Angels, Buckets and Bells

This exhibition in the downstairs rooms at Swindon MAG is a creative response to St. Mary’s Lydiard Tregoze, one of Swindon’s most historic and beautiful buildings. The Grade 1 listed church  was awarded funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2018 to conserve its medieval wallpaintings, monuments and decorative schemes. It brings together the sketches and finished work created by the project’s Artists in Residence, Felicity Cormack and Judy Thomson, which will be exhibited alongside treasures from the church.
I went along to the opening night last Tuesday and thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition, Judy's work is on the right as you go into the museum, and Felicity's is on the left. I was so intrigued by their responses to St.Mary's that I didn't really pay much attention to the treasures exhibited in the cabinets, and must go back for another look. All work is for sale.

 The woodcut print seen above titled 'Buckets at Lydiard Tregoze' is one of Felicity's, and below only just about visible because of reflections is the original woodcut.It depicts workers seen during the restoration project when they carried buckets of water in and out of the church.

 'Bell Ringers' seen below is another of Felicity's woodcut prints

 and here's the original woodcut with a bell ringing cord

 Here's a photo of Felicity discussing her work

 and a photo of Sue beside some of Felicity's charcoal drawings.

 The opening night was very well attended, and as usual, there were drinks and nibbles and speeches. Here's Sarah Finch-Crisp, below,talking about the project at St.Mary's and this particular part of it. The church received its first grant in 2016, and they have now had the second amount, with work due to be completed by the middle of this year.

 And onto Judy's work. This mixed media piece, 'North Tombs' really stands out.

 And this piece in one of the cabinets depicts the inside of the church when there was scaffolding in there. Judy said they couldn't go and draw when people were working there in the week, so went at weekends. This piece might be 'Looking up the Aisle' and it's metalpoint I think, it's really fine drawing and is amazingly detailed.

 These are a mixture of cyanotypes

 and this is 'South Window Angel' a unique cyanotype print.

 As you can see, I need to visit the exhibition again when I'm not in a hurry and there's more room to move and have a proper look at, and understanding of what's in there.

Friends Farewell to Sophie Cummings

After six and a half years at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, Curator Sophie Cummings has made a huge impact on the place, with regular change overs of exhibitions both in the downstairs and upstairs galleries, there have been reasons for regular return visits. The Friday lunchtime talks have proved very popular and given people insights into works they might have otherwise not had.
I know a lot of other things went on behind the scenes and lots of others contributed to the recent successes at the museum, but I was concerned when I heard that Sophie was leaving because of the huge positive impact she had made. There was a card to sign and donations were made towards a present of garden tokens and a hamper from Dapaolo  Cafe and Delicatessen also featured in Angela's blog.
We got together today for afternoon tea to give Sophie the card, tokens and present. Lots of Friends turned up, and I thanked Sophie for the high standard of exhibitions  and positive impact she has made. Sophie gave a speech thanking us, and ended with a piece from the Adver in 1989 when Sophie visited a bicycle exhibition. I took a few photos, starting with this one, where Sophie could be giving a lunchtime talk:

Refreshments included a Victoria sponge cake made by my daughter Helen, and some scones with jam and cream, accompanied by cups of tea.

 Here's a photo of the Dapaolo hamper

 and a few general photos of those who came to say goodbye

 It was a lovely event, it was great that so many people could come along

 a couple more views of Sophie during her speech

 and here's Sophie holding up the newspaper cutting

The newspaper article with a lovely photo of Sophie in the museum

 and interestingly on the reverse of the photo is a piece about Steam, a second national railway museum for Swindon. with this thought 'Swindon is looking to tourism as one means of increasing its prosperity. There is still a long way to go before the town will be in a position to rival some of its more historic neighbours.'

 Katie Ackrill, newly appointed Engagement Officer seen below

 and Tracy and Sophie

 I took this photo from the museum's Facebook page.

Yes it was an emotional event. Good luck Sophie, and thank you for all you have contributed ove rthe last 6 and a half years.

