Adrift on a Painted Sea
Exhibition of paintings and graphic novel art by Tim Bird and Sue Bird

16 November 2024 March 30 2025
Open Tuesday - Sunday 9.30am - 5pm
Free Entry

Mercer Art Gallery, 31 Swan Road, Harrogate, HG1 2SA

Adrift on a Painted Sea by Tim Bird is a beautiful and profound graphic novel that explores family, loss, and art through the author's relationship with his mother, Sue Bird, who painted as a hobby throughout her life. The exhibition displays a range of paintings by Sue Bird, alongside some artwork from the graphic novel, written by her son Tim after her death to celebrate her art and life. As well as paintings by Sue Bird and artwork from the graphic novel, there will also be a display of sketches and sketchbooks.


Sue Bird was always painting: botanical art, landscapes, still lifes, and especially the sea. She took classes, kept countless sketchbooks, and filled the house with art. From their neighbourhood to their family trips to the North Yorkshire coast, all the moments of her life were memorialized in her artwork. Throughout her life, she never sold a piece -- she gave art to family and friends and shared her work online, but never received wider recognition for her work. The new graphic novel by her son, Tim Bird, Adrift on a Painted Sea, explores their family life and her creative explorations through a mix of her paintings and Tim's comics, depicting their relationship and her life from teenagehood to her struggle with cancer at the height of the covid pandemic. After her death, this graphic novel and exhibition at last showcases her work.

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