New season at Gallery Oldham: April – September 2014
Gallery Oldham is delighted to announce its forthcoming exhibition programme and exciting range of events and activities.
The brochure includes two new exhibitions focusing on our collections, including 20th century sculpture and social history.
In ‘Form: Modern Sculpture from our Collections’ we will be displaying works by some of the best- known artists of the last century, including Elisabeth Frink, Jacob Epstein, Arthur Dooley and Bernard Meadows. This will be alongside new work from Andy Goldsworthy and Laura Ford acquired in the 1990s.
Union Street in Oldham was first laid out in the 1800s – a quiet county lane intended as a by-pass for travellers to avoid the steep route through the town centre.
We are using objects and paintings to chart the buildings and people that have shaped it over the years as part of ‘200 Years on Union Street’.
The original doors of the Odeon Cinema, a World War I roll of honour recording the sacrifices of employees from the Prudential’s offices and works by painter William Stott and contemporary artist Brian Clarke, who trained at Oldham Art School, are all included in the show.
In addition to family friendly activities we also want your memories of Union Street – so please come and tell us your stories.
Over the summer holidays we will be exploring the early years of the digital revolution with a new show on loan from the National Centre for Craft and Design.
‘Revolution in the Bedroom, War in the Playground: Video Gaming 1979-1989’ is the first exhibition of its kind to explore the early years of video gaming.
With games to play on original hardware and iPads we are anticipating that this will be popular with gamers of all ages.
There is still chance to see the exhibition by Albert Adams, which runs until 19 April. He was was one of the greatest artists to emerge from South Africa in the 20th century. His work explored not only the specific trauma of Apartheid, but broader issues of abuse of power, justice, and personal expression through art. This show is on loan from the University of Salford who received a gift of over 70 works following Adams’ death.
We are excited that we can now start to plan for a new Coliseum Theatre and Heritage Centre in Oldham. Our proposals aim to bring the old library building back into use and develop surrounding land to create a vibrant cultural hub for Oldham.
The project was awarded development funding by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England in 2012 and we have been developing the concept with the aim of applying for further funding.
‘Designs on our Future’ will chart our progress and this is your chance to keep up to date with our plans, see the architect’s drawings as they develop and take part in the consultation around what you might like to see in our new spaces.
Photographer Ian Beesley and poet Ian McMillan have been working with us to produce a creative response to the project and their work will be on display alongside items including the poster advertising our first ever exhibition on 1 August, 1883.
With three new exhibitions in the Community Gallery, Super Saturdays, Holiday activities for families, resource packs for ages 14-25, and Go Baby!, our fun creative sessions for babies aged 0-2, we aim to offer something for all ages.
I hope that you will be able to join us this season at our first Museums at Night event on Thursday, May 15 from 5pm until 8pm and a week later at Festival Oldham on Saturday, May 24. The events are free, with creative activities, entertainment and performances.
For more information call 0161 770 4653 or log ontowww.galleryoldham.org.uk or www.gooldham.com
E-mail: galleryoldham@oldham.gov.uk
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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