Local artists will transform a Coventry Gallery into an eye-popping exhibition that playfully brings people closer to nature when it launches this summer. 

JOY… inspired by nature will head to the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum from July 19 to September 22 – and it has been designed to have a positive effect on the hearts and minds of visitors as well as appealing to the senses.

Curated by Nicola Richardson and Marianne Taviner of Vortex Creates, the immersive exhibition includes new works from their studio, showcasing bright, bold and beautiful designs which invoke joy in audiences and reconnect them with the natural world.

The two-month residency will feature creative interpretations of nature that brings together artwork including painting, photography, sculpture, video and audio, which will transform the gallery into a thought-provoking celebration of the world around us, with 15 local artists also given the chance to share their eye-catching creations.

The project, which highlights the role the physical environment plays in cultivating joy and the impact of aesthetics on wellbeing, has been made possible thanks to funding from the Arts Council England Project Grant and Culture Coventry.

In addition to self-taught costume designer Abeda Begum helping to create some of the works, Coventry-based artist and developer Ashley James Brown has created a soundscape for one of the major pieces, while botanist Gemma Costin has conjured a scent-scape to allow audiences to smell their way around.

Nicola Richardson from Vortex Creates, said: “The past 6 months have been an incredible time propagating a textile garden as fabric botanists using and recycling our stock of eclectic materials.  Can’t wait to see it bloom in the gallery and bring our style of colourful curation to the Herbert Art Gallery.”

The exhibition will run alongside a host of summer activities and art masterclasses at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, including the JOY family launch event on Saturday, July 20. 

The free drop-in event will feature activities from how to make seed bombs that will transform your garden with wildflowers, getting creative with colourful stone art, and crafting playful paper masks to take home. 

Visitors can also be among the first to take part in Dippy’s Jurassic Playground – a free Dippy-inspired early years exhibition.

Marguerite Nugent, Cultural Director at CV Life, said: “JOY is yet another fantastic example of the brilliant artistic work happening in the region and we are thrilled to be working with Vortex Creates to help share that with a wider audience. 

“Beyond being a stunning visual spectacle, the ethos behind the exhibition is an important one as it encourages an appreciation of the world around us and how we all interact with it, and I’m sure it will have an extremely positive effect on all who engage with it.”