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.
Elliot Channer is a sculptor and has had a passion for wildlife and art from a young age. He is largely self-taught and takes inspiration from the countryside.
Elliot travels the country in order to observe and photograph animals in their natural habitat, to use in his work.
WE ARE VERY SORRY THAT DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES GARY IS NOT ABLE TO BE IN RESIDENCE ON THESE DATES. WE WILL PUBLISH NEW DATES AS SOON AS THEY ARE AVAILABLE. Gary Hodges is the UK’s best selling and most collectable pencil artist, an impressive accolade for a self-taught and self-published artist. The huge demand for Gary’s limited edition prints has led to a lucrative secondary market, rewarding collectors with more than just the beauty of his drawings.
His enthusiastic collectors have supported him throughout his career. This popularity has enabled him to follow his heart and support charities dear to him. Through his wildlife art well over half a million pounds has been given back to protect the wildlife he feels so passionate about.
Gary has been one of our most regular and long-standing artists in residence and it is a delight to welcome him back again.
Art Course
with Richard Box 10am – 5pm
Maximum Participants: 12
This course is for all of you who long to paint in watercolours but have been deterred by the erroneous myth that they are supposed to be ‘difficult’. Richard will dispel that myth and teach you, step by step, how to paint a simple still life and achieve marvelous effects with numerous layers of translucent colours without ‘getting mud’!
Most problems about painting are concerned about mixing colours. So the course will start with exploring the nature of colour with coloured pencils.
This will give you the confidence to transfer your newly discovered knowledge to watercolours. If you follow Richard’s ‘recipes’, you will be thrilled at what you can achieve.
Course Cost
Members: £80
Non-members: £100
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners
ART COURSE BOOKING FORM
Artist’s Profile
Richard is an artist who paints and draws, but who is also known for his textile work. He has been teaching for 51 years and has a missionary zeal to convert students’ terrors of drawing and painting to an enthusiastic desire to continue practicing these disciplines because of their discovery that they are calming, rewarding and therapeutic.
www.richardbox.co.uk
Wallsworth Art Group
Join the art group as they listen to up and coming artist Holly Brookes, who will be discussing her latest success as the winner of the ‘Young and Wild’ category, as part of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation’s 2015 Wildlife Prize event. Plus she will discuss her inspirations, both for drawing, painting and print making.
Holly Brookes will be artist in residence, alongside her father Roger Brookes from 5th-10th July.
Artist in Residence
Holly Brookes, the daughter of woodcarver Roger Brookes, is a wildlife artist, specialising in drawing and printmaking. She has a fascination for detail and texture.
Artist in Residence
Roger Brookes is a wood carver specialising in carving realistic fish.
‘My education as an artist began when, as a child, I saw the form and colour of a freshly caught Sea Trout brought home from the river by my father in Thurso Scotland. When
I am carving the tail, the line of the jaw or the curving shoulder of a fish now I know that I am touching on that first inspiration from all those years ago.’
Art Course
with Yvette Green 10am-5pm
Maximum Participants: 8
Garden mosaics are designed to interact with their environment, reflecting and refracting light so that they change throughout the day.
On this 1-day course you will produce a stained glass bird mosaic which can be used to brighten up your garden or pot plant in the winter months. You will be able to make a bird of your choice .
Skills covered on the course will include mapping out your initial design, basic glass
cutting, stained glass mosaic techniques and grouting techniques.
This course is ideal for all levels, although glass cutting skills are a bonus.
Course Cost
Members: £40
Non-members: £50
Course Suitability: Beginners – Advanced
ART COURSE BOOKING FORM
Materials List
Apron
Sealable jar or container to take home grout powder if needed.
All other materials will be provided by Yvette Green, at the cost of £6 per participant, payable directly to her on the day.
Artist’s Profile
Yvette Green is a stained glass mosaic artist working from a small house studio based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.
Yvette trained in Botany and Education before working in mosaics for the last 8 years. She works primarily with stained glass and glass inclusions and produces mosaics for all areas of the home, specializing in garden mosaics.
Her work is inspired by the intense colours of nature. She has taught a number of courses in the Gloucestershire area.
www.baobabtreemosaics.co.uk
Artist in Residence
Clive Meredith is an entirely self-taught artist and has been working professionally since 1993 specialising in detailed portrayals of wildlife from both Britain and abroad.
Clive’s initial interest in wildlife and the countryside was fostered in his early years, brought up the son of a dairy farmer, and spending hours outside in the Shropshire countryside birdwatching and larking about on the river Severn and its streams in his hometown of Shrewsbury.
An illustrated talk by John Ward. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear the story behind some of the images which featured in the ‘Small but Perfectly Formed, 3D exhibition’ at Nature in Art in May/June. John is a pioneer in 3D and stereoscopic photography.
A fascinating and eye-opening evening for everyone.
Please book tickets in advance: £8