Events and Workshops

APRIL

Local Residents’ Free Entry Days
Friday 11^th,  Saturday 12^th  + Sunday 13^th April
1.30pm-4.30pm
FREE

Free entry to the museum for all local residents with CO7 6 postcodes. Please bring proof of address. Two adults and up to four children per entry.

Curator’s Tour: Museum + Technicolour Dickens
Wednesday 16^th April
11am-12.30pm
£17 / £12
Museum Year Pass Holders Free but please book in advance

Wind through the homely rooms of the museum whilst discovering more about the life and work of Sir Alfred Munnings. Over 100 familiar works with some surprises.

Explore Munnings love of literature as a pre-amble to seeing “Technicolour Dickens: the Living Image of Charles Dickens”, a special exhibition from the Charles Dickens Museum in London.

Poetry Workshop
Tuesday 29^th April
10am-1pm
£35 includes refreshments

with Brenda Wells

A variety of creative writing tasks and prompts will be used throughout this session, inspired by the connecting lives of Sir Alfred Munnings and Charles Dickens. Further time will be given to develop and share work in the rest of the session, which is suitable for writers of all levels.

MAY

In conversation with Lucinda Hawksley
Tuesday 6th May
2pm
£12

Author, art historian, broadcaster and President of the International Dickens Fellowship, Lucinda Hawksley will talk about her life and work in conversation with James Clarke, writer and lecturer.

Exhibition Tour: Technicolour Dickens
Thursday 8^th May
12.45-1.30pm
£15 / £10
Museum Year Pass Holders Free but please book in advance

Pre-opening tour of “Technicolour Dickens” with a curator, followed by a self-guided visit of the museum from 1.30pm.

Mindful Drawing
Wednesdays 21^st & 28^th May
10am-1pm
£15
Museum Year Pass Holders £10

with Jevan Watkins-Jones
 
Take time out with this relaxed morning of sketching around the museum, time to chat and have a coffee. All abilities welcome. Come by yourself or with friends.

“Drawing for no reason-in blissful ignorance-without intent or aim, and not a care in a world of dreams…” Alfred Munnings.

Society of Equestrian Artists
Thursday 29^th May
10am-3pm
FREE TO WATCH

Members of the Society of Equestrian Artists will be painting in the museum grounds as part of their residential event in Dedham. Come and see what they do.

The Haunted Landscape: Reading M. R. James, Visually with Dr Matthew Bowman
Thursday 29^th May
7pm
£12

Is it possible to speak of the writer M. R. James as one of the finest landscape artists of the early 20^th century? His revered ghost stories are often more about the haunting of place than of people. With Suffolk dominating his purview, the pastoral, bucolic landscape we may associate with local painters such as Gainsborough, Constable, and Munnings is reframed as darkened by ghostly presences. This talk will explore James as landscape artist, unearthing the uncanny in our environs through his ghost stories.   

Paint Up: Conspirators in Dark Avenues
Friday 30th & Saturday 31st May
9.30am-4pm
£50 per day
Come for one or both days

Tea and coffee provided, lunch can be ordered from the Tea Room.

Tutor and peer support available.

A young Alfred Munnings was inspired by the stories of Highwaymen. In this two-day art event, in the museum grounds, a tableau of horses and costumed figures will create an atmosphere of daring and decorum for artists to paint, draw and photograph.

All abilities welcome.

Day 1: will be black and white compositions only, as Munnings did in the late 1890s

Day 2: any medium

JUNE

Exhibition Tour: Technicolour Dickens
Thursday 5^th June
12.45-1.30pm
£15 / £10
Museum Year Pass Holders Free but please book in advance

Pre-opening tour of “Technicolour Dickens” with a curator, followed by a self-guided visit of the museum from 1.30pm.

Mindful Drawing
Wednesdays 25^th June and 2^nd July
10am-1pm
£15
Museum Year Pass Holders £10

with Jevan Watkins-Jones

Take time out with this relaxed morning of sketching around the museum, time to chat and have a coffee. All abilities welcome. Come by yourself or with friends.

“Drawing for no reason-in blissful ignorance-without intent or aim, and not a care in a world of dreams…” Alfred Munnings.

JULY

Slow Drawing
Fridays 25^th July & 1^st August
10am-1pm
£15
Museum Year Pass Holders £10

with Jevan Watkins-Jones

Take time out with this relaxed morning of sketching around the museum, time to chat and have a coffee. All abilities welcome. Come by yourself or with friends.

“Drawing for no reason-in blissful ignorance-without intent or aim, and not a care in a world of dreams…” Alfred Munnings.

Curator’s Talk: The Life and Work of Sir Alfred Munnings

Pre-recorded ONLINE event.
Marcia Whiting, Curatorial Associate, provides an overview of Alfred Munnings’ life and work.

You will be sent a link to play the film via Vimeo (installation not required). Recording lasts 41 minutes.

Four-part online workshop series: Equestrian Art Basics with Jim Power

Join James Power for a four part series of pre-recorded ONLINE workshops to learn the basic steps needed to successfully draw and paint horses.

Session 1: Basics of Drawing the Horse

Session 2: Adding colour and form to the Horse

Session 3: Looking more closely at the horse’s head.

Session 4: Painting the horse’s head in oils.

Art History festival 2024

The sport of Kings inspired the painter Sir Alfred Munnings to create some of his most well known paintings. See how these pictures were created and how they have travelled the globe, inspiring the artists of today. For the Art History Festival 2024 Art History: Local to Global, we present this short film in partnership with Art Historian, Christopher Garibaldi and the National Sporting Library and Museum, Virginia, USA.