Cumbria’s Visual Artist of the Year, Julian Cooper, will feature in a major new exhibition opening this weekend in Cockermouth.
This Land is Our Land at Wordsworth House explores the fragile and ever-changing relationship with the landscape that surrounds us.
Julian Cooper
It includes several dramatic landscapes by Julian Cooper, a member of the Heaton Cooper family, whose work features in collections around the world and can be seen in London’s Art Space Gallery, as well as at the Heaton Cooper Studio in Grasmere. He was named Visual Artist of the Year in the recent Cumbria Life culture awards.
Force Crag Mine by Julian Cooper
There’s a collection of William Wordsworth’s personal objects, including his ice skates, and other contributors include writers Robert Macfarlane, Sarah Hall, Hunter Davies and George Monbiot, local farmers and others living and working in the Lakes.
Zoe Gilbert, Wordsworth House’s visitor experience manager, said: ‘This Land is Our Land is about nature’s power to shape us and the impact we, in turn, have on the environment. These are issues that affect us all.
“The exhibition combines the written word, stunning images, a series of specially commissioned short films and a range of extraordinary objects chosen by the participants to exemplify their relationship with this very special place.”
This Land is Our Land forms part of a year-long series of events on the theme People’s Landscapes being held around the UK by the National Trust. Wordsworth House is hosting a series of linked talks, including an evening with farmer and author James Rebanks.
For more information and to book tickets, see nationaltrust.org.uk/ wordsworth-house. This Land is Our Land is open daily, except Friday, 11am to 4pm, from 9 March to 8 September, and admission is free with entry to the house and garden.
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