This is a very common question here!

There’s not one answer but here’s a short summary.

Masham Gallery is in a rural area of the Yorkshire Dales and much of the wall hung work we sell represents that in some way. It’s not always literal but we are interested in the atmosphere, the wild, light and landscape that surrounds us throughout the changing seasons. We are keenly interested in stories, all sorts of stories, and so many things are displayed with stories and much of the work has a narrative feel about it. It’s good to know how a work has come about, the inspiration and tale behind it. When an artists work has these connections we feel more drawn to it and know we can do it justice here.

Every year we choose a number of themes for exhibitions - in 2024 for example we have “The River Runs Through” and “The Midnight Garden” both referring to nature and the cycles of the weather and the year. The artists that show in both exhibitions won’t necessarily show work that is literal rivers or gardens but you will see their interpretation of the titles. 

We like to have long term relationships with artists if possible, so we will often look at the artists we know first and invite them to participate in a show if it fits their work. We also come across artists all the time at open studios, fairs, instagram and by recommendation. Every year we approach a few of these too. We look for work that’s really well crafted, where the artist knows their style, has a consistent pricing, is presented beautifully and has something really special about it. We also like to work with really lovely humans and that’s a really big part of it too. We look for people who are mutually supportive - we want ideally to be able to share each others successes and stories. We get applications from artists to sell here all the time and very very occasionally one of those will be shown, but unfortunately many of the applications are sent without much reference to Masham Gallery.
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There are a few areas which we know a lot about, and over the years we have come to specialise in a bit - one of these is printmaking. At the moment looking around the walls I can see seven different types of printmaking! As for subject matter we tend to avoid seascapes, we don’t sell many urban landscapes or much purely figurative art. We don’t tend to sell photography or digital art so much, and we’ve never found a textile artist that works really well here  - but we never rule anything out. 


So if you’re an artist here are a few top tips for applying to a gallery:

• Ask if and how the gallery likes to take submissions - everyone is different.
• Choose a gallery that shows work that you admire from artists that you like. 
• Choose one that aligns with your values. 
• Never cold call / doorstep with work.
• Have a number of good photos of your work.
• Make sure your website /social media is up to date and represents you well.
• Be sure of your style/s  - don’t rely on a gallery to tell you what sells.
• Make sure you’re not already represented by a gallery, or you do events that are close by.
• Make sure you have a clear and well planned price structure that includes commission and is consistent everywhere you sell (whether that’s on your own website, at a fair or through a gallery).
• Check how the gallery represents the artists they show - do they use social media, have an online shop, do art fairs?
• Make sure you have really good records and delivery notes for your work
• Make sure your faming and presentation is showing your work to it’s very best.

If you would like a more comprehensive friendly hand up or support in your creative business our Artist Mentorship programme might be right for you: https://www.happyhousemasham.com/artist-development-mentorship.html
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I still try and balance my time between my artwork and running the gallery, and there’s still plenty to learn. Put it’s a privilege beyond words to still be doing what I love after 30 years and now I am proud to be both an artist and a businessperson. 

​Josie Beszant February 2024

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This January and February we are hibernating a little. Using the time to nurture and renew. Our online shop is open and you can come and have an appointment just for yourself - but we won’t be available behind the desk everyday.


When we re-emerge in March things will look a little different for regular visitors and the very observant amongst you! The floors will have been restained and varnished and many of the walls and a door will have had a new coat of paint. The children’s room won’t be there anymore - there will be a cupboard in its place and the room itself will have lots of building work done on it to become a treatment space for The Happy House. 


We all need some down-time, and hibernating, if we can manage to keep our spirits up, is great for the soul. As well as the work on the actual and online shop I’ll be spending time in the studio and outside. Sometimes creativity doesn’t come easy at this time of year and so I have lists of things that comfort and uplift me, things that make me feel good and nurtured. Sometimes these are the obvious like meditation or eating well. But they also include some of my favourite films, books, poems, walks and people to see  - even if it has to be at a distance. I’ve got uplifting playlists programmed that I can’t help but dance to even when the 4 walls of home seem so predictable (HOW long is it since we’ve been allowed to travel?!). If you have Spotify I’ll share this one with you here - I’ll challenge you not to dance or sing a long to some of it! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7hwN2XFVcZBhLstVi28X04?si=0QenoU_KRieffENEALDkAA


I hope you are able to enjoy some rest and relaxation time too, to hibernate a little and nurture yourselves! Josie
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MG:What is your favourite kind of day as an artist?

