Welcome to the 24 Hour Museum news in brief page for the week ending August 10 2008.
08.08.2008 - Naomi Kashiwagi wins Best of Manchester Art Award
The winner of the Best of Manchester Art Award 2008 is Naomi Kashiwagi, an artist who uses obsolete technological objects, such as gramophones and typewriters, to create ambitious works of art.
She received her award and cheque for £2,000 from the designer, Peter Saville, during the Best of Manchester Awards ceremony at URBIS on August 7.
The work for which Kashiwagi was shortlisted is '||: Repetition :||, Fugue No.1 in QWERTY for 8 Typewriters', a music and text score that saw four pianists and four percussionists 'playing' typewriters. Her originality won particular praise from the judges.
The awards, which are chosen via an open competition, also rewarded innovations in fashion and music.
08.08.2008 - Artist reaches new heights at Eden Project
British artist Paul McGowan has marked the start of his new residency at the Eden Project by ascending Eden’s Mediterranean Biome greenhouse with his paintings.
McGowan's inaugural exhibition is part of a new arts-led inititiative at Eden Project designed to heighten public engagement on environmental and social issues. The show, Living on the Edge, will be housed in the spectacular surroundings of the Mediterranean Biome for a year from August 8 2008.
Entirely inspired by the Eden Project, the first installation features two huge paintings suspended from the Biome’s roof structure and twelve new works on easels. All of them reflect the notion of a species living on the edge; their existence controlled and defined by mankind.
Wildlife paintings will be interspersed with abstract mask paintings which are pieced together from anatomical elements of extinct or endangered animals. The work will illuminate key Eden concepts: namely to remind people what nature gives us and to help people learn how to look after it in return.
07.08.2008 - SS Great Britain now carries horses and troops to Crimean War
Professional artist, Lottie Sweeney, has put the finishing touches to a new Crimean War horse display on board Brunel’s ss Great Britain.
Visitors can now discover how horses were transported by the ss Great Britain to the Crimean War in Russia in 1855. The newly recreated area is in addition to the ship’s First Class Dining Saloon and Promenade Deck, Steerage, Engine Room and Galley.
Featuring a recreation of six horse stalls with soldier figures and three horses, the display is ‘brought to life’ with the sound of horses neighing and the smell of stables… plus horse manure.
The display is inspired by the ss Great Britain’s first voyage as a Crimean troop ship in March 1855, from Queenstown, (now known as Cobh), County Cork, in Ireland, to Malta. The ss Great Britain carried 1,438 troops, 68 officers, six women, eight children and three horses.
07.08.2008 - Little known Rennie Mackintosh sketchbook goes online
A little known sketchbook used by the world-famous Glasgow architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh on a tour of Italy has now been opened up for use online at the university, library, museum and archive arts resource, vads.ac.uk.
The sketchbook, which is today held in the Glasgow School of Art archive, was taken by Charles Rennie Mackintosh on his tour of Italy, France and Belgium in 1891 as the recipient of the Alexander Thomson Travelling Studentship.
It provides a unique insight into the architect’s formative years and shows Mackintosh as a young architect with a mind of his own. Mackintosh ignored the strict stipulations of the grant body which made his trip possible, and instead pursued his desire to learn more about Renaissance architecture.
Using funding granted by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Glasgow School of Art’s Architectural Librarian, David Buri, and former Fine Art librarian and art historian, George Rawson, spent three years examining each sketch and notation made by Mackintosh.
On a series of trips to Italy, they tracked down and photographed the sources of each drawing, ranging from building façades to ornamentation and interior details.
07.08.2008 - Marcus Coates brings his ritualistic performance art to Wallspace
Performance artist Marcus Coates (pictured) is to conduct a series of his 'rituals' for Wallspace on September 18 2008, 7 – 9pm in the historic church of All Hallows on the Wall in the City of London.
He will be assisted on his shamanistic art journey by a live choir mimicking a range of animal calls and bird songs, to seek contact and information from animal and bird spirits.
Marcus Coates conducts rituals regularly in the UK and abroad. Recent clients include The Mayor of Holon, Israel (Israeli Palestinian crisis), Tokyo City Council, Japan (illegal cycle parking), City of Stavanger, Norway (prostitution and people trafficking).
He is interested in questioning how we perceive human-ness through imagined non-human realities. An extensive knowledge and understanding of British wildlife has led him to create unique interpretations of the natural world and its evolving relationship with society.
