Friday 4 October, from 6pm

Join us for the opening night of the exhibition ‘Whales’ by Tessa Campbell Fraser in the tithe barn and ‘Horse Show!’ in the Long Gallery.

The exhibition ‘Whales’ forms part of the Active Environmentalism programming at Messums Org which is founded on the principle that action begins with knowledge. British sculptor and climate change advocate, Tessa Campbell Fraser aims to unravel the interspecies communications between man and animal that are currently at the forefront of scientific research. Three monumental (5.2m, 4.6m and 3m respectively) sculptures of sperm whales will hang from the roof of the tithe barn. The open timbers and roofbeams of the barn are reminiscent of an upturned boat, carrying subliminal associations with the industrial scale whaling which reduced sperm whale numbers to critical levels in the 19th century, when their waxy spermaceti oil famously oiled the wheels of the Industrial Revolution. The sculptures offer a response to the environment whereby the viewer becomes immersed into an imaginative world of the whale whilst the surroundings reflect man’s increasing ecological impact on the world’s climate.

‘Horse Show!’ is a new mixed exhibition of sculpture, paintings and works on paper in the Long Gallery at Messums West, exploring the beauty and majesty of the horse. Of all the creatures with which humanity shares the planet, the horse, with its inherent gracefulness, intelligence, speed, resilience and courage, has inspired the strongest feelings of fascination and empathy – an affinity reflected in more than 30,000 years of artistic representation in both the Eastern and Western worlds. This exhibition considers artists’ creative responses to the horse throughout time, through a series of objects, both historical and contemporary, in a range of media. Exhibiting artists include: Robert Bevan, Tessa Campbell-Fraser, Zoë Carmichael, Marc Chagall, Hans Erni, Dame Elisabeth Frink, Rigby Graham, Sophie Green, Nicola Hicks, Frippy Jameson, Heather Jansch, Wassily Kandinsky, Marino Marini, Pablo Picasso, John Skeaping, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Bouke de Vries, and Brian Taylor.