#MuseumWeek #AskTheCurator

Museum Week on Twitter:

My personal round-up

All throughout the last week of March, I loved the #MuseumWeek hashtag hosted on Twitter (24-29 March 2014).

Day 1 Mon:   #MuseumWeek #DayInTheLife
Day 2 Tues:   #MuseumWeek  #MuseumMastermind
Day 3 Wed:   #MuseumWeek  #MuseumMemories
Day 4 Thurs:   #MuseumWeek  #BehindTheArt
Day 5 Fri:   #MuseumWeek  #AskTheCurator
Day 6: Sat:   #MuseumWeek  #museumselfie
Day 7 Sun:  #MuseumWeek #GetCreative

Day 5 was totally busy for me with my favourite  hashtag:  #AskTheCurator.

I asked a lot of museums and galleries, and here's what they answered:

Cambridge museums:

@ZoologyMuseum.  Museum of Zoology, Cambridge.
Where is the whale?
The whale is in a building near the Museum, and its skull in its own purpose-built box outside.  Watch on youtube.

© Ben Harris and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

@kettlesyard    Kettle's Yard, Cambridge.
If you weren't a curator, what job would you like to have?
Several of our curators past and present were artists first, so maybe artists, others have told me they would be writers.

Kettle's Yard with sculpture Seated Woman (1914) by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska; source: campaign.cam.ac.uk

@MAACambridge  Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge.
Who leaves offerings for Ganesh in the bookshop?  Does that happen with other works as well?
It's a museum mystery... there's no offerings at the moment but who knows when more might 
 appear...?!

We think it's a member of staff but no one knows who -- it's being kept very secret!

Ganesh the Museum of Archaelogy and Anthropology, Cambridge (mounted on wall near entrance)

@FitzMuseum_UK    The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Has anyone ever prayed in front of or otherwise worshipped any of the religious art?
Yes, but not Christian art.  People have prayed before the big golden Buddha which being conserved.

I couldn't find the identity of this 'big golden Buddha'.  The Fitzwilliam's online collections catalogue lists one gilt Buddha from 8th/9th-century Korea but it is only 17.5 cm high.  There is no picture of this Buddha so I'm illustrating with a similar Buddha from New York for comparison:

Korean Buddha, Silla period (8th C), gilt bronze, 14 cm high, © Metropolitan Museum of Art

.  Source:  The Met.

@NewHallArt  New Hall Art Collection, Cambridge.

How many works of art does the collection have?

We now have just under 450 - all by women artists.

Ulyana Gumeniuk, Family, 2001; New Hall Art Collection (Murray Edwards College, Cambridge)

More about Gumeniuk's painting in my blog post here.

London museums:

@NPGLondon  National Portrait Gallery, London.

Are there any portraits of curators in the National Portrait Gallery?
There are indeed!  Here's the most recent curatorial group shot.  ow.ly/v3VOG
Brilliant!

Curators of the NPG; © photographer Natalia Calvocoressi; source:  NPG

@CourtauldGall  The Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, London.
What is the most popular painting in your collection?
I think Manet's Bar is probably the most popular -- is it your favourite?

Manet at the Courtauld.   Source:  VisitLondon.

@SpencerCookham  The Stanley Spencer Gallery, Cookham, England.
What are the challenges for a small non-London gallery? (Fit them into one tweet...?)
Networking.  Marketing.  Copyright.  Volunteers.  Money.  Time.  Visitors.  Security.  London.  Access.  Technology.  Retailing.

Stanley Spencer Gallery; © Lagosman (Creative Commons license); source:  Wikipedia

Rest of UK and rest of world:

@1stHistorical Исторический Музей / State Historical Museum of Russia, Moscow.

What is the percentage of art made by men in the Historical Museum collection?

It's really difficult to say, since we have around 5 million objects in the collection.  So let's say - most of them :)

State Historical Museum of Russia; ©Nadvik / Надвик (Creative Commons licence); source:  Wikimedia

@skdmuseum  State Art Collections, Dresden, Germany.

What is the percentage of art made by men in Dresden's art collections?
Great question, but difficult to answer for our 1.5 million artworks.  We own various works by female artists, e.g. Rosalba Carriera.

Rosalba Carriera, Africa, pastel drawing, early 18th C; Dresden, Gemäldegalerie; source: xwFfAvazJkgUTQ at Google Cultural Institute (Public Domain) / Wikimedia

@WomenInTheArts  National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC, USA.
What has been your most popular exhibition?
We think our show with the highest attendance was  'Julie Taymor: Playing with Fire' (2000-01).

