Past exhibitions at the Atkinson Gallery

MA & Other Postgraduates 2012
20 February - 31 March

Continuing to promote the next generation of artists in a visual celebration of contemporary art, the MA & Other Postgraduates exhibition features the works of exciting new talent from many of the major art colleges and universities throughout the UK.

MA & Other Postgraduates 2012 Press Release (pdf 368kb)

The Climate is Changing
31st October - 10th December 2011

Featuring 50 contemporary textile artworks from 12 countries, The Climate Is Changing explores the impact of human actions on the environment - one of the most pressing issues facing the world today.

Truly original and international in scope, the exhibitors' pieces were selected by jury, and represent participants from Europe, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, the USA and Romania.

Using felt as a representational or metaphorical medium, the installations and mixed media artworks confront key themes of responsibility, awareness, and destruction and regeneration, encapsulating the relationship between individuals and their personal interaction with the experience of their habitat.

‘Nostalgia, protest, awareness, concern for the present and the future of humanity, affirmation of anthropological values, ideas for new undertakings, are the themes these works interpret, through the infinite forms and colours that felt, more than many other materials, is able to communicate.'
Daniela Degl'Innocenti - Textile Historian, Museo del Tessuto, Prato

Modern yet profoundly traditional, felt is a natural medium deeply embedded in the textile history of all cultures, with ancient roots in the third Millennium BC. In The Climate Is Changing its tactile, sustainable qualities are innovatively combined with other recycled materials as well metals and plastic into an expressive medium. This juxtaposition of craft and skill with a physical, versatile representation of the handmade fibres that bind us together works on a personal and collective as well as local and international level, drawing the viewer along with the maker ‘in touch', and into the debate.

Graham Crowley
5 September - 19 October

Recent works by one of the UK's most distinguished contemporary artists. For over 35 years Graham Crowley has been unafraid to explore changing modes of practice, communicating his self-attested ‘stylistic infidelity'.

"Crowley has at last committed himself to what he always promised to be, a narrative painter with an eye for the vernacular." John Roberts

Millfield Summer Show 2011
11 July - 13 August

Our hugely popular open Summer Show - is now in its 22nd year!

To read the Summer Show 2011 Press Release follow the link

MA & other Post Graduates
21 February - 2 April 2011

For the fifteenth year this visual celebration of contemporary art will promote the next generation of artists.

Fresh, innovative work from the UK's top Art Universities will include painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and film.

To read the MA Show press release follow the link

Adam Birtwistle - A Retrospective View
1st November - 11th December 2010

As an artist who does not shy away from plunging the art world into unconventional territory, Birtwistle's work is widely collected and hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, London. This current exhibition showcases works from the past 20 years, including controversial reverse colour portraits of American black civil rights activists, Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X.

Marking Adam's 50th birthday last year, the Atkinson Gallery was also hugely thrilled to be able to unveil for the first time a stunning new triptych of the three South African Peace Prize Nobel Laureates: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk.

Other colourful subjects who have been unmasked by Birtwistle's finely tuned intuitive responses include Craigie Aitchison RA, Sir Patrick Moore FRS and David Hockney.

Atkinson Gallery Director, Jonathan Clements says: "The Atkinson Gallery is indeed very privileged to house such a striking, elegant and at the same time mischievous exhibition as the Adam Birtwistle retrospective. Moreover, to have the artist's company at the opening made for a truly wonderful evening. Our thanks to him, his family, and to Dr Robert Travers also."

A feature on the exhibition appeared in the Western Daily Press on Tuesday 2nd November, and a BBC Radio interview featured in their Breakfast and Morning shows on Friday 5th November, 95.5 FM or BBC iPlayer.

12 Printmakers
6th September - 20th October 2010

This Autumn, the Atkinson Gallery at Millfield School opened its doors to twelve accomplished printmakers originating from or working in the south west. Offering a unique opportunity to view and appreciate twelve individual viewpoints and working methods, the artists featured all work in the Fine art fields of painting and printmaking, while some have branched out into illustration, graphic design, animation and even VJ-ing. Four are key players in the Urban Art Scene and have taken their work to the streets, pushing it out to the general public in ways unimaginable ten years ago.

Glastonbury40
12th July - 14th August 2010

A photographic exhibition celebrating 40 years of the Glastonbury music festival.

To read more about the Glastonbury40 exhibition click here or visit www.glastonbury40.com

The MA & Other Contemporary Art Show 2010
22nd February-27th March 2010

The M.A. and other Postgraduate Contemporary Art Show returns to Millfield for a fourteenth year! Featuring the works of exciting new talent from many of the major art colleges and universities throughout the UK, this visual celebration of contemporary art aims to give exposure to and promote the next generation of artists.

Natural Selection
31st October - 12th December 2009

The new hybrid development of what may once have been called graffiti art, this is a more sophisticated, arguably Fine Art approach to urban issues and their expression. Many international artists reflect current trends around the world.

The Royal Photographic Society's 152nd International Print Exhibition
7th September - 17th October 2009

The Royal Photographic Society's International Print Exhibition is the longest standing exhibition of its kind in the world. During its 150 year history it has gained a reputation for showcasing a wide range of genres and styles of photography, with cutting edge prints being shown alongside traditional work. This has ensured its uniqueness within the photographic world.

Summer Show
6th July - 8th August 2009

This was the 21st year of our popular annual show which is open to contributions from all artists and makes for an exciting exhibition of paintings, sculpture, photography, printmaking, DVD and film. Traditional and abstract work was on display and available to purchase at affordable prices. A total of £1,500 in prize money was also awarded to the best entries.

The MA & Other Postgraduates Contemporary Art Show 2009
18th February - 29th March

For the fourth year running, the Atkinson Gallery has held the Contemporary Art Show, showcasing the next generation of artists. The show features work by MA and other Post Graduate art students and, this year, included some wildly exciting and thought provoking work, with notably more film entries than ever before.

Artists 303
8th December - 21st December

This biennial exhibition featured the work of around 40 distinguished painters, printmakers and sculptors who all live and work in the vicinity of the A303 - from South Somerset, Wiltshire and Devon. While they work in a variety of disciplines, they share a common commitment to learn and develop as artists and therefore indulge in a great deal of creative experimentation, both individually and in group workshops.

Members of Artists 303 include:

• Brian Dix
• Beryl Fraenkel
• Robert Maxwell Wood
• Myrtle Pizzey
• Jean Winter
• Brigid Moreton