Free exhibition by Heavy Water Collective of over 400 rarely seen objects from Weston Park Museum's collections on people's connections to the land.
Gathering Landscapes: 150 Years of Collecting is on at Weston Park Museum until 1 November 2026, marking a century and a half of the museum's collecting. It's curated by Heavy Water Collective — artists Maud Haya-Baviera, Victoria Lucas and Joanna Whittle — who were invited by Sheffield Museums to dive into a collection of over a million objects, most of which have rarely been on public display. The exhibition pulls together more than 400 pieces from the museum's stores, and it's hung in a dense, salon-style layout that echoes the way landscapes were displayed in the nineteenth century.
The objects on show come from all over the place. There's a figure carved from Sheffield millstone grit dating from 430-450 CE, volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius collected in 1872, and a 2,000-year-old stone head of the goddess Artemis donated in 1875. You'll also find glass lantern slides by Henry Clifton Sorby. Alongside these are the artists' own works: Joanna Whittle's Blackout (Centuries Fall) (2025) and Victoria Lucas's Snakestone (Coal) II (2024).
Heavy Water Collective describe the show as looking at the curious, beautiful, macabre and magical connections people have made to the land, framing our evolving relationship with it through ritual and meaning, exploitation and loss, and ultimately joy, hope and resilience. It's a good way to see what's usually tucked away in the archives.
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Weston Park Museum opened in 1875 and tells the stories of Sheffield and its people from prehistory to the present day. It's home to visitor favourites Spike the Woolly Rhino and Snowy the Polar Bear, as well as galleries like the art-filled Picturing Sheffield, the archaeology gallery Beneath Your Feet and the wildlife and environment gallery What On Earth. Entry is free, with a suggested donation of £5. A related performance, Gathering Landscapes - Goodbye Gathering, runs on 1 November 2026 from 11:30am to 3:30pm.
