MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES OVER CHRISTMAS - SPOILT FOR CHOICE
By Narelle Doe
21/12/2007
From the Age of Enchantment at Dulwich Picture Gallery. Edmund Dulac, The Ice Maiden, 1915, watercolour. The Royal Pavilion, Art Gallery & Museums, Brighton.
‘Tis the season to be merry – and visit museums and galleries, we say. Here are some suggestions for injecting some interesting trips into your festive holidays…
Click on the links for more details; all run until at least mid-January unless otherwise stated. Most are open during the holiday season except for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day, but do check opening times before your visit.
In London
The Pump House Gallery in Battersea Park is showing works by Canadian artist Dallas Seitz inspired by hunting, collecting and colonising, including a huge collection of 150 handmade dolls. Children usually like dolls, but all of them like sweets – indulge them in an exhibition about their favourite foodstuff at the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green.
Another pick full of childhood fantasies is the Age of Enchantment at Dulwich Picture Gallery, while the Horniman has a glass flute and the silver trumpet blown by Queen Victoria’s head trumpeter in a display telling the story of wind instrument makers Boosey and Hawkes.
Taxidermy - a very Victorian art at the Booth Museum, Hove. Courtesy the Booth Museum
In the South East
Stuffed creatures Victorian style at the Booth Museum, Hove; LBDs at Brighton Museum (that’s little black dresses); and a theatrical costume parade at Abingdon County Hall Museum all provide a visual feast for those in the South East.
Nostalgic for your Scouting days? The Vale & Downland Museum in Wantage has prepared just the thing for you woggle-wearers, with a look back at 100 years of the movement (until December 29 1007).
Christmas bears at The Dorset Teddy Bear Museum. Courtesy the Dorset Teddy Bear Museum
In the South West
Ahh, every child should get a special teddy bear for Christmas, at least once. The Teddy Bear Museum in Dorchester is showing visitors how the human-sized Bears of Casterbridge celebrate the season (until January 1 2008).
Remember when The Clash were in the charts? Did you drool over Debbie Harry? Or are you a hip young retro thing trying to get that punk look? I’d go down to the 1977 exhibition at the Fashion Museum in Bath, if I were you.
Speaking of old things, Wiltshire Heritage Museum is delving into its rich seam of fossilised specimens with an interactive exhibition for children (until January 6 2008).
The Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro, meanwhile, is celebrating the Cornish Caravaggio, John Opie (closed December 24 to January 1).
Der Rosenkavalier - from A Night at the Opera. Courtesy Nuneaton Museum
In the West Midlands
No doubt many people will often be wearing their beer goggles over the season. In between, you might like to look at the large range of beer glasses, from tankards to modern pints, on show at Broadfield House Glass Museum, Dudley.
Romans were more known for their wine drinking, which requires fine glassware. Find out more about them at the Red House Glass Cone, Stourbridge. Up the road at Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery, they’re exploring the finery of a night at the opera (until January 6 2008).
Minerals are under the microscope at the National Waterfront Museum in Wales. Courtesy National Waterfront Museum
In Wales
Swansea is a good destination for museum fun. The microscopic wonders of nature are unearthed in Amazing Magnified Minerals at the National Waterfront Museum, while the triumph, tragedy and local connections of that legendary ship the Titanic are centre stage at Swansea Museum.
The White Star Liner charted some icy waters. Go to the Radnorshire Museum and you'll see how people were charting the hilly Welsh borders region between 1600 and 1840 in an interesting display of maps (until January 5 2008).
Bangor's Gwynedd Museum & Art Gallery, meanwhile, is exploring the temperance movement and how it tackled alcoholism in the vicinity during Victorian times.
The Ancient Greeks – inventors of democracy, the Olympic Games and all-round civilised people. Head to New Walk Museum in Leicester to find out about the Greeks and their sense of competition in a travelling exhibition from the British Museum.
Any real civilisation should have pubs, the punctuation marks of any British town. Loughborough is no exception, so Charnwood Museum is paying an affectionate tribute to them in the exhibition, Pub Culture, with paintings by local artist Barry Hitchcock (closed December 24 – January 4).
