Thelma Hulbert Gallery to reopen its doors with relaunch of acclaimed exhibition

Honiton's Thelma Hulbert Gallery has announced it will reopen its doors on Saturday, 11 July.

The gallery plans to relaunch its acclaimed exhibition: ARTIST ROOMS Richard Long Being in the Moment.

This ambitious exhibition, which examines our relationship to the natural world is kick-starting East Devon District Council's programme of cultural recovery.

It will be accompanied by an inspiring new creative programme of art activities, projects and workshops coming soon to a neighbourhood near you.

The Thelma Hulbert Gallery (THG) has reconfigured the visitor experience to ensure the safety of visitors and staff following government guidelines.

The gallery's new opening hours will be: Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Individuals and households of up to four people will be able to book a guided tour of the current exhibition (up to 45 minutes). Six tours will take place each day.

This is a unique opportunity to have a private visit to THG and their world class exhibition. The tour will include the THG shop which is selling a new range of greetings cards, ceramics, jewellery, prints and more.

The gallery continues to encourage everyone to enjoy their Wild Art garden for picnics, sketching or their general wellbeing.

For those audiences who are staying at home, THG will shortly announce how it is taking nature and culture on tour in a 'Recovery Roadshow'.

From their new 'Creative Cabin' they hope to engage both rural and urban audiences with art activities, projects, talks, performances and workshops to support their health, wellbeing and the environment.

Ruth Gooding, THG Curator said: "We are delighted to be relaunching this very special exhibition with the support of the TATE Artists Rooms, National Galleries of Scotland and Richard Long.

"We think visitors will enjoy the extra special tour experience where you can take your time to enjoy the works in our peaceful galleries.

"This is a critical time for THG and we will be playing a leading role in responding to and caring for our communities.

"We can't wait to get out and about and meet communities across East Devon in the Creative Cabin"

Councillor Joe Whibley, Lead member for Culture at East Devon District Council, commented: "Creativity is giving us the chance to re-imagine ourselves.

"We are creating an opportunity for our communities to participate as we all recover together.

"THG's cultural programme is pivotal in helping us understand our changing relationship to ourselves and our planet."

For more than 50 years, Richard Long has been at the forefront of conceptual art working beyond the confines of traditional material and questioning how we view the relationship between landscapes and art.

His investigations into nature, using mediums such as walking, and working with found materials such as mud, earth and slate, remain as relevant today as they ever were.

The works are drawn from the ARTIST ROOMS collection, jointly owned by the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate, and span 40 years of Long's artistic practice, starting with his early experiments near his hometown of Bristol.