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
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.
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’.
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
An exhibition inspired by some of the conservation and environmental achievements of Peter Scott, renowned not only as an artist, but as one of the most important conservationists of the twentieth century. Work by Peter Scott will be displayed with other works by well-known artists that draw attention to some of Peter Scott’s passions. The exhibition will include Peter Scott’s painting ‘The Natural World of Man’, which represents man’s dilemma in his relationship with nature, and a ‘Self-portrait with Humpbacks’, both works rarely seen in public.
Natural World of Man – The Art of Conservation is an exhibition inspired by some of the conservation and environmental achievements of Peter Scott, renowned not only as an artist, but as one of the most important conservationists of the twentieth century. Work by Peter Scott will be displayed with other works by well-known artists that draw attention to some of Peter Scott’s passions. The exhibition will include Peter Scott’s painting ‘The Natural World of Man’, which represents man’s dilemma in his relationship with nature, and a ‘Self-portrait with Humpbacks’, both works rarely seen in public.
Join members of Sir Peter Scott’s family, to view this unique display of work by Sir Peter and other renowned artists.
FREE to attend but booking is essential
‘Murmur’ is a collaborative exhibition by four artists.
A Whisper, a susurration, something caught on a breeze, a congregating of birds; but also perhaps, a word going round; the beginning of a movement, an uprising.
We have forgotten nature and now we are having to learn to mend what our forgetfulness has wrought. Art has forgotten nature too and it is equally imperative that we have to relearn a response as part of the healing process.
Artists:
Jo Biggadike
The work of Jo Biggadike explores what it means to be a woman, walking alone, connecting with the rural landscape. Her collagraph prints are created from her drawings whilst out walking. She wants to capture the feeling that a place evokes.
Andrew Morrison
Although a lifelong naturalist, it has taken years for natural history subjects to come to prominence in Andrew’s art. His work is prints and books; heavily text-based. Birds and their interrelationship with mankind are increasingly becoming his metaphors and subjects.
Julie Smith
Julie’s artwork dwells on qualities of quietness and intimacy, cherishing the extraordinary within the ordinary. As an Arteologist enjoying discoveries from the natural world, archives and imagination, pondering, noticing and wondering is delightful. Key threads explored within her oracle include fragility, protection and preservation.
Shelley Winnett
As a naturalist, wildlife illustrator and artist, Shelley feels an increasing motivation to create work for the purpose of conservation education. Drawing directly from life she endevours to make work that is characterful, authentic and engaging. With a passion for birds they feature frequently in her work.
Image by Shelley Winnett
Rarely seen, yet glittering to behold, this is a display of gold, silver and metal thread embroidery to dazzle and delight, embracing nature in all its forms. All the pieces are made by members of the Goldwork Guild, at least one of whom will be demonstrating this ancient craft daily within the exhibition.
A retrospective exhibition of work by Robert Gillmor MBE SWLA (1936 -2022)
A founder of the Society of Wildlife Artists, Gillmor is a renowned wildlife artist who has left a remarkable legacy through his art. He is perhaps best known for his instantly recognisable lino-cut prints produced on his 1860 Albion press. His hugely influential career is celebrated in this unique selection of his work which follows his creative and conservation journey, particularly in relation to birds. Gillmor’s work has appeared in over 150 books. In 2015 he received an MBE for services to art and conservation. Work by Gillmor is held in the permanent collection, and he was a regular artist in residence, exhibitor and lecturer at Nature in Art, having been involved with the museum since its very earliest days.
The exhibition includes around 80 items representing a fascinating range of work from his early days in Reading Art Club, to ornithological expeditions to Iceland and Svalbard in the 1950’s, to some of his illustrative work and items representing the amazing span of his linocut prints right up to recent times. Also included are a number of works that Robert had done whilst artist in residence at Nature in Art, discovered in his studio and marked and dated ‘Wallsworth Hall’. Amongst the drawings and paintings are examples of original artwork from some important publications such as titles from the New Naturalist Series, Birds of the Western Palearctic etc. and other projects like British Post Office Stamps, covers for Birds Magazine and the like.