Exhibitions in The Gallery

EXHIBITIONS in the Mansion Gallery – Sundays & Mondays FREE ENTRY

You can visit The Gallery on the ground floor of the Mansion on Open Days to see exhibitions by the Mansion Artists and others with links to Valentines. Watch this space for details of the next exhibition.

The Gallery is very much a late Georgian room with a simple plaster cornice (19th century plaster egg and dart design) and plain plastered walls. It was used as a Dining Room by the Victorians. Today , as well as for exhibitions, this beautiful room is used for events.

The Gallery, duriing a Friends’ Christmas event

Current Exhibition

A Language of Colour and Form – Venetta Nicole 

From Sun 11 Oct to Mon 9 Nov 2026

11 Oct to 9 Nov 26: Venetta Nicole is an Award winning London-based Caribbean artist , and ex-Ilford resident . A Language of Colour and Form brings together her exploration of colour, shape, texture and movement as a visual language. Working intuitively across abstraction, portraiture and architectural forms, Nicole transforms personal experiences, memories, cultural heritage and emotional landscapes into vibrant and layered compositions.

Past Exhibitions

Sunday in the Park with Art – An Exhibition by the Essex Art Club

 “Boatyard, Orfordness” by John Tookey

Essex Art Club members were delighted to return to Valentines Mansion in 2026 (30 Aug to 5 Oct) with a collection of exciting new work in a variety of media.

Valentines Mansion Studio Artists Summer Exhibition

The 2026 Summer Exhibition ( 19 Jul to 24 Aug) was on the theme of ‘Metamorphosis: Life cycles, decay, transformation and change in nature‘. A curated collection of paintings, sketches, jewellery, sculptures, photographs and basketry. The pieces created specifically for this show by the resident artists and each represented a very different interpretation of the subject matter. 

Ordinary Days -ARTYGalina 

From 24 May to 6 July. Ordinary Days an exhibition of work by a group of extremely talented young artists, aged 8 to 18. All members of a local club, ARTYGalina. Back by popular demand. Nurtured by their very gifted teacher and local resident, Galina Rafilailova, the group produced an exceptional collection of mixed media paintings. The youngsters explore a variety of disciplines including pencil drawing, painting, embroidery, sculpting and lino cutting.

Faces – Punching Colour

12 April 2026 to 4 May 2026

Faces – Punching Colour is an exhibition of expressionist portraits and still life portraits by artist Pauline Cushnie, capturing both the essence and presence of the sitter..

Pace the Shallow Sea

9 March to 6 April 2026

A curated selection of works from the oeuvre of Paul Good and Kirsty Wood,  Mansion resident artists. Inspired by James Hutton’s vision of deep time—“no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end”—it traces connections between past and present. In dim light, a boat graveyard video evokes suspended histories, corroded hulls poised between presence and disappearance. Material fragments and subtle interventions explore impermanence, erosion, and return, where human and geological time converge.

Memory to Memorial: From Warsaw to Valentines

25 Jan to 1 Mar 2026. An exhibition showing works by Stanislaw Brunstein, born in Warsaw in 1914, died in Ilford in 1994.
These paintings took visitors on the artist’s journey from his beloved Warsaw to post war England, via escape into Soviet Russia, prison, slave labour in Siberia, army service in North Africa, and the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy, whilst also having studied fine art in Warsaw, Paris and Rome. His final destination was a house in a street five minutes away from Valentines Park.

Valentines Mansion Studio Artists Winter Exhibition

From 23 Nov 2025 to 19 Jan 2026 the Mansion Resident Studio Artists came together to show off their latest work from 2025.

Honouring Our Heroes by Jacqui Cooke

The exhibition featured artworks highlighting the many individuals from Commonwealth nations who volunteered to serve Britain during both WWI and WWII. Despite facing significant adversity, many displayed exceptional courage and resilience, rising to the ranks of Officer. An opportunity for those unfamiliar with the contributions of individuals of African descent and First Nations to both world wars to gain insight into the lives and characters of some of the most courageous, resilient, and conscientious people in history.  

Find out more

5-27 October 2025

Sunday in the Park with Art – An Exhibition by the Essex Art Club

In September 2025 , visitors were treated to a varied and exciting exhibition. Essex Art Club members work in a wide variety of styles and media


Shades of Meaning -A Monochromatic Exhibition by the Mansion Artists 


In the absence of colour, come and see the world in a different light. A monochromatic exhibition by the Valentines Mansion Studio Artists. Featuring artists Julian Walker, Anne Eggebert, Tara Patrick, Jason Rose, Emily Wen, Louise Moore, Amanda Seljubac, Lisa Atkin, Matthew Webb and Gepher Louis.  F

August 2025

Glimpses of the Summer 2022 Exhibition with Platinum Jubilee Tributes to
Her Majesty and then a Celebration of the life of Queen Elizabeth II

Endangered by Jason Rose

An exhibition themed around the environmental crisis, focussing on endangered species of animals and plants, including images sculpted from earth, compost & sand.

Find out more

28 Sept – 2 Nov 2020

Our Valentines by Mansion Artists

Celebrating the Friends’ 20th Anniversary

Read more ….
February 2020

The Mansion Through Young Artists Eyes by  ARTYGalina.

The 10th year of opening celebrations continued at Valentines Mansion with an exhibition which showcased the talent of a group of young artists, some as young as 6 years of age. The four day exhibition,  featured a variety of work ,all relating to Valentines, in different art mediums by members of a local club, ‘ARTYGalina’ Read more ….


23-25 October 2019