Weather Eye Exhibition Opened last week

There's a new exhibition in the newly created small gallery where the Craigie Aitchison exhibition was held. It's a small exhibition of varied works, all depicting the natural world. The walls give you an idea of the tones:

This one has seascapes

 Fabulous blues below:

And a lovely blue wall to complement the paintings above

The information panel explains it all, apologies for missing out the Bomberg.

Here are a few which I thought I'd reproduce here:

 Above is 'Ebb Tide on the Reef at Clodgy' by Borlase Smart in 1943. This painting was at one time lent to Noel Riley at the Beehive for a discussion group to talk about it.

 'Sussex Landscape' by Claude Muncaster 1947

 'Landscape' by Denis Wirth-Miller 1956

 'Burning the leaves' Mary Potter 1955

'Welsh Hills' by CRW Nevison undated and the subject of a free lunchtime talk by Sophie Cummings on 11 March 12.30-1pm, along with Wallis' boat painting.
 There's also a general talk by Sophie on the exhibition on Friday 12 February 12.30-1pm. It's free to everyone, so do come along.

 'Cricklade Landscape' by Edward Butler

Deep Space Astrophotography and the Blackett Observatory

The first Friends' visit and talk of the year was to the Mount House Gallery to see Gavin Jones' exhibition of deep space astrophotography. We were treated not only to the photos, but a video Gavin had made of his telescope in his back garden in Marlborough, and a detailed explanation  of how the photographs were treated to enable a better view of space.
Here are a couple:

and this one of the North American nebula

 We were also treated to a session on how we perceive stars according to where they are in relation to us and each other. I am a bit hazy on the details because the group was quite large, and we split into two so that some could go to the Blackett Observatory while others stayed for the astrophotography, and I spent quite a bit of the evening ferrying people back and forth from the gallery to the observatory.

Here we are on arrival:

The Blackett Observatory is a wonderful place, only a short distance from the Mount House Gallery, quite high up behind the tennis courts and cricket pitches, it's an amazing place, run by Director of the observatory, Charles Barclay,  who guided us through the rules of looking effectively at the night sky as we sat in red light, designed to maximise our pupil size after 30 minutes and enable proper viewing.
This is what he put about our visit on the Blackett website:
'News - 21st January
External visit: Some 26 Friends of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery visited for a double evening combining a visit to 'In the Marlborough Night Garden' with Gavin James and then a trip to the Observatory. Sadly the sky had clouded and only the Moon occasionally got through the cloud. Before the groups came up the sky was clear and Comet Catalina had been located in the 10 inch and a drawing made showing it close to a 9th magnitude star in Draco, several degrees away from its position on Tuesday.'
 To find more about the splendid telescope and how you can have a look at it, then please click on the link to the Blackett website.
Apart from the general information about the telescope, we were given information about how climate change has affected the weather to such an extent that since September, there have been very view evenings when the sky has been clear enough to see the stars before about 2am.
We weren't allowed to photograph anything in the observatory, but I did manage a photo of the moon:

Thank you to all who made the visit such a successful event.

Trip to Marlborough College Observatory

There are still a few places available on this trip, please email me to reserve a space: lindakasmaty@hotmail.com
We meet at 7.15 for a 7.30 start at the Mount House Gallery; 1. Look at the exhibition, 2. An informal talk from Gavin James followed by Q & A, 3.  A trip to the Blackett Observatory, this is a short walk from the gallery but transport will be available for anyone who needs a lift.
Here's more information on this trip:

Latest Information on Talks and Trips

If you click on the side bar where it says 'Talks and Trips' you can see the list, but the flyer Ray Ward has just produced is more informative and much more informative. It's still a bit difficult to read here; hard copies are available at the museum. Firstly the front cover with the summary of events

 Next information about our trip on Thursday 21 January to Marlborough, and the talk on Brightwen Binyon by the fascinating speaker, Michael Gray on Thursday 25 February:

 Then there's the talk by ceramics' collector, Mark Golder, on Thursday 31 March, illustrated by the fabulous Goathead Pot, and on Thursday 21 April, there's an Exhibition Opening evening for Friends only to the Eileen Cooper exhibition.

 Then we're very pleased to welcome Tim Hyman who's giving a talk on Thursday 28 April

 Then we're very pleased to welcome Eileen Cooper RA to talk about the exhibition which will be in the Main Gallery, tickets are on sale now to Friends, but not until 2.4.16 for those who are not members of the Friends.

