Stockport’s free Alan Boyson exhibition opens June 18

A new free exhibition at Stockroom will invite Stockport residents to look again at one of the town’s most familiar pieces of public art: Alan Boyson’s concrete screens at Merseyway Shopping Centre.

The Marvel from Marple: Alan Boyson Exhibition opens at Stockroom in Stockport on Thursday 18 June. The source announcement describes the exhibition as free and drop-in, with no start time listed. It is aimed at the general public, art lovers, local residents and anyone curious about the artist whose work helped shape everyday civic spaces in Stockport and beyond.

Stockroom, in the heart of Stockport, has become a busy community space since opening in May 2025, welcoming one million visits. Its first year has already been marked with free local programming, including Stockroom’s first-year community events, and this exhibition adds a more art-led route into the building’s public role.

Opening details for Stockroom visitors

The exhibition focuses on Boyson, a Stockport-born sculptor whose bold designs appeared in public settings across Britain. In Stockport, his best-known local work is the set of geometric concrete screens at Merseyway Shopping Centre, commissioned by the Co-operative Society.

Those screens are part of the town’s everyday backdrop, but the exhibition frames them as part of a wider moment when organisations commissioned artists to bring ambitious public art into civic spaces. The result was art built into places people used daily, rather than work kept apart in specialist galleries.

Merseyway’s concrete screens take centre stage

The Marvel from Marple will show material connected to Boyson’s life, practice and public commissions, with particular attention on the Merseyway screens and how public art becomes tied to local memory.

Visitors will be able to see printed tiles, photographs and small Boyson ceramics loaned from private collections. The display will also include original architectural plans of Merseyway car park by Marple-born Co-op architect E.P. Andrew, who was a childhood friend of Boyson.

Artist Esther Johnson is leading the exhibition. She has been researching Boyson’s work since 2017 through her Ships in the Sky project, collecting oral histories and items linked to Boyson’s work in her hometown of Hull. Some of those materials will appear in the Stockport exhibition, connecting the Merseyway screens with Boyson’s wider civic art legacy.

Johnson’s multi-screen film will also feature, exploring Boyson’s work and the way public art connects with communities, places and personal memories. Her research places the Merseyway screens alongside Boyson’s Three Ships mural in Hull, another work closely associated with a city centre and local identity.

Workshops, talks and guided walks

The exhibition is not limited to static displays. Visitors can take part in hands-on activities and workshops, including tile workshops and screen printing. The source announcement also lists artist talks and guided walks with the modernist as part of the programme.

That practical element fits the subject matter. Boyson’s work was often made for public places, where people encountered it while shopping, walking through a town centre or passing through civic architecture. At Stockroom, the exhibition gives residents a way to handle related ideas through making, discussion and local exploration.

Cllr Dan Oliver, the cabinet member responsible for culture, said Boyson’s work is part of Stockport’s fabric, even if people do not always realise it. He described the exhibition as a chance to explore the creativity around the town, take part in hands-on activities and discover the stories behind one of Stockport’s most recognisable landmarks.

Johnson said the scale and beauty of Boyson’s Three Ships mural in Hull helped shape her interest in mid-century design and studying art. She said she was particularly struck by the Merseyway screens during her research, noting Boyson’s use of modular abstraction and repetition.

What is confirmed before you go

The confirmed opening date is Thursday 18 June, at Stockroom in Stockport. The exhibition is free and drop-in, according to the source announcement, but no opening time or end date is listed in the provided details.

The Marvel from Marple is funded by the Henry Moore Foundation and developed in partnership with Stockport Council and Sheffield Hallam University, where Esther Johnson is Professor of Film and Media Arts in the Art, Design and Media Research Centre.

Source: Stockport Council