Tickets are free but space is limited. You can reserve a maximum of two places per person by emailing info@wallspace.org.uk
07.08.2008 - Donnington le Heath welcomes King Arthur for open air performance
Donington le Heath Manor House is looking forward to the last performance in its season of open air theatre performances with a new production of ‘King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table’ on Thursday August 21.
A brand new production from Chapterhouse Theatre Company, the play boasts a script specially commissioned from the world famous stories of Camelot, Arthur and Merlin.
The performance will start at 6.30pm with the grounds opening at 5pm for picnics (an hour earlier than usual). Refreshments will be available at the Classics Tea Room on site, which will also provide picnics (if booked in advance on 01530 817214).
Adult tickets at £12, seniors £11, children and students £8, and families (2 children and 2 adults) £35 are available at Donington le Heath Manor House (phone 01530 831259), Leicester Visitor Information Centre and Loughborough Town Hall.
06.08.2008 - New greenhouse for Peckover House
The gardens at The National Trust’s Peckover House in Wisbech will soon be benefiting from a new greenhouse.
Work will start this winter on the £150,000 project to replace the old Propagation House with a new profile-moulded aluminium greenhouse system, designed and built to modern conservation standards.
The team at Peckover House has worked hard for five years to raise money for this essential project. The majority of the money has come from The National Trust Projects fund, but the property has raised some of the sum through sales in its second hand bookshop.
“At Peckover we propagate a large percentage of the plants used in the garden," Allison Napier, Head Gardener at Peckover. "For several years we have had to utilise some of the space in the Orangery for propagation. The new glasshouse will enable us to put back the full decorative display in the Orangery for visitors to enjoy.”
06.08.2008 - Royal Institution of Great Britain goes all sci-fi
The Royal Institution of Great Britain (RI), home to great scientific research and discovery for over 200 years, is inviting the public to come to their hallowed halls for a series of special sci-fi film screenings.
Thanks to a partnership between the RI and SFX magazine, each month will see a sci-fi classic screened in the RI's iconic Faraday lecture theatre.
Next up is Star Trek II; the wrath of Khan (1982) on August 7 at 8pm. Tickets cost £5 standard, £4 concessions and £3 RI members. For more information and to book tickets visit www.rigb.org or call 020 7409 2992.
05.08.2008 - Pirates invade Whitby Abbey
Those with a naughtical bent can get their annual pirate ‘fix’ at Whitby Abbey on Saturday 9 and Sunday August 10, when the site welcomes a motley crew of outlaws and infantry for its major event of the summer, Pirates of Land & Sea.
From swashbuckling pirates to terror on terra firma, courtesy of a dandy highwaymen, the life of the outlaw across the centuries will be revealed in all of its detail.
The story of some of the most famous pirates will be told in traditional sea-faring style and cannon will fire from a recreated pirate gun deck. Traditional sea-shanties will also resound around the Abbey’s walls with songs of great deeds and daring rescues.
Pirates of Land & Sea runs from 11.00am to 5.00pm at Whitby Abbey, with the grounds of the Abbey and visitor centre additionally open from 10.00am to 6.00pm. Admission is just £5.50 for adults, £4.50 for concession and £3.00 for children, or £14.00 for a family ticket (two adults and up to three children).
05.08.2008 - Best of British watercolour painting lines up for RWS/Sunday Times prize
The short-listed artists have been selected for this year’s RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition. Seven artists out of 1,500 who entered the competition have been short-listed for the coveted prize.
This year has seen a new prize, Penguin Classics Prize for Cover Art, offer a the chance to win a commission to create the cover art for a Penguin Classics book.
One of the longest running open art competitions in the UK today, the competition remains the largest art prize dedicated to the medium of watercolour.
The accompanying exhibition provides a forum for exemplary painters to demonstrate their skills in the technically challenging field of watercolour. 86 works by 80 artists have been selected.
The exhibition will be on display at Bankside Gallery London SE1 9JH from September 2008, 10 – 21, 11am – 6pm daily, admission free. Nearest tube: Black Friars. Gallery reception: 020 7928 7521. The winner will be announced in the The Times at the end of August.
Two of Shropshire’s Ironbridge Gorge Museums, Jackfield Tile Museum and Enginuity, have won national Sandford Awards for excellence in educational services and facilities.
