Swindon Artist Donates Work 

Swindon Museum & Art Gallery acquires Ken White paintings, prints and drawings

 

Swindon Borough Council is delighted to have acquired a number of paintings, prints and drawings by Swindon artist Ken White, with the support of the Creative Wiltshire project.

 

Staff from Swindon and Wiltshire met with Ken in January 2016, to see his studio and learn more about his long and fascinating career. Following this meeting, Ken made a generous donation of posters and printed material to the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. Swindon Museum and Art Gallery has acquired a selection of works reflecting different aspects of Ken’s career as a painter, muralist, printmaker and skilled draftsman.

 

Great Western Railway

 

Two large paintings depict life in the GWR Riveting Shop. They show Ken’s distinctive painting style with strong shadows and a keen sense of the noise and heat of life in the Works. A print of the singer-songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan, who grew up in Swindon, will go on permanent display in the museum’s ‘Made in Swindon’ gallery.

 

One of the most special acquisitions is Ken’s original sketch for the Golden Lion mural, a Swindon landmark and one of Ken’s best known murals. All the works were carefully chosen to reflect different aspects of Ken’s career and provide a fitting tribute to this popular and talented Swindon artist.

 

 

Creative Wiltshire

 

Creative Wiltshire is a five year project which started in 2015 and aims to acquire work by creative people from Swindon and Wiltshire to fill significant gaps in the collections across Wiltshire.

 

Wiltshire Local Studies, based at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre in Chippenham, received £178,000 HLF Collecting Cultures grant towards the five year project totalling £213,550 and materials are being acquired by accredited museums in the county of Wiltshire and Borough of Swindon, including Swindon Museum and Art Gallery and the Salisbury Museum.

 

 

Ken said ‘Swindon has been the subject of my work for many years. Memories of working in the GWR have inspired my paintings, and the history of Swindon has featured in many of the town’s murals.

 

For that reason, having work selected for the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery’s permanent collection is a very special honour and I am immensely pleased that Swindon residents will be able to see my work.’

 

Alongside this significant acquisition the Museum has also been able to acquire some more beautiful ceramics pieces by Wiltshire ceramists, including Sasha Wardell, Katharine Pledell-Bouverie, Peter Holdsworth, Patricia Volk and Trevor Chaplin.