Vasari Art Codex

article local schedule Apr 8, 2026 visibility 7 link 2 artists, 1 gallery

Watertown Gallery’s Yard Art Exhibit Features Several Artists

Storefront Art Projects in Watertown has launched its "Yard Art 2026" exhibition, running from April 4 through April 25. The opening reception featured a surprise performance by the New England Conservatory Brass Band, who redirected to the gallery after their original venue in Rockport suffered a roof leak. The event showcased a diverse range of works from nine featured artists, blending visual art with an impromptu community musical celebration.

newspaper watertownmanews.com open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Dec 27, 2025 visibility 5 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

Closure of Side gallery quayside space in Newcastle sparks social media backlash

Side gallery, a historic venue in Newcastle that has showcased documentary photography and film since 1977, will not reopen at its Quayside location after closing in 2023 due to lost revenue funding from the Arts Council of England (ACE). Managing director Laura Laffler of Amber Film & Photography, which runs the gallery, announced the decision after exhausting all avenues for continued funding, including a failed £1.3 million National Lottery Heritage Fund bid and the collapse of ACE's Grantium platform. The closure has sparked backlash on social media, with some donors to the 2023 #SaveSide crowdfund—which raised £67,278—feeling misled about the funds' purpose.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Nov 24, 2025 visibility 3

titanic gold pocket watch sets auction record 1234763383

A gold pocket watch recovered from the Titanic wreck, owned by Isidor Straus, sold for £1.78 million ($2.33 million) at Henry Aldridge and Son Auctioneers in Devizes, England, setting a new auction record for Titanic memorabilia. The 18-carat Jules Jurgensen watch, engraved and given to Straus on his 43rd birthday in 1888, stopped at 02:20 when submerged. Straus, a Macy's partner and former U.S. Congressman, perished with his wife Ida on the Titanic in 1912. The sale also included other items totaling £3 million, such as a letter by Ida Straus and a Titanic passenger list.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article policy schedule Aug 28, 2025 visibility 1

fita campaign group threatens leicester university trans inclusive museum guidelines 1234750249

A campaign group called Freedom in the Arts (FITA) has threatened to sue the University of Leicester in the UK over its “Trans-Inclusive Culture” guidelines for museums and galleries, demanding their removal. The guidelines, published two years ago by the university’s Research Center for Museums and Galleries (RCMG), aim to help cultural institutions create inclusive spaces for transgender people. FITA, co-founded by choreographer Rosie Kay and former Arts Council England staffer Denise Fahmy, argues the guidance misrepresents the legal definition of “sex” under the Equality Act 2010, following a UK Supreme Court ruling that “woman” and “sex” refer only to biological women and biological sex. The group claims the guidelines could encourage unlawful policies, such as allowing toilet access based on gender identity, and discriminate against staff with gender-critical beliefs.

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article news schedule Jul 3, 2025 visibility 1

cerne abbas giant genitalia almost covered by trees 1930s 1234746614

Historian Karen Heaney discovered that in 1932, the UK Home Office considered covering the Cerne Abbas Giant's erect penis with trees after a complaint from Dorset resident Walter Long, who called the 180-foot chalk figure an "obscene" offense to Christian values. Home Office official Cecil Yates proposed the tree-planting to the National Trust, but the Chief Constable of Dorset Police consulted the Home Office, which ultimately denied the request to avoid distorting the national monument.

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gavel restitution schedule Apr 30, 2026 visibility 2

UK’s Brighton & Hove Museums to return 45 artefacts to Botswana

Brighton & Hove Museums in southern England will return 45 artefacts to Botswana. The objects, including clothing, accessories and hunting implements, were acquired by English reverend William Charles Willoughby in the 1890s and will be housed at the Khama III Memorial Museum in Serowe, where they will form part of a permanent exhibition opening on 27 May. A team from Brighton & Hove Museums is working with Botswanan curators on the return, which is scheduled for April.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Mar 18, 2026 visibility 5

Rare Atlas Owned by Queen Mary I Heads to Market—With $1.6 Million Price Tag

A rare 16th-century atlas, once owned by Queen Mary I of England, is being offered for $1.6 million at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair. The volume, which contains unique early maps of Britain, was acquired by dealer Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. for $227,000 just two years ago and is now presented as a major artifact of Tudor history.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Dec 12, 2025 visibility 3

roman mosaic trojan war alternate scene 2726514

In the summer of 2020, a British family discovered a Roman mosaic on their farmland in Rutland, England, depicting scenes from the Trojan War. Archaeologists from the University of Leicester later uncovered three panels showing the battle between Achilles and Hector, dating to the 4th century C.E. The mosaic, named the Ketton Mosaic, is the first known depiction of the Trojan War in a British mosaic and was originally part of a Roman villa's dining room floor.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 17, 2026 visibility 7 link 3 artists

