St Barbe Museum & Art Gallery

Click here for our What's On July-September 2020

• Bringing St Barbe to the High Street…

  St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery are uniting with shops in the High Street to reveal what the buildings used to look like. We are delighted with the response from the shop managers, every single shop we approached have said yes to having a poster in their window, helping to create a trail to discover what the shops used to sell and how different they look in 2020 from the wonderful old photos in the St Barbe collection.

  Younger Children can collect a free explorer’s sheet from St Barbe (or download here) – find all the bugs in the shop windows, which one is missing? Then tell our Volunteer on the Welcome Desk and collect a free badge!

  Want to know more? Visit St Barbe Museum to find out more about the fascinating history of Lymington, and the surrounding area.

  Image example is Osbornes Menswear 26 High Street

  History on the High Street takes place as part of Heritage Open Days 11-20 September 2020.

• This autumn sees the opening of a unique exhibition celebrating seasonal change as portrayed by British artists over the last 100 years. The seasonal cycle has long been a source of inspiration for artists, writers and musicians but in recent times our mainly urban and digitally-focused society has become increasingly remote from the natural rhythms of the year. At a time when nature is threatened by climate change, pollution, development and declining fertility this exhibition serves as a timely reminder of the joys and critical importance of nature’s cycle. It will also resonate with those for whom lockdown provided an unexpected opportunity to connect once again with the onset of spring.

  Drawn from private and public collections including Tate, British Council and the UK Government Art Collection the exhibition explores changes in the landscape, plants that leaf, flower and fruit at particular times, wildlife that is prominent in different seasons, customs and folklore, the farming calendar, weather and gardens. It also touches on the way changes in farming practices, urban development and climate change are affecting how we experience seasonality today.

  Artists featured include John Nash, Eric Ravilious, Clare Leighton, Gertrude Hermes, Graham Sutherland, Alan Reynolds, Laura Knight, Duncan Grant, Charles Tunnicliffe, John Minton, Kurt Jackson, Keith Grant, Carry Akroyd, Annie Ovenden and James Lynch. 

  Image: James Lynch, Ted’s Greenhouse - Summer (detail)  / banner Howard Phipps - Winkelbury Hillford (detail)

  Here are the captions - in seasons - from the exhibition:

  Winter

  Spring

  Summer

  Autumn

• As part of St Barbe Museum and Art Galley’s exhibition The Seasons, Hampshire Poet 2020, Kathryn Bevis, will be leading an autumnal poetry-writing workshop in response to images and poems in the exhibition itself.

  Whether you’re an experienced poet or a complete beginner keen to explore the wonderful practice of writing poems in response to other artworks, you’ll find the prompts and sensory stimulus to gather the raw material for your poem, as well as tuition and guidance in how to craft an original poem of your own.  Come prepared to play!

  In the comfort of your own home via Zoom

  £20 contact St Barbe to book your place rosalyn.goulding@stbarbe-museum.org.uk

   

• To celebrate our wonderful Seasons exhibition we have designed some fun season related family crafts. However, this October half term’s family activities are going to be a little different than normal…

  Due to the current restrictions we can’t invite families to come and do crafts here with us, so instead we are asking them to join in with us in their own homes via Zoom!

  You need to collect a FREE craft pack from St Barbe Museum beforehand and then join us on Zoom in the school holidays for a ‘craft along’

  Either on Wednesday 28 October 10-10.40am or Thursday 29 October 2-2.40pm.

  To do this they need to email learning@stbarbe-museum.org.uk to book a pack and receive a Zoom link.

  The packs also includes instructions just in case they can’t access the Zoom sessions, and there will be a ‘how to’ video posted to our website after the event.

• On 9th November 2020, St Barbe is launching a seven day online auction, re-stART, selling 40 pieces of art generously donated by artists of national standing.  These includes pieces from John Illsley - from Dire Straits, Chris Whitaker, Pete Gilbert, Robert King, Will Rochfort and many more local and national artists.

  Like all cultural institutions, St Barbe Museum + Art Gallery in Lymington has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.  We need financial help to keep this treasured institution running and to maintain the heritage collection of the New Forest coast.  Our nationally recognised art gallery exhibits works by local, national and internationally renowned artists in shows curated to reflect the Forest and the Coast that we enjoy.

  Using the DONATE platform, buyers can bid for these pieces and proceeds will go to support our Community and Schools programmes.  St Barbe works with children, families, the elderly and minority groups to provide education, social engagement and just fun! We provide Children’s Craft Activities in school holidays, Knit and Natter groups and social history conversations.

  Museum Director, Maria Ragan, said: “We have been fortunate to receive emergency support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund that has kept us afloat in the short term but this auction is an important contribution to assure the future of this much loved and appreciated part of our local culture.”

  Bids can be placed FROM 9th to 15th November via www.nationalfundingscheme.org  Bidders will be kept updated by text and email (the auction works like eBay) and for those who do not have a computer, an iPad and help will available at the Museum.

• Celebrating the art of wood engraving over the last 100 years this special exhibition marking the founding centenary of the Society of Wood Engravers ‘Scene Through Wood’ charts the history and global spread of this widely loved art form.

  Including early engravers such as Albrecht Dürer, Thomas Bewick and William Blake the exhibition will begin by charting the history and development of wood engraving.

  The show’s focus will be diverse engravings by notable 20th-century artists such as John and Paul Nash, Eric Gill, Eric Ravilious and Lucien Pissarro. Mid-century greats will be prominent including, Henry Moore, M.C. Escher and Gertrude Hermes.

  More recent outstanding figures such as Monica Poole, Edwina Ellis, Simon Brett and Anne Desmet will also be represented, along with selected engravings from international artists across the globe including Russia, China and Japan.

  ‘Scene Through Wood’ will demonstrate the medium’s many and varied uses in commercial applications. From book illustration, such as those for JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series, to advertising and labelling, through to large scale public art projects the exhibition will demonstrate how wood engraving, whilst inherently a medium that rejoices in the miniature, can be scaled up impressively to mural size.

  IMAGE: Monica Mary Poole - Dead Trees Sheppey