Exhibitions at MOTE
Exploring the Environment Through Art
What if art could help us see the world differently?
At MOTE, we believe that creativity has the power to spark curiosity, start important conversations, and help us better understand the environments we are part of. Our exhibition programme brings together artists, photographers, makers, researchers, and communities who are exploring the natural world in exciting and thought-provoking ways.
From hidden ecosystems and changing landscapes to sustainability, biodiversity, climate, heritage, and community, our exhibitions encourage visitors to look closer at the world around them and consider the challenges and opportunities shaping our future.
Many of our exhibitions form part of The Shape of Change, MOTE’s ongoing exhibition programme exploring the ways our environments, communities, and landscapes are constantly evolving. Through a diverse range of artistic responses, the programme invites visitors to reflect on change, question assumptions, and imagine more sustainable futures.
What makes MOTE unique is our commitment to combining art and education. Alongside each exhibition, visitors will discover opportunities to learn more through artist talks, workshops, events, and educational resources that explore the science, stories, and ideas behind the work on display.
Whether you’re passionate about art, fascinated by the environment, or simply curious to learn something new, we invite you to explore our exhibitions and become part of the conversation.
Upcoming Exhibitions
Re-Form
Part of The Shape of Change Programme
Artist: Jane Stewart
Exhibition Dates: 1 August 2026 – 1 February 2027
Meet the Artist
Saturday 1 August 2026 | 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Join artist Jane Stewart for a special opportunity to explore Re-Form and learn more about the ideas, materials, and processes behind the exhibition.
Visitors will have the chance to meet Jane, discuss her work, discover how reclaimed materials have been transformed into artworks, and explore the environmental themes that inspire her creative practice.
About the Exhibition
What if the things we throw away still have stories left to tell?
In Re-Form, environmental artist Jane Stewart transforms discarded materials into unexpected artworks that challenge the way we think about waste, value, and possibility. Plastic packaging, unwanted objects, and overlooked materials are given a second life, becoming sculptures, installations, and creative interventions that blur the line between rubbish and resource.
At first glance, these works may appear playful, colourful, and imaginative.
Look closer, however, and they reveal deeper questions about the world we live in.
How much do we consume?
Where do the things we throw away end up?
And what might happen if we began to see waste not as an ending, but as the start of something new?
Rather than focusing solely on environmental problems, Re-Form invites visitors to imagine alternatives. Through creativity, experimentation, and transformation, Jane’s work explores how positive change can emerge from the materials and systems we often overlook. The exhibition encourages us to rethink our relationship with everyday objects and consider how small shifts in perspective can inspire larger changes in the way we live.
Part of MOTE’s The Shape of Change programme, Re-Form is a celebration of resourcefulness, imagination, and hope. It reminds us that transformation is possible, not only for the materials we discard, but for the ways we think about our environment and our role within it.
By turning waste into wonder, Jane Stewart invites us to see potential where others might see rubbish and to imagine a future shaped not by what we throw away, but by what we choose to create.
About the Artist
I regularly work alongside scientists and researchers, using artistic practice as a tool to engage wider audiences with environmental research and complex ideas. Through exhibitions, workshops, and community projects, I hope to create opportunities for learning, discussion, and meaningful action.“
“I am an environmental and community artist whose work explores consumerism, waste, and the impact they have on our environment.
I often respond directly to the materials I find, incorporating reclaimed and discarded objects into my creative practice. By transforming these materials, I aim to encourage conversations about value, consumption, and the potential hidden within things we might otherwise overlook.
Alongside examining environmental challenges, I am also interested in exploring positive futures. Through collaborative projects with community groups, I use creativity as a way of imagining alternative possibilities, encouraging hope, and helping to reduce climate anxiety.
Check out more of Jane’s work HERE
Beneath the Surface
Part of The Shape of Change Programme
Artist: Zasmina Nedelcevova
Exhibition Dates: 1 August 2026 – 1 February 2027
Meet the Artist
Friday 14 August 2026 | 3:00pm – 6:00pm
Join us for a special afternoon with exhibiting artist Zasmina Nedelcevova. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore the exhibition, learn more about the ideas behind the work, and speak directly with the artist about her creative process, inspirations, and environmental interests.
