Exhibitions

This is the Bolton Museum and Archive Service Exhibitions page. Here you will find details about current and future exhibitions.

Many exhibitions also have further pages which give more detail as well as images of some of the works and objects featured.

Further down the page is a list of previous exhibitons

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Now Showing

Art from Nature – Paintings by Mark Lightowler

Saturday 27 April – Sunday 4 August
Mark Lightowler is a well-known local artist and butterfly expert, who works at Animal World, Moss Bank Park in Bolton. Over the years, he has produced many works of art based on specimens from Bolton Museum’s collection.

This exhibition shows a selection of his work and the techniques he uses. Mark Lightowler will be visiting the Museum and demonstrating some of his techniques on Saturday 4th May from 12.30pm – 3pm.

People and Places: Bolton in Pictures

Saturday 16 March – Sunday 2 June

Showcasing several centuries of Bolton art, this exhibition uncovers works by little known as well as more prominent artists.

Forthcoming

Previous Exhibition Details

Exhibitions are shown in date order, the most recent being at the top of the list.

26 January 2013 - 7 April 2013	Constance Howarth - The Life and Work of a Bolton Fashion Designer Constance Howarth was a fabric designer, milliner, dressmaker, business woman and sometime model from Bolton who died in March 2012. At the height of her career in the 1950s, her fabric designs earned her fame from Lancashire to London and New York. This retrospective exhibition included a selection of her sketches, notebooks, correspondence, patterns and outfits, designed and worn by Constance from the 1950s to the 1980s.
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15 December 2012 - 24 February 2013	Bolton Art and Photography Bolton Art Circle, Bolton Camera Club and Bolton Digital Photographic Society once again combined to showcase a wealth of local talent.
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6 October 2012 - 6 January 2013	Japanese Cloisonné: The Seven Treasures The Edwin Davies Gift is made up nearly 90 bowls and vases, mostly dating from the period known as the Golden Age of Japanese cloisonné (c1880-1910). Cloisonné is a way of enamelling an object, typically made of copper, where fine wires are used to outline the decorative areas and enamel paste is applied before the object is fired and polished. The Japanese term for enamelware directly translates as Seven Treasures, a reference to the seven treasures mentioned in Buddhist texts. Exhibition organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, with generous support from Edwin Davies CBE.
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16 June 2012 - 16 December 2012	Alfred East: Rivington Landscapes Alfred East (1844 – 1913) was one of the most popular figures in English landscape painting in the decades before the First World War. A friend of Lord Leverhulme (William Hesketh Lever), the painter stayed with Lever in his bungalow at Rivington in 1909. During his stay, East painted a vivid series of pictures of the surrounding landscape – the lakes, the country park, the village and the Pike. Lever commissioned nearly all of East’s Rivington views, presenting a selection of them to Bolton Art Gallery in 1911. This exhibition, on display in the Worktown Gallery at Bolton Museum, presented landscapes from Bolton’s collection together with works generously loaned to the museum by a private collector.
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2 September 2012 - 2 December 2012	Worktown’s 75th Birthday 2012 marked 75 years since Mass Observation began its special ‘Worktown’ project to observe and record everyday life in Bolton. This exhibition showed what Boltonians in the 1930s thought about everything from world politics to a trip to the cinema and demonstrated how the project still inspires people today.
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5 May 2012 - 1 September 2012	‘Diamond Jubilee Bolton’: 60 years of life in Bolton 1952 to 2012 To help celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II, this exhibition looked at life in Bolton over the 60 years of the Queen’s reign, comparing life today with 1952?
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9 June 2012 - 15 September 2012	‘England ‘Till I Die’: Photographs by Adrian Barber To coincide with the England football team’s appearance in the 2012 European Championship Finals, these photos of local people taken during the 2010 World Cup capture all the drama, pain and community spirit generated by following England. This project was commissioned by Bolton at Home.
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5 April 2012 - 2 June 2012	Memories: Celebrating 20 years of Bolton Hospice An exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of Bolton Hospice. The display featured articles, poetry and images about the history of the hospice as well as artwork from the patients.
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21 January 2012 - 26 May 2012	Christianity in Bolton: An exhibition by Bolton Christian Community Cohesion Part of our series of faith in Bolton exhibitions. Exploring what Christianity in 2012 means to one group in Bolton.
