Friday 29 March 2024
Burton Art Gallery launches Bideford Photomonth 3rd May – 2nd June
Thursday 29 February 2024
March Highlights. The Burton celebrates local talent of all ages in their latest exhibitions
The Annual Schools Exhibition plays a crucial role in shaping the future of culture by nurturing and encouraging the young artists of tomorrow. This year the show has filled gallery one with vibrancy, colour and creativity; celebrating the talents of our next generation of artists while also celebrating our inspiring teachers in the schools of Torridge and beyond.
Featuring hundreds of work by young people aged 5 to 18 years who attend local primary and secondary schools, the exhibition is a firm favourite that never fails to delight and impress. It’s an opportunity for aspiring artists to showcase their talents as well as receive recognition and support, and gain valuable experience in the arts. With generous sponsorship from The North Devon Arts Society, the exhibition encourages young artists to strive for excellence with the opportunity to win prizes for the most innovative and original artwork.
Gallery two showcases The Friends Annual Open exhibition. A calendar favourite the show is organised as a fundraising event by the Friends of the Burton, offering an opportunity for local artists, both amateur and professional, to exhibit alongside each other. Featuring an eclectic mix of print, paintings, textiles, ceramics and more.
The work of the Burton at Bideford is supported by the dedication, hard work and enthusiasm of the Friends of the Burton Art Gallery. The Friends are a separate charity that support and enhance the Burton’s work. The Friends of the Burton get involved in fundraising, sponsorship of events and acquisitions, and promotion of The Burton throughout the region.
The Burton at Bideford is lucky enough to work with a number of key partner organisations, generous artists and local business people who help provide support for us to achieve our daily work and future ambitions. As a registered charity, The Burton rely on the kindness of others to help us continue to provide excellent exhibitions, events and facilities. Donations enable us to grow our exhibition and learning programmes, build our collections and develop the technology offered at the Burton.
Tel: 01237 471455 www.theburton.org
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Mon-Sat 10am-4pm | Sun 11am-4pm Admission is free
Friday 15 December 2023
New Exhibition at the Burton Art Gallery. 'Water Vessels – Sampling the Torridge' Ceramics by Rupert Johnstone
A new exhibition of contemporary ceramics by South West based artist Rupert Johnstone opens at the Burton on 16 December.
In 2022,
Rupert Johnstone was commissioned by the Burton at Bideford Art Gallery and
Museum to respond to the environment and climate change through the medium of
ceramics. The result is a fascinating and visually striking exhibition of clay
pots with significant local relevance.
The exhibition
is the culmination of a year-long project which saw the artist walk the length
of the River Torridge collecting water and clay from which to make a series of
ceramic vessels and glazes. What emerges is a document of his journey along the
banks of the river and a poignant commentary on the environment, geology and
ecology of the River Torridge from its source in North West Devon to the
estuarine mouth in Bideford.
Based just
outside Exeter, Rupert Johnstone is an artist, maker and teacher who works
principally in clay and exhibits his work widely in craft galleries both within
the UK and abroad. This is the artist’s second collaboration with the Burton at
Bideford.
The exhibition is open daily from 16 December and runs until February 2024. Entrance is free
Friday 3 November 2023
ARTIST ROOMS Louise Bourgeois opens at the Burton at Bideford Art Gallery and Museum this November
ARTIST ROOMS Louise Bourgeois opens at the Burton at Bideford Art Gallery and Museum on Friday 17 November, 6-8pm, and runs until 11 February 2024. Admission is free.
Born in Paris in 1911, Bourgeois settled in New York in 1938, where she remained for the rest of her life, continuing to make art until her death at the age of 98. Her endlessly inventive work, inspired by her memories and experiences, spanned monumental installations, figurative sculptures, fabric collages, and drawings. She is perhaps best known for the large-scale spider sculptures that she produced in the last decades of her life, including one she created for the opening of Tate Modern in 2000.
Bourgeois’s art was closely bound up with her life, and she used artmaking as a way to make sense of her experiences. Her sculpture, drawing, and writing are characterised by emotional honesty, and she reworked her ideas in different forms and materials including marble, bronze, latex, and fabric, compelled by the need to make and re-make.
This exhibition focuses on works produced during the last 20 years of her life, a period of extraordinary creativity, during which Bourgeois re-examined many of her lifelong concerns to create a body of powerful new work exploring identity, gender, childhood, family and motherhood. Personal, provocative and raw, Bourgeois’s work reaches us with a powerful immediacy more than a decade after her death.
