In her first museum exhibition, artist Beatrice Hasell-McCosh will be showing monumental oil on canvas paintings and small works on paper at the Garden Museum this summer. Taking inspiration from the Cumbrian garden she grew up in, the paintings are based on flowers grown and seasonal changes observed during the 2020 lockdowns.
Beatrice Hasell-McCosh‘s work uses natural form and the tradition of landscape painting as the lens to explore emotional themes, identity linked to place and human connection. With a degree in English and Classics reading widely around a subject is central to her practice. The titles of each large work reference literature, pop culture, song lyrics and art history.
Curated by The Violet Hour, a collaborative enterprise showcasing artists through pop-up exhibitions, all the works in the exhibition are available to buy.
Beatrice says:
“During 2020 I drew comfort from the routine of making small watercolour sketches in the garden. As humans shrunk away from each other the reassuring continuity and cycle of nature became completely absorbing to me. Over a period of six months I watched and drew from the same spots continuously seeing plants grow up, crowd together (in antithesis to human society) blooming and dying and being replaced with the new.”
The Violet Hour:
“We are excited to be showing Beatrice’s work in the setting of the Garden Museum, for what will be the artist’s first museum show. Amongst the works for this show she has created four monumental, abstract paintings, to be hung like great tapestries in the arches of the Nave, which will quite literally be climbing its heights, a homage to Nature in this deconsecrated, sacred space.”
Beatrice Hasell-McCosh: Of Silence and Slow Time 29th June – 24th July 2022 gardenmuseum.org.uk
About the artist
Beatrice Hasell McCosh (b.1990, UK) studied English and Classics at Leeds University and then spent two years studying at Leith School of Art in Edinburgh and The Royal Drawing School in London. Her work is in private collections around the UK, Europe, Japan and the USA. She has recently curated two online exhibitions, individually during lockdown and for Bowes Parris Gallery both focusing on the importance of drawing. She lives and works between London and Cumbria, this is her first solo museum presentation. @beatricehasellmccosh
The Garden Museum is housed in the deconsecrated church of St Mary-at-Lambeth. The Museum contains the burial place of John Tradescant, an early gardener and plant hunter. In order to preserve his tomb, Rosemary Nicholson founded the Museum in 1977. The Museum explores and celebrates British gardening through its collections, temporary exhibitions, events and garden visits. Visitors will enjoy the permanent collection of paintings, tools and ephemera and historic artefacts, all providing a glimpse into our love affair with gardens. @gardenmuseum
Whether you are an enthusiastic amateur gardener, more of a specialist or someone with a passion for museums, history or architecture, the Museum has something for you.
The Violet Hour is a collaborative enterprise, focused on publicising emerging contemporary art, via pop-up exhibitions in non-gallery spaces as well as gallery collaborations. Run by Sarah Reynolds and Alex Wellesley Wesley, The Violet Hour showcases the work of artists in the early to mid-stages of their careers, across a range of media. @the_violet_hour_