Some people don't like progress. In Loughborough, the Luddites made their feelings about technology well known when they attacked inventor John Heathcoat's lacemaking machines in 1816. Discover the story at Harborough Museum Market Harborough, until January 3 2008. (Closed December 23-26 and January 1.)
A suitably wintery exhibition at St John's College.
In the East of England
Three exhibitions in Cambridge are exploring diverse parts of the world. Four Antarctic adventurers from St John's College are in the limelight at the college library until December 31; and a British expedition to Ethiopia in the 1840s is captured in watercolour at the Fitzwilliam Museum, where you can also travel to Persia and Paris through illuminated manuscripts (until January 6).
More…
Artistic Paths through the Landscape at Norwich Arts Centre
Abolition! The Thomas Clarkson Story at Ipswich Museum
Transformations – the changing shape of women’s fashion from 1800 to 2000 at Moyse’s Hall, Bury St Edmunds
The Chronicles of Froissart at Royal Armouries, Leeds. Courtesy Royal Armouries / University of Sheffield
In Yorkshire
The Chronicles of Froissart sound like an illuminating exhibition at the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds. Over at the National Railway Museum in York, Art in Motion is a train-themed exhibition (as you might expect).
Dating things – that is, working out how old they are – is the idea behind interactive exhibition Fingerprints of Time at the Yorkshire Museum (until December 31), which features everything from Viking swords to the 4.5m-year-old Middlesbrough Meteorite.
Time does leave its mark on things, especially human bodies. Luckily, we have the science to replace some worn out parts, like hips. Body Parts: New for Old! at the Thackray Museum in Leeds is asking how similar we've become to bionic science fiction characters and where it all might lead. (Closed December 24-26, 31 and January 1.)
It's the last chance to see The Animals' War at IWM North. Courtesy Imperial War Museum North.
In the North West
Looking forward to the Doctor Who Christmas Special? Fans of the Time Lord can enhance their knowledge of the series at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester at Doctor Who Up-Close, until January 6.
The Animals' War at Imperial War Museum North (Manchester) is also on until January 6, while Beauty is your Duty! looks at how women kept themselves glamorous during the two world wars (at the Grosvenor Museum, Chester).
Warrington Museum and Art Gallery has packed itself with contemporary art from the likes of Banksy and Tracey Emin in the exhibition Vandaleyes, while if you want to find out what all the fuss about the Turner Prize is about, it’s the last few weeks of the Turner exhibition at Tate Liverpool (until January 13 2008).
The BFG's rather large sandal. Courtesy Seven Stories
In the North East
Prefer Snozzcumbers and Frobscottle to roast turkey and Christmas pud? Young and old will enjoy the world of Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake at Seven Stories Centre for Children’s Books in Newcastle.
Contemporary art is the order of the day at Baltic in Gateshead, where there’s a rather nice gathering of everything from Tracey Emin to Gilbert and George on display right now, from the collection of Anita Zabludowicz.
It’s back to the 1920s and 30s at mima (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art), where everything Bauhaus is on show, from furniture to architecture in the modernist style.
At The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, things are rather more fin de siècle, with an eye-catching exhibition on the pretty glassware of Emile Gallé and the Origins of Art Nouveau.
Carol Rhodes at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Courtesy National Galleries of Scotland
In Scotland
The University of Aberdeen’s Marischal Museum has an unusual exhibition combining art and anthropology until January 11. ‘Naff? An exploration of value’ has been curated by a PhD visual anthropology student and includes such items as a fluffy boa dyed pink with cherryade and evil eye jewellery.
Down in Glasgow, the CCA has three aesthetically pleasing works by the Openended Group on show, all exploring the moving image and the relationship between choreography, space and technology (until January 12).
Over in Edinburgh, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is hosting a survey of works by Carol Rhodes, known for her powerful, often desolate landscapes.
From Border Country at Belfast Exposed. Courtesy of Belfast Exposed Photography
In Northern Ireland
Armagh County Museum has borrowed some of Ulster Museum’s fantastic collection of historic jewellery dating from the 18th to the 20th century, while Fermanagh County Museum is looking back at the life and times of the Taylor-Woods underwear firm.
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like inside the UK’s migrant detention centres, you can find out at Belfast Exposed Photography where thought provoking images by Melanie Friend are on show in Border Country (until January 11).