ARTIST ROOMS presents the work of international artists in solo exhibitions drawn from a national touring collection jointly owned by Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland. This exhibition is drawn from the ARTIST ROOMS collection and includes works on loan from The Easton Foundation and Tate. This is the Burton at Bideford’s third collaboration with Tate and National Galleries of Scotland through the ARTIST ROOMS programme, and follows presentations of internationally renowned artists Richard Long (2014) and Diane Arbus (2018).
Warren Collum, Interim Co-Director of the Burton, said:
“Working in partnership with Tate and National Galleries of Scotland through the ARTIST ROOMS programme for the third time to present one of the twentieth century's most influential female sculptors, Louise Bourgeois, is a unique opportunity.
This show not only celebrates art but also emphasises the need to bring culture to rural areas, as well as putting a light on the strength and ingenuity of women in the creative world.”
The ARTIST ROOMS programme provides support for young people to get involved in creative projects, discover more about art and artists, and learn new skills. A Burton Youth Collective will be supported through ARTIST ROOMS by Art Fund and Henry Moore Foundation, providing local teenagers with the opportunity to explore a career in the arts, experience life behind the scenes of an arts organisation, and work alongside practising artists. Sessions are open to young people aged 13-19 years. Places are limited and anyone interested is advised to contact the gallery to check availability and register their interest.
ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Lent by Artist Rooms Foundation 2013
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2023. Photo © Tate
ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Lent by Artist Rooms Foundation 2013
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2023. Photo © Tate
Thursday 26 October 2023
Contemporary Artist, Louise Bourgeois coming to the Burton at Bideford in November
French-American artist Louise Bourgeois is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential figures of modern and contemporary art, with a career spanning eight decades from the 1930s to 2010.
ARTIST ROOMS Louise Bourgeois brings together works which she made during the last twenty years of her life, a period of extraordinary creativity.
Bourgeois’s art was often autobiographical, exploring themes such as childhood, family, motherhood, identity and gender. She reworked her ideas in different forms and materials, creating large-scale sculpture and installation, painting, printmaking, drawing and textiles. Both biographical and universal, Bourgeois’s work reaches us with a powerful immediacy more than a decade after her death.
This is the Burton at Bideford’s third collaboration with Tate and National Galleries of Scotland through the ARTIST ROOMS programme, and follows presentations of internationally renowned artists Richard Long (2014) and Diane Arbus (2018)
Exhibition launch: Friday 17 November, 6-8pm
Join Burton at Bideford and special guests from Tate to celebrate the exhibition opening
The Burton Art Gallery & Museum, Kingsley Road, Bideford, Devon, EX39 2QQ
Current & upcoming exhibitions >
Wednesday 13 September 2023
Exhibition of contemporary ceramics by British artist shortlisted for top award comes to the Burton this September
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TAP HERE visit their website to keep up to date with the latest special events and workshop activities
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The Burton at Bideford, Kingsley Road, Bideford, Devon EX39 2QQ
The Burton at Bideford has been a registered charity since 2016
Tuesday 8 August 2023
Internationally acclaimed artist, Ian Davenport, comes to the Burton.
Ian Davenport studied at Goldsmiths College, where he graduated in 1988 as one of the generation of Young British Artists who participated in the seminal exhibition, Freeze, organized by Damien Hirst.
In bringing together works from throughout Davenport’s career, the exhibition will provide a rare opportunity to clearly see the evolution the artist’s work from his early days as a student at Goldsmiths to the present day. Many of the works have never been displayed together before, making this exhibition a must-see for all art enthusiasts.
Ian Davenport is well known for his abstract paintings, which explore the materiality and process of applying paint. In recent years, his work has consisted of carefully poured lines of acrylic paint down a surface, which puddle and pool at the bottom. This technique allows him to explore complex arrangements of line and colour. Over the past ten years, he has also turned his attention to screen-printing and etching, building an impressive body of graphic work.
In 1991, he was nominated for the Turner Prize and remains the youngest ever nominee for the prestigious art prize. He has exhibited extensively all over the world and his work is held in important museum collections including: Arts Council of Great Britain; Tate in London; Centre Pompidou in Paris; and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
A new fully illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition. Designed by Herman Lelie and Stefania Bonelli, it is the first of Davenport’s exhibition catalogues to be narrated by the artist himself.
The exhibition has been produced in collaboration with the Cristea Roberts Gallery in London, the exclusive worldwide representative for Ian Davenport’s original prints.
Olivia Desborough from the Burton says,
The exhibition will allow visitors a rare insight into the evolution of an artistic practice and into the workings of a creative mind. Furthermore, the exhibition catalogue will bring a fresh new perspective with words from the artist himself.