Top 5 Posts of All Time

Having listed the top 10 posts of 2019, I thought I'd list the top 5 posts in the history of the blog.

Coming in at number 1 is the post about Jon Ratcliffe's talk 'Unseen Swindon' at 538 page views, published on May 7 2018, it can be read in full here.

 

 I've included one of Jon's photos of the David Murray John Tower.

At the second spot is a post entitled 'Collective Artists with their Work' and is a series of photos of artists who took part in the first Open Exhibition at the museum. It's dated December 30 2018 and shows lots of photographs of artists who took part, and has 500 page views. It's hard to pick just one photo of an artist from this post. Do have a look here at all the photos.

 
 This is Mia Willis with her painting, she coincidentally walked in to the gallery when I was there, it wasn't taken on the opening night as most of them were.

In the third place is  a post called 'Smashing Pots a talk by Mike Yates' with 441 page views, it was posted on October 18 in 2012 and is of course worth reading, it can be found here.
I'll use 'The Pear' by Mo Jupp as the photo from the talk:


And in fourth place, there's a post copied from the flyer of Talks and Trips for 2019 with 426 page views. I've taken the piece about the talk by Michael Gray to represent that post.
 
 And finally in fifth place, a post entitled 'Archaeological Reconstruction Drawings' a write up of a talk by Jennie Anderson with 366 page views, this post was published on April 30 2017. Jennie debunked the idea that Vikings wore 2 pronged helmets  One important thing is people's preconception, Jennie said, for instance many people imagine Vikings had 2 pronged helmets as seen on the person below. The audience were asked to draw a Viking and many people drew the helmet with 2 prongs, Jennie was able to trace this back to a drawing made of Vikings made over a hundred years ago which has influenced our idea of what Vikings looked like.
 
 I can't get the photo into the centre of the page, but I think you can see the familiar idea we have of a viking helmet.
For anyone wondering where the Talks and Trips programme for 2020 has gone, it's due out very soon.

Top Ten Blog Posts of 2019

One of the delights of writing a blog is looking at the number of page views attained per post. It's hard to judge which posts will attract the most page views. It isn't necessarily a post which takes a long time to write, or one with the best photographs. I thought it might be interesting to review the posts from 2019 and give links to the top 10 posts, so here we go, please click on the titles to see the posts:

1. Talks and Trips for 2019 , 2 January with 430 page views



2. Latest Plans for Swindon MAG , 24 March with 212 page views



3. Private View of the New Exhibitions in the Gallery, 4 April, 207 page views



4. A Traveller in Space and Time: Michael Ayrton, Talk 3 November, 187 page views



5. Lunchtime Talk about the Group 7 exhibition ,26 August, 178 pages views



6.The Open Exhibition 2019, 7 December, 177 page views



7. Ken White's Private View, 17 October 177 page views



8. Ceramics Lunchtime Talk, 17 February, 173 page views



9. Gifted! A new exhibition in the main gallery, 17 January, 153 page views



10. Lunchtime Talk on Artist and Model Exhibition, 4 April, 148 page views



Well that's the top 10, interesting how often the lunchtime talks featured in there.
It's also great to look back on 2019 at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery.

Friday Lunchtime Talk

Before Christmas Sophie Cummings, Curator at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery gave her last FREE Friday lunchtime talk on the exhibition in the small part of the gallery. As regulars to Sophie's talks will know, they are carefully thought out, very informative, and give insights into the thinking behind the exhibitions. I have attended lots of the talks, and will miss Sophie's witty and insightful comments about paintings and artists. I have thoroughly enjoyed the talks and know I speak for many others when I say she will be missed, and would like to say a big 'thank you' for the talks and the meticulous preparation which went into them, although this was never obvious in her smooth, confident delivery.

The exhibition of prints is called Hit repeat: Prints from the Swindon Collection of Modern British Art. As the  museum's website says:

'Printmaking can take many forms, from lithographs to etchings to woodcuts and even digital prints.

