Wiltshire and Southampton, full day. Full details on RSVP
Join the Contemporary Art Society for a day trip to the New Art Centre at Roche Court in Wiltshire and Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton. We will first travel to the New Art Centre at Roche Court in Wiltshire to see the Eva Rothschild and Clare Woods exhibitions – artists whose work the Contemporary Art Society has purchased for museums in recent years. Members will be given a tour of the sculpture park and exhibitions by director Madeleine Bessborough and curator Stephen Feeke. Eva Rothschild and Clare Woods will also be joining us so this trip provides a wonderful opportunity to meet the artists and see their work. Following lunch at Roche Court, we will travel on to Southampton City Art Gallery where Members will have an exclusive tour of their extensive collections – considered by many to be one of the best contemporary collections in public ownership outside of London – by their curator Tim Craven.
New Art Centre is located at Roche Court in Wiltshire, a 19th Century house in parkland. The house and grounds at Roche Court are now used as a sixty-acre sculpture park and educational centre where work is shown inside and out, providing a survey of sculpture for the enjoyment of the public. The park includes work by Sir Anthony Caro, Michael Craig-Martin, Barry Flanagan, Richard Long and Bill Woodrow amongst many others, whilst the Gallery and Artists’ House are used to showcase work by young and emerging artists. The New Art Centre also represents various artists’ estates including Kenneth Armitage, Barbara Hepworth and Ian Stephenson.
Southampton City Art Gallery is housed in a leading example of 1930’s municipal architecture and is part of Southampton’s civic centre. It has an excellent collection of modern and contemporary works acquired by a number of progressive collection curators including Margot Heller, Stephen Snoddy and Godfrey Worsdale. For over 20 years Southampton has been collecting paintings including Daniel Buren, Michael Craig Martin, Martin Creed, Jeremy Deller, Liam Gillick and Douglas Gordon. More recent acquisitions have included a number of video installations by Roddy Buchanan, Graham Gussin, Hilary Lloyd, Paul Morrison, Georgina Starr and Gary Stevens; many of these works gifted by the Contemporary Art Society. Southampton City Art Gallery has recently acquired new drawings and studies by Clare Woods relating to her major permanent commission for the Olympic Park, which was project-managed by the Contemporary Art Society.
Image: Eva Rothschild, Back to Back III, 2013, powder coated steel, enamel paint, 259 x 70 x 76cm and Clare Woods,The Lazy Husband, 2013, oil on aluminium, 70 x 70cm. © the artists and New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park.