In celebration of The Queen’s Green Canopy project, Regeneration is a new exhibition to help promote tree planting: a vital strand of the environmental crisis recovery strategy. Trees are the lungs of the planet and this exhibition showcases a diverse range of approach, style media, and scale – and interpretation of this uplifting and positive subject.
Trees provide a wonderfully versatile subject for artists, not only in terms of the rich variety of form, texture and colour they provide, whether individually or collectively, but also through the wealth of association – myth, folklore, religious and symbolic significance, that they have come to embody over many centuries. In Britain, trees as a subject have inspired artists from Gainsborough and Constable through to the Pre-Raphaelites, the Neo-Romantics and the Ruralists. Piet Mondrian and Victor Pasmore used the tree as a device to turn abstract and Paul Nash famously stated that he loved and worshipped trees and believed they were people.
The Arborealists were founded in 2013 by artist and curator Tim Craven following the seminal exhibition Under the Greenwood: Picturing the British Tree, staged at St Barbe Museum & Art Gallery, Lymington, in the heart of the New Forest. The Arborealists are a loose association of some 50 professional artists of diverse art practice who share the subject of the tree. Although united by their subject, the artists employ a diverse range of working practices: scale, medium, philosophy, style and technique. The results are by turn dramatic and contemplative, expressive, abstracted, hyperreal and surreal and they demonstrate that trees still have a deep relevance in contemporary art and retain their power to move us as a vital element in our landscape
The group is far flung with members from Wales and the borders to East Anglia and London and every southern county from Kent to Cornwall. The group enjoys a national profile and have already staged 26 exhibitions to critical acclaim in the UK, France and Gibraltar with many more planned for the future, including site-specific projects. The Arborealists have forged successful partnerships with National Park Authorities, Areas of Outstanding National Beauty and The Woodland Trust and The National Trust.
Image: ‘Amongst the Trees, Bluebell Wood, Perivale’ by David Wiseman, acrylic on canvas.
Mini Craft Market in the Education Centre Atrium
Saturday 30th April & Sunday 1st May
10am – 5pm
Free entry to the market
Stallsholders:
- Jackie Cox (silk painting, stained glass pics, jewellery)
- Maz (nature artist)
- Hazel Locke (crochet items and quilling)
- Sue and Tony Chandler (wood work, pebble pictures)
- Irene Crawshaw (hand made bags, textiles)
Image: ‘Pink Orchids’ Silk Scarf by Jackie Cox
This illustrated talk will consider the origins of the British School of Art and how the tree became an important early motif and subject, much loved by Thomas Gainsborough. It will explore the tree’s deployment by the Romantic Movement of Turner and Constable of the early 19th century, the Pre-Raphaelite landscape painters and the pastoral etchers of the 1920s, the Neo-Romantics of World War 2 influenced by Picasso and the Modern Movement, and the Brotherhood of Ruralists of the 1970s who returned to romanticism in reaction against the excesses of Modernism. All employed the tree in different guises and for different ends including portraiture. It will close with the rollercoaster story of The Arborealists, founded in 2014, a loose association of some 50 artists of diverse art practice who share the rich and versatile subject of the tree.
Doors open 6.45pm to view Regeneration exhibition and meet some of the artists. 7.30pm finger buffet, followed by talk. Tickets £8
This talk will take place in person at Nature in Art, Wallsworth Hall.
Image: © Lesley Sight
The always highly anticipated annual selling exhibition of The Wildlife Art Society International. Over 350 works by members in a wide variety of styles and media. The Society provides an active focus for wildlife artists, painters, sculptors and photographers whether they are professional, amateur or leisure artists. See artists at work every day.
The Wildlife Art Society International (TWASI), whose exhibition is on show May 28th – June 5th, have chosen the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) as their beneficiary this year, a brave and influential charity at the cutting edge of conservation.
Nature in Art has also had a long association with EIA, most particularly with artist Gary Hodges who has supported EIA through his work for decades. February saw the dawning of another Year of the Tiger, so it is especially appropriate that we hear about EIA’s outstanding work investigating and campaigning for the protection of tigers and other big cats in the wild. In 2018, Debbie was presented with the Dr Rimington Award by HRH Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, in recognition of her exceptional commitment to the conservation of wild tigers. www.eia-international.org
This talk will take place online via Zoom.
Image: Bengal tiger © Elliott Neep
www.elliottneep.com
(Join anytime between 2pm and 4pm)
Come and gather around Natasha Houseago’s sculpture ‘Displaced Child’ and hear some poems in response to the refugee crisis. Made on site last year from Nature in Art’s wellingtonia wood, the sculpture has been displayed at Gloucester Cathedral and Everyman Theatre and has now returned to Nature in Art. Copies of Ian Parker-Dodd’s recently published collection of poems will be available on the day.
Large paintings by Rosalind Wise in response to a visit to Transylvania in Romania where she says she ‘saw fields of many different flowers, carpets of shimmering colour disappearing into the distant landscape. This made me realise how much since the Second World War we in Britain have lost, and how important it is for us to preserve this living treasure’.
Having enjoyed a viewing of Ros’s exhibition and some delicious food, join Rosalind to hear the story behind her wonderful wildflower meadow painting project which included her visiting Romania and experiencing some of their spectacular wild environments for herself. Many of our members will be familiar with her huge ‘Cycle of Flowers’ painting that often hangs on the museum’s main stairs. Ros is now producing large paintings of particular places and the flowers she finds there
Doors open 7pm to view the galleries. 7.30pm finger buffet, followed by talk. Tickets £8
This talk will take place in person at Nature in Art, Wallsworth Hall.
Legacy of Love is a unique book bringing together 57 charity founders, actors, poets, artists and photographers celebrating their love of animals in personal words and stunning pictures. This summer, some of the Legacy of Love team are taking to the road with a series of exciting events across the UK.
Come and join our Family Fun Day and help create community artwork, meet some of the contributors of the Legacy of Love book and members of conservation charities.
Enjoy various charity stalls, take part in fun garden games and discover the endangered Animal Treasure Trail to win a prize. Look around the museum and see artists at work.
Ticket: £3 per person (under 8’s FREE)
This special admission price also includes entry into the museum. No pre-booking required.
To find out more about the Legacy of Love three day tour, reach out to the team via the contact form at: www.legacyoflovebook.org
If you wish to make a donation please visit: www.gofundme.com/f/legacy-of-love-on-tour
Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward
Sun 10 Jul, 5.30pm (‘doors open’ 4.30pm for picnics)
Tethered Wits Theatre Company present Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward – a delightful summer evening comedy in the museum’s garden.
Socialite novelist Charles Condomine, is living in re-married bliss until a visit from “happy medium”, one Madame Arcati, brings back the ghost of his dead wife during a séance… With both wives watching on, Charles is caught in the middle of a sprightly storm of conflicting personalities.
Expect mayhem and mishaps in Coward’s timeless comic farce which captures the chaos of both life and the afterlife. After all, what mischief would you create when you “pass over”?
Tethered Wits are thrilled to present another of their Summer touring productions, which have been previously hailed as “truly a joy to watch” (Palatinate).
Tickets: £16 Standard, £14 Concessions (students & over 60s), £10 Under 10s
This amateur production of “Blithe Spirit” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk