SuperSevern Symposium

Join us to hear from exhibiting artists what drives their enduring fascination with this body of water.

University of Gloucestershire, Park Campus

SuperSevern 1.0 Exhibition open: Friday 1st May to Thursday 21st May 2026 Monday to Friday 9am-5pmSuperSevern 1.0 is an exhibition of artists' responses to the river Severn, an exceptional super-river. It has an astonishing tidal range and sees an immense daily confluence of fresh and saltwater. It uniquely shapes its wider geographical region.The exhibition in Elwes Gallery, University of Gloucestershire, brings material objects, visual and sound-based works together to offer personal, collective and imagined narratives, allowing multiple ways of knowing the river to coexist. Past objects and mythic stories become tools for imagining future responses, suggesting how we learn from the river through making, unmaking and re-making as an ongoing process. The exhibition draws out thought pathways in our relationships with the river, through film, photography, material objects, and specially commissioned drawing and music composition.University of Gloucestershire researchers Jean Boyd, Katie Forrester and Susie Olczak worked collaboratively with Museum of Gloucester Programme &amp; Exhibitions Officer Amy Washington and Museums Collections Manager Elizabeth Johansson-Hartley since early 2025 on the development of this exhibition. This research process involved visits to the Museum of Gloucester archives and to The Folk of Gloucester heritage building.Join us on Tuesday 12th May from 4-5pm for a special sound installation in Elwes Gallery, and from 5-7pm for the SuperSevern Symposium with exhibiting artists chaired by University of Gloucestershire senior curator, Sarah Bowden.We will be joined by Sarah Rhys, an interdisciplinary artist living and working between rural Carmarthenshire and Bristol. Sarah describes her research as design anthropology, investigating traditional coracle-making and the way different rivers have influenced their regional design due to their geographic specificity. <a href="https://rhysstudio.org/" title="https://rhysstudio.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://rhysstudio.org/</a>Gather in Elwes Gallery at 5pm. The discussion will take place in lecture theatre TC 007 at Park Campus. Please book to secure your place, free-of-charge. Exhibiting artists and researchers:Jean Boyd is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Gloucestershire and a researcher. She uses writing, curatorial and visual practices to reconsider acts of classification and archiving in knowledge production. Recent research has worked with geologic materials in local sites and national collections.Marko Dutka is a Doctoral researcher at the University of Gloucestershire and a photographer using lens and non-lens-based media to create 2D, 3D, and audio-visual work. He is interested in the exploration of landscape, the nature of perception and reality, memory and loss.Katie Forrester's illustration practice draws on themes of narrative theory, nature, and folk and fairytale traditions. Katie's research and practice informs her teaching as a Senior Lecturer in Illustration at University of Gloucestershire.Dr Tim Johnston is a composer and researcher making music which crosses stylistic boundaries between Anglo-Welsh folk music, popular and contemporary Classical music. Tim is a lecturer in music at the University of Salford, where he teaches theory, composition, and music technology.Susie Olczak is a Senior Lecturer at University of Gloucestershire. She is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on sculpture. Her work considers ideas of contingent making and adaptation in relation to climate change.Tom Spooner is an artist with an interest in place, memory, and nature, working with observational drawing. Tom is a lecturer on the BA Illustration course at the University of Gloucestershire. Elwes Gallery is a curated exhibition space at the centre of Park Campus that intends to create dialogue between the past and future of visual arts practice. To receive further updates about exhibitions and events at the University of Gloucestershire, sign up to the Arts and Culture mailing list using the link <a href="http://eepurl.com/jjbfC2" title="http://eepurl.com/jjbfC2" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">http://eepurl.com/jjbfC2</a> or email artsandculture@glos.ac.ukElwes Gallery is situated in the atrium of the Main Reception at <a href="https://www.glos.ac.uk/visit-us/our-campuses/park-campus/" title="https://www.glos.ac.uk/visit-us/our-campuses/park-campus/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Park Campus</a> and is fully accessible. Main Reception is signposted from the main car park <a href="https://what3words.com/chop.scare.grin" title="https://what3words.com/chop.scare.grin" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">what3words.com/chop.scare.grin</a> Ink drawing: Katie Forrester

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SuperSevern Symposium

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