Our current exhibitions
In Our Time: triptych and other artworks by Sylvia Molloy (1914-2008)
22 August – 1 November 2020
Sylvia Molloy was an adventurous and well-known artist from England, who married in Burma (now Myanmar), escaped the Japanese invasion to live in South Africa before returning to England. After graduating from Durham with a degree in Art and English, she began teaching in St Asaph and met her husband-to-be in Cambridge. She joined him in Burma, where he was an Assistant District Officer, whose job took the newlyweds through the Shan States. Sylvia made sketches and paintings of local people. When the Japanese invaded in 1942, she left for India on the last RAF flight from the country and her husband joined her after an arduous trek. Their first son was born during the year they spent in India and their second when they came to the UK. After the war, they returned to newly-independent Burma only to flee again when terrorists assassinated the entire cabinet. Catching a ship to Durban they settled in Johannesburg, where they remained for sixteen years. Disgusted with Apartheid, the couple left South Africa and came to Letchworth Garden City in 1963. She exhibited at The Royal Academy, the Paris Salon, the Royal Australian Society of Arts as well as other galleries.
Various Guest Appearances: paintings by Beccy Cannon
13 October 2020 – 3 January 2021
Beccy creates a colourful world of characters who come to life on their canvases. They form themselves often just from one line, a dollop of colour and whatever emotion is fizzing through her thoughts at the time. She likes to play around with the creative process, closing her eyes, dipping fingers in the paint and seeing who emerges. There’s often an evocative face staring back from the canvas, asking for further evolution.
‘If you are looking for something truly original, sometimes wacky, often thought-provoking and always colourful, then Beccy’s artwork is for you. It will bring you joy for years to come.’ Jennie Bond
This exhibition is in The Arches, part of the Terrace Gallery.
Coming soon
Frozen in Time: early photographs of North Herts
15 November 2020 to 31 January 2021
The Museum Service has an extensive collection of historic photographs covering all of North Hertfordshire, which was home to some pioneering photographers. We have chosen a sample to give you a taste of local life more than a hundred years ago. See if you can spot familiar places and work out how much has changed as well as what has remained from Victorian and Edwardian times.
Past exhibitions
Find out about past exhibitions here.