We invite you to discover the wonderful world of Robert Race. His ingenious inventions combine humour, wit and wonder, and a delight in re-purposing discarded objects and found, recycled and natural materials. He is an exceptionally skilled maker of toys and automata and his work delights children and adults alike. Come lift your spirits and be enchanted!

All the exhibits are very fragile and delicate. To help us keep them safe, visitor numbers will be limited. Please be patient - you may have to wait until there is space to let you in, so you have enough room to enjoy looking. The gallery steward will be able to show you how some of the wonderful kinetic sculptures move. Please be aware that some exhibits need to rest now, after welcoming over 8,000 visitors! If you are visiting with children, don’t forget that there are lots of FREE family explorer trails to enjoy in the Museum - please ask at reception. Thank you.

Entry to this special exhibition is free, donations are very welcome.

With many thanks to Robert Race for showing this unique collection in Stroud.

This special exhibition celebrates the work of Alan Evans (1952-2023) and his fellow artist-blacksmiths who brought new vigour and excitement to this traditional craft from 1980 onwards.

The exhibition illustrates the impact on Alan Evans of his upbringing as part of the Whiteway colony, a radical Tolstoyan community near Stroud set up in 1898, and of Cotswold Arts and Craft traditions.

Alan’s first major commission, aged 29, was for the Treasury Gates at St Paul’s Cathedral, London in 1980-81. The St Paul’s maquette will be on show together with work by Alan and his contemporaries from Britain and the continent.

Also taking part are inspiring young blacksmiths from around the UK.

Alongside the exhibition will be a string of exciting events and other exhibitions throughout Stroud and the surrounding area. For further details see our Earth Fire Iron page.

Earth Fire Iron is supported by Arts Council England, Jinny Quinnell Memorial Trust, William A Cadbury Charitable Trust, Ann Albright, The Summerfield Trust, Stroud District Council, Stroud District (Cowle) Museum Trust and all those who wish to remain anonymous.

The Cheltenham Illustration Awards have been running since 2007 and each year, we are fortunate to see illustration entries from across the world. This exhibition showcases the selected work from the entrants of 2024. Each piece of narrative art interprets the theme of the year in a thoughtful and insightful way. The theme of 2024 was ‘future forecasts’ and judges were particularly impressed with the range of materials and image-making processes used this year including printed objects, dioramas, and knitting!

We hope that you enjoy this selection of work that speculates on what the future may hold. What do you imagine you might see in the future? What is your future forecast?

The exhibition will be accompanied by family workshops during the school holidays.

Illustration: ‘The Last Pearl’ by Julia Morris

At the Margins emerges from the artistic research project Beyond Heritage: Material Making Meaning and focuses on the reading of established and speculative histories in two specific textile making contexts.

The first part draws on original research by Tim Parry-Williams, into the apparent use of English ‘saved list' cloths, in pre-1900 Norwegian folk dress, revealing sophisticated systems of transfer in textile materials, dyestuffs and minerals. The presented artefacts and textile works propose new stories behind the patterning and colouring of cloth, including the famous Stroud scarlet, as a part of broader global trade and exchange. 

The second, Til Prinds Christian Augusts Minde, by Franz Petter Schmidt, explores the history of the weaving workshop at Prinds Christian Augusts Minde - a former penal institution in central Oslo - where there has been some form of textile production since 1833. Through a series of hand-woven fabrics, photographs and texts, Schmidt’s work addresses the history of the institution, the development of social care in Norway, and textile craft as part of forced labour and punishment.

These expositions offer artistic interpretation of the ‘immaterial’ concepts situated in the objects and sites of cloth making, questioning and materialising multiple perspectives of textiles as part of a wider ‘social fabric.’

In the early 1900’s, carpets and rugs were not merely functional floor coverings; they were treasured art pieces laden with rich, cultural heritage and exquisite craftsmanship.  Helen Williams is the granddaughter of Polish immigrants who came to England in the first years of the twentieth century. Her work is inspired by a strong tradition of Slavic textiles, and also by her travels to the coasts and gardens of the United Kingdom.

Helen has been resident in Stroud since 1986. Her work is in collections worldwide.  This is her third exhibition at the museum, and we hope you enjoy seeing her intricate and colourful work. This is a selling exhibition and every purchase helps support The Museum in the Park.

Ever since winning an art scholarship at the age of thirteen, Valerie Dugan pursued a career in both calligraphy and botanical art. Her intricate, detailed work will delight anyone who shares a passion for flowers, gardens and the natural world. This exhibition brings together original watercolours with high quality art prints and a selection of prints and greetings cards will be for sale. We hope you enjoy this exquisite indoor collection of flowers, foliage and butterflies. We hope you can also enjoy time outside in our wonderful walled garden as spring buds and blossoms open and the first butterflies emerge.

