Launch of our 2023 Collections projects

Join us for the launch of our new Collections projects, meet members of our Collections Community panel who will be giving tours of the new temporary exhibition Pride&Privilege; take part in a creative workshop with artist Saranjit Birdi and hear Walsall Spark Young Writers’ responses to the Garman Ryan Collection.

12pm – members of the Walsall Spark Young Writers Group will perform pieces they have written in this year’s sessions which have taken place in our Art Library and been inspired by our Collections.

2pm – Our Collections Community Panel focus for this year is Class & Identity. Come and meet members of the panel who will give tours of the new temporary exhibition on Floor 2. The new display covers diverse topics including mixed race identity, working class experiences, gender discrimination and displacement and migration.

From 3pm we will launch A Sense Of Place in conjunction with Creative Health CIC in our Community Gallery. This exhibition features work produced across the West Midlands, with a focus on nature, collections and wellbeing. Participants in workshops at The New Art Gallery have been inspired by our Collections to create their own works celebrating the natural world and local environment. Works will also be on display from other partner venues including Birmingham Museums Trust, Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Staffordshire Libraries, and one of the project’s lead artists Saranjit Birdi will lead a workshop, accompanied by music from one of the Wolverhampton participants.

In 2023 The Garman Ryan Collection turns 50. To celebrate Julie Brown, Collections Curator asked staff members, and associates involved in projects with the Collections, to tell them what their favourite work in the collection was and why. Explore the 50 Favourites for 50 Years trail across Floors 1 & 2.