Chatsworth has announced the return of its annual festival Art Out Loud, which will see leading lights of the art world talk about their work, inspirations, and current discussions around art this September.
The first five speakers confirmed for a second stimulating programme include:-
- Director of Manchester’s recently refurbished Whitworth Art Gallery Maria Balshaw, who will challenge pre-conceptions about running a northern cultural powerhouse in her talk, ‘Not so Grim Up North’;
- Dan Pearson, who will discuss the art of landscape and garden design in his session, entitled ‘Painting with Plants’;
- Author Peter Frankopan, who will talk about his book The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, examining how the East has influenced Western art and culture over the centuries;
- Julia Peyton-Jones, who will soon be stepping down as director of the Serpentine Gallery and she will provide a retrospective of her 25 years in charge of the cultural institution;
- Artist and author Edmund de Waal, who will share an account of his pilgrimage to the three most important sites in the history of porcelain – China, Dresden and Cornwall – as detailed in his book The White Road.
This year’s festival features new educational elements with local schools being invited to join a design workshop at Chatsworth and to attend a talk hosted by a top British artist and one of the country’s leading museum directors. Other family friendly events are planned for the weekend.
Local collective Peak District Artisans will also hold a selling exhibition as part of the festival, with 30 members selected to exhibit work that complements the themes discussed at Art Out Loud. The eye-catching pieces and live artisanal demonstrations will cover a range of disciplines from watercolours to wrought iron, and pencil drawings to porcelain. The exhibition at Chatsworth marks a fitting way for Peak District Artisans to celebrate its 25th anniversary this year, having been established by Deborah Devonshire in 1991.
Tickets for Art Out Loud will be available from early June when the full programme will also be announced. Day Passes will be introduced for Saturday and Sunday, allowing visitors to attend multiple talks of their choice each day with the advance purchase of just one ticket.
All Art Out Loud ticket holders will have access to the Chatsworth garden, Sotheby’s Beyond Limits monumental sculpture exhibition and the Peak District Artisans exhibition.
Other arts-related exhibitions running in conjunction with Art Out Loud at Chatsworth are the photographic exhibition ‘Never a Bore: Deborah Devonshire and Her Set by Cecil Beaton’, and the ‘Grand Tour’ exhibition, part of a celebration of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire’s cultural history and landscape, in conjunction with Nottingham Contemporary, the Harley Gallery and Derby Museums.
(Image: Clockwise from top left: Speaker Edmund de Waal; Chatsworth, the stunning venue for the Art Out Loud Festival;
Speakers Maria Balshaw; Peter Frankopan; Dan Pearson; Julia Peyton-Jones.)
