Usher Gallery, Lincoln

When visiting Lincoln we discovered the Usher Gallery, which was really hidden away, but worth the find.

It looked like only a small gallery from the outside and it was free to get in, so I wasn't expecting much, perhaps just a few small exhibitions focusing on more local work than anything. But I was really surprised by the number of exhibitions as well as how many works by famous artists that they had. For instance the first room contained a painting by David Hockney, a drawing by Dali and a ceramics piece by Grayson Perry - it was incredible.

The number of contemporary works as well was amazing with an exhibition on collage, Transmitter/Receiver: The Persistence of Collage, and the different ways that it's been used for various themes over the years. It was great to see how a medium has been used for different purposes and especially for some of the earlier pieces it was interesting to see how the collage has aged, starting to come away from the background paper. This encouraged me as often it seems like professional works are always made to a standard beyond my level, where everything is made to perfection, but it showed that professional works are still made in the same ways and can have the same problems.

My favourite exhibition though was one where classic sculptures were placed next to WW1 and WW2 paintings to draw a contrast between the pride and perhaps misplaced confidence of Britain before the war and it's determination and bleak courage during the war, which although less beautiful than the sculptures were more admirable and honest than the indulgent sculptures. Combining pieces in this way I found really brave and I'd never known an exhibition to actually compare pieces to create a new theme and message.

The Usher Gallery really surprised me with it's range of pieces, mixing sculptures, paintings and 3D works from famous and less well known artists and contemporary and classical works. Because we only discovered it by a small sign, it really is a hidden gem of a gallery.