PRESS RELEASE
Saffron Walden Museum presents its summer season: A Summer of Art!
Taking inspiration from the people, places and landscape of Uttlesford, Saffron Walden
Museum presents its exciting summer programme of art activities. The programme
includes an exciting new exhibition, “The Uttlesford Open 2023” in addition to the “Wild
about Walden” art trail, both opening to the public on the 22nd of July.
“The Uttlesford Open 2023: A Sense of Place” will feature artworks by over 50 local artists,
exploring the theme of the people, places, and landscape of Uttlesford. The artworks
cover a breadth of artistic disciplines from painting to millinery; quilt making to stained
glass; all evoking the intrinsic character of Uttlesford and the emotive bonds and
attachments that people experience in response to it.
Building on previous work with “Support 4 Sight”, the exhibition will also feature audio
descriptions of some of the art works on display, written and performed by the artists
themselves thus giving a more personal narrative to the pieces and understanding how
Uttlesford has provided inspiration for the art.
Charlotte Pratt, Learning and Outreach Officer at Saffron Walden Museum and the
exhibition coordinator said:
“It important that we continue to improve the accessibility of our exhibitions here at the
Museum and show that we are a museum for the whole community. I hope that this
exhibition and varied summer programme demonstrates this broad inclusivity; through the
audio descriptions, the free “Wild about Walden” art trail in addition to the open call for the
exhibition, which was open to everyone in the county to enter.”
Also launching on the 22 nd of July is the “Wild about Walden” art trail. “Wild about Walden”
will see large lion sculptures and silhouettes hidden all around Saffron Walden. Trail maps
will be available from the Museum from the 22 nd of July and are free to all. For those
successfully completing the trail, there will be the chance to be entered into a prize draw to
win a season ticket to the Museum along with an exclusive behind the scenes tour. There
will be 14 lions to find in total, each with a letter allocated to it. Lion hunters will need to
find all 14 lions and record their letters correctly on the trail map which then needs to be
handed back to the Museum to be entered into the prize draw. Everyone who joins in will
also get a sticker!
The Museum will also be holding a fun packed programme of creative activities for families
over the holidays beginning on the 25 th of July with a clay tile activity and finishing up on
the 24 th of August with an amazing day of heritage crafts. There are 6 activity days in total
during this time and drop in spaces will be available on a first come first serve basis
however it is advised to prebook tickets to avoid disappointment via the museum’s art
tickets page.
The Uttlesford Open 2023 exhibition opens to the public on Saturday 22 nd July 2023 and
runs throughout the summer and beyond until Sunday 29 th October 2023.
Most of the Artworks will be on sale and purchased works can be collected after the
exhibition closes at the end of October so that you can bring your very own part of the
Sense of Place exhibition back home.
The “Wild about Walden” art trail will run from Saturday 22nd of July to Tuesday 5th of
September and all completed entries will go into a prize draw shortly after to win a
fabulous season ticket for the year and an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the
museum.