Date and time: Sunday 17 July 2011 11:30am – 4:00pm

Venue: Millennium Gallery

Description: Learn graphic illustration skills with illustrator Jim Connolly and create your own apocalyptic vision of Sheffield. Take inspiration from the John Martin exhibition and work in pencil, ink or acrylic paints.

Jim is a freelance illustrator who works in a variety of styles but is best known for his comic-book style illustrations. You’ve probably seen his visions of local gems the Tinsley Towers, Meadowhall and Hendersons Relish around Sheffield. Jim says that his career highlights include creating art prints about his home town of Sheffield, drawing Iron Maiden’s ‘Eddie’ for their ‘Final Frontier’ album game, branding the Celluloid Screams Horror Festival and drawing Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley as a couple of ghouls.

He has also been commissioned to work on online materials, editorial illustrations, album artwork, t-shirt designs, character designs and murals. He graduated from the Manchester Met in 2000 and then spent several years working in E-learning companies in Sheffield before going solo.

You can see examples of his work on his website here http://www.jimcportfolio.co.uk/

Admission: £25 / £22.50 for concessions

Contact: Please book in advance on 0114 278 2655 or learning@museums-sheffield.org.uk

More info: Museums Sheffield

Date and time: Friday 22 July 2011 6:00pm – 8:00pm

Venue: Millennium Gallery

Description: Start the Tramlines weekend with some great British art as Kid Acne and John Martin collide. DJs, a bar including Thornbridge beer, live art and plenty of random creative activities will make for a great start to the weekend.

Admission: Free

Contact: No need to book. For more details, see the Museums Sheffield site.

Venue: Millennium Gallery, Sheffield

Description: Martin Myrone, Curator at Tate Britain will lead a tour around the gallery exploring John Martin’s ‘bad taste’.

Admission: Free

Contact: No need to book. For more details see the Museums Sheffield site.

If ever there was an artist whose reputation deserves restoration, it’s John Martin (1789–1854). Described by The Times as ‘the painter with the power to stop even a bored teenager in his gallery-traipsing tracks’, Martin’s dramatic images have inspired everything over the years from sci-fi films to heavy metal album covers. Yet, compared to contemporaries like Constable and Turner, he was largely snubbed by the art establishment of his day – John Ruskin was a particularly vocal critic! Instead, Martin developed his audience from the grass roots – relying on an eye for enthralling subjects and tireless touring of his paintings to build his popularity.

This exhibition, the first major show of Martin’s work in over 30 years, will showcase some of his most dramatic oil paintings, including Belshazzar’s Feast and The Great Day of His Wrath. Appearing in Sheffield before it tours to Tate Britain later this year, John Martin, Painting the Apocalypse will also explore Martin’s enduring influence on cinema and popular culture.

John Martin, Painting the Apocalypse is part of the Great British Art Debate, a partnership project between Museums Sheffield, Tate, Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service, and Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums.

Find out more about the show at Museums Sheffield.

Cost: £25/£22.50
Booking Details: please book in advance on 0114 278 2655 or learning@museums-sheffield.org.uk
More info: Museums Sheffield