Exhibition:
This exhibition has been assembled in collaboration with the Charles Tunnicliffe Society. We record our thanks to them, particularly Ken Broughton and Stuart Pittman, and to the many private collectors and public collections who have loaned work. Tunnicliffe was one of the most important and influential nature inspired artists of the twentieth century. His impact is still felt today.
Charles Tunnicliffe (1901 – 1979) was the only son of a shoemaker turned farmer and grew up in Cheshire. All his later work as an artist shows him to be a man totally familiar with the animals and machinery of the farm, and the beauty, customs and modesty of the countryside. After art training in Macclesfield and Manchester, he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, London, where he won another scholarship for a further year to study etching.
Having worked for a while as a part-time teacher, Tunnicliffe left London in 1928 and returned to Cheshire as a commercial artist. In 1932 he produced the illustrations for Henry Williamson’s Tarka the Otter which was a great success and established the reputations of both artist and author.
From 1947 until his death Tunnicliffe lived on the Isle of Anglesey. He was hard work and versatility personified. Etchings, wood engravings, scraper-board illustrations, oil paintings, delicate pencil drawings, simple tiny composition sketches and large finished watercolours – all were part of his prolific output.
He was elected RA in 1954 and awarded the OBE in 1978. In 1974, he was honoured at the Royal Academy by an exhibition of his collection of measured drawings of birds. Several of these (and other RA pictures) are included in this show.
Having had work widely published in magazines and books, including some of his own, as well as the likes of Cussons Imperial Leather advertisements, Brook Bond tea cards, The Radio Times, Ladybird books and for 12 years the covers to RSPB’s magazine Bird Notes, he is an artist whose work has impacted on countless people’s lives, earning respect too, not just in the wildlife art world, but the wider art establishment.
Sir Peter Scott described him as simply ’the greatest wildlife artist of the twentieth century’.
Summer Holidays Art Activity Days:
This Summer we are running a range of our popular art activity days for children aged 3 years and over. They include:
26th Jul – Oil Pastels Inspired by Picasso
27th Jul – Marvellous Marbling
28th Jul – Garden Noughts & Crosses
29th Jul – Pond Dipping
2nd Aug – Paper Making
3rd Aug – Finger Print Doodles
4th Aug – Origami
5th Aug – Sun Print Photography
9th Aug – Paper Sculpture Lizard
10th Aug – Model with Mod Roc
11th Aug – Make a Clay Vessel
12th Aug – Wire Sculpture
16th Aug – The Art of Print Making
17th Aug – Cave Paintings
18th Aug – Painting Party
19th Aug – Pen & Watercolour in the Garden
23rd Aug – Marvellous Mosaics
24th Aug – Landscapes in Textiles
25th Aug – Encaustic Art
26th Aug – Weaving
30th Aug – Build & Decorate a Hedgehog House
31st Aug – Simon Says “Draw & Colour!”
Each workshop interprets the day’s theme using age appropriate materials and techniques. The different times are:
10.30-12.00pm: for 3 – 7 years
1.00-2.30pm: for 3 – 18 years
3.00-4.30pm: for 8 – 18 years
Each activity costs £6 per child and includes free entry to the museum for one accompanying adult. All activity must be booked in advance via our online booking system.
To see full details and to book please visit our Activity Days home page, here.
Exhibition:
The Independence Trust strengthen people’s emotional and physical well-being to support them to fulfil their potential. This display features artwork by some of their clients who have found art a real help and inspiration in life.
JOIN US FOR A SPECIAL EVENT ON THURSDAY 25th AUGUST:
Elephant in the Room Cheese & Wine Evening Invite.
Exhibition (on show in the Atrium of our Education Centre)
A diverse show of paintings, prints and sculpture which demonstrate the inspiration that this established local group has drawn from the natural world. Founded in 1965, this is their second exhibition at Nature in Art. Part of our programme of shows supporting and highlighting regional groups and talent.
by George Stoyle Overall Winner 2016
Exhibition:
The first post-launch display of all the winning images from this renowned competition focusing on British fauna and flora. Extraordinary pictures of our rarest animals and the wildlife on our doorstep.
To find out more about the competition visit the BWPA website: here
Exhibition:
Chosen, Revered Objects Which Delight, all selected from the Nature in Art collection and chosen by popular vote by members of the public. A variety of items that highlight the diversity of art inspired by nature.
CLICK HERE to see the selection and to make your vote! Voting closes 25th September.
Exhibition:
An exhibition by the Gloucestershire based ‘Stitched Up’ textile artists’ group. They use textiles and other media to imaginatively portray the countryside and coast during the changing seasons.
October Half Term Art Activity Days:
This October we are running a range of our popular art activity days for children aged 3 years and over. They include:
20th Oct – Rocket Sewing Cushion
21st Oct – Stained Glass Effect Autumn Garland
25th Oct – Pompom Pumpkins
26th Oct – Incy Wincey Spider FLIES Up the Spout!
27th Oct – Firework Paintings Inspired by Jackson Pollock
Each workshop interprets the day’s theme using age appropriate materials and techniques. The different times are:
10.30-12.00pm: for 3 – 7 years
1.00-2.30pm: for 3 – 18 years
3.00-4.30pm: for 8 – 18 years
Each activity costs £6 per child and includes free entry to the museum for one accompanying adult. All activity must be booked in advance via our online booking system.
To see full details and to book please visit our Activity Days home page, here.
Exhibition:
An uplifting and thought-provoking exhibition of glass sculpture, photographs and sounds by glass artist Amanda Lawrence, inspired by four years of walking and listening in Gloucestershire’s iconic Slad Valley.
When Gwen Fern walked home accross Slad Valley on a summer night in 1919 she found enough glow worms to decorate her hat with a ‘ribbon of lights’.
On Saturday 26th November at 11am and 1.30pm Slad Valley resident and children’s writer Christine O’Neill will be reading her new story for young children, The Wrong Side of the Dark illustrated by Amanda Lawrence’s glass and inspired by the true story about Gwen Fern and the glow worms which was one of the earliest inspirations for the exhibition The Valley in the Glass.