CAG on museums: The Tate Britain collections

The Tate Britain has been refurbished and it’s absolutely beautiful. It is a gorgeous riverside building in Pimlico, and the front entrance has been restored. The inside has a real art deco feel and is peppered with beautiful British art pieces in various corners and turns.

Rev Butler Woman 1949

When I visited the sculptor Alison Wilding’s works had just gone up in the Duveen galleries, and it was very interesting. She focuses on bringing different materials together and because of the natural light in the hall, contrasts of the materials, shadows, and colours were highlighted.

The Painting Now exhibition was also on and was a little different than the retrospective shows I’m used to seeing at Tate. Instead of focusing on the historic progression of one painter, it examined the work of five contemporary artists and what painting means today.

Gillian Carnegie Section 2012

Tomma Abts Zebe 2010

Simon Ling

Lucy McKenzie

Catherine Story Lowland 2012

Also taking a walk around the galleries highlighted some interesting objects from the permanent collection. My unknowledgeable approach to art half encompasses loving art that makes me chuckle.

Steven Claydon Joanna (An Unsubstantial Fraction) (Of Substance without Action) 2010

And then there was the weird and thought provoking collections…such as the Chapman Family Collection 2002 of various takes on African sculpture with the faces of the McDonalds characters and branding incorporated.

Blurry but creepiness captured

Hamburglar on the cross? Super weird

And of course I had to grab a snap of one of my favorite UK artworks, and somewhat name doppelgänger, Chris Ofili’s work No Woman No Cry.

CAG on museums: Bede’s World

Part cultural heritage centre, part museum, and part centre for social and cultural activities in the South Tyneside area, Bede’s World offers a full day of exploration, history, and outdoor activities to its visitors. In recent years Bede’s World has been under severe financial stress and is currently in the process of rebranding itself. In the process, the museum is looking at re-interpreting its galleries, learning programmes, and the way the story of Jarrow and its famous monastic scholar the Venerable Bede is told.

Bede was born in AD 673 at a time when the area of Jarrow was a maritime hub and also the only centre of learning north of Rome. Bede translated the Gospel of John into Old English, but was also one of the first people to come around to the idea of a united England and Englishness as a unified identity for people on the island from many different places. This issue continues to be relevant to the politics of the British Isles today, and thoughts on a multicultural British identity seem to reflect the same concerns as people had in the 7^th Century AD. Bede used his faith to broker a relationship between the arts, poetry, and the local community, which deeply relates the idea behind the Bede’s World current community work.

Inside the galleries, sculptures are personalised for the display

The excavations that produced the small collections of Bede’s World were conducted by archaeologist Rosemary Cramp, and include the oldest stained glass window in the world.

Reconstruction of the glass pieces discovered, dated to the 7^th Century AD

The Bede’s World site incorporates a reconstruction of the nearby settlements and the archaeological remains of Monkwearmouth – Jarrow Priory. There are some very kid-friendly farm animals and some re-enactments of jousting matches and local farmers in the reconstructed outdoor settlement area (although I didn’t see this display). 

Cow!

Reconstructed houses based on archaeological findings

Bede’s World also works heavily with community outreach social and artistic programming by giving artists work spaces through a co-operative agreement, and many of these artists participate in community programmes giving local people the opportunity to engage directly with art. Alongside Bede’s growing cultural ties to the local community it hosts HIVE, a community radio station that allows people to get involved in presenting and research on a broad range of heritage topics.

View of the South Tyneside riverbank

Directly across from Bede’s World lie the remains of the 7th Century monastic site of Monkwearmouth – Jarrow Priory.

7th Century archaeology site of Monkwearmouth

Today St. Paul’s Church stands directly next to the remains, and the Anglo-Saxon inspired carvings inside the church mirror the style of images one can see in the galleries of Bede’s World. The church also hosts another reconstruction of the earliest stained glass window in the world.

Inside of St Paul's

Overall, my Bede’s World experience helped me learn a lot about the history of the Northeast, but also gave me a really good background for seeing the kind of work that museums can really do with local communities if everyone is motivated enough. I think that since Bede’s World is working outside of the restrictions of an overarching museum service and is able to carve its own path out for redevelopment and renewal, it is getting the opportunity to redefine the kinds of relationships and activities that local museums should be working towards. A big thank you to Museum Director Mike Benson for a wonderful and exuberant tour of the museum!

CAG on museums: Artist reflections on ethnographic collections- The George Brown collection

 Porcelain labels made in response to the George Brown collection.
Photo credit: Chris McHugh

At Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, there is currently a display on called ‘Community in Clay’ that showcases the work of mixed media artist Chris McHugh. McHugh is a doctoral candidate at Sunderland University with a background in archaeology. He has spent the past years researching historic pottery, Sunderland Museum and collection histories, and has also worked in Japan studying the George Brown collection in Osaka (http://communityinclay.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/community-in-clay-exhibition-of-ceramic.html).

This exhibition explores history and material culture of Sunderland, but also the historical event of the removal of the George Brown collection from the Northeast of England (see the previous post for the history of the GB collection sale) to its current location in the National Museum of Ethnology Osaka, Japan.

The George Brown collection on display at the
National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka. Photo credit: Chris McHugh

Trobriand Islands canoe prow at the National Museum of Ethnology
Osaka, Japan. Photo credit: Chris McHugh

The vessels McHugh has created artistically respond to the Solomon Islands lime containers from the Brown collection. The decoration on the vessels echoes the original decoration found on the lime containers in Japan while also referencing the importance of ceramic vessels in 19^th century Sunderland. McHugh reflects that Sunderland ‘was a busy port and pots bearing maritime imagery are common’. The time that George Brown set off to explore the Pacific in the 19^th century was the same time in which the Northeast was a thriving maritime centre. While explorers were discovering new places (to the Western world) and collecting objects to memorialize their experiences, the prosperity of the Northeast influenced the production of a material culture that embodied the wonder and fascination of a world increasingly connected through industry, trade, and colonization.

Details of pieces based on George Brown Collection. The black line imagery
comes from decoration etched into a piece of bamboo from the Solomon Islands.
Title: George Brown Series, porcelain, glaze, stains, decals and pink lustre.
Photo credit: Chris McHugh

Porcelain binoculars from a series of pieces entitled  'Explorer's Kit'.
The text is taken from the Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens'
register from the 1800s. Photo credit: Chris McHugh

The connections drawn between collectors, artistry, and heritage of the Northeast are celebrated in McHugh’s work, and such interactions between artists and the museum are very timely. Several large collaborative artist exhibitions outside of art museums have brought new audiences to cultural institutions and new awareness to a variety of subjects. Re-thinking ethnography collections from an artistic point of view becomes an interesting way of thinking about the intersections between museum history and art, but also imbues objects with an extra layer of history.

A contemporary cabinet of curiosities. Photo credit: Chris McHugh