✨ We’re also delighted to share that talented local musician Bella Rose will be performing live at the opening of Beneath the Surface
Join us for an evening of art, music and conversation as you explore Zasmina’s beautiful exhibition, meet the artist behind the work, and enjoy Bella Rose’s incredible live performance.
We can’t wait to welcome you. Make sure you don’t miss this special evening! 🌿🎶
Bella is a young singer-songwriter whose music has been featured on BBC Introducing and is available on Spotify. After spending her early childhood in Dubai, where she performed at the QE2 and Dubai Opera, Bella made her Latitude Festival debut in 2024 and returned in 2025.
She is a member of the Aldeburgh Young Musicians, regularly performing at Snape Maltings, and will move to London this September to continue her music studies.
We are thrilled to have her perform at MOTE!
About the Exhibition
What lies beneath the surface?
Beneath every landscape, river, coastline, and field exists a hidden world of connections. Currents move vast quantities of water across oceans, microscopic organisms transform the soil beneath our feet, and complex networks quietly support the ecosystems we depend upon every day.
In Beneath the Surface, artist Zasmina Nedelcevova invites us to explore these often-overlooked relationships through a collection of works inspired by environmental systems and the natural world.
As part of MOTE’s The Shape of Change programme, the exhibition examines how everything in nature is connected. From the movement of water and nutrients to the impact of human activity on fragile ecosystems, Zasmina’s work encourages visitors to consider the invisible forces that shape the world around us.
Combining artistic imagination with environmental curiosity, the exhibition reveals patterns, structures, and relationships that are rarely seen but constantly at work. Rich layers of colour, texture, and movement draw viewers into landscapes that feel both familiar and unfamiliar, inviting moments of reflection, discovery, and conversation.
Rather than offering simple answers, Beneath the Surface asks us to pause and consider our place within these interconnected systems.
How do our actions affect the environments we inhabit?
What happens when these delicate relationships are disrupted?
And what can we learn from the resilience of nature itself?
At its heart, the exhibition is a celebration of connection, reminding us that even the most distant ecosystems, species, and communities are linked in ways we often fail to recognise until we take the time to look a little closer.
About the Artist
“My name is Zasmina, though most people know me as Jessie. I have Slovak and Bulgarian roots and have been living in the UK for the past 20 years.
I consider myself a creative individual with a wide spectrum of interests, ranging from the environment, foreign affairs, and social issues to travel, art, geography, and animal protection.
Many of these interests influence my creative practice and the subjects I choose to explore through my work. I am particularly interested in the relationships between people, places, and the natural world, and how creativity can help us better understand the challenges facing our environment.
My ultimate goal is to contribute towards positive change and to help create a better future for generations to come.”
Check out more of Zasmina’s work HERE
Featured Artwork:
Contours
On display as part of MOTE’s Rotating Exhibition Programme
Artist: Julie Linton
Display Dates: 1 August 2026 – 12 September 2026
About the Artwork
Contours explores the landscape of our life journey and the many influences that shape how we move through it.
Inspired by the contour lines found on maps, the work reflects the peaks, valleys, and changing directions we encounter throughout life. Two interconnecting forms, created from fused and slumped Bullseye glass, represent the experiences, relationships, and moments that shape our individual paths.
Travelling across these contours is a flame-worked borosilicate glass element, symbolising the complex twists and turns that influence the direction of our journey. Together, these forms explore the connections we make with ourselves, with others, and with the environments through which we travel.
Mounted on natural stone, Contours is grounded by an expression of the Earth beneath our feet, a reminder of the foundations that support us as we navigate an ever-changing world.
Through its combination of glass and natural materials, the work encourages reflection on the interconnected nature of our experiences and the landscapes, both physical and emotional, that shape who we become.
About the Artist
“My glass journey began over a decade ago when I attended a stained glass course at Wilson Marriage Adult Education Centre. Since then, I have explored a range of hot glass techniques including fusing, slumping, and sculptural flame working through workshops, masterclasses, and creative experimentation at home.
I am particularly interested in integrating different glass-working techniques and combining glass with natural materials. Much of my work is inspired by the landscape of our life journey, how we navigate our way through it, and how that journey is shaped by the connections we make along the way—with ourselves, with others, and with the environments we travel through.
Through glass, I seek to explore ideas of movement, connection, resilience, and belonging, creating works that invite reflection on the paths we each take through life.”
Check out more of Julie’s work HERE