Shrewsbury Arts Trail returns for 2026 with the theme ‘Impressions’
Shrewsbury is gearing up for another celebration of creativity this summer with the return of the Shrewsbury Arts Trail.
Now in its sixth year, the trail will take the theme of ‘Impressions’, with a special exhibition at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery, plus an extensive Open Exhibition across SM&AG and The Parade Shops showcasing talented local artists from across the region.
This year’s theme takes inspiration from the Trail’s centrepiece - An Ancient Stronghold in France by Wynford Dewhurst, which has been secured on loan to Shrewsbury this summer from the Cartwright Hall Gallery in Bradford.
Shrewsbury Arts Trail founder Jess Richards fell in love with the painting on a visit to a special exhibition at York Art Gallery and was determined to show it in Shrewsbury: “It had such a profound effect on me,” Jess said. “I had gone to see Monet and I turned around and there it was. It was so beautiful, I started crying. I couldn’t get it out of my head.”
Dewhurst’s stunning oil on canvas depicts the ruined Château de Crozant in the Valley of the Creuse, in the Limousin region of France. British abstract expressionist painter Ian Rayer-Smith is set to produce a new piece in response to the original work - with both pieces to be shown together in the special ‘Impressions’ exhibition at SM&AG.
Dewhurst (1864-1941), known as ‘Manchester’s Monet’, championed impressionism in Britain, exhibiting regularly at London galleries and at the Royal Academy of Arts. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was greatly influenced by the work and colour palette of his contemporary Claude Monet.
It was to Monet that Dewhurst dedicated his work: ‘Impressionist Painting: Its Genesis and Development’ (1904), in which he claimed that British artists such as John Constable and JMW Turner effectively 'invented' Impressionism and that the French masters 'merely followed'. He even named one of his six children ‘Claude’ after the great artist.
“French artists simply developed a style which was British in its conception” - Wynford Dewhurst
Caitlin Doley, Associate Collections Curator at York Art Gallery - which exhibited the work as part of a special exhibition in 2024, writes in her article accompanying the exhibition:” A number of critics in both England and France subsequently accused him of 'disliking the French', but this simply was not true. Dewhurst was evidently an ardent Francophile who loved both the country and its culture.”
She added that Dewhurst painted ‘'happy', colourful, unstuffy pictures (primarily French landscapes) that made him popular beyond the confines of academia’.
“I must also have been born with an irrepressible love for brilliant colours, which has certainly moulded my style” - Wynford Dewhurst
Whilst Monet’s reputation continued to grow, Dewhurst’s has waned - and there are currently only nine of his works listed with Art UK as belonging to UK gallery collections, including ‘The Picnic’ and ‘The Blue Valley’ at Manchester Art Gallery and several at the National Museum in Cardiff.
Shrewsbury Arts Trail returns in July and August 2026 with venues all across town including major exhibitions at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery, The Parade Shops Shrewsbury.
A new venue this year is Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings which is set to host a major exhibition of artwork by children from the six local schools that form Severn Bridges Multi Academy Trust.
The Arts Trail Team have paused the outdoor sculpture trail this year and are instead working on plans to bring a permanent new major artwork to Shrewsbury as a legacy of Shrewsbury Arts Trail.
Organiser Phil Langstaff said: “This time of the year is always extremely busy as we pull together all the different elements of the Trail and I experience a strong sense of anticipation and excitement as the submissions for the Open Exhibition come in and we once again get to witness the wealth of artistic talent and creativity that we have in the region.”
Submissions are currently invited for the Open Exhibitions with a deadline of May 16th. There is no set theme for the Open Exhibition. To submit work, visit shrewsburyartstrail.com.
