Exhibition:
The Wildlife Art Society International annual selling exhibition of wildlife art comes to Nature in Art.
Around 300 paintings, drawings, original prints, photographs and sculpture by professional and part-time members of this active organisation will be on display, the majority for sale.
Members of the Society will also be demonstrating throughout the exhibition.
The exhibition is FREE to attend *normal admission charges apply to view the museum galleries* and is on show until June 5th.
May Half Term Art Activity Days:
This May we are running a range of our popular art activity days for children aged 3 years and over. They include:
31st May – Clock Making
1st June – Rawww! Lions Mask
2nd June – Block Print Wrapping Paper Inspired by William Morris
3rd June – Get Dotty with Pointillism
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:
This display is a celebration of the work by James TA Osborne RE (1907 – 1979) who regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers.
He was well know for his experimentation with print and paper and leaves behind a varied body of work, examples of which are held in public and private collections internationally.
Now extended to 24th July.
Family Fun Day
Our latest family fun day will be taking place on Saturday 25th June and will be themed around Bees, this will coincide with celebrating Insect Week (20th-26th June).
All activities will run from 10am-4pm and will be suitable for 3+; the cost to take part will only be £1 per person, under 3s free. If you wish to view the museum galleries on this day normal admission will apply.
Full details on the day’s events will be added below as soon as they are confirmed.
Here is a taster of what to look forward to already:
- Watch live demonstrations of real-life bees in their portable hive,
at 11am and 2pm - Discover our UV light and interactive smells exhibit
- Explore the microscopic world of bees
- Make a bee house and paint a bee magnet
- Get hands-on with the master composters
- Have a go at dissecting plants
- Take part in a Bumble Bee quiz and related games in the garden
There is no need to book for activities, please just come along anytime between 10am-4pm.
The coffee shop will also be open and serving light lunches.
Please see below for more detail about those organisations, individuals and charities who will kindly be providing many of the activities during our fun day:
The Cheltenham Science Group (10am-4pm) – Join the science group to experience the world as bees; using ultraviolet light, by dissecting a flower to see why pollinators are so important and by surveying the Nature in Art garden to find about the different pollinators at work. Plus, learn to communicate like a honey bee.
Bees Abroad (11am and 2pm) – The aim of Bees Abroad is to provide education and technical advice in Beekeeping. As part of the family day, see live hive demonstrations from the team as they educate you about bees and their importance! Find out more about them, here.
The Stroud-based Buzz Club for Young People (10am-4pm) – “Our aim is to ensure that all young people are aware of the importance of all bees and insects in the food chain and to care for the environment through bee centered education and play.”
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust (10am-4pm) – one aim of the Trust is to “support the conservation of all bumblebees, rare or abundant” and to educate people on the importance of bees in all shapes and forms. Have a go at completing their Bumblebee quiz and other games during the fun day. Find out more about them, here.
The Master Composters (10am-4pm) – Master Composters are volunteers who encourage people in their local community to start composting at home. During our fun day learn more about composing and the sorts of plants you can grow to help bees in your garden. Find out more about them, here.
Plus, meet insect artist Cath Hodsman who loves to explore the world of bees using a microscope. See some of her bee related artworks on show.
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.
The Elephant in the Room exhibition & The Independence Trust present an exclusive viewing of the exhib
ition whilst enjoying cheese and wine.
Tickets are £5
Please email Lisa Nash for tickets and further details.
Lisa.Nash@independencetrust.co.uk
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.
