The birthday wishes will be placed on a giant birthday cake drawing which is currently being installed in the foyer ready for the gallery opening its winter exhibitions.
This activity is the first of many that Grundy Art Gallery will be delivering throughout 2026 as it celebrates its birthday year.
2026 is also important year for lots of other reasons. It is 150 years since Blackpool was incorporated as an independent borough, and 100 years since The Blackpool Jubilee which celebrated Blackpool’s incorporation with a civic parade and the opening of Stanley Park.
Winter 2026 exhibitions programme
The Grundy’s winter exhibitions programme has something for everyone. From Blackpool Jubilee heritage items on loan from the SHOWTOWN History Centre, newly commissioned paintings by locally based artist Jayne Simpson, the largest Grundy Open Exhibition of artworks made by people from across Blackpool and the Fylde Coast, and paintings and sculptures from The Grundy Art Gallery Collection.
Special Winter Programme Launch: Sat 24 January 2pm – 4pm. All welcome. Normal Winter Exhibitions Opening Days: Tues – Sat until 7 March. See thegrundy.org for opening times.
Cllr Lynn Williams, Leader of Blackpool Council and Cabinet Member for Tourism Arts and Culture said:
Open 2026 – Blackpool & Fylde Coast artists
Written into the founding documents of Grundy Art Gallery is a commitment to show the art of the day. 115 years later, the Grundy continues to honour this promise with an annual open exhibition.
With no selection criteria, and no fee to enter work, anyone 16 years of age and over from across Blackpool and the Fylde Coast can submit their work. In keeping with the commitment to show the art of the day, the work must however, have been made within the last twelve months and not been shown at the Grundy before.
Celebrate the 115 birthday of Grundy Art Gallery with what is the biggest and boldest Open Exhibition to date.
Collection spotlight: 1926
This exhibition brings together items on loan from Showtown History Centre and paintings from the Grundy Art Gallery Collection.
Taking the year 1926 as its theme, the exhibition presents artworks purchased by Grundy Art Gallery in 1926 alongside items linked to civic celebration.
Turning point: Jayne Simpson: lion
Turning point is Grundy Art Gallery’s ongoing programme of solo exhibition opportunities given to artists living and working in Blackpool and the Fylde Coast. These opportunities support an artist at a particular point in their career, where a solo exhibition opportunity can catalyse artistic and career development.
Jayne Simpson's solo exhibition, lion sees the artist painting at an increased scale and painting both on and off the canvas. Using this opportunity to explore the medium of expanded painting, Simpson encourages visitors to experience lion as an installation, a sculpture and an environment.
For lion, Simpson has continued to explore her own emotional landscape and lived-experience as her subject matter; and with her trademark tenderness has turned this personal into something that can be universally understood.
Collection spotlight: a body of work
For the second Collection Spotlight exhibition of 2026, artist Jayne Simpson and Grundy’s curator, have curated a display of works from Grundy's collection using themes at play in Simpson's work.