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21 January 2012 - 7 April 2012	Northern Legacy: Photographs by Harold Crompton Robinson (1927-2008) To celebrate the Queens Diamond Jubilee exhibitions in 2012 will had a 1950s theme. We began the year by celebrating the work of photographer Harold Crompton Robinson, whose photographs, taken in the 1950s in Northern England, provide memories of a bygone era. Harold’s preference for working in black and white film perfectly captures the stark realism of the industrial landscape depicted in many of his photos. Leica and Rolleiflex cameras, dark room prints and newspaper cuttings will also be on display. Harold won many prizes for his work and is the only person to win the Bolton Evening News award in Bolton Camera Club’s annual exhibition three times in succession.
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3 December 2011 - 18 February 2012	Worktown: 'The Everyday' This exhibition showed photographs of Bolton taken by Anna White during her 2010/11 John Marriott Humphrey Spender scholarship year. The exhibition was supported by Bolton le Moors Rotary Club and the University of Bolton. Anna was tasked with re-interpreting Humphrey Spender’s Worktown project of the 1930s, and during 2011 had been documenting everyday life in Bolton. The poet Andrew McMillian also created original works based on interviews taken in Bolton. As part of the project in October 2011, Anna came into the Museum and outside the Town Hall to take photographs of Boltonians. Everyone who was photographed received a free copy of their image and all images went into the Museum's Bolton archive for further generations to look at; as well as some of them going into the exhibition.
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19 November 2011 - 7 January 2012	Open Art In its fourth year, this popular open submission exhibition provided professional and amateur artists and craftspeople, who live, work or study in Bolton, the opportunity to exhibit and sell their work.
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13 August to 12 November 2011	Hinduism in Bolton As a part of our rolling series of exhibitions exploring different religions in Bolton, this was ‘Hinduism in Bolton’. The Hindu Forum produced this exhibition, which aims to highlight both religious and cultural life. Featuring images of Bolton temples and an example of scriptures in English, traditional Hindu and Indian costumes and information about Hindu deities.
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30 July to 29 October 2011	Nat Lofthouse: A Celebration This exhibition celebrated the life and career of the Bolton Wanderers legend, Nat Lofthouse. Appealing to fans, friends and the curious alike who were be able to see objects and photographs associated with Nat Lofthouse's long career.
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16 April to 2 July 2011	Fakes and Forgeries A prestigious exhibition of famous art fakes and forgeries will be coming to Bolton Museum. The exhibition, called Fakes and Forgeries, was originally put on by the Metropolitan Police’s Art and Antiques squad at the Victoria and Albert Museum in January this year, and includes the forgery of the Amarna Princess. Bolton will be the first town outside London to host this prestigious exhibition, which focuses on the work of several prominent forgers, the techniques that they used and how they were able to convince museums and antiques experts of the authenticity of their forgeries. The exhibition also explains some of the techniques which the police use when detecting fake artworks and tracking down their creators.
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19 February to 23 April 2011	PHOTOBREIGHTMET In November 2009, Bolton at Home's Neighbourhood Management Team (Bolton East) commissioned photographer Les Monaghan to spend six months in Breightmet as the Photographer in Residence. Funded through Bolton at Home's Housing Percent for Art service, the photobreightmet exhibition brings together a selection of images produced during this time. The photograph on the right is BOXER BOXER by Les Monaghan More details about the exhibition
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5 February to 27 March 2011	Bolton Art and Photography An exhibition of artistic talent from Bolton Art Circle, Bolton Camera Club and Bolton Digital Photographic Society. Bolton Art Circle is over 60 years old and again provides a social and friendly atmosphere where artists can support and learn from one another’s techniques. They arrange regular workshops, exhibitions, competitions, demonstrations and social events, as well as raising money for the Royal Bolton Hospital. The photograph on the right is a detail from Parincota by Steve Garland
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20 November 2010 to 22 January 2011	Roger Hampson Roger Hampson is a local artist who painted 20th century urban scenes from Bolton and the region during the post-war period. The exhibition featured early monoprints and linocuts, which established Hampson’s reputation as a distinctive graphic artist. Also on display were a selection of paintings, capturing the bleakness of the northern landscape and the warmth and humour of its people. A social realist, Hampson documented colliery life and the people who lived and worked in the mill towns of the north of England. He is represented in several public collections and his work was widely collected, notably by Lord Rhodes, L.S. Lowry and Princess Margaret. The painting on the right is Bessie in Regent Street, Bolton. Oil on board by Roger Hampson.
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31 July to 30 October 2010	At the Edge: British Art 1950 to 2000 This touring exhibition of art from collections of Rochdale, Preston, Oldham and Bolton showed British artworks from the 1950s to the present day. It showed work from a host of well known British artists. Including Henry Moore, Lucian Freud, Andy Goldsworthy, Helen Chadwick and Jacob Epstein.
