Lunchtime talks at SM&AG

Many of you will know that curator, Sophie Cummings. gives free lunchtime talks on certain  Fridays. These highly informative, informal talks are well worth attending. They start at 12.30pm and last for half an hour, no booking is required, just turn up on the day.
A list of the lunchtime talks, along with Friends' evening talks appears on the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery website, please look at that for more details, in the meantime, here's a quick synopsis of the talks:
Friday 18 January Gifted! a talk on the new exhibition
Friday 8 February a Ceramics talk
Friday 8 March talk on This Women's Work exhibition
29 March talk Artist and Model exhibition
5 April talk on David Bent's 'Out of the Box' exhibition
I'm highlighting the fact there's a talk this Friday 18 January on the new Gifted! exhibition.

Gifted! - new exhibition in the main gallery

Or to give it the full title: Gifted! How gifts and donation have shaped the Swindon Collection of Modern British Art, I've copied what they say on their website about the exhibition:
Gifted! explores the gifts, bequests and donations that have helped establish Swindon’s collection as one of the most important collections of modern British art outside London. From early benefactor Jimmy Bomford and Frederick Phelps, to the longstanding support of the Contemporary Art Society and Art Fund, the exhibition explores how gifts have shaped the collection and provided Swindon with some remarkable and challenging works of art.
The exhibition includes paintings by LS Lowry, Graham Sutherland and Alfred Wallis, along with more recent work by Nicola Tyson, Eileen Cooper and Allen Jones.
As well as exploring the legacy of major gifts and benefactors, the exhibition also shines a light on some lesser known contributions from the Campaign to Protect Rural England and Soroptimist International.
The exhibition is fantastic, some of my favourite paintings are on display. It's well worth having a look at the exhibition which runs until 16 March. I've picked out a few  examples of work in the exhibition and taken a few general overviews of the gallery.

 I'm starting with George Downs, 'Landscape' because it looks so fantastic after it's conservation which the Friends supported, the odd angle is an error in my photography.

 Another painting the Friends helped conserve, and which is consequently now sparkly bright is Jack Smith's 'Night Sky' which looks fabulous.
I know from time spent on the front desk, that people who come to visit Swindon Museum and Art Gallery love to see the really famous artists' work we have, so I know they will be flocking to see the two LS Lowry paintings which are hung together:

'Winter in Pendelbury' which was one of the original Bomford gift paintings, on the left and 'A Procession' on the right which was bequeathed by Anthony Carlisle through the Art Fund in 1993.

 Here are some general views of walls to whet your appetite, I want you to come and see the exhibition, so this post is intended as a taster

 It's looking great isn't it? Three of my favourites below. How does Ronald Ossory Dunlop produce such memorable portraits?

 Isn't it wonderful to see Mary Fedden's 'Spanish Chair' on display again?

 And on display for the first time in the gallery, 'Regent Circus' painted in 1945 by Harold Dearden and purchased with the help of the Friends.

A reminder that the Art and Conflict exhibition is on until Saturday 19 January

Fabulous signage for Gifted! exhibition

I'm sure we've all admired the signage applied to walls giving information about the exhibition on show. It makes a well hung exhibition look fabulous, and that's true of the present 'Gifted!' exhibition. I imagined curator, Sophie Cummings, on a ladder trying hard to not get wrinkles in the signage as she applied it to the wall. But no, it is a really professional job, and is best carried out by experts. I was fortunate on Tuesday that my visit coincided with the signs being stuck to the wall in what appeared to be a multi stage process. I didn't like to follow them too closely in case anything went wrong, so discretely took a few photos:

 The first stage involved measuring where the title of the exhibition should go, and asking the other person doing this whether it looked right

 Having decided on the position, some covering paper had to be removed

 and here it is almost off

 and then completely off, and the letters then had to be rollered onto the wall to make sure they were sticking properly.

 Only after the job was done did I ask if it ever went wrong, and yes it does sometimes and the signs have to be made again.

Talks and Trips for 2019

Happy New Year to everyone. May 2019 be a year of fantastic art engagement for us all.
Flyers illustrating the talks and trips for 2019 are available at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, on their website, and they also appear on our website. Buying tickets for talks in advance is recommended to avoid disappointment; they can be bought from our website, and from reception during museum opening hours: 11.00am-4.30pm Tuesday - Saturday.
Our first event of 2019 is a Wine Tasting at Magnum wine shop

followed by a talk by Conservation Architect Michael Gray:

Followed by Ken White in conversation with Andy Binks, this will be a rerun of the talk at Christ Church on 8 June 2018. If you missed that fabulous event, don't miss out this time.

and then we have a trip to the Victoria Art Gallery, meeting at 3.30pm, we will be shown the stores by their Friends followed by a tour of the galleries and an optional meal out in Bath before returning home.

Later on we're having a talk by sculptor David Lomax, entitled Threads in a Web

and then in May, David Bent will be talking about the wide ranging influences that have inspired his work:

Our June talk by Emile de Bruijn on acquiring works for the National Trust

At the beginning of July, we have organised a trip to the Dulwich Picture Gallery to see Cutting Edge, an exhibition of work by the Grosvenor School:

There will be a talk in July, but it is yet to be announced.