Welcome to the 24 Hour Museum news in brief page for the week ending June 15 2008.
13.06.2008 – Bill Bryson makes podcast for the Bowes Museum
Best selling author and travel writer Bill Bryson can be heard extolling the charms of The Bowes Museum on a newly launched audio podcast.
The podcast, which can be downloaded for free, offers an introduction to the museum by Bryson, and is one of a series informing visitors about the museum and its current redevelopment.
To listen or view the podcasts simply use a search engine such as Google, type in iTunes and install the free software on your desktop. Search for the Bowes Museum in the top right corner. You will be asked to subscribe to the podcast, for which there is no charge.
To receive monthly updates open iTunes and click on the podcast, an arrow to the right will indicate available episodes. Click to download any new ones. iTunes have currently placed the Bowes Museum in their 'New and Notable' picks.
13.06.2008 - Cursus is older than Stonehenge
A team of archaeologists has found that the Greater Stonehenge Cursus is 500 years older than the stone circle itself.
The team, led by University of Manchester archaeologist Prof Julian Thomas, was able to date the 100 metre long area with the help of an antler pick used to dig it. The pick was carbon dated to between 3600BC and 3300BC - much older than previously thought.
The dating means that the Cursus, 500 metres to the north of Stonehenge, whose purpose is unknown, was very likely linked to Stonehenge in some way. The team hopes to find out more about the enigmatic area when they work on its eastern end this summer.
13.06.2008 – Welsh Heritage Minister announces free access for children and pensioners to Cadw sites
As of September 1 2008, access to Cadw charging sites will be free for children and pensioners resident in Wales, Welsh Heritage Minister Rhodri Glyn Thomas has announced.
The Minister for Heritage also announced free entry for all at Caerleon Roman Fortress Baths from September 1. Entry to Blaenavon Ironworks has been free for all visitors since last Easter.
"My vision is for an accessible, well-protected historic environment, appreciated not only in its own right but also for the contribution it can make to the economy and in revitalizing local communities," said the Minister.
13.06.2008 - East Anglia gets its own scything competition
Simon Damant (pictured), Forester at the National Trust’s Wimpole Estate near Cambridge won the 3rd West Country Scythe Festival Competition in 2007 and enjoyed it so much he has set up a competition at Wimpole Estate on Sunday June 22 2008.
There will be ‘have a go’ scything sessions, under guidance, to hone skills before the competition starts in earnest on the front lawns of Wimpole Hall at 1pm with both novice and experienced categories. If the weather is fine Simon hopes to erect a traditional hayrick. There will also be ‘new meets old’ with a scythe verses the strimmer competition.
Simon said “It was a really enjoyable day last year on the Somerset Levels so I thought I would create a competition for this region to champion this skilled craft.”
The use of a scythe, particularly for mowing grass involves some skill, particularly in sharpening it, and in understanding how to set the blade up so that it is running smoothly and not stressed.
Professional instruction to apprentices has died out (agricultural colleges stopped employing instructors for hand tools around the 1960s) and unlike most European countries Britain has not had a reservoir of smallholder farmers able to keep the knowledge alive.
12.05.2008 - 'Suck' wins Diesel Wall Competition at Urbis
The winner of the international 2008 edition of Diesel Wall at Urbis has been revealed as Tim Hensal, whose piece entitled, Suck, will become a Diesel Wall from June 11 and an international art project on a monumental scale.
Suck will take over the unique facet of Urbis, where it will remain until September 2008. The concept behind the winning piece is to give the impression to the observer of a large bowl into the side of the building. It is made of lines which follow exactly the lines of the windows, but then curve away in a disorienting fashion.
The winner was selected by a specialist jury who gathered together in May to judge the entries. The jury members included Peter Saville, legendary graphic designer, Wilbert Das, Diesel Creative Director and Terry Jones, Founder and Editor of i-D magazine.
Entrants came in from all over the world with two of the Manchester finalists originating from Brazil. Tim Hensal is from New Mills in High Peak.
12.05.2008 - The Art Fund given £1.5 million donation
The Wolfson Foundation has more than doubled its annual grant to The Art Fund, the UK’s leading independent art charity.
The Wolfson Foundation will give The Art Fund £500,000 each year for the next three years. The funds will support the charity’s work in securing works of art for the UK’s museums and galleries.
“We are enormously grateful to the Wolfson Foundation which is far and away the most generous regular supporter of The Art Fund," said David Barrie, Director of The Art Fund. "The whole museum community is deeply indebted to the Foundation for its sustained help over the last 31 years.”
For the past 30 years The Wolfson Foundation has supported The Art Fund with grants totalling more than £2.2m. With the Wolfson Foundation's help The Art Fund has saved many great works of art such as Bernardo Bellotto’s A View of Verona in 1981 for the National Trust’s property Powis Castle, El Greco’s Fabula in 1988 for the National Galleries of Scotland and Edward Lear’s Kinchinjunga from Darjeeling in 2006 for the National Museum of Cardiff.
The Art Fund offers grants to help UK museums and galleries enrich their collections, helping to secure over 860,000 works of art since 1903, and campaigns widely on behalf of museums and their visitors. An independent, membership-based charity, it receives no funding from the government or the Lottery, is entirely funded from public donations and has 80,000 members.
11.06.2008 - Jerwood Sculpture Prize call for submissions
The call has gone out for submissions to the UK's most significant prize for outdoor sculpture.