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29 May to 24 July 2010	Works by Raoof Haghighi Raoof Haghighi was born in Shiraz in Iran. He started painting at the age of 3. He comes from an artistic family and his father taught him to paint. Painting has been a big part of Raoof’s life – he says that “painting is like breathing for me”. His paintings show his friends and family in Iran. Many of the works have a realistic quality to them – it almost looks like you could see the people breathing. Raoof also creates fantasy images from his imagination. In March 2009, Raoof moved to Bolton and he continues to paint, draw and play music. . The image on the right is a detail from "Which One" oil on canvas by Raoof Haghighi. Reproduced with the permission of the artist.
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27 March to 22 May 2010	Worktown Holiday Rituals How do some of today’s holiday rituals in Bolton, such as turning on the Christmas lights, and building snowmen, compare to those of the late 1930s? The exhibition showed some of photographer Humphrey Spender’s photographs of holidays and rituals in Bolton and Blackpool from 1937 to 38, with photographs of holiday rituals in Bolton taken in the late autumn and winter of 2009 to 2010, by photographer Caroline Edge.
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20 to 24 March 2010	Their Past Your Future Their Past Your Future was an MLA and Big Lottery funded project intended to increase young people's knowledge about conflict This exhibition involved the work of local primary schools and included poems, drawings and posters. Photos by and of the children doing activities throughout the project were also on display.
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30 January to 13 March 2010	Cell by Date The exhibition tells the story of two people in prison cells. The first will be a Victorian cell, telling the story of Agnes Lawless, a prisoner in 1871. Agnes was a young servant girl who stole from her employer and received six month hard labour in Stangeways Prison as a result. The group will be working in partnership with Hindley Young Offenders Institute to tell the story of the second cell, a young person who has recently committed a crime. The youth group have taken on the roles of Museum staff and have control over design and content in the exhibition. Members of the group have taken on roles such as project manager, finance officer and administration assistant.
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27 November 2009 to 23 January 2010	Open Art Show In its third year, this popular open submission exhibition provided professional and amateur artists and craftspeople with the opportunity to exhibit and sell their work. Artworks were showcased that appealled to a wide range of artistic tastes from the traditional to the avant-garde. Exhibits included drawing, painting, sculpture and photography.
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November 2009 to 9 January 2010	The Nights are Drawing In The exhibition shows prints from our permanent collection. They represent the typical days and nights of our British winters. Prose and poems about winter are also on display.
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21 February '09 to December '09	Sports and Games in Worktown Humphrey Spender’s Worktown photographs were taken during half a dozen trips to Bolton in 1937 and 1938. The pictures he took helped reinforce Mass Observation’s chief findings on sports and games in Worktown. First, they highlighted how much drinking and gambling were part of this form of recreation.Second, they identified a tension between the leisure pursuits of the individual and the idea of the team: ‘The pub spirit is not the team spirit.’ This exhibition draws connections between Spender’s photographs and Mass Observation’s writings. This collection was purchased with the assistance of the V&A Purchase Grant Fund.
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13 June '09 to 7 November '09	Simple Beginnings: The Story of Evolution “From so simple a beginning, endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.” Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species, 1859 2009 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his greatest work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection As part of the national Darwin200 celebrations, Bolton Museum and Archive Service presented an exhibition looking at the story of evolution. The exhibition was about the historical background to Darwin’s theory, and the time in which it was written. It also showed how the theory was received here in Bolton, as well as on the wider world stage. There was be a section on Darwin himself and a section on how we observe the effects of evolution in the natural world. The final section allowed vistors the chance to explore contemporary evolutionary theory and see how it changed from Darwin’s time. Find out about more about Darwin, the story of his discovery and Evolutionary Theory Entrance to the exhibition is free. A wide range of events and activities will be taking place as part of the exhibition. The original chimpanzee photo can be seen on suneko's Flickr account. Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
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18 September '09 to 31 October '09	Bolton Council of Mosques A fascinating exhibition exploring the history of mosques in Bolton. The exhibition featured a brief history of the first mosques in Bolton, and objects from the current 20 Mosques in Bolton; brought to life with stories from elders in the community. It also included a large scale art piece made from photographs of the work created by young Muslim girls attending Bolton Council of Mosques youth club.
