham it was not the local ‘millscapes’ that gave inspiration to his work, instead he headed over the hill into Saddleworth which is on the Yorkshire side of the Pennines. He recorded numerous views of the area with the ‘bleak’ farms and villages being captured often on a grey day typical of the atmosphere and weather of the area, it was these colours that were well suited to the muted tones and earthy colours he used. He painted primarily in oils on board and his draughtsmanship came through in simplifying forms and was also mirrored in many large drawings he did using the medium of pencil and charcoal.

Apart from painting he taught pottery at art classes until 1962.

Introduction to the exhibition

Following the death of artist Russel Howarth in 2020, the Trustees of Saddleworth Museum, Uppermill were honoured to act on behalf of the estate of Russel Howarth and, with other assets, offer this collection for sale. Russel intended that the proceeds go toward supporting and encouraging artists and ceramicists. The Russel Howarth Trustees will ensure that this will be the case.

This is our third gallery exhibition of the collection. We hope you can purchase one of these wonderful works of art and help us to secure Russel’s wishes. Thank you.

The Russel Howarth Trustees 2024

(Please note that when selected items are not on display, the whole collection is available to view, by appointment with our curator, in the purpose built external store at Saddleworth Museum.)

A few of the selected works expected to be in this exhibition.