The Nightingale Suite exhibition talk

In the spring of 1819, Keats heard a nightingale singing in the garden of Keats House and was inspired to write 'Ode to a Nightingale'.

Artist Martin Huxter heard them singing while holidaying with his mother in France, in 1997:

'The moonlit valley below was full of their singing, and half-remembered lines from Keats's Ode were floating around in my head. My mother, fiddling impatiently with her hearing-aids, called out from an upstairs window, "Are they still singing?" Her look of resigned disappointment when the devices failed to pick up the birdsong moved me, and I started work on 'Nightingales for the Deaf' that same evening.'

Marting uses graphite, charcoal, ink and black chalk to graphically represent the song of a nightgale for someone who has never heard it, exploring themes of insomnia, birdsong and creative melancholy. The exhibition features three new works specially created for, and inspired by, Keats House.

Join Martin to hear more about his exhibition, currently on display at Keats House. A ticket for the talk includes entry to the house.