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August '09 to 25 October '09	Chemist display A small display in the Central Library looking at the history of professional pharmacy. It told the story of the Chemist’s shop, from patent remedies to pill making, with some magnificent display jars to boot (including the leeches jar pictured on the right). This the latest in a series of displays on health and medicine featuring items from the museum’s collection. They were specially chosen to compliment the work of the Primary Care Trust Library.
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August '09 to 25 October '09	Wearing Feathers Until 25 October 2009 Wearing Feathers was a small display in the Central Library of objects from Bolton Museum & Archive Service. It showed how feathers have been worn by people in the past. Displaying fashionable feathers from the late 1800s and early 1900s and learn how this trend for feathers had disastrous consequences for birds. Feathers image by Flickr member Ana Cota
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1 August '09 to 5 September '09	Surreal Stories An exhibition of works by Cecil Collins from Bolton’s Collection. Cecil Collins was a painter, poet, writer, designer and teacher. Collins’ never aligned himself with any one art movement but drew influence from, among others, the surrealists, and the neo-romanticists. His work has a magical quality and often depicts fantastical landscapes or figures. Most of the works to be displayed have been generously given to Bolton by the Artist’s widow, Elisabeth Collins.
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16 May '09 to 25 July '09	Escape to the Country: Picturesque Landscapes This exhibition featured landscape paintings from the museum’s permanent collections, including work by some well known British artists such as Thomas Gainsborough, JMW Turner, William Turner and John Roberts Cozens. In the late 1700s, many artists travelled around Britain and Europe painting images of the countryside to recapture the landscape and to remind town and city dwellers of the fresh air and beauty they were missing out on as a result of the industrial revolution. Painters often depicted landscapes that were even more beautiful than in reality, portraying romantic, nostalgic images that were untouched by industry. This exhibition featured a wide selection of these works and included a wonderful romanticised landscape by Thomas Gainsborough, two beautiful watercolours by JMW Turner from his travels in Europe and England, a Scottish landscape by William Turner and a painting depicting an exquisite view in Florence from John Robert Cozens’ first tour of Italy.
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14 March '09 to 23 May '09	Saved for the Nation: The Story of the FA Cup An amazing collection of rarely seen objects helped to tell the story of the FA Cup and explain why the competition inspires people throughout the world. The exhibition also displayed, for the first time in 95 years, the oldest surviving FA Cup trophy used during FA Cup Finals between 1896 and 1910. The trophy was purchased in 2005 by Birmingham City chairman, David Gold, and saved for the nation. Visitors could find out how and why the FA Challenge Cup was created in 1872 and about the great FA Cup teams, players and goals. You could also see stunning photographs and film footage of the greatest ever finals and the shirts worn by the players. More detail about the exhibition can be found in an interview with Collections Rationalisation Officer Ben Whittaker This exhibition was organised by the National Football Museum and has been supported by the Northwest Regional Development Agency and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
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7 February '09 to 9 May '09	Egyptomania This exhibition showed the influence of Egyptian art and culture on other civilisations, ranging from ivory furniture made for Assyrian kings in the eighth century BC to cotton woven in Bolton. Rare and beautiful objects, including Renaissance illustrated books and objects made for Napoleon rubbed shoulders with modern costume jewellery, satirical prints and tourist souvenirs, demonstrating the enduring fascination Egypt has exerted over all tastes and cultures. .
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13 December '08 to February 14 '09	Building Bolton: Up Your Street If your four walls could speak what would they say? Focusing on well-known Bolton buildings, this exhibition brought to life memories of the past. Packed full of local stories and using items from the museum collections, this exciting exhibition explored how Bolton has become the town it is today. More about Building Bolton Photograph of Howcroft Street copyright Richard Rollon .
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25 October '08 to January 31 '09	Julian Trevelyan's Worktown Julian Trevelyan joined the Bolton Worktown observation team in 1937. He was one of a number of artists and poets invited by Tom Harrisson to record what it felt like to be in Bolton, in the form of paintings, collages and photographs. Trevelyan’s experiences in Worktown had an enduring impact on his artistic life. Years later, his Worktown experience still influenced the subject matter for his art, and he claimed that it was during this period that he gained the courage to paint things he cared about in the way he felt them. This exhibition documented a whole range of Trevelyan’s work; including collage and watercolour landscapes of Bolton Mills and streets, and interesting photographs of local street life and industrial wasteland. You can view more Mass Observation images of Bolton online at the Spender's Worktown website
