Information on Loughborough

See the Bigger Picture at Charnwood Museum

Posted on 13/06/2008

museum in Loughborough

A new exhibition by Loughborough’s artists’ group ArtSpace opens at Charnwood Museum on Thursday 19 June. ‘ArtSpace – The Bigger Picture’ follows on from the success of the ‘ArtSpace in Miniature’ exhibition held at the museum earlier this year.

For the ‘ArtSpace in Miniature’ exhibition in Loughborough the artists were given the challenge of each creating 3 works no larger than A5 to hang in an A1 frame. The result was a highly imaginative exhibition. For the ‘Bigger Picture’ exhibition the artists will scale up some of the ideas and imagery contained in the ‘Miniature’ exhibition to the dimensions of their choice. This has created an exhibition full of interest and variety – in materials as well as imagery. The theme has encouraged artists to see beyond the everyday world.

Transience and the passing of time has emerged as a strong theme in the exhibition. Mary Austin’s quirky model of an old lady in clay and mixed media celebrates the individuality of old age as well as its vulnerability. Mary Byrne’s ‘Miss Blackpool and Her Mother’ is a modern interpretation of the Youth/Age theme which also questions who is really the competitor.

Jackie Palmer’s ceramic is an abstract piece inspired by the Suffolk coast and is in memory of a fellow artist from ArtSpace. Jo Sheppard’s work ‘Large Church Window’ is in oil and mixed media and delights in the textured surfaces of man-made structures weathered by nature and neglect. Julie Turner’s hanging dresses also reflect this theme.

Nature is another strong theme. Judith Eason has 3 atmospheric oil paintings of stormy weather over The Wash. Sally Reayer paints trees in dramatic light conditions. Erica Middleton, in contrast, shows a tamed River Soar as glimpsed through the doors of her narrow boat in ‘Cabin Painting’.

Specific places also feature. Susan West depicts Loughborough’s Sockman statue in ‘Between: Sockman’. Black and gold are dripped onto fauve colours. Helen Ward, a member who has just moved to Italy, hangs digital prints whose imagery reflects the wider world outside the UK.

Patricia Whiting, a new member of ArtSpace, who works in dry media and print, has a relief print of a head after Picasso. Chris English, who normally works in a narrative vein, has 2 colourful abstract paintings.

ArtSpace was formed in 1997 to encourage the development of artists’ careers in the Loughborough area and to make artwork available to the community. Artists exhibit high quality contemporary work individually and in small groups all over the country, but come together several times a year to exhibit. 17 members of the group including painters, printmakers, sculptors, photographers and digital artists will be exhibiting at Charnwood Museum in the ‘Artspace – The Bigger Picture’ exhibition from 20th June to 6th July. Charnwood Museum is in Queens Park in the centre of Loughborough and is open from 10.00am to 4.30pm Monday to Saturday and 1pm-4pm on Sundays. Entry is free.

The Loughborough exhibition will be opened by Councillor Ernie White, the lead member for Community Services for Leicestershire County Council, and Councillor Peter Lewis, lead member for Culture & Leisure for Charnwood Borough Council at 7pm on Thursday 19 June.

Charnwood Museum is run as a partnership between Leicestershire County Council and Charnwood Borough Council.

If you would like further information on ArtSpace, please email info@artspace-lboro.co.uk or see the website www.artspace-lboro.co.uk