We are delighted to present an iconic selection of photographs by Shirley Baker (1932 – 2014). Shirley Baker was one of Britain’s most compelling yet underappreciated social documentary photographers. Her street photography of the working-class inner city areas of Salford and Manchester, taken from 1960 until 2000, would come to define her humanist vision. Her curiosity and engagement with the everyday world around her resulted in many different strands of work, many of which are yet to be exhibited. Each strand and each image confirms her acute observation and visual humour as well as compassion for the lives of ordinary people.

Look out for a film screening event on 8 March (part of Stroud Film Festival) and other events linked to this special exhibition, organised in collaboration with Hundred Heroines and the Rosary School.

Exhibition curated by Fred Chance who in past years has brought a series of world-class photography exhibitions to Stroud under the ‘PhotoStroud’ banner.

Photographs kindly on loan from the Estate of Shirley Baker, with thanks to Nan Levy, daughter of Shirley Baker.

Have you heard of the Green Pledge Project? Head to our Meeting Room - next door the ‘Growing Places’ exhibition - to see a display all about this exciting project.

Thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Gloucestershire Archives is running a two-year GREEN Pledge project to help record the county’s environmental legacy and drive forward climate action.

Global warming and the ecological crisis are the most pressing and universal concerns we face. Heritage holds the memory of people and communities, and Gloucestershire Archives is a treasure chest for anyone interested in environmental matters from medieval times to present day. The Green Pledge Project willl bring to light our past, to reflect on our present, and imagine what our future could be.

The project aims to encourage further environmental action by exploring climate change and involving people in green heritage activities. It comes under the Heritage Fund’s Dynamic Collections programme, which will see the county’s unique environmental archives opened-up and used for various events and activities involving the public. 

For further details click here and look out for a special pre-booked family workshop on Tuesday 18 February.

Display public opening times:

• 15 & 16 February 11am - 4.30pm

• 18 February 1pm - 4.30pm

• 19, 20 & 21 February 11am - 4pm with drop in family activities to enjoy

• 23 February 11am - 4.30pm

This exhibition marks the culmination of a 10-month local arts project. The Growing Places project has explored food, farming and the community through a broad range of workshops around Stroud, constructions, walks, composting and a series of artists resident in a Ginger Bread House. Work will be on display by those artists and by many members of the community groups who’ve been spending time in nature on the farms and in the woodlands around Stroud.

Look out for the Ginger Bread House in the Museum courtyard when you visit!

Jim Pilston and Hannah Dyson are two local artists that have a mutual love of folklore and fairytales. We are fortunate that our local area is rich with strange stories and bizarre folktales that spark the imagination. 

In this collaborative exhibition they have explored legends that exist on our very doorstep, some real, some imagined. Through a mixture of sculpture, poetry and illustration you will meet ‘The Severn Serpent’, ‘Cold-Water Jessie of Amberley’ and ‘The Owlpen Alchelmist’, alongside witches, fairies, giants and a host of other strange critters from our mysterious landscape . 

Jim is a sculptor who uses exclusively recycled materials to create his art. Hannah is an illustrator who likes to write the occasional poem and works with collage and painting.  

An exhibition of work inspired through spending time in the Stroud Valleys, with paintings by Nadine James and photographs by Deborah Roberts.  It is intriguing to see how these two artists, each working in a different medium, have created a diverse range of images from the same landscape.

Deborah Roberts has been documenting various aspects of the local area, particularly since becoming involved with environmental conservation work. Her images are often observations of people engaging with the landscape, such as conservationists working to maintain precious habitats or artists being inspired by these places.

Nadine James' paintings are a more solitary experience capturing fleeting moments through the seasons.  “All year round I walk about in this landscape.  Through meadows, up hills, over stiles, underneath trees, around lakes, between hedges, down tracks, heart pounding, mind blown. Time passes, things happen, perspectives change, ideas shift, a pattern emerges and I try to capture this constantly changing landscape in a painting.”

@nadine_james_artist       www.deborahroberts.biz

Melvyn Warren-Smith is one of the many talented professional artists who’ve found a welcoming home in the creative town of Stroud. He’ll be taking over the Art Gallery with a one man show this September - expect a colourful, eclectic and uplifting exhibition!

Using rich, vibrant oil colour he depicts landscape, still life and portraiture with great intensity and often uses humour to spice up the moment. The local landscape really inspires his work – river, canal and commons, and splendid sunsets.

Melvyn studied fine art in Surrey and went on to win a David Murray landscape scholarship from the Royal Academy of Arts. For many years he worked as a highly sought after illustrator specialising  in romantic book-covers, working with such authors as Catherine Cookson, Maeve Binchy and Edwina Currie.

Zero waste ceramic artist Cleo Mussi joins forces with ethical horticulturalist and organic flower farmer Fiona Haser Bizony to create a botanical, floral and seasonal display. The collection of work  in the  medium of photography and mosaic aims to inspires viewers to consider how we perceive the natural world. Cleo showcases plants and flowers and portrays the four seasons, while Fiona deals with the natural human progression from the spring of youth to the wintering of our old age. A ‘must-see’ for anyone with a passion for gardens and gardening.