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8 November '08 to January 31 '09	Bradshaw Gass & Hope exhibition This exhibition told the story of the Bolton-based architecture firm Bradshaw Gass and Hope and showcased some exquisite drawings. Formed in 1862, the firm gained a reputation for building magnificent public buildings such as Manchester’s Royal Exchange. Their spectacular designs continue today and include the Bolton Arena.
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September 20 to November 22 '08	Bolton Art Circle and Bolton Camera Club With over 200 members, Bolton Art Circle is one of the largest art societies in the North West. Made up of professional and amateur artists, the group use a broad range of media including watercolours, oils and pastels. Bolton Camera Club was set up in 1897 and its members capture a wide variety of subjects including landscapes, portraits and still lives. Visitors to the exhibition could vote for their favourite piece on display. The winner was announced at the end of the exhibition. The image on the right is a detail of a photograph by Bolton Camera Club member Mark Power titled "Autumn Reflections".
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August 9 to November 1 '08	The Artist and the Author’s Tale This was an exhibition of original illustrations by artist Helen Flook, from bestselling author Terry Deary’s series of history books for children. Specially created for the ‘The Phantom and the Fisherman’ and ‘Gold in the Grave’ these illustrations bring to life Egyptian tales. This exhibition was on tour from Conwy Museums.
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May 17 to September 6 '08	Face to Face An exhibition where you could find out how the faces of Bolton have changed, see different styles of portraits, find out how we celebrated celebrities in Victorian times, see mementos of famous Boltonians, find out how photography has changed the way we record people’s faces and examples of private family portraits. The exhibition featured activities for all the family with giant magnetic faces to play with, seaside photo opportunities and funny faces puzzles.
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May 3 to August 2 '08	Bolton’s Treasures: Peruvian Mummies Unravelled This exhibition unravels the stories surrounding two of the mummies in Bolton Museum’s collection and aspects of Peruvian culture. Most of the Peruvian objects in Bolton Museum were given by William Smithies, who worked in South America from 1896-1927. The exhibition explores his discoveries and how some of his collection came to this Museum. Research recently carried out in conjunction with the University of York has revealed some important new evidence related to the Museum’s Peruvian mummies. Discover what studying the mummies has allowed us to uncover. More about the mummy and issues surrounding the display of human remains
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February 9 - April 26 '08	Bolton's Treasure: A Moran Family Affair An exhibition spotlighting recently acquired Moran prints purchased with assistance from the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, The Art Fund and Bradshaw Gass Trust. The Morans were a talented artistic family and the exhibition features prints by Bolton born Thomas Moran, his wife Mary and brother, Peter. The exhibition looks at how the Museum raises funds to purchase new pieces and how it continues to develop its art collection for the future.
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February 2 - May 3 '08	Wildwood: A photographic exhibition by Pete Davis Wildwood featured new work by photographer Pete Davis who is renowned for his mastery of large format photography. In his photographs, Pete Davis encapsulates many of the elements of the woodland. Mystery, myth, spirituality and history are represented here - all significant aspects of this untamed landscape. From twisted roots, fallen trees, peace glades and sunlit canopies, Pete Davis captures the beauty and sometimes the eeriness of woodland landscapes.
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December 1 '07 - January 28 '08	Mass Obseration: 70th Anniversary of Worktown An exhibition of works created for the Worktown project, carried out as part of the Mass Observation study. The show featured photography by Humphrey Spender and Humphrey Jennings as well as art by Julian Trevelyan and Jennings. As well as celebrating the enduring legacy of the Mass Observation this exhibition anticipated the opening of a new permanent Worktown gallery in March 2008..
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November 17 '07 - January 12 '08	Open Art: works by Bolton artists An exhibition displaying the work of artists who live and work in Bolton. The works covered many mediums from oil to watercolour and sculpture to photography. Competition for inclusion in this exhibition was particularly strong this year. Out of the many entrants were three lucky artists who were awarded prizes for their outstanding work.
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18 August - November 24 '07	Second World War Art This exhibition brought together Bolton’s collection of Second World War art. Most of the drawings and paintings were done by artists who worked for the government through The War Artists Advisory Committee. The Committee commissioned artists to record war in all its aspects. This could range from the front line overseas to the efforts that civilians made on the home front. Included in the show were two works by Henry Moore, generously lent by The Henry Moore Foundation. These drawings were created during the early stages of the Blitz in London, when thousands of Londoners sought shelter in the tube stations. A group of photographs taken in Bolton were also shown. These show the aftermath and the devastation wreaked by an air raid in 1941. Images of works shown in Second World War Art
