Arts and Wonder season at Quarry Bank

Concept drawings of artwork by Lucy Harvey

Arts and Wonder is a season of creative responses to the themes of work, leisure and the legacy of industrialisation. The season runs from Saturday 23 September to Sunday 19 November 2017.

At Quarry Bank people came together in a new type of community, an industrial way of living still with us today.  Through contemporary video, song and sculpture artists have explored different aspects of industrialisation and its influence on people both in the past and today. These range from the impact of new working structures and constraints, to the efforts people made and still make to carve out space for intellectual, social and creative pursuits.

The season features work by Quarry Bank’s visual artist-in-residence Lucy Harvey, broadside ballad singer Jennifer Reid, and a touring exhibition of contemporary films called Changing Places, which is curated by Film and Video Umbrella.

Concept drawings of artwork by Lucy Harvey
Quarry Bank   Cheshire

Mutual Improvement Society by Lucy Harvey

Following a residency at Quarry Bank, Lucy Harvey has created three new sculptural works which respond to the interests and pursuits of Quarry Bank’s founding Greg family. Sited across the gardens, Mutual Improvement Society draws inspiration from the forms, materials and ideas behind the geological and astronomical interests of the Gregs.

Image from Desire Machine Collective
Quarry Bank   Cheshire

Changing Places

Film and Video Umbrella presents Changing Places, a series of exhibitions showing contemporary artists' video within historic buildings across the country. Quarry Bank is one of ten venues on this nationwide tour and hosts four video works, by Ravi Agarwal, Omar Chowdhury, Desire Machine Collective and Yasmin Jahan Nupur.

Broadside ballad singer Jennifer Reid
Quarry Bank   Cheshire

Community music project with Jennifer Reid

Broadside ballad singer, Jennifer Reid, has met with local community groups to explore and reflect on local working life. These conversations have inspired the creation of new ballads looking at the working life of people in the community today. These ballads will be played as part of Quarry Bank’s Art and Wonder season in the Mill Workers’ World gallery.

Upcoming events

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The Tiger Who Came to Tea Exhibition

Mon 22 Oct 2018
10:30-16:30
Meet the iconic children's character, the Tiger Who Came to Tea, in a special pop-up exhibition celebrating 50 years since the publication of Judith Kerr's classic. In association with Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children's Books.

Journeys of the Imagination

Mon 22 Oct 2018
10:30-16:30
Pack your bags for an adventure as we discover the incredible journeys made by the people of Quarry Bank. Based on newly written stories by Berlie Doherty with beautiful illustrations by Emma Baldwin.

October Half Term - Been Through the Mill

Mon 22 Oct 2018
11:00-16:00
Find out about the gory accidents that happened to Quarry Bank’s mill workers. Discover what it was like to work with a disability in the past, meet a mill physician and compare historical treatments with today’s medical advances.

Spooky Tours

Fri 26 Oct 2018
18:30-19:15
An outbreak of plague has forced the mill to shut its doors. A quarantine is in place, but volunteers are needed to go inside and look for the victims. Are you brave enough to go in the mill and face what lies within the walls?

Halloween - Ghostly Goings-on at Quarry Bank

Sat 27 Oct 2018
11:00-16:00
Join us for a week of Halloween fun. Scare yourself on a spooky tour of the Apprentice House and toast a ghostly marshmallow over a campfire.

Murder Mystery Dinner - Scream if you know what you did last Halloween

Wed 31 Oct 2018
19:00-22:00
This delicious two course meal is the setting for the final blood-soaked dramatic scene of Absolute Murder Movies. The great Director Dick Golightly and his ever youthful star Rick O'Shea are in town for one night only.