To accompany Fiona Owen’s ‘Materia Metaphysica’ exhibition, we are showing six of her short films on repeat in our Meeting Room, Gallery Two. Beautiful, meditative and calming, they offer you an insight into her working practice, her love of plants, and her inspirations. The films also offer you some fascinating ‘behind the scenes’ glimpses into how she and her artist husband John F. Owen created an enchanting garden in Chalford near Stroud, and are now building a new organic garden by the sea in Cornwall.

A series of 6 short films about Fiona Owen’s working practice and inspirations.

Total running time: approx. 40 minutes.

Drop in for as long or short a time as you like.

Entry free, donations welcome.

Fiona Owen has been a professional artist for more than 45 years. Her fascination has always been with the natural world, plants being her foremost passion. She has always grown most of the plants that she paints.

Fiona paints in oil on gessoed panel, gilding her illuminations with Italian goldleaf in the tradition of the medieval monks’ manuscripts, which was her specialist student study.

Her gilded panels are an honouring of Nature, woven with layers of alchemical symbolism and sacred geometry, each piece created with the focused intention of invoking the ancient and healing Green Magic of the Land.

This exhibition is the culmination of a decade of herbal studies and a continuation of the ‘Weeds in the Heart’ project that she has been working on with Stroud-based herbalist Nathaniel Hughes.

Pete Hoida lived in Brownshill, just outside Stroud, from 1974 until his death in 2023. His studio sits behind the house, overlooking the Toadsmoor Valley and across to Minchinhampton Common. The Gloucestershire countryside had a significant influence on his paintings, not withstanding their abstract nature. Having been brought up on the Wirral, between the Dee and Mersey rivers, Pete was particularly drawn to the Severn estuary with its vast skies and wide calm at full tide.

The paintings in this exhibition have been chosen by his widow Caroline, and showcase works spanning 1993 to 2022, several of which are being exhibited for the first time. Accompanied by evening openings and workshops.

The Activist Alphabet is a series of 26 print-based works and poems by local artist Christine Felce. The project started during the 2020 Lockdown and arose out of her concern about the impact of climate change and injustice. The series looks at the climate crisis and invites us to ask questions, talk, share ideas and search for new ways of doing things. Look out for pop up events, and a poetry evening with Adam Horovitz.

Natasha Houseago has over thirty years of experience teaching woodcarving, exhibiting, and undertaking art projects, commissions and residencies in the UK and abroad. This exhibition showcases her carved wood sculptures indoors, in the main Art Gallery at the Museum. Some are playful, some serious, all are made using wood from trees which have fallen naturally or through disease such as Ash dieback. We hope you enjoy seeing these beautiful sculptures inside, and then take time to walk through the special trees outside in Stratford Park.

Each year, the pupils of Stroud Valley Community Primary School make self-portraits and each year they are inspired by a new artist in the making of these artworks. This exhibition is a collection of how our wonderful pupils see themselves through the lens of some of history’s most famous artists. From the dotty world of Kusama Yayoi to the assemblage sculptures of Joseph Cornell, the young artists use inks, wire and paper bags to tell the stories of who they are and what matters to them most. This exhibition shows in Gallery Two from 23 May to 4 June, open daily. Admission free, donations welcome.

The Society of Wood Engravers’ Annual Exhibition features original prints stringently selected from an open submission. It tours several venues throughout the year showcasing the best contemporary work from the United Kingdom and overseas.

The Society works closely with each gallery venue to ensure people throughout the UK have the opportunity to experience the work at first hand. All work is for sale.

Catalogues will also be for sale at £4.50 each.

Look out for Meet the Maker events and hands-on workshops - details coming soon.

To see a preview of this year’s selected work please visit the SWE SHOP

Image: ‘Nest’ by Jane Randfield

Stroud Ceramic Artists (SCA) present new work made in response to the walled garden at the Museum in the Park. Working with the Museum, the group spent time in the garden over many months; researching, sketching and making. This exhibition of ceramic sculpture, image and text reflects all aspects of the garden; from the plants and animals that live within the four walls, the history of the garden and the people who designed and planted it, to the broader cultural significance of walled gardens and gardens in general. Exhibition open daily from 11am until 3pm, but closed on Monday 3 April and ending 3pm on Tuesday 11 April. Open Easter Monday. Admission free.

Extended until 16 April!

Find this fabulous array of film posters - as re-imagined by talented local artists and illustrators - in the art gallery alongside the Cheltenham Illustration Awards. Organised as part of Stroud Film Festival (3-19 March), this annual series has become a ‘must-see’ for anyone into film, design or illustration. Posters are for sale too - ask at reception or contact the artists direct.

Hurrah, its back! A chance to view the latest collection of imaginative and inventive visual stories created by young student and emerging illustrators from across this country and the world. Organised by The University of Gloucestershire, the Awards attract a wide ranging, excellent standard of work and the resulting exhibition is full of delightful detail and talent. A must-see for any young people looking to study illustration at degree level. Look out for the Annual too, which is on sale in the Museum Shop (£12).

Image: ‘Manka’ by Olga Ptashnik