This exhibition brings together a selection of prints from Swindon’s Collection, so visitors can explore this vital and engaging art form for themselves. The exhibition includes work by Allen Jones, Basil Beattie, Christopher Nevinson and Katherine Jones.'

 I have included all the photos I took of Sophie talking to the group of people who came. The one above gives an idea of the atmosphere in the gallery when Sophie is talking Ian Hamilton Finlay's screenprint 'The Battle of Midway' can be seen in the background.

 This one above is similar, but showing the audience, below Sophie has moved to the other side of the room and discussed Allen Jones' 'One Night Only' just seen on the right.

 and in this one, round the corner, and into the main gallery, Sophie is talking about the new Nevison print.

 which you would be able to see if there wasn't a head in the way!!

 I took a few photos of prints Sophie talked about, although feeling a bit emotional, I haven't remembered much of what was said. I've photographed some of the information sheets, so that might help.

 Above is 'Goshawk' a wood engraving by Charles Tunnicliffe. Wood engraving and woodcuts are some of the earliest forms of printmaking and date back to the 14th century. The design is carved into the wood, the surface is then covered in ink and pressed onto cloth or paper, the cuts create white areas, inverse to the cuts made.

 Above 'Narcissus' an etching by Michael Ayrton, an etching is made by covering a metal plate in wax and the artist scores the design into the wax. The plate is then dipped into acid which reacts with the metal where the wax has been removed. Etching creates precise prints with dark lines and areas of shadow.

 Above one of the three photocopied pages and collage by Monster Chetwynd 'Catpeople 2,3 and 4' 2017

 Above Martin Brewster's Rabley No.4 2009, a photogravure etching.
The exhibition runs until the 4th of January, if you haven't yet seen it, there are only 2 days left.

Collect International Art Fair

For our December talk, we were fortunate enough to have Isobel Dennis, Fair director of Collect coming to explain more about the International Art Fair for Modern Craft and Design which is now in its 16th year. I have taken some information from the Collect website about the art fair:
'Collect is the only gallery-presented art fair dedicated to modern craft and design. Through the years Collect has been instrumental in defining and growing the market for contemporary craft.
Collect celebrates over 400 artists presented by galleries coming from across the globe to this London stage, showcasing exceptional works in ceramics, glass, metal, wood and textiles to makers working in non-traditional materials with experimental techniques.
For 2020, Collect is moving to a striking new home at Somerset House and is excited to be taking over a large number of beautiful rooms presenting a new environment for Collect exhibitors to contextualise and curate modern craft.
 In addition to the main fair Collect Open presents new ambitious craft installations by individual artists and collectives and a lively talks programme explores contemporary craft with leading voices from the worlds of craft, design, architecture, fashion and art.'
Isobel Dennis was introduced by Erik Burnett-Godfree, he been instrumental in inviting her to come and talk to us about Collect, and it transpired that they knew each other at school.

 Here's Isobel below explaining that there has been a huge change in attitude to Craft since 2004 when Collect began to bring top galleries from around the world together. Hauser and Wirth opened Make, Roche Court a design house, Tate St Ives and Tate Modern have also been involved in matters of craft and why craft matters. There have recently been record sales prices with buyers from the Fitzwilliam and the V&A and there's also a Loewe Foundation Craft Prize won last year by  Japanese lacquer artist Genta Ishizuka, beating 2,500 entrants from more than 100 countries to scoop the prestigious international award.

 We were shown lots of examples of the best works at the fair, below people looking at exhibits

 I made notes and hoped the lovely Collect catalogue Isobel gave me would help, I think this was a red glass bull's eye from Oregon. It was a fascinating talk, and apologies that my notes now seem insufficient to the task of writing up the evening.

 Glass is very much on trend at the moment

 I think this piece above is Caithness thermoformed and pushed through chicken wire, and I think the teapot shaped piece below is Czech fused glass

 And at the end of the talk, we asked Isobel to pose beside the Collect slide.

 Thank you once again for coming and shining a light on the Craft Fair, and most generously giving us tickets to the event which runs from 27 February - 1March.