Hotel Resort To Open Art Exhibition

A Lake District spa venue is to host an art exhibition showcasing the works of British painter Norman Adams RA, who was renowned for his atmospheric watercolours.

Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa on the shoreline of Windermere is holding its inaugural ‘Art in the Atrium’ exhibition from 9 September 2023 until mid-January 2024.

The display, organised in partnership with contemporary and modern British art specialists Gavagan Art, will feature a representative collection of Norman Adams paintings, including Dawn Window, Sunflowers - The Flight of Phaeton and Great Tree among Olive Trees.

The decision to work with Lancaster based Gavagan Art and use Low Wood Bay’s atrium for the exhibition of Adams’ paintings came about through a conversation with local sculptor Shawn Williamson who has created a number of works for the resort.

The paintings of Norman Adams are in many private and over forty public collections in the United Kingdom, including the Tate Gallery in London.

Executive chairman of English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues Simon Berry explains:

“This is the first time that we will be using the setting of our spacious atrium area to give our guests and visitors a taste of great original art. It’s something we will continue in the years to come, with an artist in residence from time to time."

“We want to bring great art to a very accessible space, a space where people may not be expecting an art exhibition, but one they will enjoy in an informal way."

“With the spectacular backdrop of Windermere’s fells, it’s fitting that we have chosen to showcase the works of Norman Adams. His landscapes and seascapes reflect the atmosphere – including capturing the mood of weather conditions - as much as they show the scenery. We hope it will give viewers a lot to contemplate and a chance to reflect on the grandeur of our natural surroundings here in the Lake District.”

Norman Adams RA (1927 -2005) was a highly versatile artist whose first solo exhibition was at the Gimpel Fils Gallery, London, in 1952. A full exhibition of his work, Colour Chart of A Way, was held in the main Royal Academy galleries in 1988, highlighting his reputation as a superb colourist.

Other major commissions included murals for St Anselm’s Church Kennington, London and the commission he considered his major work, The Stations of the Cross, for St Mary’s Church, Mulberry Street, Manchester. He also designed stage sets and costumes for the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden and for Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

Gavagan Art owner Mary Gavagan, who was formerly the director of the art gallery at Lancaster University for over 20 years, adds: “Norman Adams was a prolific painter and has been called a romantic visionary. Throughout his life he captured in watercolour his feeling for the particular landscape where he was either living or visiting.

“Norman is an amazing colourist and I feel it’s important to bring his art to a wider audience. This exhibition presents a representative group of his watercolours, both landscapes and seascapes, painted directly before nature together with a number of his larger oil paintings."

“We’re delighted to be bringing these paintings to Windermere, thanks to Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa agreeing to host it.”