Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery is hosting Pride of England exhibition from Matt Small from 22 January until 23 February 2025. This is a community-focused exhibition celebrating the diversity, unity, and community legacy of the England football teams. Central to the exhibition are England’s Three Lions: sculptures co-created by artist Matt Small with young people in Ealing, which then accompanied the England Men’s Football Team to Germany for EURO 2024. This exhibition is a result of their successful crowdfunding campaign.

Children’s Art workshops for half term

For February half-term, Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery in partnership with Brentford FC Community Sports Trust is bringing families is series of football-themed art workshops.

There will be art workshops  with artist Matt Small to decorate The Football Sculpture, which is displayed at Pitshanger.

Join artist Matt Small in creating a collaborative artwork. Bring your unwanted football jerseys, shorts, socks, or other sports gear you no longer use.

Paint, draw, write messages of support, or add your personal touch to your chosen sportswear item. Together, we’ll assemble the decorated pieces to form a community-created football-shaped sculpture.

Find out more and book your place

Three Lions Sculptures

“Three Lions” sculptures are recycled art crafted from used footballs. They blend art, community, and football pride. Members of our local Ealing community were invited to sign the football pieces. This showed their support for the England team as they prepared for the 2024 Euros. This interactive element allowed fans to leave their mark on the project. While Small’s use of discarded materials transforms everyday objects into a powerful symbol of national unity.

Matt created the three lions that were stationed at the Men’s England football teams hotel for the duration of the Euro football tournament. Three lions was the chosen icon as this is the nickname of the England football team. The three lions comes from the coat of arms for England and on the motif of the England football squad.

Favourite England Footballers

In addition to the sculptures, the exhibition will showcase portraits of football icons, including Ealing-born stars Bukayo Saka and Chloe Kelly, who have inspired millions.

Some of these works were created around the time of EURO 2020, a pivotal moment when the England Men’s Football Team, led by Gareth Southgate, captured the nation’s admiration by embodying unity and resilience. Southgate’s leadership, recently recognised with a knighthood in the New Year Honours, and the team’s refusal to be divided in the face of racism, encapsulated the spirit of a modern, inclusive England.

These portraits are generously on loan from the Moniker Art Foundation collection. They celebrate players like Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, who stood against discrimination. From this they became role models for a nation. So bringing the country together in an unprecedented way.

Visitors will engage with the exhibition by expressing what it means to belong and be part of our community.

The exhibition will also feature photos and videos capturing the Three Lions in Germany with the football team, offering a special behind-the-scenes perspective on this international project.

This exhibition is a celebration of collective effort, made possible by our community who supported the project through our crowdfunding campaign. Pitzhanger thanks all those who generously donated to the campaign, and Moniker Art Foundation for helping us meet our target.

Matt Small: Creating Art from waste

Matt Small has made an art out of creating beauty out of our waste. Primarily a painter, Matt Small has a strong style, creating recycled art, often choosing discarded objects like car bonnets or old signs instead of canvas for his work.

Small explains how the urban debris he paints on becomes symbolic of the feeling of being without value. “I thought it’d be interesting to connect the two – that oven door, that shelving unit, that piece of trash to someone – I don’t see it like that, I see that it can be something beautiful and worthwhile. That’s how I see our young people too. Let’s look at their potential, at the hope that’s in all of them.”

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