It’s been a difficult year and local creatives from across the North Wessex Downs are delighted to be able to welcome visitors back to their studios next month. With 48 studios to visit and 72 artists to choose from, it will be an amazing month celebrating local art and design. There’s something for everyone, from…… Continue reading Marlborough Open Studios
An episode of the Memories of Kington Langley podcast is exploring the lives of two of Wiltshire’s most beloved artists, Robin and Heather Tanner. The couple lived in the village Kington Langley near Chippenham for close to sixty years, Robin painting and etching, Heather writing. Their partnership produced four illustrated books including the classic Wiltshire Village.…… Continue reading The Tanners and their Work
When we think about local history, it is perhaps easiest to think about the use of the land; those who made it their own and the changes that use brought. The landscape is constantly changing, season to season; changes in industry, working practices, settlement use and advances in technology from cement to the combine harvester…… Continue reading Public Art in the Landscape
Back in 2014 we were fortunate in securing a National Heritage Lottery Fund award as part of their Collecting Cultures project. This gave us funding to connect and support museum collections throughout the county of Wiltshire in a variety of ways. We could add to collections, perhaps filling gaps where creativity was unrepresented, provide…… Continue reading The Creative Wiltshire Journey
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,…… Continue reading Ken White: Railways and Landscapes
Museum and archive collections are, in their very nature, eclectic. They often have roots in one person’s fascination with the past and they develop and grow much like a tree putting out roots. They are often dependent on donations, and collecting policies within museums are developed to provide some structure to this form of collecting,…… Continue reading Celebrating Creative Wiltshire
The last five months, since I started as Creative Wiltshire Exhibition Assistant Trainee, have been a whirlwind of new experiences. The most important thing I have learnt is the reality of what goes into making an exhibition. A lot of the organisation was previously unknown to me, such as how to loan pieces from…… Continue reading Learning on the Job
As part of our HLF Creative Wiltshire project we have provided training and opportunity for people who are interested in working in Heritage Services. This has involved training days for museum staff and volunteers and has also included a one day a week role as a Creative Wiltshire Exhibition Assistant (trainee) for a ten month period. The…… Continue reading Behind the scenes at the museum
Walter Claude Flight (1881-1955) was born in London, a cousin of Rudyard Kipling, and his early life included stints as an engineer, librarian, farmer and beekeeper. In this period he used to describe modern early 20th century life as a call to action. Even in 1925 he wrote “Time seems to pass so quickly nowadays. Everybody…… Continue reading Claude Flight and the craft of lino-cutting
A wonderful opportunity has presented itself whereby through acquisition and the building of a unique collection we can appreciate the influence and inspiration the county has instilled in creative people across the centuries. This has been made possible as part of the HLF “Collecting Cultures” Creative Wiltshire & Swindon project. Creative Wiltshire aims to…… Continue reading ARTeology – ART inspired through ART re-discovered
Creative Wiltshire 