Museum of Chelmsford opens exhibition exploring new perspectives on art

The Museum of Chelmsford’s latest temporary exhibition, Shifting Perspectives: Exploring Art Together opens this Saturday 22 March.

Curated in partnership with Alzheimer’s Society and local artist Elaine Tribley, the exhibition is the result of conversations with people living with dementia and their companions about works of art in the museum’s collection. It puts a fresh emphasis on the value of their perspectives, by providing a space for their thoughts and feelings on art to be publicly shared.

Female artists from the collection celebrated

Shifting Perspectives exclusively displays works by female artists as it seeks to showcase lesser-known artists in the collection. Some of the artworks featured will be going on display at the museum for the very first time.

All-women artists are featured in the exhibition, including Diana Mayo, Tessa Spencer Pryse and Rosemary Rutherford.

Artists include World War Two nurse, Rosemary Rutherford (1912-1972), who lived in Broomfield where her father was the vicar of St Mary’s Church. Principally a stained-glass artist, Rutherford also painted watercolours of wartime scenes during her time as a Red Cross nurse. Set to be displayed in the exhibition is her touching portrait of two evacuees hugging.

Another Chelmsford-based artist featured in the exhibition is amateur painter Kathrine Gilbey (1932-2024). Self-trained Gilbey painted hundreds of artworks during her lifetime, many of which depict scenes of her hometown of Chelmsford. In the museum’s collection is a portrait of well-known homeless man dubbed locally as ‘Bundles’. Gilbey was passionate about supporting the homeless – which clearly shines through in this painting – and devoted much of her time to raising funds for local homeless charity CHESS.

There’s also a painting by renowned British sculptor and painter Maggi Hambling (b.1945), whose works have been displayed in national galleries across the UK. Hambling trained at the progressive East Anglian School of Paint and Drawing in Benton End. Her artworks are known for being controversial for exploring themes of death. Included in Shifting Perspectives is her solemn painting ‘Lett Dreaming’, depicting her mentor and teacher, Arthur Lett-Haines, sleeping.  

Shifting Perspectives features works by varied women artists, including Rosemary Rutherford and Kathrine Gilbey.

Encouraging visitors to engage with art mindfully

Shifting Perspectives has been inspired by the ‘Slow Art’ movement, which encourages people to take their time to engage with a piece of art in their own way. It pushes the viewer to consider how the piece makes them feel, what they like or don’t like about it and what the artist may have intended to convey, before finding out more about its context.

In late 2024, the museum hosted workshops run by Catherine Chastney from I Picture This for a group of people living with dementia and their companions. During these workshops, the participants were asked to explore a range of works of art from the museum’s collection in this mindful way.

Workshops led by Catherine Chastney encouraged participants to think about how each artwork made them feel.

Participant Caroline Shephard shared the impact of the project on her and her husband:

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“After coming along to the workshops last year, my husband and I have attended other galleries and museums, where we’ve found ourselves talking about and looking at art in different ways to how we had before.”

Caroline Shephard, Shifting Perspectives participant

Curator Claire Willetts hopes the exhibition will help visitors to rethink how they interact with art:

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“The first thing that many of us do when we go up to an artwork is read the label, and sometimes we don’t know how else to connect with that piece other than by reading the information on display.

“But art is for everybody, and we don’t need to be qualified experts to explore it further and talk about it. How we interact with art looks different for everyone, it could be that you like a colour used in the piece; that it resurfaces a memory for you; or perhaps you don’t like how it makes you feel. All of these thoughts and feelings are valid, regardless of your background and I want people to feel comfortable engaging with art in this way. Through the experiences of others and interactive elements, I hope that Shifting Perspectives provides an insight for our visitors into how they can interact with and talk about art going forwards.”

Claire Willetts, Curatorial and Learning Officer, Museum of Chelmsford

Michelle Burrows from Alzheimer’s UK says this way of looking at art mindfully is particularly beneficial to people living with dementia:

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“Dementia can interrupt or slow down the processing of information as it travels to the brain. This means that information may take longer to understand especially when looking at a piece of artwork, analysing it and responding to it. Having time to look at the picture without being asked too many questions can really support people with dementia to enjoy the looking process.”

Michelle Burrows, Involvement Officer, Alzheimer’s Society

Interactive exhibition activities funded by museum grant

Thanks to a New Interpretations Grant from Museum Development South East (MDSE) via funding from Arts Council England (ACE) and the Art Fund, Shifting Perspectives features additional interactive, low-tech activities to further connect with the art on display. These include a wooden puzzle of Diano Mayo’s ‘Chelmsford City 2012’ painting, and an active ‘Share Your Wonder Wall’ where visitors are encouraged to pick a magnetic artwork and contribute their thoughts and feelings about it to the wall.

The grant additionally funded a commission of research into the artists and artworks by local artist Elaine Tribley. As a practicing artist herself, Elaine was able to use her knowledge and experiences to interpret the artwork from a different perspective alongside exhibition curator Claire Willetts.

Elaine also worked with the museum to deliver further Shifting Perspectives workshops in early 2025 to three care homes and dementia groups based in Chelmsford – Manor Lodge in Moulsham, Essex Dementia Care at Broomfield Village Hall, and Windle Court in South Woodham Ferrers. During these workshops, participants created their own prints inspired by artworks in the exhibition. Their creations will be showcased at the museum later in the year.

Artist Elaine Tribley delivered further Shifting Perspectives workshops to care homes including Windle Court in South Woodham Ferrers. Photos courtesy of Windle Court.

Events programme accompanies exhibition

Shifting Perspectives: Exploring Art Together opens on Saturday 22 March. A diverse programme of events will accompany the exhibition, including a special event to celebrate Slow Art Day on Saturday 5 April. Featuring illustration workshops, a slow art challenge and even yoga sessions, the event will introduce the concept of slow art by encouraging you to take a moment to be mindful and curious. Find out more about upcoming Shifting Perspectives events on the museum website: www.chelmsford.gov.uk/museums/whats-on