From one of our recently completed projects, working with Gallery Oldham and Oldham Council. ✨
Stories of service and sacrifice are brought to life through objects, personal histories, and the borough’s rich military past. Alongside this, the Civic Silver collection showcases historic silverware and ceremonial pieces, celebrating Oldham’s civic pride.🗝️
@galleryoldham
#galleryoldham #museumdesign #exhibitiondesign
Amid societal change, creativity endures. Don’t miss seeing the exquisite papercuts and ceramics in our Women Portraits: Trades and Professions exhibition. Join us in celebrating the legacy, labour, and liberation of women through the powerful visual language of Charlotte Hodes. The exhibition closes Saturday 9 May 2026.
✨ Admission is free – everyone welcome.
#CelebrateWomen #ArtWithPurpose #CharlotteHodes #OldhamExhibition
Exciting news! More tickets have been released for our upcoming GO! Family session with illustrator Gillian flint. Join us on Wednesday 27 May, 1pm for her book launch and fun and creative draw along. And don’t forget you can come and see Gillian’s work anytime in our family friendly exhibition, Once Upon a Time. Check out our website for more details. #loveoldham #thingstodoinoldham
For too long, women have been seen as ideals, muses, or symbols of beauty.
In Women Portraits: Trades and Professions, artist Charlotte Hodes shifts the gaze—presenting women as makers, thinkers, and professionals, using the tools of their trades as their portraits.
🔍 From 19th-century suffragists like Dr Olive Clayden and Lydia Becker to contemporary professionals like beekeeper Damson Tregaskis and Northern Roots’ Anna Da Silva, this exhibition is a visual celebration of female empowerment, past and present.
🗓️ Don’t miss it – closing 9 May at Gallery Oldham.
#CharlotteHodes #Suffragists #HiddenHistories #FeministArt #WomenInScience #WomenInTrades #RepresentationMatters #LoveOldham
Astronomy, 2025, colour slip, hand cut enamel transfer on earthenware
Photography: Peter Abrahams
🚨 One Week Left to Apply! 🚨
Submissions are coming in fast, but there’s still time to be part of this year’s GO! Artists – Oldham Art Fair.
With Oldham named Town of Culture 2026, this is the area’s only art fair, so it's the perfect platform to support local artists and makers while championing Gallery Oldham and our creative community.
Whether you’re a painter, maker, illustrator, ceramicist, jeweller, printmaker or something completely your own… we’d love to see your work!
📅 Event date: Saturday 17th October 2026
⏳ Deadline: Midnight, 10th May
🔗 Application link in bio
Please share and help spread the word, it makes a huge difference for local artists and makers.
#GOArtistsOldham #OldhamArtFair #GalleryOldham #OldhamCreatives #CallForArtists
Charlotte Hodes combines fine and decorative arts in this striking exhibition:
🎨 Large-scale papercuts
🏺 Hand-crafted ceramic vases
🔧 Tools as symbols of identity
Each imagined portrait honours a woman not for her appearance—but for her work. Step into a space where art challenges norms and reclaims history.
🗓️ Women Portraits: Trades and Professions
📍 Gallery Oldham | 17 Jan – 9 May 2026
#CeramicArt #PapercutArt #FeministDesign #GalleryOldham #CharlotteHodes #AlternativePortraiture
Refuse Collection (detail), 2025, papercut
Photography: Peter Abrahams
One of the paintings on display in Oldham Libraries for #NationalYearofReading2026 includes this touching painting entitled George Herbert and his Mother painted by artist Charles West Cope in 1872.
George Herbert was an English poet and church priest who lived over 400 years ago. He was born into a wealthy family in 1593 and grew up loving music, learning, and writing. His mother, Magdalen, was a patron of John Donne and several other poets. She also had a strong influence on her son's writing career.
Herbert studied at Cambridge University and later became a village priest in a small place called Bemerton. He wrote poems about faith, hope, and the challenges of being human. His most famous book, The Temple, was published after he died. Herbert’s poems are known for their clever wordplay, strong feelings, and creative shapes—like “Easter Wings,” which looks like wings on the page!
Artist Charles Cope painted many historical scenes, including paintings for the walls of the House of Lords.
#NationalYearofReading2026 #goallin #loveoldham #reading #painting #charlescope
This week is National Gardening Week (UK) so I thought it was the perfect reason to highlight works from Women Portraits: Trades & Professions focusing on Botany and Horticulture.
Pictured here are papercuts and vases featuring both of these professions, inspired by my research in Oldham at Northern Roots and the rich history of horticulture and botany in the area - such as suffragist Lydia Becker who was amongst many things was also a botanist and wrote ‘Botany for Novices: The Natural System of Classification of Plants’. She also won a gold medal in the Royal Horticultural Society‘s 1864 Botanical Competition for her collection of pressed plants.
Similar pressed flowers are on display as part of the exhibition (as you can see in the install images 7 & 8), part of Gallery Oldham’s collection.
Women Portraits: Trades & Professions
Open until 9 May 2026
#GreenFutures #WomenInNature #LoveOldham #WomenInHistory #FeministArt @galleryoldham@northernrootsoldham
Ceramic technical support: @kayleighpeters_artist
Photos: @peterabrahams8
Install images (7 & 8): Joel Chester Fildes
🔍 Every detail tells a story.
Charlotte Hodes uses intricate papercuts and hand-crafted vases to depict the lives of working women—reimagining history through the tools of their trade. From milliners to scientists, these portraits celebrate strength, creativity, and resilience.
🗓️ Women Portraits: Trades and Professions
📍 On display 17 Jan – 9 May 2026
#WomenAtWork #CraftAndConcept #CharlotteHodes #ArtExhibition2026
Take a peek at our new display about Reading using objects and artworks from Gallery Oldham's collection.
From childhood Ladybird books and Marvel comics to novels that stay with us long after the final chapter, reading grows with us, shaping how we think and feel.
A popular piece from the art collection is entitled A Lover of Dickens by Charles Spencelayh and shows a man surrounded by books reading a novel by Charles Dickens. If you could take some time out and settle down with a book, what would it be?
#reading #goallin2026 @readingagency #nationalyearofreading2026 #readinghour #CharlesDickens
The Forgotten Army display has now left the building! Thanks for all your positive feedback about this exhibition.
Wishing success to @mahtabhussain and @royalbritishlegion and @britishfuture in their aim to create a permanent memorial to those who served in the British Indian Army.
The next venue for the tour of this artwork is @leicestermuseums
🚨Only Two Weeks Left to Apply!🚨
The countdown is on. If you’d like to be part of this year’s GO! Artists – Oldham Art Fair, now’s the perfect time to get your application in.
We’ve already had some brilliant submissions, and there’s still plenty of time to join us.
📅 Event date: Saturday 17th October 2026
⏳ Deadline: Midnight, 10th May
🔗 Application link in bio
#GOArtistsOldham #OldhamArtFair #GalleryOldham #OldhamCreatives #CallForArtists
