Notice: Watts At Home

Published on: 11 May, 2020
Updated on: 12 May, 2020

Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village at Compton has extended its online programme of exhibitions, activities and events to entertain and educate while it is closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Something for the whole family at ‘Make Space’ at Watts Gallery. Make this 3d papier mache creepy crawly using simple materials.

Through the free art app Smartify, Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village is making its collections, exhibitions, heritage, history and landscape accessible to everyone from home.

Highlights of the Watts at Home programme include:

Video and audio tours of Watts Gallery’s latest exhibition, Unto this Last: Two Hundred Years of John Ruskin, which features treasures from the collections at Yale University including the Yale Center for British Art. This exhibition was open at Watts Gallery for just one week before it had to close but visitors can now enjoy a virtual tour of the show with the exhibition’s curators. Available on the Smartify app and Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village YouTube channel.

Ruskin’s Oak Leaf ‘If you can paint an oak leaf, you can paint the world’

To See Clearly: Why Ruskin Matters, an online lecture by Dr Suzanne Fagence Cooper that will reflect on John Ruskin as artist, thinker, polemicist and environmental campaigner.

Blogs, digital picture talks and Instagram take-overs by the Curatorial team at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village who share their latest research on the life, art and ideas of GF and Mary Watts, looking at how this artist-couple found inspiration and sanctuary in the home they created in Surrey Hills.

Opportunities to ‘get creating’ with The Make Space – artist-led video tutorials for all the family to enjoy, experimenting with different techniques and requiring limited resources – and Watts Tots – art activities designed for the under-5s

Wellness at Watts with Slow Art.

Wellness at Watts, a programme of activities for well-being inspired by the calm that GF and Mary Watts found in the Surrey Hills.

Boxes of Delight – in partnership with charity Delight – which is providing art materials and activities for children who are at home with limited opportunities for learning and well-being.

The loss of income from visitor admissions to Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village , group tours, the shop, tea shop, commercial gallery and events as a result of this closure is anticipated to result in a deficit of at least £200,000 this year. The charity has launched a fundraising appeal, Hope 2020, and is seeking support.

The director of Watts Gallery Trust, Alistair Burtenshaw, said: “Whilst we are unable to welcome people to Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village, we continue to deliver our charitable mission of providing Art for All through our new free digital programme and supporting our community partners both online and by posting activity packs and creative resources.

“Unfortunately, like many charities we are now vulnerable due to a loss of earning. We ask our supporters and visitors to help us safeguard our future (if able) by making a donation to our charity so that we can continue to inspire, engage and transform lives. Each and every donation is essential and greatly appreciated.”