Nottingham Galleries

This month we enjoyed a day trip to Nottingham. We live close to a train line that goes directly to Nottingham, and we could avoid trying to drive around a strange city and find affordable parking, so we took the train.

Once we arrived we headed on a 5 min walk towards the castle and famous Robin Hood statue. Just around the corner is the Nottingham Society of Artists. This organisation is a charity run by its members and it holds many exhibitions throughout the year. When we visited it was a member exhibition showing a wide variety of subjects, styles and techniques at reasonable prices.

Next we chose a gallery at random, there are so many to choose from! We chose a commercial gallery. The art was very exclusive, and very expensive but it was nice to see work by famous people close up.

Before we knew it, it was lunchtime. There are many cafes and coffee shops in the city centre as well as the traditional shops that you would expect.

After lunch, we moved to another random choice that happened to be another charity gallery, the Nottingham Contemporary. Nothing was for sale, apart from in the gift shop, but some amazing art was on display. I was really taken by the patterned fabrics, pictured above, and the matching vases, made by Hamid Zenati who died in 2022. We stopped for a well deserved coffee in the ground floor cafe before heading to our next destination.

We visited the Nottingham Central Library next to see what was being exhibited there. It is a gorgeous new building and lots of landscaping was taking place nearby. The exhibition was about cotton workers, a link to local industry of the past. The library is close to the train station and we strolled back to where we started having completed a circuit.

A lovely day out and much to see.