 There's a trip to Roche Court on 16 May, bookings taken now, and last but by no means least, a talk by Lynne Derry on the Great Bustard, find out more from Lynne.

Phew, that's a long list. There are also free lunchtime talks at the museum, they will feature in a future blog piece.

Diana Dors Sculpture Joins the Swindon Collection

I happened to be visiting the museum on the day Enid Mitchell was being photographed in the museum for this story about her Diana Dors bronze sculpture, I took these photos in the museum:

 Below Enid Mitchell with the sculpture:

 I  copied information on Enid Mitchell and the Diana Dors sculpture from the museum's website
It appears below:

New home in Swindon for Diana Dors

''A bronze sculpture of Diana Dors has been given a new and permanent home at the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery in Bath Road, the very same road where the star went to school.
It was made by artist Enid Mitchell, who became a great fan of the actress after seeing her only performance on the stage of the Wyvern Theatre. Enid remembers the flamboyant star singing ‘Hey Big Spender’ while dressed in a black kaftan, and was inspired to create the sculpture in 1988, four years after Diana Dors’ death, when she realised that Swindon had no memorial to one of its most famous daughters.
When Enid decided to make the bronze she had to appeal for the money to pay for it on a television news programme, which proved successful after a property developer came forward. She then created the sculpture from memory and photographs.
The work was unveiled at the Wyvern Theatre in 1988 and was on display in the foyer for many years. In 2013 it went to the Central Library until being re-housed as part of the Museum and Art Gallery’s Swindon Collection, which holds objects relating to the history and development of the town.
Enid Mitchell was born in the East End of London but has lived and worked in Swindon since the 1970s. During her career, she has made sculpture and ceramics of many famous and notable people.
Stefanie Vincent, the Collections Manager at the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery said: “It’s very fitting that this sculpture of Diana Dors is now part of the Swindon Collection. It is now only a short distance from where the young Diana Fluck, as she then was, was educated for a time at The Selwood School.
“It’s easy to forget just how big a star she was in her heyday, and the sculpture captures her at that time in her life. Her story is a classic example of triumph and tragedy, and she was still relatively young when she died of cancer at the age of just 52.”''

Madeleine Emerald- Thiele on Pre Raphaelite Angels on High

Madeleine Emerald-Thiele who describes herself on Twitter as providing: 'Victorianist musings on Pre-Raphaelite Art & Angels, & other stuff in between', gave us a fascinating talk on the painted ceiling at St.John's Church, Hoxton, London, considering whether they should be considered as part of the pre-Raphaelie tradition.Here's the outside of the beautiful building:

The ceiling was restored 20 years ago, and is already showing signs of neglect, and needs further work doing to protect the paintings on the ceiling, strangely there's little reference to the ceiling from a quick internet search.
Here's the ceiling:

Madeleine also considered the role of angels elsewhere in pre Raphaelite painting, sitting at the side, I got very poor photos of her angels:

The talk was very well attended

 and we followed up with mince pies and drinks

And Madeleine stayed behind to chat to people about her research and ideas about angels.
It was a lovely evening, apologies for lack of detail, I didn't take notes.

The Cricklade Pottery

This beautiful small book contains three chapters by Mike Yates, and one by Ivan Martin extracted from the article he wrote for Pottery Quarterly in the summer of 1957. It's a fascinating account of potters, and takes us back to what is now a bygone age many would like to revive, when objects are valued and enjoyed for their own sake, not jettisoned with the other household accessories as fashions change. It mainly chronicles the Cricklade pottery which was in production from 1957-75.
 The book starts with this wonderful perspective on pottery and potters:
'It should not be thought that the potter's work is primitive and crude because his materials are rough and unrefined. Pottery has been the representative art of the most sensitive and intellectual races'.
The illustrations show examples of pottery from the Cricklade pottery, and I find myself wondering, after Sophie's talk last Friday if they were made from throwing clay onto a potter's wheel, coiled clay, pinched or cut slabs. Ivan Martin explains in the book that his pots were thrown on a wheel, he used a kick-wheel, the same as Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew
 This is the front cover:

 Back cover:

 And the two central pages

 In the final chapter, Mike brings us up to date with potteries in the area, and ends with another Ivan Martin quote seeing 'a gradual improvement in the aesthetic tastes of the masses'.
These lovely booklets are on sale in the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery shop, I would encourage you to buy one.