The Cost of Love: Rugby Art Museum and Gallery presents joint exhibition by artists Charlie Kirkham and Robert Walker

Artists Charlie Kirkham and Robert Walker are set to debut a joint exhibition titled "The Cost of Love" at the Rugby Art Gallery and Museum this May. The showcase features contemporary paintings that reimagine classical mythological figures—such as Narcissus, Apollo, and Adonis—to explore psychological themes of desire, transformation, and vulnerability. While both artists maintain a focus on technical rigor and the human figure, the works shift away from traditional storytelling to focus on the emotional tensions of modern life.

newspaper WarwickshireWorld open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Mar 24, 2026 visibility 7 link 3 artists

Jamestown Arts Center opens solo exhibition by François Poisson this spring

The Jamestown Arts Center is set to host "In the Zeitgeist," a solo exhibition by Maine-based artist François Poisson running from April 10 through June 13. The showcase spans a decade of Poisson’s multidisciplinary work, featuring signature series such as his "Bunny Cars" sculptures and "Exhaust Sticks" that explore themes of national identity, political upheaval, and the American ethos. The exhibition will open alongside "NEXT," a group show dedicated to emerging local talent.

newspaper Google News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Jan 21, 2026 visibility 6 link 7 artists

Local artists take centre stage in Weswal’s Saddle & Song

Weswal Gallery in Tamworth, Australia, has opened a major exhibition titled "Saddle & Song," featuring works entirely by local artists. Timed to coincide with the Tamworth Country Music Festival, the show draws on rural life, music, and place, with pieces ranging from paintings of galahs and horses to screen prints exploring environmental themes. Gallery owner Robin King emphasizes the focus on authentic regional stories, and several works have already sold to festival visitors eager to take home art reflecting the landscape and culture.

newspaper New England Times open_in_new Read original

article policy schedule Dec 18, 2025 visibility 5 link 2 artists

Brutalist home of England's first National Black Art Convention saved from demolition

The University of Wolverhampton’s School of Art building, an eight-story Brutalist landmark completed in 1969, has been granted Grade II listed status by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, saving it from demolition. The building hosted the first National Black Art Convention in 1982, a pivotal event in the British Black arts movement, and is closely tied to the Blk Art Group, whose founding members include Keith Piper, Marlene Smith, and Claudette Johnson. The listing follows a campaign against the university's redevelopment plans, supported by a petition with over 6,600 signatures.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Oct 28, 2025 visibility 3 link 2 artists

Southampton City Art Gallery is getting ready to reopen in March 2026

Southampton City Art Gallery will reopen on Saturday, March 7, 2026, following a successful refurbishment program. The reopening exhibition, 'Levitate Me: Desire, Ecstasy and The Sublime,' is a major solo show by acclaimed British artist Emma Richardson, featuring new oil paintings that explore desire, euphoria, and the natural world through a female lens. Richardson, who was born in Southampton and lived there for much of her life, has also selected works from the city's collection to display alongside her own. Other reopening displays include highlights from the internationally renowned collection (with public input on artwork selection), recently acquired works shown for the first time, rarely seen works on paper digitized during the closure, and photographs of the refurbishment by architectural photographer Joe Low. The project was supported by a £2.23 million grant from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's Museum Estate and Development Fund (MEND), administered by Arts Council England.

newspaper Southampton City Council open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Oct 23, 2025 visibility 3 link 3 artists

Open Eye Gallery: Upcoming Events in November

Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool announces a series of November 2025 events, including the exhibition 'I'll Tell You Later' at Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, featuring work by the Deaf and British Sign Language photography group Happy Snappers. Other events include 'Residents', a socially engaged portrait project by photographer Ming De Nasty with Liverpool's LGBTQIA+ community, displayed across MerseyRail stations and the gallery's atrium; 'Northern Perspective Artist Talks' at Open Eye Hub Wigan & Leigh, celebrating Northern visual artists; and an artist talk by Yan Wang Preston in conversation with Caroline Edge at the University of Salford, exploring themes of plants, migration, and cultivation.

newspaper Culture Liverpool open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Oct 17, 2025 visibility 3 link 5 artists

Art exhibit honors Maine’s Deaf community, victims of Lewiston shootings - Portland Press Herald

An exhibition titled “Unspoken Resilience: Healing from the Lewiston Shooting Two Years In” is on view at the University of New England Art Gallery in Portland, Maine. Co-curated by Michelle Ames and Meryl Troop, the show features work by deaf artists and craftspeople alongside color photographs of Lewiston by Michael Kolster. It was created in response to the October 2023 mass shooting at Schemengees Bar & Grille in Lewiston, which killed 18 people, four of whom were deaf. Ames, co-director of deaf services at Disability Rights Maine, was frustrated by the lack of ASL interpreters in media coverage and helped organize community support. The exhibition includes pieces that explore Deaf culture, healing, and the concept of De’VIA (Deaf View/Image Art), a term defined in 1989 by deaf artists to express the Deaf experience through high contrast, intense colors, and symbolic imagery.

