ARTS & EXHIBITIONS

Victoria Art Gallery, Bridge Street, Bath victoriagal.org.uk

Capturing Life: A Century of the New English Art Club, until 11 April

Work by current New English Art Club members alongside a core of over 30 paintings by illustrious past members, with major pieces by John Singer Sargent, Philip Wilson Steer, Gwen John, Walter Sickert, Stanley Spencer and Winifred Nicholson.

Jessica Palmer: Wetland Spring, until 11 April

This exhibition brings spring to life through collages of meadows, meadow plants and the flora around Bath by artist Jessica Palmer. These works capture beauty in our natural surroundings, responding to our natural world in peril.

Just arrived from Paris! Sandra Higgins Art is delighted to exhibit new work from artists Thierry Rye and Catherine Andrélis. Working in their Paris studio, they frequently paint collaboratively to create a spontaneous and energetic interplay of line, form and bright, almost candy-coloured hues.

To view the artists’ latest work, visit the online gallery or email Sandra to arrange a private view. sandrahiggins.art; sandra@sandrahiggins.com

The Holburne Museum, Great Pulteney Street, Bath

Illustrating the World: Woodcuts in the Age of Dürer, until 23 April

A rare opportunity to view the complete set of woodcuts known as The Great Passion, produced by Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528). He was the first artist to devise, create and publish an illustrated book, pushing the limits of a linear art to create vividly animated scenes.

Alberta Whittle: Dipping Below a Waxing Moon, until 8 May

This major exhibition, Whittle’s first museum show, combines sculpture in the form of limbo dancers, poetry and film. Barbadian-Scottish artist Alberta Whittle explores themes including hospitality, relaxation and postcolonial healing. holburne.org

Unruly Performer: Collages by Swedish artist KIRI KIRI, 13–19 March, 4 Abbey Street, Bath BA1 1NN

Open Monday to Saturday, 12pm–5pm, Sunday 1pm–4pm kirikiri.co.uk

An alluringly odd redeployment of magazine images astutely spliced together to capture the critical, rebellious spirit. This exhibition addresses the perpetual human preoccupation with vanity, consumerism, fashion, fame, mortality, sex, gender, wealth and power, as well as pondering the cultural expectations of the sexes and the treatment of the body and youth as a commodity.

David Ringsell: Contemporary Art Prints and Paintings of Classic Bath Architecture

“I aim to present a contemporary perspective on some familiar places. I often focus on the darker side of Bath architecture with peeling paint and stained stonework.”

David’s work is being exhibited at The Claremont Pub, 5 Claremont Road, Bath; and at The Old Crown, Weston, Bath. Custom prints are available online in a range of sizes – see the website: real-images.com

Image: Inside Outside, A2 framed giclée print by David Ringsell. The late sun reflects off the windows at the back of the London Road

Millie Claxton Keys at 15 New Bond Street, 17–19 March 15 New Bond Street, Bath BA1 1AB, open 10am–6pm

Upcoming

Nathan Ford: New Paintings, until 25 March Beaux Arts Bath, 12–13 York Street Bath. Open Monday to Saturday 10am-5pm

Nathan Ford graduated from The Byam Shaw School of Art in 2000 and has since been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Bath, London, and internationally. His work is a practice of sensitively considering and economising line, each brush stroke or pencil mark charged with meaning, memory and feeling.

“All the research, study, investigation, the muscle memory in his elegant painter’s hands, is an attempt to find and evoke essence, something done patiently over time. This may mean it is at first not clear where the painting finishes. He describes dialogue with the work, ‘The paintings talk to me, and sometimes (he says gesturing towards the window) they insist that I go out on to the hills again.’ Screen representations too can be distracting. ‘Seeing images of work, I have sometimes thought I got it wrong –then I go back to the work itself and realise, actually no –that was an honest and accurate evocation of that moment in time.’” beauxartsbath.co.uk