Audrey Amiss: Kitchen Sink Realism - Lunchtime Exhibition Tours

Audrey Amiss: Kitchen Sink Realism is on at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Culture House, and if you're around at lunchtime, there are guided tours to take you through it. They run from 12:00 to 12:30 on 13, 20 and 27 November, then 4 and 11 December, and finally 8 and 15 January. The exhibition itself stays open until Sunday 17 January 2027, so you've got plenty of dates to choose from.

It's a major solo show for Audrey Joan Amiss (1933-2013), a Sunderland-born artist. It brings together paintings, drawings and archival material that hadn't been seen before, and it follows her journey from her early years here in Sunderland to her final years in Clapham, South London. The title comes from Amiss herself: 'I was once in the tradition of social realism, also called the kitchen sink school of painting, but I am now avant garde and misunderstood.'

She studied at Sunderland College of Art — now part of the University of Sunderland's School of Media and Creative Industries — and won a scholarship to study painting at the Royal Academy School of Art in London between 1954 and 1958. The show was made possible with the support of the Wellcome Collection in London, which her family left her archive of hundreds of sketches, paintings, scrapbooks and diaries to after she died.

The lunchtime tours are free, though you'll need to book your spot. They run from 12:00 to 12:30 on 13, 20 and 27 November, 4 and 11 December, and 8 and 15 January, and the whole exhibition runs until Sunday 17 January 2027 at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Culture House.