Kevin Haynes is a self-taught Northern, artist, born in Waterhead, Oldham in 1949 when Waterhead was dominated by cotton mills, employing hundreds of people. On leaving school he served an apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer, eventually running his own engineering business for over 30 years.
Although he had no formal art training, from a young age he was always interested in art and has collected the work of northern artists for many years. In more recent years he began to paint his childhood memories of working people and their environments. His work has a naïve quality and a quiet sense of humour. The crisp lines and vibrant colours create warm, unique pictures, capturing the days of the northern textile industry.
Originally painting simply for his own pleasure, he quickly found an enthusiastic audience for his work and now his paintings are in collections all over the world, from Europe and the USA to Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and China.
He is now an elected member of the Manchester Academy Of Fine Arts (2017) and the Association of British Naïve Artists, ABNA.
His work has been exhibited in municipal galleries including Salford Museum & Art Gallery, Gallery Oldham, The Mercer Gallery, Harrogate and numerous private galleries from Harrogate to St Ives. He is particularly honoured to have one of his paintings in the permanent collection of Gallery Oldham.