Williamson Art Gallery

Craig Easton: Is Anybody Listening?
2024-01-26 10:00 - 2024-04-06 17:00 UTC | Williamson Art Gallery, Slatey Rd, Oxton, Birkenhead, Merseyside, CH43 4UE, United Kingdom
Williamson Art Gallery & Museum presents Craig Easton: Is Anybody Listening?, a touring exhibition from the University of Salford Art Collection which showcases two award-winning series of photographs; Bank Top and Thatcher’s Children.
Craig Easton: Is Anybody Listening? seeks to challenge typical stereotypes of northern communities through authentic representation and raise aspirations of young people within the region through an accompanying engagement programme called Our Time, Our Place.
The engagement programme, Our Time, Our Place being exhibited alongside Easton’s work, has empowered young people to explore their own history and share it through pathways in photography and associated practices.
Is Anybody Listening? Our Time, Our Place is presented by the University of Salford and generously supported by The National Heritage Lottery Fund.

About Craig Easton

Easton won Photographer of the Year (2021) at the Sony World Photography Awards with his series Bank Top, a collaboration with writer, poet and social researcher Abdul Aziz Hafiz, examining the representation and misrepresentation of northern communities. Commissioned by Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery, the work focused on a small, tight-knit community in Blackburn.
He also took second place in the documentary category for Thatcher’s Children, which explores the inter-generational nature of poverty and economic hardship as experienced by three generations of one family across the Northwest.
A passionate believer in working collaboratively with others, Easton also conceived and led the critically acclaimed SIXTEEN project with sixteen leading photographers exploring the hopes, ambitions and fears of sixteen-year-olds all around the UK, in which Williamson Art Gallery also participated as an exhibiting gallery.
He often tackles stereotypes and responds to the negative way in which the mainstream media can portray Northern communities. The relevance of Easton’s work has resurfaced in a new light as communities endure the cost-of-living crisis and face new challenges and segregation.
The exhibition comes at the same time as the launch of Easton’s new book centred on his award-winning Thatcher’s Children series. Quotes from successive prime ministers demonstrate how deprivation is connected to the social policy failures of successive governments.
The exhibition marks the start of Wirral’s year as Borough of Culture for the Liverpool City Region. Wirral Borough of Culture 2024 is a year of incredible experiences in incredible places, reflecting Wirral’s story and celebrating its people. The programme features a diverse line-up of culture, arts and heritage across the whole borough and shines a spotlight on Wirral’s creative community and the regeneration of the Left Bank of the River Mersey. Wirral Borough of Culture 2024 is led by Wirral Council and local cultural partners, with support from Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Pete Hoida
2024-02-16 08:00 - 2024-12-21 17:00 | Williamson Art Gallery, Slatey Rd, Oxton, Birkenhead, Merseyside, CH43 4UE, United Kingdom
Gallery 11 is currently home to an exhibition of work by Birkenhead-born artist Pete Hoida (1944-2023).
The paintings of Birkenhead-born Hoida are known for strong colour relationships alongside tonal subtlety and a unique approach to textures. Hoida studied Landscape Architecture followed by Art School at Hammersmith, priory to graduating from the extended diploma course at Goldsmiths. His work has been authoritatively endorsed in essays by Mel Gooding and Chris Stephens, and is well regarded by his peers. Hoida lived and worked in Stroud, for over 40 years in the same hillside studio.
The Williamson has acquired his painting ‘Uisghe’ for our collections, but all other paintings currently on display are for sale (however, please note that the are not eligible for the Own Art Scheme).
Please note this exhibition may not be accessible when meetings are in progress.
Own Art

