Through Their Eyes: The Pier Arts Centre Collection and the unfolding Asprey gift

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This spring, the Pier Arts Centre opens a new exhibition highlighting recently acquired contemporary works of art gifted by publisher, Arts Patron and collector Charles Asprey.

The exhibition will provide an opportunity to view this important donation alongside familiar works from the Pier Arts Centre Collection. Through Their Eyes - The Pier Arts Centre Collection and the unfolding Asprey gift is on display from 2 May – 7 November 2026.

Pier Arts Centre founder Margaret Gardiner’s generous and imaginative gift of 20th century artworks to ‘the people of Orkney’ in 1979, emerged through the power of friendship. She supported her artist friends, purchasing their paintings and sculptures during times of hardship, and called on the support of her many Orcadian friends to help establish the gallery.

Nearly fifty years on, the Pier Arts Centre and its collection continues to thrive because of the many friends, organisations and individuals who have believed in and supported its cause and mission. The Charles Asprey gift is the biggest act of philanthropy the Centre has seen since Gardiner’s gift in 1979. Composed of over 50 works of British and international art, it reflects a similar energy of collecting to the founding gift and makes the Pier Arts Centre’s Collection the most intensely contemporary it has ever been.

Charles Asprey commented “Like Margaret Gardiner I have spent my life surrounded by artists and in many cases supporting their journey from college to museum show - this personal history is reflected in those objects Pier Arts Centre have selected to join the earlier generation's creations assembled by Margaret. I feel these works belong here in the UK and more importantly perhaps that they are in the care of an extraordinary venue run by an enlightened team who understand the power of art to connect people.”

Through Their Eyes will unfold as a series of changing displays, with modern and contemporary works from the Pier Arts Centre Collection featuring in conversation with the Charles Asprey gift. Collection works by Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Italo Valenti, Margaret Mellis, and Naum Gabo, will be displayed alongside contemporary works by artists who have pushed the boundaries of painting, sculpture, print, film and installation.

Pier Arts Centre Associate Curator Kari Adams added “This gift is generous and forward-looking, and it stands as a powerful reminder of the enduring value of collaboration, friendship, and imagination. There are endless possibilities in how new works can help us see familiar ones afresh, and that's where the excitement lies: in those moments of discovery and finding something radical in what we already know.”

Artists in the Charles Asprey gift, include: Wolfgang Tillmans (DE), Michael Dean (UK), Tenant of Culture (NL), Atelier EB (UK/BEL), Lucy McKenzie (UK), Manfred Pernice (DE), Ian Hamilton Finlay (UK), Marc Camille Chaimowicz (FR) and Martin Puryear (USA).

The exhibition opens at the Pier Arts Centre at 1030 on 2 May and runs until 1700 on 7 November 2026. Admission is free. The Pier Arts Centre is open Tuesday - Saturday.