What's On - Art & Exhibitions
September
This new solo exhibition from Gosforth-based artist Juddith Appleby explores the natural and imposed structures on the Northumberland coast through original acrylic paintings. Delving into abstracted geometries, the subjects of these colourful and dynamic compositions include well-known landmarks, reimagined in a uniquely vibrant style.
Share the experiences of women who worked in some of Newcastle's most iconic industrial environments at Cragside’s new exhibition, which explores and honours the remarkable skills that women have contributed to the world of engineering over the last 100 years. Using sound as well as sight, this immersive experience will look back on Lord Armstrong’s connections to the Elswick Works on the banks of the River Tyne – uncovering some of the stories of Cragside’s female engineers and innovators, who were connected with the factories during a time of major social shift.
Everyone’s favourite giant is coming to The Bowes Museum, in a magical exhibition of Quentin Blake’s illustrations of The BFG – the first major display of his artwork for Roald Dahl’s enduring tale. Quentin personally selected 40 pieces from his archive to illustrate his experience of working on the book, so expect snozzcumbers and whizzpoppers aplenty. You can also take a trip into the BFG’s whoopsy whiffling cave, chock-full of activities for little ones and giants alike. Delumptious.
John Kippin has been a central figure in the emergence of photography as an independent art form in the UK from the 1970s through to the present day. This new exhibition – Based On A True Story – surveys his 40 years of making art for the public; nine leading scholars have each selected some of Kippin’s work to provide new insights into his unique way of seeing the world through a lens.
Can you imagine looking into the face of someone who was alive in the 17th century? Human remains found in Durham (which are over 300 years old) have been identified and reconstructed in this exhibition at the Palace Green Library – bringing forgotten local figures back to life.
Chris Moore, the king of catwalk photography, has been taking images of fashion shows for six decades. This exclusive exhibition shows 200 of his most renowned images, alongside some of the garments featured – including some from Vivienne Westwood, Prada and Jean Paul Gaultier.
Visit the Bob Abley Art Gallery in Spennymoor Town Hall for a look at work created during the time of (and inspired by) the area’s mining history. There’ll be pieces from top local artists, and you can also visit the Mining Museum on site.
Commemorating the 75th anniversary of Ernest Bevin’s scheme to protect a dwindling coal supply during the Second World War, this exhibition displays art created by the ‘Bevin Boys’ – those men conscripted to work in the mines instead of joining the armed forces.
A picture may paint a thousand words, but that’s not enough for Geordie artist and writer Michael Dean – he wants to sculpt them, too. Here Michael transforms his own writing into sculptural installations that explore language, intimacy and the politics of being in the world.
Robots – Then and Now, developed by the Science Museum in London, tells the 500-year, work-in-progress story of building automated machines – from the humble beginnings of 16th century mechanical automatons to the latest humanoids, (and everything in between).
French painter, sculptor and designer Henri Matisse was one of the 20th century’s most influential artists, his vibrant works celebrated for their extraordinary richness and luminosity of colour, and his spectacular paper cut-outs were his final triumph. This exhibition, featuring 35 posthumous prints of the famous cut-outs that he produced in the last four years of his life, includes many of his iconic images – such as The Snail and the Blue Nudes.
West Yorkshire artist David Greenwood has always had great affection for York – something that is demonstrated in his latest exhibition at Kentmere House Gallery, as he portrays the city in vibrant pastels that illustrate his own uniquely lively style.
Working with Dr Abbie Garrington of Durham University, artists Stephen, Margaret and Kate Livingstone have recreated a series of heroic Himalayan mount climbs in miniature. Based on historical accounts of pioneering expeditions, this innovative and unusual exhibition will see vintage Action Men figures re-staging famous summit climbs by scaling the heights of prestigious mountaineering libraries.
Offering visitors an introduction to the photographic work of the German Democratic Republic (still little known in the UK) this exhibition features over 250 works by 10 of the most important GDR photographers – giving an incredible and unparalleled insight into the life of ‘The Silent Country’.
Collaborators Julia Heslop and Ed Wainwright have created this architectural intervention – comprising of an interconnected sequence of ‘grottoes’ assembled from found and given material, each of which will be dedicated to an artist who’s work, they believe, deserves to be reconsidered in relation to collage as an expanded, immersive or time-based practice. A structural twist on the classic art exhibition.
Forgive and forget – easy, right? Not for many of us. Carrie Fertig explores the complexities surrounding this theme in her latest exhibition through a kaleidoscope of installations – incorporating film, sound, performance and sculpture, often carved using flame-worked glass.
October
Produced as a major new commission that responds to BALTIC’s vast Level Four gallery, Heather Phillipson presents a series of videos, sounds and objects that operate as landmarks in a remixed geology; somewhere between agricultural vista and lunar wasteland, a spatio-temporal ‘field’ punctuated by farm equipment, holding pens and the noise of circling gulls.
Working with digital imaging software to create a vision of the near future, artist Kelly Richardson has created a series of works in which millions of glistening crystals encrust every inch of the planet’s surface – pushing the limit of what our eyes can register, our minds can conceive and the most high-tech of computers can calculate.
November
Marking the 70th anniversary of Gateshead Art Society’s first exhibition at the Shipley Art Gallery this year, the 2018 instalment promises to display artwork from every single member of the society across a variety of media – including pencil, charcoal, oil and acrylic – offering the ideal opportunity to find a truly unique present for your secret Santa.
More What's On
Social Channels