Special art exhibition will 'shine light on Brixham's rich cultural heritage'

Brixham Heritage Museum is putting on a special art exhibition for the inaugural Festival of the Arts Brixham.

Select pieces from the museum’s art collection, including paintings by John Chancellor, William Pitman and Toni Knights are replacing some displays on a temporary basis to celebrate Brixham’s great art culture, which has even attracted Turner to come and paint the ‘Torbay from Brixham’ in 1811. 

Paintings have also been loaned by Tina and Andrew Stockman at The Strand Art Gallery, along with Andrew’s father’s folding chair and painting smock. Known as ‘William in orange’ due to his eye-catching orange smock, Bill Stockman was on of the well-known slipway artists who painted in Brixham Harbour from the 1950’s. 

Sean Stroud, Becky Nuttall and Mark Axworthy have loaned objects relating to Milton Head Pottery and Brixham Pottery. Becky’s father Peter Draper was a director of Milton Head Pottery, which ran from 1951-1959, and Sean’s father was the manager, Patrick Stroud. Sean Stroud said: "The reason Becky and I have this collection is because our parents worked there, but for many people in Brixham, the memory of Milton Head Pottery has been lost – it only operated between 1950-59 and it is important to reclaim the memory for Brixham."

Milton Head Pottery was set up by three directors – Peter Draper was the lead designer and decorator, Frank Middlebrook threw the pots and Sidney Higgins was responsible for finance. They had a shop on King Street called Oasis and reps sold their pots throughout the South West – they were even stocked in Hele’s in London at one time. 

After Milton Head pottery was closed, the building became Brixham Pottery. Mark worked in Brixham pottery and remembers fondly the mostly female workforce – Brixham pottery was the largest employer of women in the town at one time he recalls, employing around 30 people. "It is entirely down to the girls in the factory… they did all the work."

The museum will be hosting over 150 children from local schools to visit the exhibition, meet a real artist and take part in observational drawing activities.

They will also host a life drawing class led by Mark Bell from A Kick Up The Arts, and a poetry open mic night with headline Harula Ladd. Ticketed events at the museum can be booked on their website  https://www.brixhammuseum.uk/ and events at other venues should be booked directly with the venue.

The Festival of Arts Brixham as inspired the exhibition, prompting many paintings that have not been available to view for some time to go on display. Brixham Heritage Museum is one of five partner organisations running the festival, which will see a week of hands-on activities, talks and cultural experiences between October 20 and 25.

Centred around the heart of Brixham’s Cultural Quarter on Bolton Cross, F.A.B is a collaboration between Brixham’s Museum, Theatre & Library and A Kick Up The Arts & The Music Factory, to highlight, celebrate and strengthen the arts and cultural sector in Brixham.

A week-long programme of events will enable residents & visitors to discover, explore and engage with high-quality and varied cultural activities delivered by Brixham’s creative community.

There will be new art, live music, quizzes, life drawing, graffiti workshops, urban sketching and lots more to enjoy and will end with a massive day of exciting activities in Brixham’s cultural venues to kick off the October half term holiday.

As well as aiming to bring together new and dynamic cultural partnerships and showcase intergenerational activities, F.A.B’s ethos is to celebrate the cultural and creative communities and promote Brixham as a highly valued centre of arts in the Bay.

The exhibition will stay up beyond the festival, available to view until mid-December, when the museum will close for around six weeks for maintenance before reopening in February.

Thanks to funding support from Brixham Town Council, the F.A.B team can shine a light on Brixham’s rich cultural heritage, show the spirit of the present cultural offerings and create new ideas and possibilities to enhance our creative community.

Visit the Facebook page ‘Festival of Arts Brixham – FAB’ to see the full programme and book tickets with the individual venues.