Sheffield’s Millennium Gallery is currently hosting the free exhibition; From Sky to Sea: Artists and Water.
The exhibition takes visitors through the complex water cycle following the typography of Sheffield from snow upon high peaks to the rivers that flow through the heart of the city.
The exhibition is very climate conscious, with displays highlighting effects of climate change on water supplies in Sheffield and around the world.
Paul Swales, the exhibition co-curator, said: “This project started at a time when we were washing our hands whilst singing happy birthday and it has been completed during a hose-pipe ban.”
Part of the inspiration for the exhibition is the importance water has played in the history of Sheffield itself, being a pivotal part of the power that forged the Steel City.
Louisa Briggs, Exhibition and Display Curator at Sheffield Museums, said: “Water is a fundamental part of our lives and artists have continued to reflect our relationship with it for centuries.
“In Sheffield, our early industrial success was indebted in our waterways.”
It also includes an exciting and exclusive new exhibit that has not been seen since the 1980s. The Titan’s striking largescale woodcut print, The Submersion of Pharaoh’s Army in the Red Sea, dated back to 1549.
Beth Hinchcliffe, the Assistant Site Manager at Millennium Gallery and Graves Gallery, said: “It has been really popular because this exhibition has been an opportunity to conserve this woodcut print.
“It is one of the only surviving works of its kind because it was an early billboard really and would have been plastered on the side of a building in Venice.”
The exhibition has been a huge success for the Millennium Gallery as it has brought new faces to the museum whilst also pleasing regulars who have visited the galleries for years.
Most importantly, the exhibition has raised lots of donations from visitors that appreciate that the Gallery provides creative exhibitions like this one.
Beth Hinchliffe said: “It’s really been a success and overall, I think visitors have really really enjoyed having a look around and we’ve been getting a lot of donations for it which is great because we are a charity.
“I think visitors like to see that this art belongs to the people of Sheffield, and they are willing to support us because of exhibitions like this.”
Visitors only have until March 12 to visit the free exhibition that brings together striking painting, photography and works on paper by numerous artists.
