Every now and then, Wolverhampton excels itself. In 1927, it was the first town in the country to install a set of automatic traffic lights (as any fule kno). But twenty years earlier, it had also caused something of a sensation in the world of art, when the town’s Art Gallery offered a solo exhibition to the painter Evelyn De Morgan. This was the first time a modern gallery had ever dedicated an exhibition to the work of a single female artist (honourable mention here to the gallery’s curator, JJ Brownsword, who had been so impressed by Evelyn’s paintings that he contacted her directly to ask her to lend her works to Wolverhampton – the rest, as they say, is history).
The city’s Art Gallery is currently re-creating this groundbreaking show. And it’s a belter. If you’ve an hour to two to spare at any point between now and March 9th next year, when the ‘Painted Dreams’ exhibition closes, you really should pay it a visit. We popped in today, and we were blown away. We can’t recommend it highly enough.
Which leads us seamlessly on to news of the poetry workshop we’ll be running – in conjunction with Wolverhampton Literature Festival – on Sunday December 1st. This will be a unique opportunity, with a very limited number of places, to create poems responding to Evelyn’s paintings, and we expect tickets to be snapped up fast. Get yours here.
Having seen the exhibition, we’re more excited than ever to be leading this one-off, never-to-be-repeated event, celebrating Wolverhampton’s foresight in giving Evelyn the solo exhibition she so richly deserved all those years ago.
Hats off to our city for excelling itself. Again.
Steve Pottinger
2nd November 2024