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article policy schedule May 29, 2025 visibility 1 link 1 artist

How UK museums are rallying to support trans communities following supreme court ruling on biological sex

Following the UK Supreme Court's 16 April ruling that the terms "woman" and "sex" in the Equality Act refer only to biological sex, UK museums are publicly reaffirming their support for transgender communities. The Museum of Transology, which houses the world's largest collection of trans, non-binary, and intersex artefacts, had recently marked its tenth anniversary with the exhibition Transcestry at Central Saint Martins' Lethaby Gallery. Smaller institutions like London's Vagina Museum quickly posted statements of solidarity, while larger bodies such as Arts Council England await a revised code of practice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 16, 2026 visibility 4 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

Eye on Art: Whistler House hosts 200th Anniversary of Lowell Exhibition

The Whistler House Museum of Art is launching a special exhibition to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Lowell, Massachusetts. Running from April 18 to June 20, the show features a diverse array of media—including painting, sculpture, and photography—created by members of the Lowell Art Association, Inc. The works focus on the city’s identity as the cradle of the American Industrial Revolution, capturing its historic textile mills, urban landscapes, and cultural heritage.

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article policy schedule Feb 13, 2026 visibility 2

Club for working-class art professionals expands from London to northern England

The Working Arts Club (WAC), a London-based organization supporting art professionals from lower socio-economic backgrounds, is expanding to northern England. Its new chapter will launch in Manchester on March 24, with plans for regional programming and online events. Founder Meg Molloy emphasizes that class barriers in the art world are systemic, not confined to London.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule May 13, 2025

RWA calls for artist submissions to the 172 Open exhibition

The Royal West of England Academy (RWA) in Bristol has issued a call for artist submissions to its 172nd Open exhibition, a long-running annual open-call show that invites artists from across the UK to submit works for consideration. The exhibition provides a platform for both established and emerging artists to display their work in a historic institutional setting.

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article local schedule May 3, 2026 visibility 3 link 1 artist

Amble art exhibition showcases almost 70 works by Northumberland artists

Dovecote Street Arts in Amble, Northumberland, is launching a new exhibition featuring nearly 70 artworks by 47 local artists selected through an open call. Titled 'Amble, Northumberland, England', the show explores how national themes manifest in local communities, with works from artists including sculptor-painter duo Geoffrey and Sarah Bradford and award-winning painter Katherine Rousselange. The exhibition is supported by a £400 grant from the Alnmouth Arts Festival and opens to the public on May 23, 2026, coinciding with the Amble Puffin Festival, running until June 7.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 3, 2026 visibility 1 link 1 artist

Northumberland artists take centre stage in new Amble exhibition

Dovecote Street Arts in Amble, Northumberland, is launching a new exhibition titled 'Amble, Northumberland, England' featuring nearly 70 works by 47 local artists selected through an open call. The show includes sculptor-painter duo Geoffrey and Sarah Bradford and award-winning painter Katherine Rousselange, and is supported by a £400 grant from the Alnmouth Arts Festival. The exhibition opens to the public on May 23, coinciding with the Amble Puffin Festival, and runs through June 7 at the Dovecote Centre.

newspaper Northumberland Gazette open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule May 3, 2026 visibility 2 link 1 artist

Who is the mystery man in this portrait?

A gallery has corrected the title of a portrait by British artist Tom McGuinness after the artist's daughter identified the subject as an unknown man, not her grandfather as originally thought. The drawing, initially labeled "Cathy's Dad," has been renamed "Portrait of an Unknown Man" and is included in the exhibition "Tom McGuinness: Out of the Darkness," which runs through the rest of the year and features oil paintings, sketches, lithographs, and family portraits.

newspaper BBC open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 20, 2026 visibility 5 link 1 artist

Rochester Museum of Fine Arts Announces “Heart Of The Wild” Exhibition Featuring Works by Mike Durkee

The Rochester Museum of Fine Arts has announced "Heart Of The Wild," an exhibition of works by artist Mike Durkee. The show will be hosted at Back Hill Beer Co. in the Gonic Mill, Rochester, New Hampshire, and will run from April 4 to June 6, 2026. Durkee is a New England-based muralist and designer known for large-scale, community-inspired works.

