GERALD Scarfe’s satirical depictions of Margaret Thatcher are the subject of an exhibition at the Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle in the spring.

Milk Snatcher, The Thatcher Drawings, which opens on March 14, will present work from a 22-year period illustrating the turbulent career of the Iron Lady.

The cartoons, never previously exhibited, chart her time as a member of the shadow cabinet, her leadership of the Conservative Party, tenure as Prime Minister and, ultimately, her political decline.

They will raise vivid reminders of the miners’ strike, the Falklands War and the close relations she established with the US.

Varyingly depicted as cunning, razor sharp and perversely sexual, she appears in multiple guises – as shark, a chicken and even an axe.

Scarfe has explained: "I didn't agree with her values, but she was amazing material. I could turn her into anything acerbic or cutting, like a dagger or a knife, probing and vicious."

The exhibition will demonstrate Scarfe's contribution to political commentary and graphic art.

The sweeping gesture of his pen stroke, a palette linked to the introduction of colour print at The Sunday Times and the influence he has drawn from artists such as Francis Bacon, make him one of the finest political cartoonists of our time.

The exhibition, now extended and running until June 7, is being curated by former Turner Prize judge, Greville Worthington, of North Yorkshire, and will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

Next month, in Confected, Borrowed and Blue, the famous Willow Pattern will be given a fresh twist in an installation by Paul Scott, an artist and ceramics expert on tableware who mutates familiar forms to make subversive comments on modern life and times.

Best known for his research into ceramics and print, his highly individual pieces blur the boundaries between fine art, craft and design, with subliminal and though-provoking messages.

His Cockle Pickers Tea Service, for example, responds to the drowning of 19 Chinese gang workers in Lancashire’s Morecambe Bay with elements from the Willow Pattern showing water rising engulfing the scene. Made to commemorate the passing of the parliamentary bill to abolish the Slave Trade, it serves as a reminder that slavery remains an issue in 21st century Britain.

Scott's work can be found in private and public collections around the world including the V&A in London, National Museum in Sweden, National Decorative Arts Museum in Norway and Museum of Art and Design in New York.

His latest book, Horizon, Transferware and Contemporary Ceramics, is published this month.

The exhibition, organised by the Holburne Museum, Bath, runs at the Bowes from February 14 until April 12 before touring to other centres.

Details about the artist can be found at cumbrianblues.com.