Exhibitions and Talks 

A retrospective of paintings, sculpture and wood engravings by the West Somerset artist Rachel Reckitt (1908-1995.)

Rachel Reckitt (1908-1995) was a 20th-century modernist artist who lived and worked in West Somerset for over 60 years. She was a unique artistic talent who worked entirely on her own terms, moving across subject matter, styles and media, even training as a blacksmith when she was in her 60s.

An Observer of People

Her lifelong-artistic endeavor, inspired by her astute observations of people and places, spans avant-garde painting, sculpture, wood engraving and blacksmithing. The exhibition will include loans from public and private collections alongside new acquisitions by the South West Heritage Trust.

Second World War

Highlights will include ‘Spanish Refugee Family’, on loan from the RAF Museum. This moving painting will be 
displayed alongside it’s sculptural counterpart for the first time. These works shine a light on the remarkable story of her life during the Second World War, and her imaginative use of materials, including stone sourced from the West Somerset landscape.

There will also be a chance to see the recently re-discovered work ‘Ruins’, which was painted on a pre-war trip to Sweden. It has been acquired to be part of the South West Heritage Trust’s collections.