Ground - Horizon - Sky: Constable 250 Conference
The Hold - Home of Suffolk Archives, Ipswich, IP4 1LR
Thursday 16th July 2026
Colchester and Ipswich Museums Services presents Ground – Horizon – Sky, delivered as part of Constable 250. This conference positions Constable’s life and work as a lens through which to re examine historic and contemporary engagements with landscape and offers a timely platform to reconsider how landscapes have been seen, sensed, represented, contested, transformed and how they continue to shape artistic and ecological thinking today.
Highlights of the programme include a keynote address by renowned Constable expert Anne Lyles, alongside papers from Nicola Moorby (Tate), Hillary Mushkin (California Institute of Technology), Kate Brock (Researcher Royal College of Art), Clare St George (Writer and Editor), Chris Dobrowolski, Richard Denny, Jevan Watkins Jones, and Andy Corrigan with Eleanor Ling (Fitzwilliam Museum). Together, these talks range from studies of clouds and horizons, to post-war painting, architecture, walking as research practice, and digital interpretations of landscape.
Constable 250 is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. It is with thanks to National Lottery players that Ground – Horizon – Sky is delivered in collaboration with the University of Suffolk and in partnership with the Paul Mellon Centre’s Generation Landscape research programme.
Ticket price includes lunch.
Thursday 16 July at The Hold, Ipswich
09.30 – 10.00 Arrival and refreshments
10.00 – 10.20 Welcome and Introduction
10.20-10.30 Key Note: Interpreting Constable 1976-2026 with Anne Lyles (Art Historian and Curator)
10.30 Panel 1
Chair: Francesca Vanke (Senior Curator, Norwich Museums)
10.40 – 11.00 ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’: Constable’s Representations of Wind Force with Nicola Moorby (Curator of Historic British Art, 1790 – 1850, Tate)
11.00 – 11.20 Studying Clouds with Hillary Mushkin (Research Professor of Art and Design, California Institute of Technology)
11.40 – 12.00 Questions
12.00 – 13.00 Lunch provided
13.00 Panel 2
Chair: Jane Watt (Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, University of Suffolk)
13.10 - 13.30 Painting is But Another Word For Feeling: The Post-War Paintings of Sheila Fell on John Constable’s Horizon with Kate Brock (PhD researcher at the Royal College of Art, London)
13.30 -13.50 Groundswell with Jevan Watkins Jones (Artist and Gardener)
13.50 – 14.10 Questions
14.10 – 14.40 Break with tea/coffee
14.40 Panel 3
Chair: Srinivas Surti (Artist, educator and practice-based doctoral researcher, University of Suffolk)
14.50- 15.10 Redrawing the Horizon: The Flatness of Suffolk in John Constable and Norman Foster’s Sketches with Clare St George (Writer and Editor)
15.10 – 15.30 Landscape Escape No.2 with Chris Dobrowolski (Artist and Lecturer)
15.30 – 15.50 Plein air to mezzotint and back again: Digital horizons in action
Andy Corrigan, Digital Library Co-ordinator at University of Cambridge Libraries and Archives and Elenor Ling, Senior Curator, Fitzwilliam Museum
15.50 – 16.10 Questions
16.10 – 16.30 Closing observations.
17.00 - 19.00 All symposium delegates are invited to an evening drinks reception and private viewing of The Hay Wain: Walking Constable’s Landscape exhibition at Christchurch Mansion, Soane Street, Ipswich IP4 2BE Please note that Christchurch Mansion is a 10-15 minute walk from The Hold.
Friday 17 July: Challenge Lab in Constable Country
Flatford, East Bergholt, Suffolk, CO7 6UL
The conference will be followed on the 17th July where the focus will move from discussion to experimentation, with a collaborative Challenge Lab featuring a talk by Richard Denny (artist, researcher) practical workshops led by artist Peter Harrap, and guided walks in Constable Country led by Andy Corrigan and Elenor Ling (Fitzwilliam Museum), offering participants the opportunity to test ideas in the landscape itself and reflect on Constable 250.The day will be held at Flatford Mill in collaboration with the National Trust. Spaces for this second day are limited and will be selected via a ballot.
