Arcadia (revisited)

Artists Irene Godfrey, Jenni Hodgson, Maggie Learmonth and guest artists from West Cumbria explore the experience of being in the local landscape.

Florence Arts Centre

Free Entry

January 17 – April 20, 2025

In this exhibition artists Irene Godfrey, Jenni Hodgson, Maggie Learmonth and guest artists from West Cumbria explore the experience of being in the landscape. They walk the paths recording their observations, sharing perceptions and raising questions. ‘Arcadia (revisited)’ presents some of the outcomes as a sensorial expression of place and weather.

It also invites visitors to walk, draw and contribute. The artists have links with very different landscapes – Maggie grew up in Ennerdale, Jenni in the rural Eastern Cape in South Africa and Irene on the high North Pennines – but have come together in residencies in West Cumbria over the past couple of years to reflect on the West Cumbrian Landscape in their work. They invited 4 artists to join them on their recent weekend workshop – Clare Parker, Ian Hinde, Rob Mitchell and Alison McAdam – and their work will also be featured in the show.

The exhibition explores ideas about Arcadia as nostalgia for an idealised past and a perfect landscape. It asks how do we see a landscape? Is it simply a view? If so, whose view? Is it fixed or does it evolve?