Getting ready for Dreams of Here…

Fiona Redford at Tom Hammick's studio

Our new Dreams of Here exhibition opens in Brighton Museum this Saturday. As part of the preparation for the exhibition, all three of the featured artists were filmed in their studios. Fiona Redford, Exhibitions Support Officer, gives a behind the scenes view of the filming process. 

Aside from all the paperwork that is involved with getting an exhibition together, I also get to do some more interesting things too.

Nicola Coleby (Keeper of Exhibitions), Jenny Lund (Curator of Fine Art) and I went to visit the Dreams of Here artists at their studios whilst Paul from Junk TV filmed them for their gallery films.

It was a lovely day when we went to see Andrzej Jackowski and Tom Hammick and although I had to take my life in my hands and let Nicola drive, we arrived at Andrzej’s studio safely and in good time.

Andrzej has his studio at the bottom of his lovely garden. It has recently been converted from a garage and was still a bit chilly and new. However after a reviving cup of tea and meeting the family retriever and whippet I was more than happy to settle down in an old arm chair at the back of the studio and attempt to take pictures of the interview that was being filmed.

Nicola Coleby in discussion with Andrzej Jackowski

They’ve started. Nicola and Andrzej are in deep conversation about inner and outer worlds, Paul is expertly capturing their every word and I’m sat there like a lemon with two digital cameras, neither of which seem to have enough battery life or memory between them to take more than a short film and a few snapshots!

Paul saved the day by taking a couple of decent pictures for me on his rather smart camera.

After lunch, we went off to Tom’s. We got a bit lost in the winding lanes of the East Sussex country side but arrived mid afternoon to find Tom’s children and their friends adding the finishing touches (i.e. glitter) to the home made family Christmas cards.

Another beautiful garden with another artist’s studio in it! Tom’s studio is different from Andrzej’s. It’s quite a bit bigger, and he has obviously been working in it for a much longer time.

During Tom’s interview I hovered by the door, taking in the atmosphere.

His studio walls are lined with sketch books and the tables are covered in large areas of colourful peaked swirls of paint and inks. Hand operated print presses stand silent in the adjacent room like sleeping giants.

Filming Tom Hammick, December 2011

I couldn’t go to Julian Bell’s studio for the recording session so Jenny went with Nicola instead. (You can tell because there are more photos of that day and they are far better than mine!)

I did however go to Julian’s studio recently to pick up the paintings and bring them back to the Museum. Phil and I drove over in the van. There was more snow in Lewes than in Brighton so on the way, the Downs looked very pretty.

Julian’s studio is very different to Tom and Andrzej’s. It is cavernous and industrial.

Julian Bell in his studio

Julian optimistically put out a small electric heater for us, but I still wrapped the works wearing fingerless gloves!

So we now have all of Julian’s works, all of Andrzej’s drawings and most of Tom’s in now. Not long to go until we start to hang them (the works that is – not the artists).

Till next time….

Fiona Redford
Exhibitions Support Officer

You can view more photos from these sessions on Flickr.

Effective Collections 2010/2011: bringing natural science collections back to Sussex museums

Effective Collections is a scheme run by the Museums Association which awards funding to museum projects that will help increase access to stored collections and get more objects seen by the public.

Over the past two years we have been working in partnership with Horsham, Bexhill and Worthing museums to develop natural history focused projects. These museums had previously transferred the majority of their natural science collections to us and one of the main aims of our proposal was to give communities who had once had collections of animals, plants and geology access to such objects once again.

The proposal consisted of three exhibitions (for Bexhill and Horsham) and a handling collection (for Worthing). Bexhill received an exhibition on Sussex Taxidermists which was installed in Spring 2011, whilst the Summer saw us provide objects for an exhibition on Edward Topsell at Horsham, and delivering two handling collections based on the seashore to Worthing.

The week before Christmas saw the completion of the largest of the projects: an exhibition on Victorian natural history collectors at Horsham Museum. They had provided the title ‘Bringing the Trophies Home’ as it would be the first of their exhibitions running up to the 2012 Olympic Games. As the title suggests, it focused on scientists and collectors from Southern England, and particularly Horsham, who had brought the natural world back to Britain in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, helping to greatly expand our knowledge and understanding of life on earth.