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21 July - November 3 '07	Something old, something new An exhibition of wedding dresses exploring bridal practice in Bolton in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. On show were Victorian and Edwardian wedding dresses from the Bolton Museum costume collection and a group of dresses made by the Bolton designer A.C. Heaton (aka Poppy Hinds) on loan from Bolton women. Images of dresses and stories from 'Something old, something new'
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5 May - 11 August '07	Then and Now: Scenes of Long Island and Yellowstone This exhibition featured the whole Moran collection alongside contemporary photographs of places associated with the Morans taken by the museum’s Curator of Art, Fiona Salvesen, during her Winston Churchill Fellowship to the USA in 2006. Fiona’s trip was part of the Service’s strategic plan to develop Bolton as a centre for the study of the Moran family and other Bolton-born emigrant artists and their legacy in helping to develop the image of North America that has such powerful cultural resonance today. Further details about Then and Now
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11 May - 7 July '07	Death Equals All Things: OMNIA MORS AEQUAT Toxically themed show based on the Museum botany collection To celebrate the centenary of the acquisition of the botanical collections of Dr Philip Brookes Mason and Thomas Greenlees, Bolton Museum and Archive Service commissioned artist Rebecca Chesney to create a new artwork in response to these fascinating collections. Further details about Death Equals All Things
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5 - 26 May '07	Bolton Philatelic Society 75th Anniversary The Bolton Philatelic Society was formed in 1932. 2007 is the groups 75th anniversary and is commemorated with an exhibition in the Community gallery at Bolton Museum and Archive Service. Further information and images of some British stamps and Bolton postmarks
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February - 15 May '07	From a Modern Land This exhibition highlighted pieces from the Egyptian textile collection at Bolton Museum. Alongside these were displayed paintings, drawings, prints and artist’s books by Ros Ford inspired by Egypt and Egyptian artefacts. Ros and Tom Hardwick, the Museum’s curator of Egyptology, selected for exhibition textiles that have not been displayed for many years Further details about From a Modern Land
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12 - 30 April '07	Gateway Protection Programme . An exhibition of stories and photographs exploring the lives of Bolton’s Sudanese refugees The Gateway Protection Programme is a new resettlement scheme for refugees, established in 2002 by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Its chief aim is to find homes in other countries for people who have been exiled in refugee camps for many years. They are usually refugees whose lives are exceptionally at risk. The threat to their lives is so great that it is not possible for them to remain in their camp and the country where they have sought refuge. Nor is it safe for them to return to their home country. Further details about the Gateway Protection Programme exhibition.
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10 March - 28 April '07	Made In Africa Anyone wondering what first set humans apart from other animals had the chance to find out at this fascinating exhibition. This exhibition will be at Andover Museum from the 5th May to the 21st July. Made in Africa is the title of a British Museum touring exhibition coming to Bolton Museum, Aquarium and Archive between March and April 2007, the only venue in the North West where it will be shown. This was a unique opportunity for visitors to see some of the oldest man-made objects ever found; objects which represent the origins of every living person on Earth. Further details about events and the history of the tools.
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24 February - 28 April '07	The Lost And The Found Tabitha makes artefacts from discarded and unwanted items she finds in charity shops and flea markets. She selects materials to work with which bear the weight of memory and the marks of time. She re-considers the psychic and physical impressions left by previous owners, creating her work from stained, worn, torn and mended cloth. More detail about and images of Tabitha's work can be seen on the Lost And The Found page.
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16 Dec 2006 - 10 Feb '07	Northern Hot Pot An exhibition of work by members of the Northern Potters Association Northern Hot Pot was an exhibition of work by members of the Northern Potters Association at Bolton Museum, Art Gallery & Aquarium. Work on display, all created by members of the association, included studio ceramics, architectural decoration, sculpture and jewellery, with all of the items available for the public to buy. The Northern Potters Association has been in existence for nearly thirty years and aims to encourage anyone interested in clay, glazes and kilns and promote ceramics in the North of England. Membership ranges from professional potters to students, amateurs, hobbyists and educationalists, all of whom create their own work. The Association is extremely active and organises an extensive programme of exhibitions at both private and local authority-run galleries throughout the region.
