May Talk: Chippenham Museum's Collection of Prints

 We were very pleased to welcome back Mark Golder to talk about his work with Chippenham Museum and the Golder-Thomson Gift of prints spanning the twentieth century to the museum. Many posts appear on this blog if you look up Mark Golder, this one for instance which gives some perspective on Mark, a far better insight into their philanthropy can be gained from the Pallant House Gallery website.

Mark began by comparing the populations of Swindon and Chippenham to give an idea of the size of the place. Swindon's population is 222,000 and Chippenham's 36,000. Chippenham has a small museum and has now been given room to expand, it is run by 4 staff and volunteers. Sarah Purvey, Calne based ceramicist played a significant part in developing the modern and contemporary art collection, introduced Mark and his partner Brian to Chippenham Museum. Two books have been produced with works acquired with a forward by Jo Baring Director of the Ingram Collection who talks about 'the visionary work being done at Chippenham Museum' The books are £5 each and when you visit Chippenham Museum, well worth buying.

Mark and Brian also produced a book entitled 'A Century in Print 1920-2020 The Golder-Thompson Gift'. The gift is in memory of Arthur Norman, manager of the Sue Ryder shop in Chippenham before moving to Eastern Europe. The collection is in 3 parts, designed to look at Wiltshire printmaking, there were 3 exhibitions showcasing works in the three eras. There were 60 prints donated in all, part funded by the local arts society; 16 from 1920-30, 25 from the 1940-80s and 19 from 2000-2020.

Robin Tanner etcher and educationalist was a teacher, loved Chippenham; his etchings give vivid evocations of life a hundred years ago. His Harvest Festival, Wiltshire Roadmaker and Gamekeeper's Cottage etchings are great examples of his work. Below the Roadmaker who has one of the most back breaking jobs. 

Moving onto the 1940s many of the artists in this section attended Bath Academy of Art at Corsham Court moved from Bath during the second world war.

Rosemary and Clifford Ellis attended and created poster like the one below of Teignmouth for Lyons tearooms

Few women got involved at Corsham Court, although Gillian Ayres produced silk squares, one in this collection and the other is in the Tate Collection. 

In the third section bringing us up to the present day, there are many names becoming more and more recognised. I visited this exhibition and took a photos of these works:

Above and below works by Sarah Purvey, particularly love the ceramic piece above, Friends bought one several years ago for the SC.

Above a commission by Jo Taylor for ITV

Above a mezzotint engraving of a Peppered Moth by Sarah Gillespie RWA

Above Emma Stibbon RA Night Sea Ice

Above Celia Cook, Variant 22 a woodcut, and finally the piece below is a new acquisition at Chippenham Museum, it's 'Large Platter with Doves' by James Tower, purchased with support from ACE/ V&A Purchase Grant Fund and Art Fund.

Thank you once again Mark for the inspirational talk, and do please visit Chippenham Museum.

Advertiser article on arts and culture in Swindon

 With the change in administration after the local elections in May, we have a new Cabinet member for culture, art and heritage in Swindon, Cllr Marina Strinkovsky. Last week in an article in the Swindon Advertiser, the headline was: 'Arts and Culture in Swindon is a match for any other comparable town'. If you click on the link, you can read the complete article.

Here's Cllr Strinkovsky photographed beside two new acquisitions to the Swindon Collection by Dee Ferris:

You can see these paintings in Committee Room 3 in the Civic Offices.

Wessex Museums Partnership

 On 8 June Swindon Museums celebrated joining Wessex Museums Partnership at STEAM museum. Three of our Swindon museums, STEAM museum, Lydiard House museum and Swindon Museum and Art Gallery joined Dorset, Poole, Salisbury and Wiltshire museums to form a National Portfolio Organisation, NPO, funded by the Arts Council for the next 3 years.

Friends of all three Swindon museums were invited and it was an excellent chance to catch up and talk to representatives of the four other museums in the partnership. Speeches were given by Frances Yeo Swindon Museum's manager, Declan Westwood from the Arts Council and Kristina Broughton, CEO of Wessex Museums. Kristina's speech can be read in full here and gives a good ideas about the partnership.

Unusually I didn't take any photographs, but there were some official ones below, starting with the Swindon one, from the left: Declan Westwood, Marina Strinkovsky Cabinet member for art and culture, Frances Yeo, Jim Robbins, leader of the council and Kristina Broughton:

And these two photos with representatives from the other museums and Arts Council:

STEAM museum presents such good backdrops for photos.

Do have a look at the Wessex partnership's website with lots of information about their achievements and news.

Lunchtime Talk in May: New Works

Lunchtime talks are taking place once a month, with Katie Ackrill, Collections and Exhibition Officer for the 3 museums giving the talks. Last month, Katie introduced us to some paintings we hadn't seen and talked in depth about them. 

The first paintings Katie talked about were two by Dee Ferris, both presented by the Contemporary Arts Society this year. The one above is called 'Places We Go' is a wonderfully immersive piece with  wonderful ideas about the picture beside it.

This painting, also by Dee Ferris is Called 'Sleepy Hollow' and looks at a disregarded, hidden corner of vegetation. It needs to be seen in person to be appreciated fully.

Above a photo taken during the talk

Here's Katie talking about the newly acquired Harold Dearden painting which I htink is called 'Blackberry Pickers'.

Above here's the painting closer up, Katie drew us into the painting to examine colours used and techniques Dearden used to make this a satisfying painting. The purple frame was apparently an addition made by previous owners who lived in the States.

Finally not a new acquisition, Leonard Appelbee's 'Struck (The Dead Tree) painted in 1947.

The next lunchtime talk is this Friday 23 June at 12 noon. Tickets can be obtained here. It's entitled Painted Landscapes.

Old Photos in the Swindon Advertiser

 Here's the link to the Swindon Advertiser article, entitled 'Ten Throwback Photos of Swindon Museum' by Tina Robbins. I'll include some of the photos below, to see more and the article, please click on the link:

Above the famous croc, really a gharial, killed almost 100 years ago and given pleasure to many since then.

These are particularly lovely, featuring children enjoying the museum exhibits.