Art for Sale

Until 15 April the display cabinets in Brighton Museum’s foyer will host work by three different artists and makers. The work is for sale and can be bought at the Museum Shop.

Repousse copper frieze

Sandra Reeves’s copper sculptures of natural forms are the result of extensive experimentation and time spent developing techniques within the specialist field of chasing and repousse. Sandra aims to turn the flat illustrative images in her mind’s eye into three dimensional works and has trained alongside renowned Italian chasing and repousse master – Fabrizio Acquafresca.

Kanzashi fascinator

Emily Wright makes cotemporary Kanzashi hair wear and brooches inspired by the traditional Japanese designs. All her pieces are hand-folded from small squares of silk (some sourced from vintage kimonos) in a technique akin to origami. Her work, which is strongly influenced by the Japanese sense of seasonality and colour, make fantastic accessories for occasions such as weddings.

Kanzashi hairclip

Butterfly Bracelet

A student in her third year at Brighton University, Emma Branthas made collections of jewellery from mixed materials including silver, acrylic, mild steel and semi precious gemstones. The collections were inspired by a story about reincarnation told to her by her grandmother when she was a child. Emma has reinterpreted the images and symbolism evoked by the story along with photos belonging to her grandmother to create beautifully layered and ephemeral pieces.

The Butterfly Buttonhole

Kelly Boddington,
Retail Services Administrator

Freedom from Within: A Burmese artist at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery

Earlier this year Htein Lin, one of Burma’s leading contemporary artists, visited Brighton Museum & Art Gallery to demonstrate his printmaking techniques. The event – Freedom from Within – was organised by the Pansodan Gallery (Yangon) in partnership with the museum.

A Dharma School pupil making a print using string, fingers and a CD.

Htein Lin spent the morning leading a workshop with children from the Dharma Primary School. First he showed them the variety of materials that he uses for print making. For example, he covered one side of a blank compact disc with acrylic paint. Then he made patterns on it with his fingers before pressing the CD onto cloth. The revealed print drew admiring noises from the children who were then inspired to produce their own prints.

After making colourful prints on individual pieces of cloth, everyone participated in making one big piece. First, the children used objects and their fingers to paint patterns onto a large piece of vinyl cloth.

A group effort at printmaking

Then Htein Lin placed a large white cloth on top of the painted surface and everyone patted it down enthusiastically.

When the cloth was lifted off, the image was printed on the cloth – as shown below.

At the end of the session the children sang a Buddhist song of thanks to Htein Lin.

Htein Lin and his assistant show the finished piece.

In the afternoon Htein Lin gave an inspirational and moving talk about his life in Burma [Myanmar]. An activist during and after the 1988 democracy demonstrations, he spent four years in the jungle and suffered some terrible experiences. In 1998 he was falsely charged with planning opposition protests and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Htein Lin wasn’t allowed any writing or painting materials in prison.  Instead he used whatever materials he could get: syringes, his fingers, cigarette lighters, carved soap and smuggled-in paints. Inmates donated old uniforms for him to uses as canvases.

When he was released six and a half years later, Htein Lin had created over 200 artworks.

Htein Lin creating a T-shirt

Now Htein Lin is an established artist and lives in London. He practises painting, writing and performance art. Following his talk at the museum, Htein Lin helped a group of adults create their own printed T-shirts.

At the end of the day Htein Lin donated a T-shirt to Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, which he had designed during the session.

The T-shirt reflects the style of printing Htein Lin developed while imprisoned. The figures pictured in the design are in the ‘Ponsantain’ position; an uncomfortable physical pose which prisoners had to assume during inspections.

Lucy Faithful, Assistant Curator of World Art

Htein Lin displays the finished T-shirt

T-shirt detail showing the uncomfortable position of the prisoners

Mr Watt, Grumpy Man of Metal by Jon Mills

Delve into the world of the craft maker Jon Mills as he brings his work to a free exhibition at Hove Museum.

Man in a Plane

Jon Mills was born in Birmingham in 1959, the latest in a line of metalworkers. He studied at Wolverhampton before helping to found Brighton’s Red Herring Studios in 1983. In the mid 1980s he honed his skills at brazing, forging, laser-cutting and welding and exhibited work at One Off, Ron Arad’s London workshop and gallery.

In recent years Jon has been involved in major architectural commissions, inventing exciting structures that engage with their surroundings whether in cities or in the countryside. He has made balconies for Caerphilly and Kings Lynn, railings at Folkestone and Wolverhampton and a bridge over the River Dyfi in Powys.

His output is extraordinarily diverse and charmingly subversive. He makes dangerous toys and automata, dysfunctional furniture and an amazing range of sculpture with themes that are witty, whimsical, and sometimes darkly Gothic.

Dan Dare Chair

Hove Museum holds one of the earliest versions of his Dan Dare Chair of 1987 (C4.1993). The sheet-steel seat, with its hand-operated, multi-directional radar dish was made two years before Wallace and Gromit’s fantasy trip to the moon in a home-made rocket (in A Grand Day Out). It inspires the visitor to explore the universe from the comfort of a domestic armchair!

In 1999 Jon created the comically horrifying Man in a Plane (DA301849) which can now be seen in Brighton Museum’s 20th-Century Design Gallery plummeting for ever towards earth.

For the reopening of Hove Museum in 2003 Jon worked with children from the Peter Gladwin School in Portslade to produce railings for the first-floor Landing Gallery. Here are a row of growing plants that look like broad beans, covered with creepy-crawlies from the compost heap!

Railings in the First Floor Landing Gallery at Hove Museum

I’m thrilled that Jon’s latest creation, Mr Watt, Grumpy Man of Metal is coming to visit Hove Museum this spring. I understand that he is intending to make some special donations to Brighton & Hove’s collections. I wonder what they can be…?

Stella Beddoe, Senior Keeper and Keeper of Decorative Art