Creative Wiltshire made a decision early in the project to add Ken White material to the collection at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery and we were lucky enough to visit Ken in his studio with Sophie Cummings, Curator at SMAG.

Under Sophie’s excellent guidance some pieces were chosen; two oil paintings, prints and linocuts, postcards, graphic designs and ephemera material; all is held either at SMAG or the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham.

In fact, it started us thinking about the importance of the archive of an artist and the process that a creator goes through before producing a finished piece ready for sale or exhibition and it changed our approach to acquiring material. It is due to Ken White that we decided to pursue this and we have since acquired other selections of material based on this concept, including work by the Ellis family, Clifford, Rosemary and Penelope, Roger Leigh, David Rolt and Ann Swan. The Creative Wiltshire project, part of the Heritage Lottery Fund Collecting Cultures programme, has rightly challenged the idea of collecting, expanding the scope of what we choose and widening the creative collections within our county archives and museums. We are sure that this will continue and would encourage other Wiltshire Creators to consider making deposits, in order to expand our creative collections and maintain this momentum.

Images from Ken’s scrapbook: linocut of ‘men and houses’ & images of murals

We are delighted to see Ken’s exhibition up and running at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery and would like to say ‘thank you Ken’ for inspiring us; your wide variety of work, your kindness, your humour and enthusiasm were very much appreciated and we are sure the exhibition will be a great success!

 

Date: 17th September 2019 – 30th November 2019

Open: Every day

Time: 11:00 – 16:30

Cost: Free

Location: Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, Bath Road
Swindon
SN1 4BA

Associated Events: