A partnership between Caerbladon and Athelstan Museum, we have set out to capture the stories of the many artists and makers who contributed to town’s cultural life and offered inspiration to successive generations.

Following in the footsteps of JMW Turner, 20th century luminaries such as John Piper and the engraver and printmaker Robin Tanner produced important work here in the post-war years, which was on display. In recent years, many artists have made Malmesbury their home, including the landscape painter Julian Barrow, ceramicist Mary White and acclaimed Scottish sculptor James Castle. The local area continues to inspire many artists living here, working in painting, textiles, photography, ceramics, glass, metal and mixed media

The project was launched in November 2022 with the first In Living Memory exhibition at John Bowen Gallery drawing on the private collections of David Hendry and Alice Langtree. The exhibition featured works by Julian Barrow, Brian Neal, Jehanne Le Quesne, Rowland Hilder, Roland Davies, Gerald Cox, Miriam Nicholls and Roy Hewish.

During the exhibition we held a Show and Tell event at the Rausing Building on Saturday 5 November. We invited local people to bring artworks from their homes, and to share stories about the artists and how they came to own the work. Athelstan Museum exhibited selected works from their collection including John Piper’s rendering of the Abbey South Porch, a specially commissioned etching Aldhemsburgh by Robin Tanner, ceramics by internationally acclaimed Mary White and paintings and woodcuts by her husband artist Charles White. Malmesbury Community Radio interviewed local people about their artworks and the stories of how they acquired them, and produced a podcast which can be listened to in the Journal section of this website. Since that time, over 200 works by artists who at various times lived and worked in the area have been brought to us from individuals’ private collections in addition to those held in public collections.

In July/August 2023 we staged a series of exhibitions in the Abbey, Library, Rausing Building, Caerbladon and other venues featuring a selection of these works and those by other contemporary artists. The exhibitions were accompanied by guided walks, workshops and events celebrating the dynamism of the art scene in the local area which continues to flourish today.