A MAJOR new exhibition celebrating the way that northern landscapes inspire contemporary painters – just as they did for those in centuries past – opens on Sunday at the Saltbox Gallery in Helmsley.

Called The Great North Show, the exhibition is curated by Scarborough painter Kane Cunningham, who has taken Turner as his inspirational starting point, and has gathered a selection of talent from around the region and beyond.

“It is said the north of England made Turner the painter we know today,” explains Kane, one of North Yorkshire’s leading contemporary landscape artists. It inspired an inner vision of the sublime, through a landscape newly-discovered and expressed through 18th century ideas of the picturesque.

“This enabled Turner to create some of his greatest works in a long and distinguished career and so lay down the standard for the next 150 years, setting in motion the genre of landscape painting that responded to the dramatic north in all its elemental beauty.

“These paintings entered swiftly into the imagination of a national psyche. They became subsumed into the romantic vision of English identity that remains today.

“Therefore, there is a tradition in the north of England of landscape painting which continues, in my opinion, to inspire artists, but more than this, it is a landscape that creates artists. When we think of North Yorkshire, we think of rolling landscapes, purple heather, windswept moors, dramatic cliffs, waterfalls and unforgiving seas. These are superlatives that describe the physical elements of a landscape that has beauty and drama.

“However, a landscape – rural or industrial – can tell many stories; each has a perspective that resonates with cultural, historical and political meaning.

“Therefore this exhibition brings together some of North Yorkshire’s most distinguished painters and artists who respond, like Turner, to a northern landscape in all its glory.

“They offer their own individual perspective on the great north, through a personal connection to a unique and awe-inspiring landscape.”

Exhibiting alongside Kane are fellow Scarborough-based artists Sally Greaves-Lord and Steve Whitehead; Peter Hicks from Danby; Janet Moodie from Robin Hood’s Bay; John Creighton from Appleton-le-Moors; Ryedale-based Julia Burns and Richard Barnes from York.

Sally Greaves-Lord, who has forged an impressive reputation in textile art and fashion, creating a splash with renowned Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake as his creative director in the UK, will also give a talk at the gallery about her work and career.

Jeweller Louise Dwyer, who runs Saltbox together with her blacksmith husband, Matthew, said: “Kane is putting together a really exciting selection of paintings for us for this exhibition and some of the artists will be unveiling new works.

“Landscapes are a perennial favourite to which our visitors are frequently drawn back, and we’re delighted to be able to gather together such a stunning range of talent at Saltbox.”

The Great North Show exhibition runs until September 13. The gallery is open from Monday to Thursday from 10am-3.45pm; Friday and Saturday from 10am-5pm, and on Sundays from noon-4pm.