What a fantastic summer we’ve had! Live music, festivals, community events, as well as so much having gone on at the Museum & Art Swindon!
Keep reading to discover the latest and forthcoming exhibitions!
New Exhibitions:
Leslie Cole: Recording Conflict in the Second World War
Until 3 January 2026, don’t miss our current exhibition celebrating the life and work of Swindon-born war artist Leslie Cole. Commissioned by the War Artists’ Advisory Committee, Cole left an important visual record of the Second World War, and is known for his unflinching depictions of wartime devastation. Opened to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Leslie Cole: Recording Conflict explores Cole’s work before, during and after the war. It combines artworks from the Museum & Art Swindon collections and generous loans from the Imperial War Museums and private lenders.
Learn more about the artist and his work by joining one of the museums curator-led tours. On Friday 19th September and Saturday 1st November, join Katie Ackrill to hear about the wartime commissions of Leslie Cole and his contemporaries. Or learn about the context of Cole’s early training and career in Swindon and Hull, by joining Philip Garrahan on 3rd October or 22nd November.
Out on the Town
Until 18th October 2025 Ignite the spark of your memories of Swindon nights out! Co-curated as part of our Arts Council England-funded Unlocking Collections project, this exhibition reveals research undertaken by one of museums volunteer teams. This exhibition explores 170years of Swindon’s theatres, dance halls, music venues and cinemas. The volunteer team has delved into Museum & Art Swindon’s collections and collaborated with Swindon Libraries Local Studies to discover the stories behind going out in Swindon.
They’ve investigated theatre, cinema and music venues around the town, discovering famous names performing in Swindon from Laurel and Hardy to Lily Allen – not to mention the monkey – or the elephant?! While there have only ever been a few theatres such as the Empire and the Wyvern, from the beginning of the 20th century, cinemas appeared all over Swindon, and there have always been lots of places to go and listen to music, and maybe have a dance.
They’ve found jazz bands at the Arts Centre, frisky club nights at the Brunel Rooms, glee singing at the Mechanics’ Institute, musicals at The Empire and the Wyvern – some put on by Swindon’s own company, SALOS – and much more! Celebrate one of Swindon’s own celebrities, Diana Dors. The museum is keen to develop their collections around going out in Swindon. The museum would love to hear from you if you have material – perhaps programmes, posters, tickets, t-shirts, photographs – from the 1960s up to the present day.
If you think you might have something that would interest the museum, then contact the collections team on: MASCuratorial@swindon.gov.uk This exhibition is FREE to view and is open Tuesday to Saturday 10:30am to 4:30pm until 18th October.
Forthcoming Exhibitions
Fossil Hunters
Coming Soon! The Museum is currently working really hard on their new exhibition, Fossil Hunters – Unlocking Swindon’s Jurassic Past – which will open on Saturday 4th October 2025.
This exhibition is part of Arts Council England-funded Unlocking Collections project, and has been co-curated with the members of the Museum’s Jurassic Swindon volunteer group. Fossil Hunters explores Jurassic fossils uncovered in Swindon and the individuals that were inspired by, or came to study the town’s geology.
The exhibition will showcase the Museum’s collection of Jurassic marine creatures, as well as the newly acquired Swindon Stegosaur vertebra. Also on display will be specimens from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Children visiting the exhibition can take part in the activity trail or relax in the Dino Den reading corner!
This exhibition is FREE to view and is open Tuesday to Saturday 10:30am to 4:30pm 4th October 2025 to 11th April 2026.
The Lost Surrealist: Henry Orlik’s Quantum Revolution
Coming Soon! 24th October 2025 to 14th March 2026 – In partnership with Winsor Birch, this landmark exhibition showcases artworks spanning Orlik’s career which has, until recently, taken place behind closed doors.
Following training at Swindon School of Art and the Gloucestershire College of Art, Orlik arrived on the art scene in the 1970s. He quickly established a reputation as an exciting and technically brilliant surrealist artist, his dream-like worlds fizzing and humming with energy.
However, he soon chose to retreat from the commercial art world, and spent the next 50years painting in solitude. Recent exhibitions held by Windsor Birch have gained national overage, and helped Orlik to achieve the reputation he deserves as a “surrealist master” and a “surrealist art star”.
In a celebration of Orlik’s life and career to date, this exhibition brings together a collection of significant artworks from private lenders, to a public museum for the very first time.
It will also reveal an exciting new acquisition to the Museum & Art Swindon collection!
Museum & Art Swindon Retail
Book Souvenirs for Leslie Cole: Recording Conflict in the Second World War ‘Today I worked well – the picture fell off the brush’ The Artistry of Leslie Cole, by Malcolm Yorke, £75.00 If you’re interested in our Leslie Cole exhibition, then perhaps this book containing over 130 colour illustrations is for you!
The book is quarter bound in cloth and beautiful blue marbled paper, made by Louise Brockman. Only 500 copies were produced. Secure your perfect souvenir to the Leslie Cole exhibition today.
Made in Swindon: A Social History 1840s – 1940s, edited by Philip Garrahan, £16.95 Behind Swindon’s international reputation as home of the GWR Works and as an engineering powerhouse, is the story of the people behind the work. With specific chapters on entitled The Swindon School of Art: Picking Up Steam by Philip Dearden and Worker as Artist: Creativity in a Company Town by Philip Garrahan, Cole’s work is covered alongside that of his local contemporaries.
Both books are available from the Museum & Art Swindon Shop.
E-mail MASRetail@Swindon.gov.uk to reserve your copy!
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