David Clapham: The River Runs Through
2024-04-06 10:00 - 2024-06-15 17:00 | Williamson Art Gallery, Slatey Rd, Oxton, Birkenhead, Merseyside, CH43 4UE, United Kingdom
Clapham’s recent work has been inspired by views of places he has lived in London and Portugal. These paintings explore the sense of how the landscape dominates the everyday experiences of life in these places, united by the common theme of the river.
Two views in particular dominate these current works. Clapham’s studio in central Portugal, where all of these works have been made over the past three years, overlooks the Ceira valley. The density of the mountainous forests contrasts with the views from Clapham’s recent London residence in Canary Wharf, a severe built environment of its high quality of marble, granite, and glass. These two contrasting views have, in their separate ways, both dominated Clapham’s recent lived experience. With canvases divided into full-scale windows the views they represent are divided, sliced into contrasting images, yet eventually reconciled. In this way Clapham explores how combinations of colours and textures may trigger unlooked-for emotional responses.
The most recent work combines these images with the black-and-white news coverage of the Ukrainian conflict that has dominated the news cycle in recent years.

Ceramics Workshop
2024-04-17 13:00 - 16:00 | Williamson Art Gallery, Slatey Rd, Oxton, Birkenhead, Merseyside, CH43 4UE, United Kingdom
Book Now

Join ceramicist Jo Williams for a ceramics workshop where you will be able to hand build and form 2 plates of differing sizes and coat in coloured slips.

You will pencil simple shapes or images on your plates then carve away the background with carving tools while your plate is leatherhard, a relaxing and mindful experience leaving you with beautiful plates to use or display.
Jo will take your plates away to clear glaze and fire and will bring them back to the Williamson for you to pick up 2 weeks later.
Suitable for all abilities including absolute beginners. All materials included.

Going To The Match On Tour
2024-04-19 10:00 - 2024-07-27 17:00 | Williamson Art Gallery, Slatey Rd, Oxton, Birkenhead, Merseyside, CH43 4UE, United Kingdom
Going to the Match, painted in 1953, is LS Lowry’s best-known and most popular picture. Although he painted football-themed scenes before and after this date it is Going to the Match which has become iconic – an enduring representation of what match day means to fans.
The 1953 work shows fans arriving for a Bolton Wanderers game at their former home, Burnden Park. The painting’s iconic status has been recognised and loved by visitors of all ages: especially those who love football and those who celebrate this quintessentially Northern experience.
This hugely important and much-loved work of art had been on public display at The Lowry, Salford since it opened in 2000, courtesy of a loan by the then owners the Professional Footballers Association (PFA). Following a high-profile campaign, Going to the Match was purchased by The Lowry in Salford for The Lowry Collection at the Modern British & Irish Art Sale at Christie’s in London in October 2022, thanks to the generous support of The Law Family Charitable Foundation. The painting returned to public display at The Lowry in November 2022 as part of Salford’s Lowry Collection and The Lowry is now working with galleries and venues across the North West to ensure that the piece can be enjoyed by the widest possible audience across the region. Supported by a £95,000 grant from Arts Council England through its National Lottery Project Grants programme and additional support from the Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation, the tour will mean this iconic painting can be enjoyed by the widest possible audience across the region.
The painting is being displayed at the Williamson alongside other works by Lowry and a selection of pictures from the Williamson’s collection which place Lowry in the wider context of painting in Northern England in the mid 20th Century.
#LowryGTTM
Image Credit: LS Lowry, Going to the Match, 1953
© The Estate of L.S. Lowry. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2024

Jazz with Mark Jones & Gerry Harrison
2024-04-26 18:30 - 20:30 | Merseyside
Gerry Harrison (piano) and Mark Jones (woodwind) is a blend of different instruments, playing hot, cool and modern jazz!
They have been playing together for many years, in a variety of jazz ensembles and duets instrumentally covering the best of the Great American Songbook hits! Venues they’ve played include Bluecoat, Liverpool ONE, MelloMello, Ship & Mitre Pub and Capstone Theatre.
Their set at the Williamson will take place in the Cafe, which will be open for drinks and light bites (last hot food orders 8pm).
Photography welcome, however no flash please.
