Exhibitions

Entry to Our New Forest Gallery is Free

Our New Forest Gallery, situated on the ground floor, is access directly via the Gift Shop.

Our exciting programme of temporary exhibitions for 2010 is as follows:

	Exhibition
	Saturday 7 August to Sunday 5 September 2010 Images of the Forest Every year, Kevan Brewer’s much awaited annual calendar ‘New Forest Images’, bring us an insight into the world of one of the Forest’s most well-known and respected photographers. Kevan specialises in the photography of this beautiful area- England’s smallest National Park – and always manages a fresh take on its landscapes, natural history and the famous ponies. This exhibition explores that world and the man behind it. See more of Kevan's work on his website
	Saturday 7 August to Sunday 5 September 2010 WINNERS of the New Forest Trust Fine Crafted Wood Exhibition The New Forest Trust’s Fine Crafted Wood Competition and Exhibition has quickly gained a reputation for excellence in the three years it has been running. This fourth exhibition (all entries were on display at the New Forest Show) is sure not to disappoint. We are delighted to have the first, second and third prize winning entries on display. All three of this year's superb winning exhibits are by students from Oxford and Cherwell Valley College. Donald Thompson, Trustee of the New Forest Trust and ex Deputy Surveyor of the Forest said “The competition and exhibition are all about beautiful wood made into beautiful things. We want to show the world what is being achieved by professionals, non-professionals and those learning to make things from wood. The future of the New Forest is more certain and sustainable if timber from there continues to be used to make useful things because this ensures resources return to the Forest to pay for its conservation”.
	Saturday 11 September to Sunday 21 November 2010 The Embroideries of Belinda Montagu: A Retrospective of her work The New Forest Embroidery, designed and created by Belinda Lady Montagu, has iconic status in the Forest. It charts 900 years of Forest History and has come to symbolise everything that is held dear about this area. The work of its designer however, stretches far beyond the limits of these environs and stretches back over a lifetime spent involved with the creative arts. For the first time, Belinda Montagu’s work, including sketch book and samples, will be brought together and put on display in a retrospective of a remarkable talent.
	Saturday 27 November 2010 to Sunday 2 January 2011 Light and Landscape Two artists, (Ellie Davies and Hilary Marshall), one a photographer and the other a textile artist have collaborated on an exploration of the New Forest landscape. Ellie’s photographs challenge our perception of landscape whilst Hilary’s canvases record the interplay between the Forest landscape and the changing light. Both artists generate images that are at times flooded with light and at others, almost drained of all but the faintest of visual outlines and references. Colour seems to ebb and flow, subdued beneath the force of the floodlight or coaxed to life under the gentle bathing of a twilight world.
	Saturday 8 January to Sunday 6 February 2011 Dream View Entrants to this year’s National Park Authority/Forestry Commission photography exhibition have captured on print what they most love about the New Forest National Park. From a dream landscape to a dream pub lunch, all the winning entries convey just what is special about this area and just how much it means to our photographers and all their viewers. Perhaps having viewed the exhibition you’ll be inspired to pack your camera as well as your picnic the next time you’re enjoying a day out walking?
	Saturday 12 February to Sunday 20 March 2011 Coastal Heritage The New Forest is the most densely populated national park, and this has inevitably left various marks on the coast. A wealth of information about human development and changing landscapes can be found where the land meets the sheltered waterway of the Solent. The New Forest Heritage Project aims to record this evidence, dating from prehistoric periods 125,000 years ago to the Cold War. This exhibition is a record of that endeavour.
	Saturday 26 March to Sunday 1 May 2011 Landscapes and Wildlife of the New Forest – photographs by Mike Read Mike Read is a professional wildlife and landscape photographer, writer, tour guide and lecturer living on the edge of the New Forest National Park. As a photographer, his observational skills have enabled him to find and photograph many of the things that most of us would miss when walking in the countryside. He has an instinctive ability to see the artistic potential within subjects and the resulting images are often stunning in their simplicity and beauty of composition. Mike’s work has been extensively published and a number of his books are available to buy in our shop.
