Artist Richard Long
Artist Richard Long. Photo credit: Paul Blakemore

Honiton gallery will reopen with Richard Long exhibition

Thelma Hulbert Gallery (THG), Honiton will reopen its doors to the public on 11 July with its acclaimed exhibition: ARTIST ROOMS Richard Long Being in the Moment.

This ambitious exhibition, which examines our relationship with the natural world, is kick-starting East Devon District Council’s programme of cultural recovery. It will be accompanied by an inspiring new touring creative programme of art activities, projects and workshops coming soon to a neighbourhood near you.

To ensure the safety of all visitors and staff, THG has reconfigured the visitor experience in the galleries in line with latest government guidelines.

The gallery’s new opening hours will be: Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Individuals and households of up to 4 people will be able to book a guided tour of the current exhibition (up to 45 minutes) on our website or by calling the gallery. 6 tours will take place each day.

This is a unique opportunity to have a private visit to THG and its world class exhibition. The tour will include the THG shop which is selling a new range of greetings cards, ceramics, jewellery, prints and more. 

THG continues to encourage everyone to enjoy its Wild Art garden for picnics, sketching or their general wellbeing.

For those audiences who are staying at home, THG and Wild East Devon will shortly

launch its Recovery Roadshow, with its plans to take nature and culture out to our local communities, rural and urban.  A new mobile Creative Cabin will hit the streets with a dynamic programme of art activities, projects, talks, performances and workshops, to support health, wellbeing and respond to our local environment.

Ruth Gooding, THG Curator said:

We are delighted to be able to re-launch this special ARTIST ROOMS exhibition with our partners, Tate and National Galleries of Scotland, and the support of Richard Long

We think visitors will enjoy the extra-special tour experience where you can take your time to enjoy the works in our peaceful galleries. 

This is a critical time for THG and we will be playing a leading role in responding to and caring for our communities. We can’t wait to get out and about and meet communities across East Devon in the Creative Cabin.

Councillor Joe Whibley, Lead member for Culture at East Devon District Council, commented:

Creativity is giving us the chance to re-imagine ourselves. We are creating an opportunity for our communities to participate as we all recover together.

THG’s cultural programme is pivotal in helping us understand our changing relationship to ourselves and our planet.

 For more than 50 years, Richard Long has been at the forefront of conceptual art working beyond the confines of traditional material and questioning how we view the relationship between landscapes and art. His investigations into nature, using mediums such as walking, and working with found materials such as mud, earth and slate, remain as relevant today as they ever were.

The works are drawn from the ARTIST ROOMS collection, jointly owned by the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate and span 40 years of Long’s artistic practice, starting with his early experiments near his hometown of Bristol. The ARTIST ROOMS collection comprises over 1,600 works of modern and contemporary art by more than 40 major international artists. The current ARTIST ROOMS touring programme is delivered by the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate in a partnership with Ferens Art Gallery through 2020, supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, Art Fund and by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.