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Grundy Art Gallery

Grundy Art Gallery

New Winter Exhibitions at Grundy Art Gallery

The Grundy Art Gallery in Blackpool shows a year round programme of contemporary and visual art exhibitions and events. Including solo and group displays together with talks, events and educational activities. The new 2024 Winter Exhibitions are now on display, with a shared theme of ‘football’.

Opening Times

  • Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4.45pm.
  • Please note: last entry to the gallery is 4.20pm.
  • Closed Sunday, Monday and Bank Holidays
  • Admission is Free
  • More about facilities here

Winter Exhibitions 20 JANUARY – 30 MARCH

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 Match’ 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.

OPEN 2024

Exhibition Opens: Saturday 20 January 2024, 11am – 4pm

Grundy Art Gallery’s Open Exhibition is a favourite feature in Blackpool’s creative calendar – an annual celebration of local, modern day creativity. 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. Artworks are all created within the last 12 months and not shown at Grundy Art Gallery before.

The annual Open Exhibition showcases the wide range of artwork being produced today throughout Blackpool and the Fylde Coast. Grundy Art Gallery’s founding principles are to show the ‘art of the day’, echoing Blackpool’s motto of ‘progress’. Including a wide range of media, from painting, drawing to photography and sculpture, it’s an exciting and diverse viewing experience.

Open 2019 at Grundy Art Gallery

SCHOOLS’ EXHIBITION – SQUAD GOALS 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.

Joe Fletcher Orr, The Game (Part II), 2015. Photo by Jonathan Lynch, Grundy Art Gallery Collection, Blackpool Council
Joe Fletcher Orr, The Game (Part II), 2015. Photo by Jonathan Lynch, Grundy Art Gallery Collection, Blackpool Council

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.

Lowry comes to the Grundy

Blackpool’s Grundy Art Gallery has been chosen as one of the host venues for one of Britain’s most celebrated paintings. Between 2 and 30 March 2024, the Grundy will welcome the very special additional visitor for four weeks only. The 1953 painting ‘Going To The Match’ by the world-famous artist LS Lowry is going on a year-long tour from its home at The Lowry in Salford with the Grundy one of a small number of chosen venues.

Going to the Match by LS Lowry, visiting the Grundy Art Gallery Blackpool in March 2024

The 1953 painting shows fans arriving for a Bolton Wanderers game at their former home, Burnden Park. The painting’s iconic status has been recognised and enjoyed by visitors of all ages: those who love art, those who love football and anyone familiar with the excitement of a match day. Each tour venue will work with their own audiences, local schools and communities as well as their own local football clubs to develop a programme of events that will reach and engage as many people as possible. After exhibiting at the Grundy it journeys on to the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead, the National Football Museum, Manchester and finally Bury Art Museum.

Loved by all ages

LS Lowry died in 1976 and spent much of his life in Salford. 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 tour of Going To The Match has been supported by a grant from Arts Council England through its National Lottery Project Grants programme. The 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 Council’s former architect JC Robinson, will all take place between January 20 to March 30. The Grundy’s winter programme is supported by a free, family-friendly programme of activities.

Take part in the largest ever exhibition of the nation’s hobbies

Members of the public are invited to take part in The Hobby Cave, the largest ever exhibition of the UK’s hobbies. From makers and modifiers to crafters and collectors, Grundy Art Gallery, alongside award-winning artist and Spider-Man enthusiast Hetain Patel and Artangel, is inviting audiences to share details of their hobbies. It’s to inform a nationwide project that will take place in 12 locations across the UK from Summer 2024, including at the Grundy.

Thousands of unique hand-crafted objects loaned by hundreds of people will go on display. Contributions are invited from hobbyists such as costume and cosplay makers, crocheters and knitters, wood carvers and model makers. Ceramicists, robotics engineers, origami specialists, augmented car enthusiasts and many more.

Celebrating our hobbies

The Hobby Cave has been commissioned by arts organisation Artangel. It will celebrate the millions of people across the UK who dedicate their spare time to activities they are passionate about. It will explore how individuals express their identity, character and creativity through their favourite pastimes. The inaugural exhibition will open in London in July 2024, followed by curated presentations at partner venues across the UK throughout 2025.

At the heart of the project is a new film by Patel, which explores the outstanding creativity and passion that people put into their hobbies. The film adopts the artist’s trademark style of combining high-end cinematic production with scenes from the everyday. It will showcase ephemeral pastimes and handcrafted objects in a visual language usually reserved for Hollywood films and luxury advertising.

National partners include, Factory International, Manchester; Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea; Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool; Museum of Making, Derby Museums Trust; National Festival of Making with Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery; Wolverhampton Art Gallery; Barnsley Civic; Inverness Museum and Art Gallery; Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland; CCA Derry~Londonderry; Hospitalfield, Arbroath and Tate St Ives.

You can submit details about their hobbies via www.thehobbycave.org.uk

FORECOURT COMMISSION: FIONA GRADY: ILLUMINATED FROM WITHIN

Extended until further notice

Born into a family of mathematicians Grady always employs a systematic approach to intervene within a space. Through her use of light, colour, shape, surface and scale, her colourful geometric artworks transform their setting and provide a unique response to the specifics of the place in which they are located.

With the lighter, brighter and longer days of spring upon us, Grundy has extended the display of Fiona Grady’s Illuminated from Within until further notice. Through her use of light, colour, surface and scale, the artist’s colourful geometric artwork transforms the setting of Grundy’s forecourt. Activated by changes in the direction and intensity of daylight Illuminated from Within quietly marks the passing of time whilst also providing a dynamic contribution to Grundy’s 2023 spring programme.

