Including works by Paul Gauguin, Norman Cornish, Isa Thompson, and John Martin, ‘Looking with Nature’ invites visitors to the Laing to uncover ecological themes and issues in the selected work from the Gallery’s collection.

The group was brought together by a shared concern for nature, and led by Dr Olga Smith, a Newcastle University Academic Track (NUAcT) Fellow. Participants come from several Schools within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) and each wrote a short text inspired by a particular work or object in the collection.

Dr Olga Smith said: ‘Art has uncanny capacity to affect us, as well make us reflect deeply. I wanted to harness this power of art to bring urgent awareness to the fact that we are living through an ecological crisis. It has been a privilege to work with the Laing and bring together this amazing group of experts and students, all drawn together by a shared passion for environmental justice.’

Charlotte White, a PhD student in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, said: “I have enjoyed being a part of this project because it pushed me to think about the connections between art and environmental history and allowed me to use my research skills to improve public engagement with the collections at the Laing.”

The tour also gives an insight into the industrial history of Newcastle and its environmental impacts, such as William Daniell’s ‘View of Newcastle, taken from a windmill to the eastward of St. Ann’s’, from about 1802-3. Chosen by Dr Julia Heslop, a NUAcT Fellow in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, the panoramic view over Newcastle shows the trade and industries growing up along the River Tyne at that time, as the pace of industrialisation accelerated.

Many of the works included in the ‘Looking with Nature’ tour are from artists with connections to Newcastle and the wider North East such as Ralph Hedley, Isa Thompson, John Martin and Norman Cornish.

Lizzie Jacklin, Keeper of Art at the Laing Art Gallery, said: "'Looking with Nature' invites us to look at some of the Laing's most celebrated objects in a different way. From uncovering the origins of the sand used to make a celebrated 18th-century glass bowl to the surprising relationship between John Martin's epic Biblical subjects and coal extraction, the texts present fresh and timely new interpretations of key works in the collection." 

The project is a cross-faculty collaboration and has been funded by the Catherine Cookson Foundation and Newcastle University.

More information about the tour and the works included is available at https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/laing/looking-with-nature-self-guided-ecological-tour-of-the-collection