City’s Colourful Turner Phase to Inspire Young Artists

City's Colourful Turner Phase to Inspire Young Artists

The Royal Pavilion & Museums Learning team is using a forthcoming exhibition of art works by British landscape painter JMW Turner and his contemporaries to inspire budding young artists to create their own masterpieces.  As part of a schools project, children will have the opportunity to hone their creative skills while learning more about Turner and his legacy in a series of special events and workshops before the Turner in Brighton exhibition is opened to the public on 2 November 2013.

Painting the city’s shoreline from a boat at sea off the West Pier, a trip to the seafront Fishing Museum to draw seascapes, and painting within the Royal Pavilion Gardens, are among the planned excursions for children from six city schools - including Stanford Juniors, Moulsecoomb Primary, St Paul’s Primary, St Mark’s Primary and Hangleton Juniors - who will take part in an activity day on Friday 18 October 2013.  The children’s creations of postcards and paintings will then be used to form their own Turner-style exhibition at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery in late November with participants being invited along to celebrate their achievements as well as visit the Turner in Brighton exhibition at the Royal Pavilion.   

Turner was known as 'the painter of light', because of his interest and use of brilliant colours as the main constituent in his landscapes and seascapes. The Royal Pavilion’s exhibition is centred around the council’s recent acquisition of Turner’s watercolour Brighthelmston, Sussex (1824) which was largely bought with Heritage Lottery funding and depicts a ship in stormy seas against a backdrop which includes the Chain Pier and Marine Parade.

The exhibition will feature a range of works by the artist, including watercolours, oil paintings, drawings, sketchbooks and prints, along with works by Constable, William Daniell and John Nash, that show Brighton’s development as a seaside resort during the Regency era.

Geoffrey Bowden, chair of BHCC’s Economic Development & Culture Committee says: “We’re so delighted to have secured this rare Turner painting and want to ensure as many school children in the city as possible get the chance to see it. Turner was a regular visitor to Brighton in the 1800s and his work is a valuable pictorial record of the town. We hope that showing children how to draw and paint in the manner of Turner will be an enjoyable and fun way of learning about one of England’s most famous historic artists.”

Notes for editors

Turner in Brighton opens at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, BN1 1EE, on 2 November 2013 and runs until 2 March 2014.

Heritage Learning Brighton & Hove joins together heritage organisations across the city to offer schools a comprehensive choice of experiences for their pupils. Heritage Learning is a partnership of Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton Toy and Model Museum, The Keep, West Pier Trust, The Fishing Museum, Old Police Cells Museum and The Volks Railway. Heritage Learning partnership is funded by Arts Council England.

J M W Turner’s watercolour Brighthelmston, Sussex (1824) was purchased in January 2012 at auction at Christie’s New York with a bid made on the council’s behalf. It was purchased using external funding, provided specifically for the purpose of saving the painting for the nation, from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Art Fund and the Royal Pavilion & Museums Foundation.