Another really nice exhibition space in one of the best Public Parks in the country and it’s in the cente of Birkenhead. Its also only a short walk from the Lauries Centre where you can see more exhibitions.
I’m sure most of you will know something about Birkenhead Park, it opened in 1847, was the first park created by act of Parliament at Public Expense and was designed by Joseph Paxton. In 1850 the American park architect, Frederick Olmsted visited and later incorporated many of the features in his design for New York Central Park.
In 2004 work started on the £11 million restoration funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. This work included the new Pavilion/Visitor Centre which opened in 2006. It’s a beautiful park with lots of wildlife and the centre which has plenty of natural light has already hosted several exhibitions and many activities. There’s also a cafe and you can park right outside if you drive in through the entrance on Ashville Road.
For this week only (ending on Friday 30 October 2009) Robert Jackson (no relation) is exhibiting a retrospective covering the past 25 years of his paintings. He uses mainly pastels but there are also some larger acrylic on canvases.
There are several examples of his excellent pastel landscapes and seascapes – being based on the Wirral an artist can’t help but be inspired by the sands of the Dee estuary and the sunsets over West Kirby. Many of the works were drawn from life rather than from photographs or sketches and Jackson has traveled a fair bit so we see pictures from Venice, France, Norway, Canada and Devon.
When we visited today, Robert was busy with one of the children’s workshops he has been running during the week, the last one is on Thursday 13.30 – 15.30.
When he is not busy with the workshops he may be working on a new painting, maybe a portrait. There are some of his portraits on show, many years ago he used to be in Cavern Walks doing portraits of passing public (for a fee of course). He did a lovely one of my daughter, Emma, which I still have framed here.
So you only have a few days to see this show but you can see more on Robert’s website and if you can’t make it this week the park is still worth a visit anytime.
Birkenhead Park Visitor Centre – Robert Jackson Retrospective
25 – 30 October 2009
