HAPPY!

For a number of years, the Hatton has worked with a group of young people, called L-INK.
Since the summer, L-INK have been working with the Hatton team to curate an exhibition of works from the Jerwood Collection, jerwood.org/Jerwoodcollection/

Through their work with the gallery, their personal research and the development of their collaborative practice, L-INK are aware that, unlike most other professions or vocations, every artist becomes an artist in a different way and at different times in their life. Some artists are art-makers all the time; others have relationships to the creative process which vary in their intensity, incidence and fluidity.

For this exhibition, L-INK hope to be able to tell the stories of the artists whose works are on display, specifically the ways in which artists have progressed their practices through formal or informal education and their own lived experiences.

The exhibition draws upon Victor Pasmore’s 1957 ‘Art Education Exhibition’ at the Hatton, in which the work of non-professional artists from young children to mature students and arts professionals was shown together. In the summation of his review of Pasmore’s exhibition, journalist Desmond Bland stated,

There is nothing here that was not done with enjoyment and that is an
educational aim that deserves every encouragement.

L-INK have taken inspiration from this idea, and curated the exhibition using the idea of  ‘enjoyment’ as the lens through which to present the artwork. 

The Hatton will also celebrate the works of young artists at different stages of their creative practice, showing works by groups of children from local schools (Years 4,6 & 9) who have undertaken workshops with the gallery and the young people, inspired by works from the Jerwood Collection.

The exhibition, HAPPY! opens at the Hatton Gallery on 14 February 2026.

                                                                              

Zoe Allen, Exhibition Officer, Hatton Gallery