	Saturday 7 May to Sunday 5 June 2011 Forewarned is Forearmed The Royal Observer Corps’ main role, until the advent of the nuclear ages and the ‘Cold War’ was to identify aircraft and track and report their movements to the RAF. Its later role was to pinpoint nuclear explosions and to warn of approaching nuclear radiation. It was a ‘Home Front’ organisation to which men and women from all walks of life volunteered their time, from school boys to housewives, retired personnel to working tradesmen. This exhibition looks at the human stories as well as the historical ‘facts’ behind the history of this organisation, focusing on its activity and involvement in the local area.
	Saturday 12 June to Sunday 10 July 2011 Look Twice Artists - new work The Look Twice artists offer an exciting range of artwork in a variety of mediums and styles. Beautiful watercolours mix comfortably with lively abstracts, stylised and surreal artwork and contemporary and traditional representative pieces. There’s something for every one and plenty of cards and prints. The artists will be demonstrating at various times throughout the exhibition, so pop in and see them at work.
	Saturday 17 July to Sunday 4 September 2011 The Bold and Beautiful Forest Evelyn Bartlett’s paintings are immediately recognisable for their strong colours and bold graphic imagery. Having worked in pencil and watercolour for many years, she has revived a style she first developed at college, using gouache. This method has rapidly become her signature style. She now paints full-time from her home on the fringes of the New Forest, near to the Waterside town of Hythe. “The Forest is a source of constant inspiration to me” says Evelyn who moved to Hampshire in the Spring of 2007 after over thirty years in Dartmoor.
	Saturday 30 July to Sunday 4 September 2011 WINNERS of the New Forest Trust Fine Crafted Wood Exhibition Now in its fourth year, the New Forest Trust’s Fine Crafted Wood Competition reputation for excellence continues to grow. All entrants will be displayed at the New Forest Show and the top three prize winning exhibits, displayed here at the Centre for the following month. Donald Thompson, Trustee of the New Forest Trust and ex Deputy Surveyor of the Forest said “The competition and exhibition are all about beautiful wood made into beautiful things. We want to show the world what is being achieved by professionals, non-professionals and those learning to make things from wood. The future of the New Forest is more certain and sustainable if timber from there continues to be used to make useful things because this ensures resources return to the Forest to pay for its conservation”.
	Saturday 10 September to Sunday 15 October 2011 Victorian Lyndhurst 110 years after the death of Queen Victoria, this exhibition looks back at the village during her reign. The lives of great and not so great who populated the area are examined, while the great many changes which occurred in the village and Forest surrounding during that time are illustrated by way of contemporary maps, plans, paintings and photographs.
	Saturday 22 October to Sunday 27 November 2011 The New Forest Exposed One of the most recent National Parks in the UK, the New Forest is anything but New. It was designated 'Nova Foresta' by William the Conqueror, which literally meant it was the Kings new, and private, hunting ground. Ever since this date; deer, ponies and cattle have roamed the heaths and woodlands of this Forest, unrestricted by fences and gates. Adam Burton is one of the UK's leading landscape photographers and author of three books. His pictures of the New Forest unmask this historic landscape, exposing us to the raw beauty of this fascinating area.
	Saturday 3 December to Sunday 2 January 2011 The Fragile Forest – work by Sonia Shomalzadeh Sonia’s work reflects on the journey of a tree throughout its lifetime and beyond. These giants of nature have been felled and processed, the productions of this final journey scattered on our streets as flimsy, temporary items with seemingly little or not value once discarded. “The cardboards’ fragile, disposable quality has found its way into my practise; its temporary nature has become a creative material in the production of the new” writes Sonia, reflecting on the creative process that drives her work. The work pays homage to the once magnificent trees and produces a contemporary memorial to their existence.