Limited Bursary places may be available, please contact [email protected] for further information.
Image: John Constable, Golding Constable's Kitchen Garden, Summer 1815. Ipswich Borough Council Collection
Highlights of the programme include a keynote address by renowned Constable expert Anne Lyles, alongside papers from Nicola Moorby (Tate), Hillary Mushkin (California Institute of Technology), Kate Brock (Researcher Royal College of Art), Clare St George (Writer and Editor), Chris Dobrowolski, Richard Denny, Jevan Watkins Jones, and Andy Corrigan with Eleanor Ling (Fitzwilliam Museum). Together, these talks range from studies of clouds and horizons, to post-war painting, architecture, walking as research practice, and digital interpretations of landscape.
Constable 250 is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. It is with thanks to National Lottery players that Ground – Horizon – Sky is delivered in collaboration with the University of Suffolk and in partnership with the Paul Mellon Centre’s Generation Landscape research programme.
Ticket price includes lunch.
Thursday 16 July at The Hold, Ipswich
09.30 – 10.00 Arrival and refreshments
10.00 – 10.20 Welcome and Introduction
10.20-10.30 Key Note: Interpreting Constable 1976-2026 with Anne Lyles (Art Historian and Curator)
10.30 Panel 1
Chair: Francesca Vanke (Senior Curator, Norwich Museums)
10.40 – 11.00 ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’: Constable’s Representations of Wind Force with Nicola Moorby (Curator of Historic British Art, 1790 – 1850, Tate)
11.00 – 11.20 Studying Clouds with Hillary Mushkin (Research Professor of Art and Design, California Institute of Technology)
11.40 – 12.00 Questions
12.00 – 13.00 Lunch provided
13.00 Panel 2
Chair: Jane Watt (Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, University of Suffolk)
13.10 - 13.30 Painting is But Another Word For Feeling: The Post-War Paintings of Sheila Fell on John Constable’s Horizon with Kate Brock (PhD researcher at the Royal College of Art, London)
13.30 -13.50 Groundswell with Jevan Watkins Jones (Artist and Gardener)
13.50 – 14.10 Questions
14.10 – 14.40 Break with tea/coffee
14.40 Panel 3
Chair: Srinivas Surti (Artist, educator and practice-based doctoral researcher, University of Suffolk)
14.50- 15.10 Redrawing the Horizon: The Flatness of Suffolk in John Constable and Norman Foster’s Sketches with Clare St George (Writer and Editor)
15.10 – 15.30 Landscape Escape No.2 with Chris Dobrowolski (Artist and Lecturer)
15.30 – 15.50 Plein air to mezzotint and back again: Digital horizons in action
Andy Corrigan, Digital Library Co-ordinator at University of Cambridge Libraries and Archives and Elenor Ling, Senior Curator, Fitzwilliam Museum
15.50 – 16.10 Questions
16.10 – 16.30 Closing observations.
17.00 - 19.00 All symposium delegates are invited to an evening drinks reception and private viewing of The Hay Wain: Walking Constable’s Landscape exhibition at Christchurch Mansion, Soane Street, Ipswich IP4 2BE Please note that Christchurch Mansion is a 10-15 minute walk from The Hold.
Friday 17 July: Challenge Lab in Constable Country
Flatford, East Bergholt, Suffolk, CO7 6UL
The conference will be followed on the 17th July where the focus will move from discussion to experimentation, with a collaborative Challenge Lab featuring a talk by Richard Denny (artist, researcher) practical workshops led by artist Peter Harrap, and guided walks in Constable Country led by Andy Corrigan and Elenor Ling (Fitzwilliam Museum), offering participants the opportunity to test ideas in the landscape itself and reflect on Constable 250.The day will be held at Flatford Mill in collaboration with the National Trust. Spaces for this second day are limited and will be selected via a ballot.
Limited Bursary places may be available, please contact [email protected] for further information.
Image: John Constable, Golding Constable's Kitchen Garden, Summer 1815. Ipswich Borough Council Collection
