Baltic Private View: Milly Thompson / Foundation Press

Join us for a private view to celebrate the opening of & . The evening includes a drinks reception that will be held in Baltic Riverside.

Schedule

18:00 Galleries open, Level 2 & Ground Floor
18:00 Drinks Reception, Baltic Riverside, Ground Floor
18:15 Director’s Welcome, Baltic Riverside
20:00 Private View Event closes

This event is free to attend and we warmly welcome donations. If you are unable to attend we are unfortunately unable to refund your donation.

Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead is pleased to present a solo exhibition of work by the late Milly Thompson, a prolific painter, sculptor, video artist and writer. Part of the renowned artist group BANK, Thompson (1964-2022) went on to establish a solo practice, in which she irreverently lampooned the hegemonic force of luxury consumer culture on women, and celebrated the middle-aged female body for its libidinal power. Showing works from 2010 onwards, the exhibition strongly renders and establishes a sense of the female gaze, privileging female desire, glamour, and a purposeful slipperiness of artistic voice and persona that constantly questions the stakes of making art.

Opening 28 March 2026, My Body Temperature is Feeling Good spotlights a particular blend of irony and sincerity that characterises the artist’s laterter-day work, exploring romantic novels and sun-drenched summer holidays as spaces for escapism and sensual self-reinvention. Her paintings draew inspiration from a wide range of influences, including Francis Picabia, Shirley Valentine, Jean Rhys, Japanese woodcuts, and even emojis. This diverse array of sources helps establish a relaxed, indulgent visual style that portrays everything from cellulite and sunbathing to lobster with sorbet. Together, these works invite viewers into a world where pleasure, irony, and self-fashioning collide, offering a vivid meditation on how art can reframe desire and identity.

The exhibition has been organised by Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art with Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. The Estate of Milly Thompson is represented by Amanda Wilkinson Gallery.

Starting Lines is an installation exploring creativity, collaboration and community, the first major exhibition by North-East-based artists, designers and educators Adam Phillips and Deborah Bower, known as Foundation Press. Rooted in the North-East of England, they devise initiatives and resources that support people to explore creativity and storytelling.

Starting Lines is focussed around 8 creative briefs which have been central to Foundation Press’ social practice over the past 10 years. The show proposes that the act of creative making is open to all, offering potential for community-building and a way of reflecting upon day-to-day life.

Over the course of the exhibition, Foundation Press will collaborate with schools, community groups and wider audiences – contributing to a vibrant changing display of drawings, prints and publications. The installation features a studio space where visitors can create and contribute their responses to the exhibition as well as a risograph printing press which will house a programme of workshops and collaborations.

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