The River Don rises in the Southern Pennines. Its waters flow through Sheffield and South Yorkshire to be consumed by the Humber Estuary and lost in the North Sea.
“This show has given me the opportunity to draw a direct path from my home city of Sheffield and the brooks and rivers so near to home, up to the Humber Estuary, a place where I have found much inspiration over the years.” Stephen Todd
Stephen has spent many hours walking and exploring, sketching and recording. Through this process paintings emerge. There will be around 35-40 framed paintings of the river as it wends its way through various places including, but not limited to, Windscar, Deepcar, Beeley Wood, Cornish Place, Ball Street Bridge, Neepsend, Lady’s Bridge, Burton Weir, Sanderson Weir (on the five weirs walk, Attercliffe), Consibrough, Spotbrough, Dutch River/Goole, Humber Bridge.
Sheffielders know the river Don, but there is more than one river Don.
The show title And Quiet Flows the Don knowingly references the classic novel by Mikhail Sholokhov set in the early 20th century; a time of conflict, revolution and overthrow by force. This Don flows into the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, through Cossack lands that include the Donbas. Again in 2026, sadly, this is a region of pain, abuse of force and conflict.
This is a very different history to contrast with “our” River Don, and yet strangely entwined. Sheffield twinned with Donetsk in 1956 when it was called Stalino. It lies on the river Donets, a tributary of the Don. Donetsk is a region with a shared industrial heritage through iron and steel and coal.
Stephen asks “Through all this a river drives its path. How can such a force be so quiet?”
Stephen is raising money for Sheffield Samaritans. A percentage of sales will be going to support their work.
Opening evening
Friday 1 May 7-9 pm – all welcome. Hospitality provided.
Exhibition opening times: Monday–Saturday 10am–6pm. Closed bank holidays 4 and 25 May.
- Featured in
- Art picks