Horsham’s temporary exhibition room houses five display cabinets themed in the following ways:

The first display centres on the tools and equipment used by the Victorians in collecting, preparing, preserving and studying their collections. This was the most varied display using items from a number of Brighton collections as well as a spear from Horsham’s ethnographic collection. The title of the display was taken from the Victorians name for these tools: The Weapons of the Chase.

Weapons of the Chase display case

The second cabinet, titled European Collecting gives a brief overview of local collectors who built up the majority of their collections whilst working and travelling on the continent or at home in Britain. The displays include objects from Brighton algae expert Mary Merrifield, Percy Godman of Horsham, who spent several years studying birds in Norway, and Dr. Alexander Crichton,  who had travelled across Europe as chief physician to the Russian Tsar, and continued to collect plants and geology until the 1850s.

European Collecting display case

The third cabinet focuses on two of Horsham’s most prolific collectors: Edmund Loder and John G. Millais. They were both friends and neighbours, and each built museums and gardens to house the animals and plants they collected on their travels around the world. This cabinet displays examples of the animals in their collections as well as reproductions of some of J.G. Millais’ illustrations, which were considered some of the finest of their type.

Another Horsham collector, Frederick DuCane Godman, features significantly in the next display. Birds and insects collected by him and his friend Osbert Salvin, and described in their book The Biologia of Central America are exhibited alongside animals collected from The Empire and Beyond.

Empire and Beyond display case

The final display looks at the Legacy of Victorian collecting and how the attitudes and methods used have affected the natural world and our understanding of it, both positively and negatively, including the importance museum collections have in research and education today.

Legacy display case

Finally the room was decorated with graphic panels introducing the exhibition and providing biographies of five notable but lesser known English Victorian collectors and explorers. These include several of the collectors featured in the displays, as well as Mary Kingsley, who not only collected and explored in Africa, but inspired political and social movements to change attitudes in Englandto native people in the Empire.

Frederick Du Cane biography panel

The exhibition opened on 29 December and runs until 25 February 2012 at Horsham Museum.

Lee Ismail
Curator of Natural Sciences

Congratulations to Barbara Hulanicki OBE

British fashion icon Barbara Hulanicki was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List. All of us here at Royal Pavilion & Museums who are currently working on the exhibition Biba and Beyond would like to send her our warmest congratulations.

While researching Barbara’s long and varied career we have been continually amazed by her innovative, unique and distinctive creative flair. The exhibition at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery will review her life from her childhood, early career in fashion illustration, and her creation of Biba in the 1960s; to her key role in the regeneration of Miami beach and her recent High Street fashion and interiors collections.

Barbara’s OBE was awarded for services to fashion and acknowledges her huge impact on the face of fashion retail in the UK. Biba was the first store to bring affordable fashion for young women and girls to the High Street. She revolutionized the shopping experience creating dark atmospheric interiors in which shop girls and celebrities eagerly sought her striking, romantic and sensual designs – which were cut and styled to suit the young, priced to be accessible to all and sold by beautiful young girls with inspirational looks and style. She introduced communal changing rooms and created the first young lifestyle brand.

We have also become very aware of the impact that Barbara has had on the lives and dreams of the girls and women who bought her clothes. For the exhibition we are collecting the memories and stories of people whose lives have been touched by their experiences in clothes designed by Barbara Hulanicki. From glamorous outfits for memorable nights out, 21^st birthday parties and weddings; to macs that were worn everyday, sparkly wellies, feather boas and mini skirts; the clothes were loved and cherished.  Whatever the occasion or the outfit a young women wearing Biba felt cool, stylish and sexy. Many of the clothes were worn and shared until they finally fell apart, others were carefully packed away to be passed on to daughters or granddaughters.

Barbara Hulanicki’s fashions hold a special place in the hearts of many women. We are very excited to be working together with her during the next few months and we send many congratulations to Barbara Hulanicki OBE.

The Exhibitions Team, Royal Pavilion & Museums

Biba and Beyond: Barbara Hulanicki will be on show at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery 22 September 2012 – 14 April 2013