Since its creation in 2001, the Jerwood Sculpture Prize has become one of the most significant commissioning prizes for sculpture in the UK.
Every two years the Jerwood Charitable Foundation awards one artist £25,000 to create a piece of outdoor sculpture which becomes part of the Jerwood Sculpture Collection at Ragley, Warwickshire.
Structured to promote and reward emerging talent in the creation of outdoor sculpture, the prize is open to anyone within 15 years of graduation, who is either a British citizen, a citizen of the Irish Republic, or a sculptor who has lived or worked in the UK for at least the last three years.
In previous years, sculptures by Benedict Carpenter, Gereon Krebber, Judith Dean and last year’s winner, Juliet Haysom, (winning water sculpture, Spring, pictured) have been added to the Jerwood Sculpture collection.
Artists are invited to submit drawings, written statements and plans for their proposed commission, along with their current CV. Full application details are available to download from: www.jerwoodvisualarts.org.
11.06.2008 - Extensive Iron Age settlement unearthed in Northumberland
Archaeologists have unearthed one of the most complete Iron Age settlements ever found in the North East of England at a surface mine site in Northumberland.
The site at the Banks Mining's Delhi surface mine near Seaton Burn has been excavated by a team from Tyne and Wear Museums Archaeology. Working over a period of five months experts have now unearthed the remains of approximately 50 'roundhouses' in an enclosed two-hectare area.
The site is thought to have been occupied for up to 500 years, with a number of features showing how it evolved over that time.
"The relatively undisturbed nature of the site makes interpretation of what we've found there much easier," said Northumberland County Council Archaeologist, Nick Best, "and being able to examine and record it all in such detail over many months has enabled us to gather a great deal of useful information on how people lived around 2,500 years ago."
The land is due to be returned to operational mine use after the dig is completed and archaeologists have recorded all the necessary data.
10.06.2008 - Wellcome £1.4m for Explore-At-Bristol
Explore-At-Bristol has announced it has been awarded a grant of £1.4 million from the Wellcome Trust.
The grant will fund the redevelopment of the science centre's popular Your Amazing Brain exhibition. Called All About Us, it will take visitors on an incredible journey through the whole human body looking at how our brain and body adapt to the world they are in. Packed full of hands-on phenomena, models, recreations and interactives, All About Us will offer a fully immersive experience to visitors of any age.
The significant award is a vote of confidence for Explore-At-Bristol, which aims to make science accessible to the widest possible audience.
The first phase of All About Us is due to open to the public in spring 2009 with the final phase of work completed for Explore's 10th anniversary of opening in June 2010.
10.06.2008 - Arts Council England appoints two new Executive Directors
Two leading figures from the worlds of art and finance will join Arts Council England's senior management team in the autumn.
Andrew Nairne, currently Director of Modern Art Oxford, joins the Arts Council as Executive Director, Arts Strategy and Anupam Ganguli, currently Director of Finance for the Victoria and Albert Museum, will take up the position of Executive Director of Resources.
09.06.2008 - Richmond Castle hosts medieval crime and punishment weekend
Law-breakers beware. This weekend, Richmond Castle will be the place to avoid, as the site turns back the clock to the 15th century, when you were more likely to be executed than receive an Asbo for criminal behaviour.
Visitors to the castle on June 14 and 15 will find out how the law of the land was enforced in the 15th century, with a chance to see live trials of criminals, and even sit on a jury to decide the fate of those accused of assorted offences against the state.
“Justice in medieval England was very different to today – jails tended to be used to hold people pending trial, rather than as a punishment in their own right – so being accused of a crime was itself very serious,” said English Heritage’s regional event manager, Jon Hogan.
“The most common punishments were either acquittal, a fine or execution, but for civil crimes like stealing, you may face branding or even having your ear clipped – actually having a bit of your ear cut off so that your crime was always visible.”
A living history encampment will be established within the castle walls for the duration of the weekend, where visitors can meet Sir John Conyers, the Steward and Bailiff of Richmondshire, as well as Richard, Duke of Gloucester – the man who was later to become King Richard III.
Admission to the event is £4.00 for adults, £3.20 for concessions and £2.00 for children. English Heritage members get in free of charge! Younger visitors arriving in fancy dress will also get a small gift.
09.06.2008 - Brontë museum celebrates its birthday with new book
A new book has been produced to mark the 80th anniversary of the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, Yorkshire.
Called A Room of Their Own, the book celebrates the museum's past by offering a short history of each of the rooms in the former home of the Brontë sisters and features several pictures from its archives, never published before.
There is also new information about Brontë family members and visitors as well as servants who worked in the house.
Priced £4.50 the new book is on sale at the museum.
09.06.2008 - Bodleian's medieval manuscripts go online
The Bodleian Library has announced the release of the online collection of Medieval Manuscripts and Early Printed Books. Started in 2005, the digitisation initiative is a collaboration between the Bodleian Library and the non-profit organisation, ARTstor.
Including a large proportion of the illuminated manuscript leaves from Bodleian manuscripts through the 16th century, as well as selected 19th and 20th century manuscripts in the medieval tradition, the entire digital collection consists of 25,000 high-quality images.
The project also includes a selection of significant bindings, illuminated initials, and text pages.
With about 10,000 volumes, the Bodleian Library’s Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts has one of the greatest collections of western medieval manuscripts in the world.