The judges’ citation for Jackfield Tile Museum highlighted the “unique partnership between the on-site tile makers, Craven Dunnill, and the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, which provided opportunities to learn about contemporary tile production within a historic setting."
The citation also described Enginuity as having “challenging interactive and excellent workshops designed to impart knowledge, understanding and the skills needed to experiment with new technology under the guidance of a team of enthusiastic facilitators.”
04.08.2008 - Black Country Museum wants memories of famous Dudley chippy
Researchers and curators at the Black Country Museum near Wolverhampton are looking for memories to help them piece together the history of their fish and chip shop.
The chippy, which features some fine examples of decorative wall tiles, was acquired by the museum from its former home in Dudley in 2006 and is to be rebuilt brick-by-brick as part of their new 1930s street.
Hobbs Fish and Chip Shop dates to around 1935 but staff don't know exactly when it began as a business. The museum is now appealing for people to come forward with vital information about its past to help fill in the missing bits of history when it is reconstructed on the Tipton Road site.
The museum has set up a dedicated phone line – 0121 521 5690 – for people to leave their contact details so a museum researcher can get back to them. The research team can also be contacted on barbarah@bclm.co.uk
The new 1930s high street, Old Birmingham Road, will be the centrepiece of the £10 million expansion plan, partly financed by the European Regional Development Fund.
04.08.2008 - Scottish Fisheries Museum welcomes the Spider T to Anstruther
The Spider T, a beautifully restored Humber Sloop based at Keadby Lock in North Lincolnshire is to visit the Scottish Fisheries Museum at East Neuk port on August 9 and 10. It will be the first time a vessel of this type has sailed as far north as Scotland.
Lovingly restored, the sloop was built in 1926 and has been transformed over the last 12 years to her original condition on the outside, with a striking Edwardian interior.
The last time she was fully rigged was in 1939, so a traditional sail maker was commissioned to re-create the 1920s style sails of tan sailcloth – the finishing touch to the beauty of this fine craft.
After taking to the waters again she will be open for visitors at Anstruther Harbour on both Saturday and Sunday.
04.08.2008 - Wargamers invade artillery museum
Wargamers and traders from throughout the UK will be invading Firepower: The Royal Artillery Museum on Sunday August 10 for the Museum’s annual Military Wargames Fair.
The event is now in its sixth year at the museum which is located by the Thames in London’s historic Royal Arsenal in Woolwich.
Thirteen demonstration and participation games will give members of the public the chance to join in and rewrite history by changing the course of famous battles.
All eras, from the Dark Ages to the present, will be represented by games and gamers. Future yet to be written will be represented by science fiction products and activities at the event which is staged in association with Gravesend Wargames Club.
Visitors can expect incredibly accurate topographical models and scenery as well as painstakingly researched scale figures to bring history to life - but in miniature.
04.08.2008 - Lost medieval chapel discovered in Norfolk
A team of archaeologists and volunteers have unearthed the foundation of a 12th century chapel in West Acre, near Swafham in Norfolk.
Dismantled at the time of the Reformation, St Peter's Chapel has long sinced been lost but now radar investigation and archaeological excavations have uncovered a wall of the early medieval chapel.
Other finds included medieval coins glass and lead from windows as well as pottery sherds. A human skeleton was also found and investigators believe there might be at least another five who were buried in the grounds of the chapel.
The remains of St Peter's Chapel will be on display during the West Acre History Fair on the Bank Holiday weekend, August 24 and 25.
04.08.2008 - Vikings invade Tatton Park Old Hall
Tatton Park’s Old Hall is bracing itself for Viking invasion, over one thousand years since Norsemen first crossed the Cheshire borders.
Cestrescire Living History group will set up an authentic Viking camp in the grounds of this historic house on Sunday August 10.
Doing their best to dispel the Vikings’ reputation as terrifying marauders, re-enactors will be demonstrating the domestic side of Viking life, with authentic cooking over open fires, wood-cutting, spinning, dyeing and weaving.
There will of course be the usual clash of steel and smash of axe on shield as re-enactors show off their combat skills. Visitors can try on armour and try their own expertise with an archer’s longbow.
New this year is a colourful Viking Longship, which has been washed up on Tatton’s shores especially for this event. Russell Scott from the Viking Longship Experience will be demonstrating the skills needed to power this extraordinary boat.
Other activities and demonstrations will include making Viking ship coins, casting Viking fishing nets and a mock naval battle for children.