newspaper The Rochester Post (.gov) open_in_new Read original

article local schedule Apr 10, 2026 visibility 7 link 3 artists

South Shore Irish Heritage Trail stop showcases art from Ireland and New England

The Aisling Gallery in Hingham, Massachusetts, has become a featured stop on the South Shore Irish Heritage Trail, highlighting the work of Irish-born painter Vincent Crotty. The gallery showcases Crotty’s oil paintings, which bridge his two worlds by capturing the rugged, pastoral landscapes of County Cork and Dingle alongside the coastal vistas of New England and Maine. Crotty, who immigrated to the United States 35 years ago, has maintained a long-standing partnership with the gallery, evolving from a struggling artist into a prolific figure in the local Irish-American art scene.

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article local schedule Feb 1, 2026 visibility 2 link 16 artists

Emerging Young Artists and Designers 2026 Juried Exhibition

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) is hosting the Emerging Young Artists and Designers 2026 Juried Exhibition. The virtual opening and awards ceremony will be held on February 6, featuring 100 works selected from over 550 submissions by high school students across New England. Award winners will have their work displayed in the CVPA Campus Gallery from February 14 to 22.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jan 16, 2026 visibility 3 link 1 artist

Art Exhibition coming to Torbay Hospital featuring nationally acclaimed artist

A new exhibition featuring the work of British marquetry artist Lucy Turner is opening at Torbay Hospital in England. Part of the 2026 HeArTs exhibition series, the show runs from January 18 to April 18 in the HeArTs Gallery on level 4. Turner, who has spent over 20 years perfecting her craft, creates vibrant, playful furniture and interior pieces using colored Formica laminate. She studied 3D design at the University of Plymouth and draws inspiration from her smallholding in Somerset. The exhibition includes specially created circular designs installed along the gallery corridor. Artist in residence Helen Snell praised the work as joyful and uplifting, noting its pop art and mid-century influences.

newspaper Torbay Weekly open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Nov 17, 2025 visibility 2 link 2 artists

Mango Tango Art Gallery Presents: “Gone but Not Forgotten,” Opening Saturday

Mango Tango Art Gallery in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, is opening a commemorative exhibition titled “Gone but Not Forgotten” on Saturday, November 22, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The show honors three beloved local artists—Kathy Carlson, Max Johnson, and Smokey Pratt—whose lives and works shaped the Caribbean art scene. The evening will feature live music by Neko Crush, appetizers, and spirits. Carlson and Johnson, both East Coast natives who studied at the Art Students League of New York, created lush floral paintings and portraits inspired by their Caribbean travels. Johnson also painted New England landscapes. Carlson was a respected educator who taught math at Antilles High School, while Johnson had a career in advertising at J. Walter Thompson. Pratt, a chef, musician, and gallery co-owner, contributed humorous cartoons and played in the blues duo 2 Blue Shoes. The exhibition runs for one month.

newspaper St. Thomas Source open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Oct 27, 2025 visibility 2 link 3 artists

‘Armor,’ Art Exhibition Focused on Meanings of the Word, Opens in Downtown Haverhill

An exhibition titled 'Armor,' curated by Brianna Osborne, has opened at Creative Haverhill’s downtown gallery in Haverhill, Massachusetts. The show features fifteen artists and students from across New England, including participants from Waltham High School’s ceramics program, who explore the concept of armor in its physical, emotional, inherited, and self-made forms. The gallery will host special hours during Haverhill’s inaugural Hill-o-Ween event on October 31 and an artist reception on November 1.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 12, 2025 visibility 2 link 1 artist

New Sweet Factory exhibition in Southport celebrates shared histories of sweet making and seaside culture

Artist Linny Venables presents 'Sweet Factory,' a new exhibition at The Atkinson in Southport, opening October 18, 2025 and running through February 28, 2026. The show draws parallels between glassmaking and sweet-making processes, featuring Venables' glass artworks alongside pieces created by workshop participants from Southport and Bootle, as well as research and objects from local sweet factories.

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article local schedule Oct 2, 2025 visibility 5 link 3 artists

Festival Fever in Wells this autumn

Wells, England, is hosting a month-long cultural festival in October 2024, featuring multiple events including the Mendip Rocks! geological festival with a photography exhibition by artist Elizabeth Woodger at Wells & Mendip Museum, the Wells Art Contemporary open competition and installation show at Wells Cathedral, and the Wells Food Festival. The photography exhibition, titled 'Menhir,' explores how landscapes are shaped by geological processes and human actions, using a multi-layered technique of printing photographs onto local rock specimens and projecting them onto natural rock faces.

newspaper Great British Life open_in_new Read original