Events in Bury - Exhibitions

Through the Eyes of A Child explores childhood toys and games and pastimes and
offers visitors a refreshingly different perspective on how to view art work and museum objects. The exhibition encourages young children to embrace their imagination and let loose their creative side... If you are looking for something different to do with your children over the winter months then you must see Through the Eyes of A Child.

The short reign of Edward VII and the years that followed it up until the outbreak of war in 1914, are known as the Edwardian period. It was a time of great social change stamped with its own particular character; simultaneously both decadent and optimistic, but full of hope as the new century began. Many people considered this period to be the Age of Optimism. So many things had been invented so quickly– ‘the electric Hoover, the safety razor, the teddy bear and the paper cup’ that it was thought that war would be averted due to the surplus of helpful inventions.

This exhibition features some of the objects invented during the Edwardian age, although some of them may not actually date fom the period 1901 - 1910.

The gallery containing the permanent collection will be closed for refurbishment from 19 January until 30 April. Some of Bury’s larger paintings have been brought together and the concepts behind them explored.

The paintings cover a wide spectrum of art, from everyday life to ancient mythology, from grim realities to elegant fantasies.

The annual exhibition of the Bury Photographic Society presents us with an opportunity to see a selection of work produced by the society during the previous year. Visitors, once again, have the opportunity to vote for their favourite photograph.

World famous is a series of photographs that takes a warm and humorous look at Bury’s ‘world famous’ market. Shot over 6 months by local photographer Helen Kirkbright, the series documents everyday life on the market. “The aim of the project was to capture the personality of the market - the quirks, the diversity, the hard-working staff and the loyal customers... all the aspects that make Bury Market the popular place that is”. The result is a collection of portraits and captured moments that range from the heart-warming to the absurd.

In May, the first ever Bury Art Week, organised to raise funds for the Bury Hospice, will take place across the borough. Part of this week- long celebration of the creative arts will take place in the Art Gallery. All work is for sale and all collectors are welcome.

Gill will speak on the evacuation from Guernsey to the North West during WW2, in particular the evacuation to Bury. Her talk is based on her research into the subject using documents held at Bury Archives and also first-hand accounts from recent interviews she has conducted with evacuees.

This is the third annual exhibition of work from learners attending Bury Adult Learning Service’s digital photography courses. The learners have gained valuable experience of using their own digital cameras and also a range of composition techniques. The work shown is of a wide range of topics historical, landscape, portraits and more.

The starting point for German artist Werner Fohrer’s paintings is the visible reality of the natural world. Recently his landscapes show his immediate surroundings: forests in a hilly country with its typical trees and streams, shown in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

In contrast to landscapes painted two hundred years ago as part of traditional German Romanticism, Fohrer’s pictures are not combined sections of different scenery and don’t have any religious meanings as in, for example, in the work of Caspar David Friedrich (1774 - 1840). Fohrer’s subject is a new interpretation of landscape, which could be named New German Romanticism. He examines the point at which nature disguises and obliterates the evidence of man’s use, or misuse, of the landscape. Man’s interventions are shown being overwhelmed by the unstoppable fecundity of the natural world.

Fohrer’s work suggests that there may be a point at which all evidence of man’s existence may be no longer discernible. This process re-defines ‘Romanticism’ in a modern way.

Like many town centres, hubs of shopping, tourism and work going on, Bury goes through the annual ritual of Britain in Bloom. Each spring and summer municipal Parks Departments bedeck public spaces with blooming displays. Working with assumptions of floral ornament rooted firmly in bygone times, in myths of order applied to nature, these displays fix public aesthetics into values that are increasingly open to question in the context of climate change.

Bloom, the latest exhibition in Bury Art Gallery will show how nature has been manipulated. Featuring works from oil on panel to neon, from video to bonsai, artists will investigate what it means to apply order over nature.