The Museum of Somerset
Tate collection in Taunton
‘They’re incredibly important works, they speak to you emotionally,’ says Tim Martin, guest curator of an exhibition featuring three major paintings by celebrated 20th century artist William Scott at The Museum of Somerset.
Part of the Tate collection, the artworks by Scott will be on show thanks to the South West Heritage Trust’s ongoing Spotlight Loan programme, which saw the display of John Martin’s epic The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, also from the Tate, at the Museum in 2024.
‘Scott has always been there for me in that canon of British art,’ enthuses Tim, himself a painter. While he believes the works, produced in the late 1950s at the height of Scott’s fame ‘when he knew exactly what he was doing’ will appeal to those eager to see the artist’s mastery, he is also keen for the exhibition, entitled Beauty in Plainness, to create room for quiet reflection.
‘As a curator I’m interested in how you show works in spaces,’ he explains. ‘To me this is an opportunity to bare everything down and just experience those three paintings. The exhibition should be a simple, serene space where you can get close to the artworks and spend time with them.’
Winter Still Life, Ochre Still Life and Black Painting were all created after Scott and his sculptor wife, Mary, bought a countryside home in Hallatrow south of Bristol in 1941 where they were able to set up studios. They were also made following his pivotal 1953 visit to New York where he met the abstract painter Mark Rothko, who later visited the Scotts in Somerset.
Visitors will have the option to watch a new short film about Scott’s life and view archive photographs before encountering the works. ‘The experience to me is about entering the gallery in a different way,’ says Tim. ‘You’ll go on a journey and end up in a quiet space.’
‘They’re gallery paintings, not domestic,’ adds Tim, alluding to their scale, while recognising the works have overt or symbolic references to familiar household items. The exhibition has been designed to echo the way viewers might take in Rothko paintings at the Tate Modern, recreating the feel of a major gallery regionally.
‘It’s enormously important that great art comes to Somerset,’ asserts Tim, who has been curating in the county for 20 years. ‘It’s really not the case that you have to go to London.’ Beauty in Plainness runs until February 7.
swheritage.org.uk/museum-of-somerset
@museumofsomerset
timmartin.org.uk
@timmartinart
Stacked recollections
Antonia Showering
‘My paintings take a long time to finish,’ says Antonia Showering. ‘They’re so layered, and so layered in feeling, a lot is poured in.’ Describing her process, which she begins working on the flat, pooling oil paint on linen she has stretched by hand and allowing it to dry before approaching the hung canvas, it’s clear why she plans to spend 2026 simply painting.
‘When I’m faced with a bare linen canvas I don’t know where it’s going,’ she reveals. ‘I don’t over direct the paint. There are chance happenings when I don’t plan the painting too much.’ One example is her piece Brothers, produced for her 2025 solo with Timothy Taylor in New York, in which she later recognised she had created Glastonbury Tor in the background.
Antonia credits her life in rural Somerset, ‘the quietness of it’, for furthering her exploration of the malleable nature of memory. Adopting the pentimento method, where the evolution of a painting is intentionally visible, her paintings appear as a lucid dream, the figures and landscapes tangible and ethereal at the same time.
‘I have a conversation with the marks on the canvas,’ Antonia explains. ‘My hand leads me there, or the marks lead me there. I enjoy hearing how other people interpret my works, despite the paintings being drawn from very personal, private places. I don’t want to over explain them. I hope the viewer can project their own histories and narratives onto the canvas.’
Painting from a remote woodland location, accessible only on foot in bad weather, life in Somerset contrasts starkly to the years she spent working from studios in London following extensive art studies in the capital. Antonia admits, however, that she ‘never fully left Somerset’, readily rattling off favourite places including building sandcastles with her child on Weston-super-Mare beach in the winter light.
‘I’ve fallen in love with Somerset again,’ she reflects. ‘Something clicked and I realise how lucky I am to be in nature.’ Her favourite galleries include the Holburne Museum in Bath, Arnolfini in Bristol and Fred Levine Gallery, Bo Lee and Workman, and Hauser & Wirth in Bruton, the latter Antonia exhibited in alongside art school contemporaries in Present Tense in 2024.
‘It’s always really special to have my paintings in these group exhibitions, showing alongside my contemporaries,’ she affirms. A former participant in The Great Women Artists Residency x Palazzo Monti in Italy who has also exhibited online with White Cube, Somerset’s art scene also beckons. ‘It would be meaningful to do a show locally again.’
antoniashowering.co.uk
@antoniashowering
Ella Charles life drawing
Contemplative life drawing
Heritage Courtyard Gallery and Studios in Wells hosts weekly evening life drawing sessions designed to be inclusive and restorative. ‘We focus on helping you unwind, reconnect with your creativity and build drawing confidence at your own pace,’ explains experienced tutor Ella Charles.
Each class features a professional model with a mix of short and long poses. Basic materials, boards and easels are provided, or you can bring your own tools. ‘We pause halfway for tea, chat and a chance to share and reflect,’ adds Ella. ‘There’s no pressure for perfection, just a welcoming space to observe, sketch and enjoy the process.’ Bookings direct at ellasarahcreative@gmail.com.
heritagecourtyardstudio.com/life-drawing
@ellasarah_creative
Frome Art School
Brimming with ideas
Based at The Silk Mill, Frome Art School runs a popular Saturday morning children’s art club facilitated by artist/designer Chris Birdee-Wright and led by the interests of the young makers. From January 2026, Abigail Rees, an artist with many years’ experience of art in schools, is launching afternoon sessions for 11–18-year-olds designed to offer a supportive and freeing creative environment.
‘Abigail is excited to throw off the curricular restrictions and give older children a chance to play with ideas and stimuli,’ says Frome Art School director Kate Moore. Further classes will be starting soon and anyone interested in running one themselves is warmly invited to get in touch.
silkmillstudios.co.uk/frome-art-school
@silkmillinfrome
