Richard PriceWest Midlands
Stoke-on-Trent City Council
The National Gallery’s Art on Your Doorstep exhibition will finish on 7 January
A new outdoor exhibition is due to open in a public space in Stoke-on-Trent.
Replicas of works by former miner and Potteries artist Charles William Brown will go on display at Bethesda Gardens in Hanley.
They will take over from The National Gallery’s Art on Your Doorstep exhibition, which has been in the gardens for the past seven months.
That project saw 15 copies of masterpieces brought to the city for free-of-charge viewing, and will close on 7 January before the new works go on show later in the month.
“The National Gallery exhibition has been a fantastic success, bringing life size masterpieces from artists like Van Gogh and Monet right to people’s doorsteps,” said councillor Sarah Hill, cabinet member at Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
“We wanted to build on that success by keeping the outdoor gallery space active with work from our own talented local artists.
“This continues our commitment to making art accessible to everyone, without opening hours or entry fees, while celebrating the creativity we have right here in Stoke-on-Trent.”
Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Artwork by local artist Charles William Brown will go on display later in January
Bosses at The National Gallery chose Stoke-on-Trent as the first place in the UK to host the artworks, as part of the city’s centenary celebrations.
The specially-designed display fittings will remain in place and will be used to showcase work from the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery’s collection, which city leaders said would help make world-class art accessible to residents and visitors.
The work of Staffordshire artist Charles William Brown (1882 – 1961) will be the first to go on display.
His paintings captured the region’s industrial and urban life – depicting miners at work and pottery decorators as well as lively streets and domestic scenes plus the natural world.