Exhibitions

Current Exhibitions

Coming Soon

Upcoming Exhibitions

Re/imagining Maud Heath

24 June – 31 August

An exhibition exploring the different ways in which Maud Heath and her Causeway have been celebrated by artists, writers, and everyday people across the centuries. From medieval documents to contemporary art, the exhibition will also include the opportunity to make your own Causeway and record your memories of this famous local landmark.

John Hitchens: Migrating Thoughts

7 September – 26 October

Present a selection of the artist’s abstract landscape paintings that explore interactions between nature, space and form. The exhibition traces these elements back to his early explorations as a student at the Bath Academy of Art Corsham.

Past Exhibitions

Sindy 60th Anniversary

30 March – 11 May

Step into Spring with the Diamond anniversary celebrations of Sindy, curated by local collectors Karen Colley and Bonita Turner.

Spotlight On 3: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Collection of Chippenham Museum

18 November – 24 February

This exhibition was the third in Chippenham Museum’s Spotlight series dedicated to its growing Modern and Contemporary Art Collection.

The project began in 2019 with the desire to celebrate the rich artistic history of this part of North Wiltshire. As a permanent collection, it acts as a source of inspiration, education and enjoyment for all.

At the heart of the Modern and Contemporary Art Collection are works that acknowledge the legacy of the Bath Academy of Art in Corsham, a pioneering residential art school that counted some of the biggest names in modern and contemporary art amongst its teachers and students.

North Wiltshire’s creativity proudly extends beyond the Academy, and the collection records and celebrates the many contemporary artists who continue to live and work in this area today.

The exhibition featured work by the following artists:
Prunella Clough, Iain Cotton, Colin Crumplin, Richard Deacon, Amanda Duggan, Sophy Dury, Gordon Faulds, Nigel Goldsmith, Charlie Graham-May, Anthony Griffiths, Angela Hall, Helen Harris, Nicholas Herbert, John Hitchens, Martyn Jones, Bhupen Khakhar, Jane King, Sarah Kirby, Maria Lalić, Nicholas Lees, Claire Loder, Rae Melody, Natasha Michaels, Dhruva Mistry, Mary Newcomb, Jonathan Parnham, Anne-Katrin Purkiss, Jane Reeves, Michael Simpson, Genevieve Sioka, Anita Taylor, Guy Thomas, Anna Tilson, Jake Tilson, Joe Tilson, Joslyn Tilson, Carole Anne Tonge, James Tower and Kate Wilson.

Further details about the artworks can also be found in the accompanying catalogue available in the museum shop.

Harm Joy

20 January – 24 February

Ellie Thompson is an artist currently practicing in the South-West. Since graduating from The Ruskin School of Art in 2022, Ellie has exhibited a host of hapless characters across Oxford, London, Bath, Bristol, Rugby and Corsham.

Thompson’s interest in schadenfreude (the joy derived from another’s misfortune), anatomy and a cartoonish sense of humour informs each of her soft sculptures. Her puppet-like characters are at once extinct and alive, forever stuck in a sticky situation.

Harm Joy featured a cast of perpetually wretched skeletons, all made out of felt fabric and created by Thompson over the last year. Though each character is motionless, they are animated by their all-seeing yet unknowing eyes.

Peter Potworowski: West Country Exile

9 September – 11 November

Born in Poland in 1898, Peter Potworowski was part of the Parisian Artistic community of the 1920s that included the likes of Picasso, Bonnard, and Léger. After the Nazi-occupation of his home-land Potworowski settled in England in 1943, beginning a long association with the West Country.

The majority of works in this selling exhibition are from his time living in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Wiltshire. In 1949 he joined the teaching staff at the Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, where his own work as an artist matured in contact with the English landscape.

Chippenham Between the Wars

20 May – 2 September

This free exhibition explored what life was like in Chippenham in the 1920s & 30s, with objects, costume, photographs & artworks bringing the era to life.

Marking the centenary of the opening of John Coles Park in 1923, this exhibition explored the glamour of the cinema and fashions from the period, as well as strikes, protests and the legacy and threat of war.

Ken Hughes: A Retrospective

1 April – 13 May

A retrospective exhibition showcasing the work of this influential artist and tutor. Ken Hughes led the Bath Academy of Art’s famous sculpture department for two decades.

Contemporary Print & The Ink on Paper Press

10 December 2022 – 25 March 2023

This exhibition celebrated the best in contemporary printmaking and The Ink on Paper Press, founded in Wiltshire by artist Amy-Jane Blackhall in 2015. Blackhall trained under Master Printer Jack Shirreff at 107 Workshop in Shaw, where she worked on editions for renowned artists such as Howard Hodgkin and Gillian Ayres. The etching press that stands at the heart of the studio came from 107 Workshop.

All the works featured in the exhibition were printed at The Ink on Paper Press. Works by Royal Academicians Emma Stibbon and Ann Christopher were shown alongside other innovative printmakers including Celia Cook, Ian Chamberlain, and the late Michael Pennie. All of the prints on show were recently acquired through the Golder-Thompson Gift to Chippenham Museum in Memory of Arthur Norman.

This was the third and final exhibition in our special series displaying works from the Golder-Thompson Gift.

Robin Tanner: From Goldsmiths to the Great Depression

30 July – 8 October

This exhibition explored the life and work of Robin Tanner during his formative years between the First and Second World Wars. Using key moments from Robin Tanner’s life, such as his training at Goldsmiths College and building a new home in Kington Langley, the exhibition explored wider themes such as the etching revival, craft and design and developments in art education.

At the heart of the exhibition were works from the recently acquired Golder-Thompson Gift in Memory of Arthur Norman. These etchings and engravings from the 1920s and 30s form the earliest works in the gift and help us understand Tanner’s blossoming interest in etching, wedded to his love of the English countryside.

Wiltshire on Paper

8 January – 2 April 2022

The Bath Academy of Art moved to Corsham Court in 1946 under the leadership of Clifford Ellis. Pioneering as an independent residential art school, it employed artists at the forefront of their profession to teach at the school.

It was here that many artists, both students and teacher, had their first introduction to the possibilities of printmaking as an artistic medium, under the guidance of a series of hugely influential printmakers including Henry Cliffe, Stephen Russ, Jack Shirreff and William Tillyer.

All the prints displayed in this exhibition are part of the recently acquired Golder-Thompson Gift in memory of Arthur Norman to Chippenham Museum.