Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery

📣 New Exhibition!📣 Our fantastic new exhibition 'Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding' opens today, 18 February. The exhibition explores the life and work of internationally renowned bookbinder Roger Powell, whose work on exquisite books from his Froxfield bindery transformed the knowledge of bookbinding for generations. An accompanying exhibition of more than 20 uniquely bound books by members of Designer Bookbinders showcases the extraordinary design and skill of many of today’s leading contemporary bookbinders. Expertly curated by our Head of Collections and Exhibitions Louise Weller, Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinders runs from 18 February until 3 May 2025.

We’re #hiring. A fantastic opportunity to join us and make a real difference to our marketing and communications. We have brilliant temporary exhibitions, expanding early years and education programmes, social history, art, costumes, archaeology, photography, poetry, workshops, talks, theatre, live music, cinema, really great coffee and cake, a wonderful gift shop and a beautiful outdoor courtyard, all housed in a redeveloped Victorian Police Station and Courthouse. And you would get to talk about it all day long!

This is a post that has been shared by Jeremy Mitchell, our shortly to be appointed new Chair of Trustees. "I have just nominated Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery Limited for both the £5,000 and £1,000 Awards from the incredibly generous and supportive Benefact Group. It would be great if you could do so also please. As an independent museum with no state funding, every donation helps enormously, especially at this time when there is so much pressure on funding from more traditional sources such as Trusts and Foundations, Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund who are such important providers of funds for the Arts, Culture and Heritage sector".

It's here! The final day of our record-breaking exhibition 'Peggy Guggenheim: Petersfield to Palazzo'. What a summer it's been with thousands and thousands of visitors enjoying the exhibition, the events programme, the Museum and Art Gallery, the coffee. Huge thanks to lenders The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Tate, The Hepworth Wakefield, Farleys House & Gallery, National Trust, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and Dolan/Maxwell. And so much gratitude to the funding that has made the exhibition possible with public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, a grant from the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund, and the Henry Moore Foundation. Our visitors have really engaged with the exhibition, telling the previously little-known story of the five years in the 1930s when Peggy Guggenheim lived close to Petersfield, and it's been a honour to welcome so many people to our Museum and Art Gallery. And in return they have been very kind to us. Here's just a taste of the feedback we have received this summer: "A fascinating exhibition of local interest with international influence and connections." "So brilliant to have such a fantastic resource and community facility in Petersfield." and our favourite: "I've realised museums aren't the stuffy places I visited in my childhood anymore." It's been a real team effort and we are so proud of the staff team, our wonderful volunteers, supportive trustees and everyone who has helped us to stage this wonderful exhibition. It's been an absolute joy!

The event listing for the 2024 Edward Thomas Literary Festival, held in conjunction with the Edward Thomas Fellowship, is now live on our website and you can see what's on here - https://lnkd.in/eZf4K9-G. Once again we are able to feature a range of new and established poets and writers amongst those appearing live, including Michael Longley, Jessica Mookherjee, Ellora Sutton, Isobel Dixon, Matthew Hollis (details still to be added) and Sarah Doyle. Bearing in mind the Festival runs during the last week of our Peggy Guggenheim: Petersfield to Palazzo exhibition at the Museum and Gallery tickets are likely to sell quickly. We hope to see you there. Thank you Arts Council England, National Lottery players and other donors and supporters for helping us to bring this amazing event to East Hampshire. If you would like to become a sponsor or supporter of this year's Festival, or in subsequent years, please contact Jeremy Mitchell, Trustee at Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery, by email on fundraising@petersfieldmuseum.co.uk.

Thank you Sarah Dennis for your kind words. So pleased you enjoyed your visit to Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery and our Peggy Guggenheim temporary exhibition, which was made possible through hard work and the support of Arts Council England and Art Fund.

Thank you Iain Watson OBE for the kind words, and great to meet you at Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery on Wednesday.

Delighted to open the doors this week at Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery for our latest exhibition 'Peggy Guggenheim: Petersfield to Palazzo'. The first few days have been incredible with visitors engaging with the story, the art, the history, the costumes and the gallery spaces. The exhibition continues until Saturday 5 October. #petersfieldmuseumandartgallery #petersfield #museum #peggyguggenheim

See the exhibition that tells the story: 'Peggy Guggenheim: Petersfield to Palazzo' Runs from Saturday 15 June through to Saturday 5 October

I'm pleased to say that I am participating in the AIM (Association of Independent Museums) 2024 Conference at the Black Country Living Museum on behalf of Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery and contributing to the discussion on the indispensable role that museums play in weaving our communities together, driving economic vitality, and nurturing an appreciation for our shared history - https://lnkd.in/eyvYtThx. I will be talking about our important project when we were working on the Don Eades negatives, Sadly, or excitingly, I will have to leave the conference early on Friday to return to Petersfield ready for the opening of our 'Peggy Guggenheim: Petersfield to Palazzo' exhibition (https://lnkd.in/er_upuP5) which runs from 15 June (12 noon) to 5 pm on Saturday 5 October - telling the previously unknown story of this 'art addict's' story of the period between 1934 and 1939 when she was collecting art and became 'a museum'. With loans from the Tate, Hepworth Wakefield, the National Trust and Guggenheim Venice my view (totally unbiased, of course) is that this exhibition and I would say that a visit to the quintessential market town of Petersfield should be factored into everyone's summer holiday plans (other visitor attractions are available nearby). Please share this post unashamedly and we look forward to seeing you at some point between now and the autumn (with hopefully a short summer interlude ... I wonder why Peggy chose Venice?).