Spirit of the Lakes can be seen
An exhibition highlighting the work of an acclaimed but little known sculptor can be seen in Grasmere until the autumn.
Ophelia Gordon Bell (1915 – 1975) is known as the wife of landscape painter William Heaton Cooper, but the new show, A Vital Spirit, aims to bring attention to her own life and extraordinary talent.
Born in London and brought up among the artists, Ophelia was equally at home in the Lake District where her grandfather was the vicar of Urswick near Ulverston.
She exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, and the Royal Scottish Academy.
Her work can be found throughout Britain, from a carving of St Bede at a Carlisle church to the giant stone figures, Thought and Action, outside the Risley HQ of the former Atomic Energy Authority in Lancashire.
The exhibition will feature examples of her work as a student, as well as her industrial and religious commissions, and portrait heads
A Vital Spirit: the work of Ophelia Gordon Bell is at Grasmere’s Heaton Cooper Studio until late autumn.