Grundy Art Gallery’s work recognised by increased funding

In November 2022, Grundy Art Gallery announced that it’s to remain part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio programme 2023-2026 – to the value of £249,000 over the three years.

This funding will support the development and delivery of an exciting year-round programme of relevant, meaningful and high quality contemporary art exhibitions and events, taking place on and off-site.

Image credits, left to right:

  • Chila Kumari Singh Burman, Blackpool Light of My Life (2021), Grundy Art Gallery Co-commission with Blackpool Illuminations and Lightpool Festival Photo: Jonathan Lynch, © the artist, Courtesy Grundy Art Gallery
  • The pARTnership exhibition banner at Grundy Art Gallery, 2022. Photo Matt Wilkinson. Courtesy Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool Council
  • Chloe MacFarlane, copyright the artist, Private Collection, Photo Matt Wilkson. Courtesy Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool Council

Grundy will continue its founding mission to show the best art of the day to the people of Blackpool and beyond. The programme will enable the gallery to enact its vision to be a beacon for contemporary art in the North West.

Grundy Art Gallery is also delighted to receive an uplift on previous years’ NPO funding, specifically to support the development and delivery of the pARTnership.

It’s delivered via a collaboration between Grundy Art Gallery, The New Langdale (Blackpool Council’s daytime service for people with a Learning Disability), Venture Arts in Manchester and Fylde-Coast based artist Tina Dempsey. This project provides bespoke professional development to artists with a Learning Disability to enable them to develop their own individual creativity. The project also presents this work in professional contemporary art settings. Recent exhibitions of this work have taken place at Grundy Art Gallery and Abingdon Studios in Blackpool. And at The Horsfall and The Manchester Contemporary in Manchester.

Grundy newsletter

To keep up to date and find out more about the Grundy’s exhibitions and events sign up to the Grundy newsletter via the Grundy website www.thegrundy.org. Also keep an eye on the website and watch out for posts via Grundy’s social media channels.

Grundy Art Gallery unveiled an exciting calendar of events to commemorate its 110th anniversary in 2021. 

The gallery and its collection established in 1911. It came via a financial gift and donation of over 30 paintings by local brothers John and Cuthbert Grundy. 2021 therefore marks the 110th Anniversary of the gallery opening its doors to the people of Blackpool and beyond.

The Blackpool coat of arms – emblazoned with ‘Progress’ – is embedded in brickwork above the front door. Guided by this motto, the gallery continues to honour its founding ethos. It shows a year-round programme of high quality contemporary art exhibitions and events. Despite the ongoing challenges of COVID-19, 2021 was no exception.  

110th Anniversary Logo 

Grundy Art Gallery’s 110th anniversary logo was inspired by an ink stamp, historically used to identify items brought into Grundy’s permanent collection. It also echoes the design of Blackpool’s world famous sticks of rock.

Paulette Terry Brien became the gallery’s curator in November 2017.

Paulette Terry Brien, Grundy Art Gallery Curator

Paulette has more than 25 years of experience working within contemporary visual art. She’s well known for raising the profile of the North West region, on a national and international level.

Paulette is co-founder and co-director of The International 3, a contemporary art gallery based in Salford. There, she delivered a year round programme of exhibitions and events. Plus being instrumental in developing projects such as Manchester’s annual contemporary art fair, The Manchester Contemporary.

Paulette comes to the Grundy with a strong track record of identifying and nurturing emerging talent, commissioning and curating high quality contemporary art exhibitions for both gallery and non-gallery settings. Over the years, her wealth of experience has supported hundreds of emerging artists. Many of whom have gone on to achieve regional, national and international recognition.

As well as providing peer support, Paulette has also been successful on many occasions in brokering the acquisition of work by regional artists into major public and private collections, such as the Arts Council Collection and Whitworth Art Gallery’s collection.

Paulette is thrilled to be the new curator of the Grundy. She’s keen to continue to champion regional artists from the North West.

Grundy Art Gallery is Blackpool’s art gallery. It offers a year round programme of contemporary and visual art exhibitions and events. There are solo and group exhibitions together with talks, workshops and educational activities.

Brothers John and Cuthbert Grundy founded The Grundy Art Gallery in 1908. Now displayed in a Grade II listed Carnegie building. It’s been at the centre of cultural and artistic life in the town for over 100 years. It began with the ambition to show the best art of the day to the people of Blackpool. This sentiment remains at the heart of today, as a leading contemporary art gallery in the North West.

Today it includes works by established artists such as Martin Creed, Tracey Emin and Laura Ford. Gilbert and George, Brian Griffiths, Augustus John, Haroon Mirza and Eric Ravilious. It also has works by regionally based emerging talent such as Joe Fletcher Orr and Louise Giovanelli.

The Grundy aims to inspire audiences through an ambitious and varied year-round exhibitions programme. It draws on the unique and invigorating context and heritage of Blackpool. For instance exploring the space between contemporary art, entertainment and popular culture.

The Grundy Collection

Exhibitions and displays frequently incorporate pieces from our collection. It began with a bequest by the founding brothers and contains an eclectic range of art and other items. From furniture to ceramics, to netsuke ornaments to Victorian oil paintings. Artists include Craigie Aitchison, Ruth Claxton and Martin Creed. Laura Ford, Augustus John, Eric Ravilious and Gilbert and George amongst others.

Grundy is part of Blackpool Council’s Arts Service. It develops and delivers arts projects which engage Blackpool’s residents, communities and visitors in the arts. The service supports the town’s arts community, placing the arts the core of Blackpool’s unique and important cultural environment.

The gallery is an Accredited Museum. It also receives funding from Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation and from the John Ellerman Foundation.

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