Grundy Art Gallery Winter Exhibition

Grundy is kicking off 2024 with five new displays, all of which have a local / regional focus; with three exhibitions additionally linked by ‘football’ as a shared theme.
 
Including over 250 artworks, these exhibitions, which include Grundy’s annual Open Exhibition, its annual Schools’ Exhibition, a Collection Spotlight display and an exhibition exploring Blackpool Borough’s former architect JC Robinson, will all take place between 20 January – 30 March.
 
Adding to this already packed programme, from 2 March – 30 March the Grundy will also be hosting a very special additional visitor for four weeks only. The 1953 painting ‘Going to the March’ by the world-famous artist LS Lowry’s is on tour from its home at The Lowry in Salford and Grundy is one of the venues selected to host it.
 
Cllr Lynn Williams, Leader of Blackpool Council and Chair of Grundy Art Gallery Steering Group said: “From world-famous artists, to young people representing their schools, and locally based artists from across Blackpool and the Fylde Coast – Grundy’s winter programme shines a light on the creative energy of Blackpool as a place where exciting art can not only be seen, but where exciting art is also being made.”

EXHIBITIONS

20 JANUARY – 30 MARCH
 

OPEN 2024

Grundy Art Gallery’s Open Exhibition is a favourite feature in Blackpool’s creative calendar. Anyone aged 16 years and over based in Blackpool and the Fylde coast area can submit their work for display. There is no selection process and no fee to enter. Regularly showing upwards of 100 artworks in a range of artistic mediums from painting to photography and from sculpture to sound, the Grundy’s annual Open Exhibition always provides an interesting and diverse dynamic display.
 

SQUAD GOALS SCHOOLS’ EXHIBITION and COLLECTION SPOTLIGHT

Every year the Grundy invites local schoolchildren from across Blackpool and the Fylde coast to make new artworks for display in the gallery. This year, children from Hawes Side Academy and Woodlands School in Blackpool have worked with the Grundy’s Learning and Engagement Officer to create their own interpretation of a football club shirt. Taking inspiration from football-themed artworks that they saw on their visit to the New Contemporaries exhibition at the Grundy in autumn 2023, children have used colour, symbols and patterns to express their individuality. From favourite people and pets to favourite foods and films, these energetic and joyful designs colourfully communicate things that matter to these young creatives.
 

COLLECTION SPOTLIGHT: Joe Fletcher Orr, The Game (Part II), 2015.

To accompany SQUAD GOALS, the Grundy is also showing the sculpture, The Game, (Part II), by Joe Fletcher Orr from the Grundy Art Gallery Collection. The artist made this work in 2015 for a group exhibition called Modern History. The artwork uses a shop bought football as a canvas, onto which the artist then invited all of his fellow exhibitors to place their signature. Joe Fletcher Orr is a regionally based artist with an international profile. He uses wit and humour to ask questions about what contemporary art is, and what it can be. 
 
COLLECTION SPOTLIGHT is an ongoing series of displays that highlight specific works from the Grundy’s collection or explore particular artforms and themes.
 

SHARING SPACE: ARCHITECT JC ROBINSON THROUGH A DIVERSE LENS

JC Robinson was Blackpool Borough’s architect in the 1920s – 1940s. From schools to swimming baths, markets, memorial halls and more, JC Robinson is responsible for the design of some of the town’s most iconic buildings. Using painting, photography, sculpture, moving image, oral history and archival materials, this exhibition sees contemporary Blackpool based practitioners, returning to the site of these buildings to reveal and reinterpret their stories.
 
Sharing Space includes work by The New Langdale Photographers and artists from the pARTnership. The New Langdale is a Blackpool Council day service for learning disabled people. The pARTnership offers bespoke creative and career development opportunities for contemporary visual artists with a learning disability. 
 
The project is led by Blackpool based photographer, Claire Walmsley Griffiths supported by photographers Elizabeth Gomm and Donna Hannigan and is funded by Arts Council England via their National Lottery project programme.
 

2 MARCH – 30 MARCH
LS LOWRY: GOING TO THE MATCH - ON TOUR

Don’t miss the opportunity to see a painting by one of the most famous artists of the 20th Century. Supported by a grant from Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grant programme, LS Lowry’s 1953 masterpiece Going to the Match has left its home at The Lowry, Salford and begun a year-long tour of five North West venues. Grundy is delighted to be one of the venues selected to host the painting before it journeys on to the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead, the National Football Museum, Manchester and finally Bury Art Museum.
 
LS Lowry, who died in 1976, spent much of his life in Salford and his work is strongly associated with the North West of England. Going to the Match is LS Lowry’s best-known and most-popular picture and is loved by visitors of all ages.
 
The Grundy’s winter programme will be supported by a free, family-friendly programme of activities. Please see Grundy’s website or contact 01253 478170 for further details.

Photo Credit: 

LS Lowry, Going to the Match, The Lowry. Photo by Nathan Chandler, The Lowry