With an immediate appeal to visitors of all ages, we hope everyone will come along and enjoy what promises to be a remarkable exhibition.
As ever, we remain grateful to Torridge District Council and the Arts Council of England whose generous funding makes what we do possible.
Saturday 16th September, 6-8pm
All welcome | FREE entry
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Ian Davenport: 'Works on Paper' opens Saturday 16 September
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The gallery, museum and shop are open daily. Admission is free.
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TAP HERE visit their website to keep up to date with the latest special events and workshop activities
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The Burton at Bideford, Kingsley Road, Bideford, Devon EX39 2QQ
The Burton at Bideford has been a registered charity since 2016
Wednesday 19 July 2023
The art of bringing stories to life with the Burton at Bideford
'Revealing the Human Form' is a new exhibition showcasing the work of renowned British sculptors including Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Jacob Epstein and Antony Gormley. 15th July-5th September
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The Burton at Bideford Art Gallery and Museum are open daily. Admission is free.
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TAP HERE to visit their website to keep up to date with the latest special events and workshop activities
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The Burton at Bideford, Kingsley Road, Bideford, Devon EX39 2QQ
Wednesday 7 June 2023
Retelling Her-story: a new ceramics exhibition at the Burton
A fascinating and thought-provoking exhibition of work by Jam Westwood, a ceramicist and conceptual artist from the North East of England, opens at the Burton on Saturday 17 June.
Jam Westwood was recently interviewed by Grayson Perry on Channel 4 as part of the third season of Grayson's Art Club.
Don’t Look At My Jugs… And Other Stories is an exhibition of re-imagined historical artefacts that explores the reality of the everyday experience of women in society today. It’s an exhibition that throws light onto the physical, social, professional and domestic injustices encountered on a daily basis. It also asks us to question whether society is as progressive as we might think.
Dealing with often heavy and challenging subject matters, Jam Westwood’s work is actually full of lightness, humour and playfulness to delight audiences. There’s an ultimate message of hope too.
Featuring a collection of carefully crafted vessels, vases, bowls and coins, these are pieces that wouldn’t initially look out of place in a traditional museum cabinet. Yet a closer inspection tells a very different story.
We see works that celebrate the menstrual cycle and the various different experiences of the menopause. There are also works that reclaim the derogatory terms that have been used to insult women throughout history alongside works that challenge gender stereotypes and toxic masculinity.
Many of the finished works have been deliberately broken or chipped. This gives them the gravitas of age while also alluding to the repeated injury and damage done to women throughout history. It also speaks of the artist’s desire to break taboos and disrupt the dominant narrative in which the female voice can be hard to hear.
Don’t Look At My Jugs… And Other Stories is an arresting exhibition that asks us to look at how we live. What is the history we are writing? What is the history we want to be a part of?
There is opportunity to meet the artist in person at the gallery on Saturday 17 June, 2pm.
The gallery, museum and shop are open daily. Admission is free.
Tell Me Again© Jam Westwood
Menses (The Period God) © Jam Westwood
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(e) info@theburton.org (t) 01237 471455 (w) www.burtonartgallery.co.uk
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ABOUT THE BURTON AT BIDEFORD
Thursday 1 June 2023
The Burton at Bideford seeks new Trustees to help grow the arts and culture in North Devon
With North Devon highlighted as a priority area by the government for arts funding, there’s no better time to get involved.
The role of Trustee is very rewarding, providing an opportunity to give something back to your local community and the arts in the South West. We are happy to receive applications from experienced Trustees or those who are new to the role of Trustee.
The Burton would particularly like to receive applications from potential Trustees with an interest in and experience of the arts, and with a fundraising, finance, legal or education background. However, applications are welcome from anyone who feels that they have skills and experience to offer the Burton.
The Burton also welcome applications from people who are currently underrepresented in the UK arts sector. This includes those who identify as D/deaf, disabled, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent; those from lower socio-economic backgrounds or living or working in areas of socio-economic deprivation; as well as people from diverse ethnic backgrounds and marginalised groups.
As well as being a registered charity, the Burton also became an Arts Council Funded National Portfolio Organisation in 2018 and has recently had confirmation of another three years of funding for 2023-2026. We pride ourselves on offering an exciting programme of exhibitions as well as a wide range of other activities including developing educational work, outreach activities, workshops, supporting local artists, volunteers and making the Burton a wonderful place to visit for the whole community as well as visitors to the area.
We are looking for three new Trustees to join our Board.
www.burtonartgallery.co.uk/vacancies
Queries about the role should be directed to chair@theburton.org
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The Burton at Bideford, Kingsley Road, Bideford, Devon EX39 2QQ