Hartlepool art forms centre of national exhibition on mental health in London
Artworks from Hartlepool are heading to London to form the centre of a prestigious national exhibition.
Twenty-three pieces of art from the Hartlepool Borough Council collection will be displayed at cultural venue Two Temple Place, in London, for The Weight of Being: Vulnerability, Resilience and Mental Health in Art exhibition.
Running from January 24 until April 19, and curated by Hartlepool Borough Council’s senior art and museum curator Angela Thomas, the exhibition will explore the relationship between personal pressures and the universal challenges faced by humanity.
The exhibition builds on the work already done by the Hartlepool Art Gallery, in Church Square, in collaboration with Hartlepool charity Andy’s Man Club.
Councillor Karen Oliver, chair of the council’s housing, growth and communities committee, said: “We are thrilled to be involved in this partnership with Two Temple Place, both in terms of further raising Hartlepool’s profile on the national cultural map and promoting greater awareness of mental health.”
Eighteen pieces of art created by Belfast-born artist John Wilson McCracken will be on show at the exhibition.
John spent much of his career in Hartlepool, teaching at the West Hartlepool College of Art, curating at the Gray Art Gallery and Museum and bringing major exhibitions to the town.
Paddy Altern, director of Two Temple Place, said: “It has been an enormous pleasure for us to work with Angela Thomas and to have the extensive loans from the Hartlepool Borough Council collection in the exhibition.
“As well as focusing on social issues such as mental health, it is one of our charity’s core purposes to partner with and showcase public art collections from outside London.”