Hopper at Patchings

We are quite well off for art exhibition sites in mid-Notts. One such is Patchings Art Centre near Calverton. There is often an interesting selection on view in the Barn Gallery above the café. Here until November 20th is The Artist Collection – an exhibition by 10 professional artists, all award winners from the TALP 21 competition. Michael Salt’s Whitby Sands was the highlight for me, a vibrant and uplifting land and seascape.

In the grounds, Patchings have developed an Artists’ Trail. With a series of small studios devoted to particular old masters and linked by paths between the trees, the circuit includes some of the best-known artists and paintings over the centuries, in the form of large-scale glazed panels, thus making good use of natural light. Edward Hopper’s 1929 image, Lines at Sunset [this version attributed to Bob Owen], is the sole representative from the railway scene. It is a lonely yet evocative study bringing home the vastness of the American interior. It’s a great reminder of our journey by train across that continent with mile after mile of wide-open spaces and relatively small settlements – such a contrast with the archetypal “big city” environments.