Collective Private View

The Swindon Museum and Art gallery really came to life at the private view of Collective, the open art exhibition. I took lots of general photos of the evening, and then photos of artists beside their work, which will appear in the next blog post.
After general chatting, there were speeches and presentations, firstly owner of Oink Gallery, Mark Pepperall, selected ‘Fallen‘ by Cate Watson as “the most original and well executed piece submitted”and here he is with Cate Watson:

 and here's Tim Carroll whose painting ‘Waiting Room‘ was selected by curator Sophie Cummings for his “work of art that embodies the creativity and vitality of the regional art scene”

It was good to see Rod Hebden at the event, seen here talking to Paul Gregory

 There were possibly a hundred people in the room

 People still milling around and chatting here

 and here

 and then listening to the speeches

 at what was one of the most successful private views in the gallery.

Collective- an open art exhibition, first impressions

There's been lots of interest generated at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery by the latest exhibition in the main gallery featuring work by artists from the region. This is what their website says about the exhibition:
'Collective – an open art exhibition, is a first for Swindon Museum and Art Gallery.
The panel of judges (Swindon Museum and Art Gallery’s Curator, Sophie Cummings; Mark Pepperall, owner of Oink Gallery and Caroline Day, Artist) selected 50 works to appear in this exhibition.
All works in the exhibition are available to purchase.
Owner of Oink Gallery, Mark Pepperall, selected ‘Fallen‘ by Cate Watson as “the most original and well executed piece submitted” and Tim Carroll’s ‘Waiting Room‘ was selected by curator Sophie Cummings for his “work of art that embodies the creativity and vitality of the regional art scene”.  Both of these artists won prizes from Oink Gallery and icanFRAME.'
I went along on the first day to have a look and took these photos, the first one is on the wall facing you as you walk into the gallery, and is Tim Carroll's 'Waiting Room' selected by Sophie Cummings

 I took a few general photos of the exhibition

 it looks really good

 I'm not sure the photos work if you haven't seen the exhibition, but they are a record of what it looked like

 this is the wall round the corner by the fire escape.

 I tried this angle, but I'm not sure it's any better than the others.

 I liked the large wall displays giving information about the exhibition, this one below explains that Collective is the first open art exhibition, held at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery since it was founded in the 1920s.

 followed by a panel listing artists taking part in the exhibition

I took a few photos of various pieces including this one 'Constantine Bay, Winter' by Lynn Keddie

 and Ken White's 'Canal Cyclists'

 Gordon Dickinson's 'Jaws 3'

 and Sally Taylor's 'Traces' made from fabric, natural dyes, stitch and ephemera.

 The gallery came to life that night at the private view where artists taking part were invited to see their work in the gallery.

Laughter and Loss: British Artists in World War II

This was James Russell's second visit to Swindon Museum and Art Gallery to give a talk to the Friends. We were so impressed by his talk on Eric Ravilious to coincide with the exhibition he curated at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, we invited him again to come and talk to us about World War II artists. For those unfamiliar with James Russell, more can be found here, he's a lecturer and author of many splendid art books.
The talk was fascinating and accompanied by slides of the many superb artworks produced by artists he talked about who took part in Kenneth Clark's War artists scheme. I took some notes, but didn't download the photos pf the paintings James talked about, so what follows are paintings I discovered when I looked up the artists.
There were 247 war artists in the second world war, but only 37 employed at any one time, often for 6 months, and paid £325 for their work. Probably the most famous and admired painting by this group is 'Totes Meer' (Dead Sea) painted in 1940-41 at a salvage dump in Cowley

 There's also the 'Battle of Britain' painted in 1941:

Charles Cundall's painting 'Withdrawal from Dunkirk' is rather spectacular:

and then in contrast, Edward Ardizzone showed the human side of war, often with a dog in the painting, although not in this one, 'Lunch in Nieppe Forest', 1940

Richard Eurich and Graham Sutherland's 'An East End Street' were also mentioned.
Here's John Piper's 'Coventry Cathedral' painted when the embers were still hot:

And Henry Moore's 'Grey Tube Shelter Space':

and Ethel Gabain's ' Women Welders':

Evelyn Dunbar also produced some fine paintings during World War II,  here's 'Land Girl and Bail Bull':

Dame Laura Knight is aslo famous for paintings such as 'Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring'

The last three paintings by women illustrating the varied occupations women were engaged in during the war.
Stanley Spencer was of course mentioned, I'm hoping we can have a trip to Sandham Memorial Chapel where the space is filled with his paintings.
Eric Ravilious featured as well in the talk, here's 'HMS Glorious in the Arctic':

 and this is Great Coxweel Tither barn by John Piper which I rather liked.

Also here's Edward Bawden's 'Cairo- The Citadel'

 and lastly a photo of James Russell during the talk

Thank you James Russell for a fabulous talk, it was a sell out, and very much enjoyed by all who attended, by clicking here, you can read about James Russell's talk on Ravilious, and the next post is about our trip to the Dulwich Picture Gallery when traffic was brought to a standstill in London due to tube strikes.

Spooky Halloween Workshop

Children could make a spider bracelet, a mask and finger puppets at the workshop held on Halloween  last Wednesday. The spider bracelets were my favourite, perfect for trick or treating in the evening.
Here are a few photos:

 Above an example of a mask, not only were they coloured in, but children ahd to cut them out as well, and below here's a spooky spider

 and here's the overspill area where children and adults could do a bit of colouring in

 a general view of the workshop

 Aaron's spider

 My granddaughter's spider

 and Alex's spider

 Anyone wanting to help at future workshops, or volunteer at the museum should visit the website for contact details: www.swindonmuseumandartgallery.org.uk or visit the museum in person asking to be put on the mailing list.

Half term Dinosaur workshop

What an exciting time it is when the children's workshops are held at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery during the holidays. The main gallery where the workshops are held is buzzing with people, and the atmosphere is really positive. Children absolutely love the activities, adults with them enjoy talking to each other, and those assisting have a great time as well. One boy was crying towards the end of the dinosaur workshop, when asked why, his mum said he didn't want to leave, he was having such a great time.
Here are a few photos taken during the dinosaur workshop:

As you can see from the photo above, it was popular, with children waiting in an overspill area, and also others completing the spooky trail. Below Claire with the materials for the workshop

Below there's child holding up their decorated dinosaur

And here's a flying pterodactyl ready to go

The use of scrunched up tissue paper of one colour was very effective

especially when there's a similar coloured feather on top of the dinosaur

and here's a green one

a couple of very bright dinosaurs below with 'eyes' being offered

another lovely pterodactyl

orange was a popular colour for dinosaurs

Threading cotton through the pterodactyls was a difficult job, especially since needles had to be blunt, presumably for health and safety reasons!

Probably the most beautifully decorated pterodactyl above.

Silver Jubilee AGM followed by talk by Jessy Price

We were very pleased to welcome a great audience to our silver jubilee AGM. It feels like a fantastic achievement that the Friends of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery have been in existence for the last 25 years. We are very lucky to have so many wonderfully supportive Friends, and such a talented committee. There are bound to be changes in committee members; this year we were very sorry to say goodbye to two members of the committee who have been with the Friends for many of those 25 years, Ray Ward and Paul Ricketts. We were very pleased to welcome Kathy Geddes and Erik Burnett-Godfree onto the committee, and to re-elect our other committee members. I'm hoping i can upload the Power Point presentation and the rest of the written material from the AGM onto the side bar on the right hand side where it says 2018 AGM.
It's hard to take photos and remember what happened after ensuring the AGM ran smoothly. Jessy Price followed the AGM with her research into witch trials carried out by the English East India Company in Bombay during the 1670s and 1680s. Her talk was wide ranging, considering witches, wizards and demons. Here are a few photos I took of Jessy during her talk:

 Above Jessy and below the title slide: 'Witches Foreign and domestic: English demonology in Restoration era Bombay'

 Probably a better photo of Jessy

Thank you to Jessy Price for a fascinating talk