Archives: Events

The real subject of  Helen Ireland’s work is ambiguous, and is perhaps impossible to describe in words. In her working process we witness an endless build up of lines and colours, then revisions and re-workings until finally something new emerges.

Her work has a sense of climate, weather and atmosphere but it is also intrinsically linked to the process and plastic qualities of painting. She uses mapping, grids, overlaying colour, staining, obliterating; working and reworking a painting whether on paper, canvas or wood that remains constant.

(Re)Coded shares perceptions of data collection, use, dissemination and how these are understood and acted upon by Birmingham’s inner-city Caribbean diasporic communities.  This exhibition presents Vic Moyosola’s photographic portraits of project participants, alongside their own creative output made during a series of community workshops with Sadie Barnett.

I see his blood upon the rose, traces the history of the flower in art, its evolution from botanical illustrations to the opulent still-life paintings of the 17th century, their adoption as symbols of political influence, revolution, and human control over nature.   The exhibition presents intriguing juxtapositions between artists and works spanning centuries. Central to the exhibition is the work of two remarkable women artists, Rachel Ruysch (1664 – 1750) and Mary Delany (1700 – 1788).

These works are executed alongside internationally recognised contemporary artists such as Alvaro Barrington, Tracey Emin, Michael Landy, Robert Mapplethorpe, John Currin, plus Northern Irish based artists Jennifer Trouton, Ted Pim and Paola Bernardelli.

In this exhibition, A Reflective Journey From Earth to Universe, Corinne Corbett-Thompson explores the beauty, preciousness, and fragility of our planet.

In the Moment, is a new exhibition of Daisy Sims Hilditch’s paintings. The exhibition consists of over 70 paintings completed during 2023 and 2024.

Colour and Simplicity is an exhibition of works by Mary Fedden OBE RA .  The exhibition features over fifty paintings, drawings and collages spanning the artist’s long and illustrious career.  There is also a small group of works by husband and fellow artist, Julian Trevelyan.

The title of this exhibition ‘Deepest Dreams & Waking Moments’ alludes to the fleeting nature of Marzia Colonna’s subject matter and the distillation of her life experience. Based on chance encounter, her memory, and a period of contemplation, Colonna mentally sets the scene and begins to paint the papers that will build her vision. This conflict between the ephemerality of subject and the permanence of method is an engaging contradiction in Colonna’s collages.  Colonna also produces distinctive bronzes

This exhibition interrogates Friendship as a fundamental human relationship that is essential to individual well-being and society. Taking place in the partner cities of Birmingham and Lyon, Friends in Love and War – L’Éloge des meilleur·es ennemi·es also reflects on diplomatic friendships, and how regional capitals and cultural organisations can create new ways of living and working together in a post-Brexit climate. The exhibition spans painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, textile, film, sculpture and installation.  It combines existing and new works by international and Birmingham-based artists to form a rich depiction of our complex personal and political friendships.

Artists: Kenneth Armitage, Sonia Boyce, Tereza Bušková, Pogus Caesar, Patrick Caulfield, Jimmie Durham, Tracey Emin, Marie-Anita Gaube, Lola Gonzàlez, Emma Hart, Lubaina Himid, Géraldine Kosiak, Delaine Le Bas, Markéta Luskacová, Rachel Maclean, Goshka Macuga, Madame Yevonde, Gordon Matta-Clark, Hetain Patel, Paula Rego, Luke Routledge, Niek van de Steeg, Francis Upritchard, Fabien Verschaere, Gillian Wearing, Bedwyr Williams, Rose Wylie and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

‘A Portrait of Stockport’, is a retrospective exhibition of work by Helen Clapcott.  There are over 100 of Helen’s artworks on display including flagship pieces: The Power Station, The Last Carnival, Brinksway 1979, and Before The Motorway.

Helen has an impressive career spanning several decades and is renowned for her depictions of the post-industrial landscape of her hometown, Stockport. A result of meticulous sketches, her paintings record an evolution of a once great industrial town, with its mills and renowned viaduct into a modern town fit for the 21st century.

An exhibition of sculptures and drawings by Susie MacMurray, revealing the artist’s delight in working with curious materials in unusual combinations, and a shift in her focus from the thematic towards the haptic.