ISM: My favourite days are when I’m beginning work on a new exhibition. But I don’t always leap in action, brush in hand. I’ll kick off the day with a session of yoga in the garden or, even better, a set of tennis with a friend.

If I’m travelling, which is one of the great pleasures of being a landscape artist, I like to get to locations early. If there’s nobody about, particularly if I’m visiting somewhere touristy, I have more freedom. I can find the best angle by climbing on a wall, standing under a bridge or, occasionally, blagging my way into somewhere private with a great view.

This kind of research is tiring but, fortunately, over the years I’ve developed a sixth sense for finding a decent cup of tea.

If I’m working in the studio I like to warm up by painting a few possible beginnings for pictures. They may evolve into something, but often they’re just a way of getting into gear. That done, I’ll draw for a while, getting to know the subject I’m thinking of painting and then I’ll tape some watercolour paper to a board, paint the sky and leave it to dry.

Music is very important to me (I trained as a musician) and it really affects how I work. A late Beethoven string quartet is a great accompaniment for a complex piece of architecture but, if its a lively, expressive landscape the Beatles, Stones or Bob Dylan usually seem to help the work along.

Sometime in the afternoon I’ll knock off and take a walk round the market place outside or further afield and then have a cuppa with Josie (my wife and owner of Masham Gallery). 

The evening often involves some red wine and I’ll sometimes read about somewhere I’m researching, usually with a cat on my lap. I love to find legends about my subjects - it often adds another of meaning layer to the picture. Then  its early to bed and up with the lark again!

There are fewer and fewer galleries on the high street these days. So many I know have closed in recent years, and of course there is so much talk about the death of the High Street.
Before lockdown I was talking about this to our fantastic framer, Tim Tenant from The Art Shops, when he came to deliver. We were musing on how the High Street has looked like it’s dying -although in Masham right now (despite the virus) three* new and exciting shops are opening. Tim’s reaction when I voiced my worries was perfect - and that was reflecting on the fact that we’re not JUST shops, that art and craft is not JUST a product.

And he’s right - in fact I often feel I’m far from just a shop. People come in to chat, to find a calm space, to experience, to feel part of a creative community. Experience on all sorts of levels, some visitors come to experience an exhibition, with no intention of buying, but perhaps to understand the viewpoint of the artist who created a work, to experience the emotions that went into it, and to react emotionally themselves.

For some people, lots of people in fact, buying art is also buying an experience. It connects with an emotion, it represents something we sometimes can’t put into words and it goes home with them and they connect and feel that, through the art in their own homes. When you buy a piece of art, or craftwork, you buy a piece of an artists skills, the love that goes into making, their perspective on the world  - and often at a crazily reasonable price. It’s often something that stays in your home forever and eventually gets handed on to children or friends.

I’m finishing this blog the day before we reopen after lockdown and I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to being part of that experience. I know Masham Gallery is not another shop selling just another consumer product that can be disposed of on a whim or will go out of fashion, or even have some kind of built in obsolescence. It’s an experience, whether you choose to take that home with you or not.

* The Curious Merchant (right next door to us - looks very exciting), The Lunchbox - just 2 doors down and a refill shop just behind us on Park Street.

Simple Pleasures - an exhibition March 2020.


We tend to plan our exhibitions at Masham Gallery around 18 months in advance, so the title and concept for this show came about around late 2018. It was later in 2019 I think that I had listened to this BBC programme that a friend had kindly sent me. At that point I felt all our exhibitions in 2020 needed to be around the ideas of what makes us happy - content - or how we can find moments of joy in life.
That’s not easy when life is as tough as it has been for many of us this year, or as it was for Brecht in 1954. But somehow we all need to find those simple pleasures, if only for the safety of our mental health. So four of us got together who work in the gallery occasionally  - all of us artists - and listened to the programme again and discussed our own (ever growing) lists. Then we looked at artists work which represented those pleasures, and I took great delight in bringing together a cohesive exhibition of these lists (SO much harder than I expected).
 I hope you’ve had a chance to see the exhibition in real life, or perhaps online after we had to close on March 20th. It’s staying online and on our walls for the foreseeable future right now. Please do listen to the programme as well, maybe make your own list, and I sincerely hope that it helps you get through these dark uncertain days too.

​Josie