We are very pleased to have long-established links with a number of art groups in the county, including GSA who use Nature in Art’s Education Centre as the venue for their meetings. This is their first exhibition for two years due to Covid. With over 60 members who are proud to show their talents in various techniques, media and subjects this display will be varied with both 2D and 3D works included. Amongst their award winning members is Jackie Cox who appeared on BBC TV’s Countryfile programme in June when they were filming at Nature in Art. Members will be at work every day and most items will be for sale. For more information about the Society, please contact Rosemary Gowland visit www.gloucestershiresocietyartists.co.uk
This year we are pleased to be able re-introduce a crafts display by some renowned British makers. Rather than having a particular media focus or narrow theme, this show embraces work in a variety of media by acknowledged experts in their field. Amongst the makers included are Katie Morgan (ceramics), Robert Cox (woodwork), Jill Fanshawe Kato (ceramics), Amanda Lawrence (glass), Tony White (ceramics), Stella Campion (silver), Patricia Northcroft (sculpture), Sharon Foley (glass), Paul Hannaby (wood turning), Sue Brown (collagraphs), Liz Brooke-Ward (textiles), Michael Lythgoe (wood sculpture), Carole Bury (mixed media), Jane Spray (ceramics), Michael Fairbairn (glass) and Linda Heaton-Harris and Suzie Marsh (both ceramic sculpture).
See Carole Bury at work December 8th, 9th and 10th.
Almost all the work in the exhibition is for sale.
This exhibition is on display in our Education Centre. It was due to end on 21st November, but has been extended by popular demand (NB: There may be restricted access at times during the extra week.)
This is an exhibition of banners on the theme of our responsibility and care for the world, timed to coincide with COP26 in Glasgow.
All are made by people from the community, from WI’s, craft groups, churches and the like wanting to explore the theme creatively. Liz Robertson who coordinated the project says ‘the environmental and global climate emergency afflicting our world has been well-documented. Indeed, even in our own gardens or favourite green spaces there have been changes in recent years: habitats have shrunk and affected the numbers of our precious wildlife; Summer seems to arrive earlier each year, often to peter out when it should be in full swing; and pollinators often seem scarce.’
Covid’s global impact has given further food for thought. Liz says ‘All the banners contain messages of warning and hope. Hope seemed to be a key criteria for the banners; it’s easy to become disillusioned about how we, as individuals, can affect the global environmental and climate issues. What can one person do? Well, many of our banner-makers have considered this, which gives us hope. What can one nation do? With the upcoming UN COP 26 Climate Conference, nations will come together to take a serious stock of the situation, make resolutions and, hopefully, follow through. Hope in the face of crisis. You will notice a repetition of four words, as you view the banners: destruction, restoration, care and beauty. Something for us all to think about?’
A Dare to Dabble workshop, inspired by the banners is being held on 17th November.
© Majed Ali
Stunning images unveiled as Wildlife Photographer of the Year arrives at Nature in Art
This world-renowned exhibition, on loan from the Natural History Museum in London, features exceptional images which capture fascinating animal behaviour, spectacular species and the breath-taking diversity of the natural world. Using photography’s unique emotive power to engage and inspire audiences, the images shine a light on stories and species around the world and encourage a future of advocating for the planet.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the most prestigious photography event of its kind, providing a global platform that showcases the natural world’s most astonishing and challenging sights for over 55 years. Launching in 1965 and attracting 361 entries, today the competition receives over 50,000 entries from all over the world, highlighting its enduring appeal.
This exhibition, facilitated by the Independence Trust, is by artistically-minded Gloucestershire folk whose lives have been affected by mental health struggles, including during Covid. The outlet of visual expression in 2 and 3 dimensions has in itself been a form of light. Much of the work will be for sale and ranges from the panoramic to the petite.
EXTENDED BY POPULAR DEMAND to 4pm Thursday 24th February.
An inspiring selection of work by members of the Gloucestershire Society for Botanical Illustration. Some exhibitors have won The Royal Horticultural Society’s Gold, Silver Gilt and Silver Medals both in the Grenfell (for art pictures) and Lindley (for scientific illustration) categories. GSBI was awarded the Finnis Scott Foundation Botanical Art Award in 2020.
A retrospective exhibition of work by David Burnham Smith who died in 2019. His instantly recognisable ceramics display humour, beauty and creativity. Trained as a draughtsman, David turned to ceramic restoration and then, later, applied that attention to detail to his own work inspired by history, nature, spirituality and the rich heritage of the ceramic world.
CLICK HERE for further information about David Burnham Smith.
In the summer of 2021, the Cotswold National Landscape launched the Glorious Cotswold Grasslands (GCG) Art Competition, calling for artworks from young artists. This exhibition displays the inspiring artworks submitted.
The GCG is an ambitious long term project aiming to restore the largest network of flower-rich Jurassic limestone habitat in the UK! Over the last three years the project has collected and sown wildflower seeds across the Cotswolds, resulting in the restoration of more than 200 hectares of limestone grassland – double its original target. Every hectare restored helps to reverse the decline of this unique and precious habitat, and helps wildlife thrive.
The display features the creative responses of young artists, aged 11-19, to the GCG project. The artworks are inspiring depictions of meadow scenes, wildflowers and climate-aware messaging, in a range of styles and media.
Alongside the display of artworks by the young artists there will be further events and activities to take part in. The winners of the competition will also be participating in an exciting and exclusive workshop for them, with model maker and character designer Jim Parkyn creating an amazing wildflower scene!
When visiting, why not also check on progress of the wildflowers sown in our own nature garden with the help of Harvey Sherwood, GCG Project Officer.
Come and meet people associated with the project and plant some wildflower seeds in our garden on Saturday April 9th.
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