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14 Dec 2006 - 15 Jan '07	Home From Home Firsthand accounts taken from Bolton's immigrant community Bolton is truly a diverse place, with residents who have arrived here from every corner of the globe. Home from Home is a video-history account of some of the paths people have followed on their way to Bolton and consists of a number of interviews filmed over several months with local people who have settled in the town from all over the world. Over 80 local people were interviewed from over 40 different countries, resulting in the creation of a video-history archive of these interviews, which will be based at the central library for future public reference. Footage from a small selection of these interviews forms the exhibition, along with information about the people interviewed, and covers people’s reasons for leaving their home countries, why they came to Bolton, how they adapted to life here, the challenges they have faced and the customs and cultures they have managed to hold on to. The project and exhibition have been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and conducted in partnership with Bolton Museum and Archive Service, Bolton Literacy Trust and Bolton Community Video. As a result of taking part in the project a number of volunteers have received training in oral history, interviewing and camerawork techniques.
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23 Sep - 1 Nov '06	Bolton Art Circle Local artists exhibition now in its 60th year On display were artworks created by members of the 200-strong group, one of the largest in the North West, in a range of media including watercolours, acrylics, pencil and pen and ink. The group has both professional and amateur artists among its membership who cover a wide variety of subjects such as landscapes, portraits, still lives, abstract work, seascapes and townscapes. Many of these works were shown as part of the exhibition, with the standard on display being matched only by its variety.
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23 Sep - 1 Nov '06	Sensual Austerity Textile Minimalism by Maxine Bristow Maxine Bristow’s showcase uncovers the multiple personalities and emotional currency attached to cloth. It takes hours, days, weeks and months of sheer toil, but the end results could justifiably stand alongside Robert Ryman or even Dan Flavin in terms of its uniformity and its silent rhythm. “There are two contexts to the work: the genre of minimalism - and just plain sewing,” says Bristow. The Bolton-born artist and designer has drawn not only upon her own background of textiles, with sewing skills passed down from her grandmother, but the North West as a whole, with its history of cotton mills and factories
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28 Jan - 12 Mar '05	Carved Earth Sculptural Ceramics by Halima Cassell Carved Earth is a unique exhibition by one of the most exciting young ceramicists in Britain, Halima Cassell. Halima's work is a fusion of her multi-cultural background, inspired by a combination of her Asian roots, a fascination for African pattern work and a love of Islamic architectural geometry. Using heavily grogged clay, Halima works on a large scale and utilises a relatively thick surface into which she deeply carves complex geometric patterns. The exhibition is part of the Shisha initiated Parampara Programme.
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27 Sep '03 - 19 Jun '04	Water Water Showcasing Bolton's fine art collection A fine art exhibition using the theme of water to showcase some great examples from Bolton Museum's art collection
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17 Sep '03 - 6 Oct '04	Barry White Paintings by this artist Making a painting for Barry is a process of discovery, an uncharted creative journey in which he has no preconceived idea of the final image. Instead the viewer experiences his paintings as they might experience an unfamiliar landscape.
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17 Sep '03 - 15 Jan '04	The Drawing Room Drawings from Bolton's collection Showcasing over seventy drawings from Boltons amazing art collection. Works by famous names such as Turner, Millais, Ruskin, Rossetti, Lowry, Hepworth, as well as perhaps less familiar ones from the last 300 years will be on show. Portraits, figure studies, landscapes, city and seascapes,still life and illustrations will all feature in the exhibition
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17 Sep '03 - 15 Jan '04	Thomas Moran Exhibition of works by the famous Bolton artist and his wife An opportunity to see the fantastic oil painting ONearing Camp, on the Upper Colorado River, by the Bolton-born artist Thomas Moran alongside two oil paintings and several drawings and prints also held in Bolton's collection by the artist and his wife Mary Nimmo Moran.
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20 Nov '03 - 15 Jan '04	Adventurous Wild Flowers Mixed media exhibition around the subject of wild flowers Five artists have been commissioned by Gallery Oldham to create new artworks that investigate the impact that adventurous wild flowers have on our lives and on our natural heritage. Unique works have been produced, using sculpture, stories, installation, drawing, photography and sound, that look at weeds, Victorian plant collectors, the dandelion seed, urban landscapes and the impact of Himalayan balsam.
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