Grayson’s Art Club Acquisitions

We are delighted to have acquired a number of artworks that featured in Grayson’s Art Club The Exhibition, which we hosted from November 2020 – October 2021.  Grayson’s Art Club encouraged people to seek joy and solace in making art and the artworks created in the earlier series’ encapsulated life under lockdown. The TV programme and subsequent exhibition was a celebration of creativity in people’s homes and chronicled the changing moods of Britain in isolation, providing a unique record of this globally experienced extraordinary time.

The variety of artworks we have acquired represent the imagination, skill and creativity from a range of artists across the country and were chosen as a result of a poll that we launched toward the end of the exhibition run in the autumn of 2021. Members of the public could nominate the works that they would like to see join Manchester Art Gallery’s collection and we were lucky enough to acquire eight artworks, which are:

Clare Warde, Nuts About Life
Clare Warde, Nuts About Life
Hannah Grace Deller, Selfie in Work PPE
Hannah Grace Deller, Selfie in Work PPE
Hannah Grace Deller, Swings in Lockdown
Hannah Grace Deller, Swings in Lockdown
Julie Gardener, View from my window
Julie Gardener, View from my window
Alex Robinson, ComputerWorld
Eight figures from Alex Robinson, ComputerWorld
Jacqueline Taylor, Thursday, 8pm
Jacqueline Taylor, Thursday, 8pm
Kashta Dale, Mama
Kashta Dale, Mama
Penny Lally, STAY AT HOME!
Penny Lally, STAY AT HOME!
Jasmine Horn, The Way Ahead
Jasmine Horn, The Way Ahead

One of the other wonderful outcomes about Art Club has been that many of the artists have kept in touch and we’ve been able to hear about how they have been developing their creativity, taking part in exhibitions and selling their work.

Jacqueline Taylor has Just completed her degree in Fine Art at Salford University and you can see her new work at Salford’s degree show(previewing 26th May from 5.00 pm, open to the public 27th May – 2nd June). You can also see Jacqueline’s work on her website or Instagram @makethepiece.  

Alex Robinson featured on the Jubilee special for Art Club and is continuing to make his incredibly detailed ComputerWorld characters, which you can now purchase from his website or follow him on Twitter @246calm. 

Hannah Grace Deller is working on a new series of photographs about the impact of the pandemic on the health service and a book of her work is about to be published. Hannah regularly posts new images on Instagram @hannahgracedeller_photographyand you can view work on her website.

You could own your very own limited edition print of Nuts About Life or other works by Clare Warde by visiting her on-line shop. Follow her on Instagram @clare_warde.

Penny Lally continues to create incredible sculptures and depict people in the public eye, recently depicting Captain Tom and Dominic Cummings. You can follow her on Twitter at @LallyPortrait.

We’re so pleased that these wonderful artworks are now part of Manchester Art Gallery’s collection.