A personal response to Julie Taymor in MacMomDaly's blog.

Another exhibition with big attendance was 'Berthe Morisot: An Impressionist and Her Circle' (2005).

Berthe Morisot, The Cage, 1885, source: National Museum of Women in the Arts

 
@museocinema  Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Turin, Italy.
What has been the most popular film?
This one.

Recognise it? 

@MuseoGuggenheim  Guggenheim Museum in Bilbão.
How often do you weed and water Koons puppy?
Nearly every day!

Jeff Koons, Puppy, 1992, flowers and structure, 12 meters high, outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbão, northern Spain; © Noebse (Creative Commons license); source:  Wikimedia

@MIAQatar  Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar.
What are the three top abilities or aptitudes needed to work in a museum of Islamic art?
We will get back to you on Sunday with answers from our curators during office hours.
 (I'm still waiting... *g*)

Source: MIA

@museiincomune  Rome's Civic Museums Network
What are the three top skills needed to work in a museum?
Flexibility, expertise and a welcoming attitude towards visitors.
Answer given by our Sovrintendente Claudio Parisi Presicce.

Superintendent Claudio Parisi Presicce; source: il giornale dell'arte.com

@Kunsthalle_KA  Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Germany.
What are the three most popular works with children in your gallery?
Popular works for kids:  F. Porbus' Ludwig XIII & his wife; Manet's Le petit Lange; Kandinsky's Improvisation 13.

I asked this question because I once did an internship at the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, and they were brilliant at museum education with children.  It seems, they still are!

Frans Pourbus the Younger, Anne of Austria, 1616, Kunsthalle Karlsruhe; source: Wikimedia (public domain)

Frans Pourbus the Younger, Louis XIII, 1616, Karlsruhe; source:  artprints on demand

 

St Michael's kindergarten children in the Kunsthalle, playing dress-ups as Anna of Austria and Louis XIII; source:  Kindergarten St Michael, Ötigheim

Edouard Manet, Child's Portrait (Little Lange), 1862; source: bellekunst's blog

 

Children from Kindergarten Storchennest in the Kunsthalle in front of Manet's Le petit Lange; source:  'Storchennest', Evangelischer Kindergarten in Stein

What the children said about their visit (translated from the nursery school's website):

Enja: "We looked at a picture, and then we made art works ourselves.  There was once a princess in the castle who collected pictures."
Pascal:  "There was a well there, and there was a hall with a whole lot of pictures."
Hannes:  "To get to the pictures we had to climb up a lot of stairs."
Fabian:  "There were alarm systems there."
Lena:  "Then we looked at a picture of 'Le petit Lange'."
Alicia:  "I saw a picture with the boy."
Yannik:  "The painter stood him there and then painted him."
Dominik:  "He was wearing black trousers.  And the woman dressed up Yannik like that."
Samuel: "The boy had a hat and shoes for tying on, a sort of over-the-top socks."
Luca:  "We then painted ourselves.  We got mirrors."
Patrice:  "Miss Ade had to take photos without a flash, otherwise the colour would melt."

Vassily Kandinsky, Improvisation 13, 1910; source: Kunsthalle Karlsruhe

Bietigheim primary school children in the Kunsthalle, making art after having looked at Kandinsky; source:  GWRS Bietigheim

No reply:

I never got an answer from the following museums:


@DulwichGallery  Dulwich Picture Gallery, London.
What are the three key skills you need to work in a gallery or museum?

@DeMorganCentre.  The William and Evelyn De Morgan Centre, London.
What's your favourite work in the gallery?

@britishmuseum  The British Museum, London.
How many people work at the British Museum?

@MuseumLudwig  Museum Ludwig, Cologne (Germany).
How often do you launder the towel in Tom Wesselman's bathroom work?

Tom Wesselman, Bathtub, 1963, Museum Ludwig; source: laat mij maar lopen blog

@KunsthalleMannh  Kunsthalle Mannheim (Germany).
How do you cater for children in the museum?

@ArtGalleryofNSW  Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (Australia).
What is the most popular work in the gallery?


@BgoArtGallery  Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria (Australia).
How did Schmalz's Too Late end up in your gallery?

Herbert Schmalz, Too Late, 1884, source: Bendigo Art Gallery (public domain)

@CVersailles  Château de Versailles (France).

Do you ever get people doing political demonstrations in or outside the château?

@LindenMuseum  Linden-Museum, Stuttgart (Germany).

What is the difference between ethnography and anthropology?  How do these relate to Völkerkunde?

@Tate  Tate, London (and elsewhere).
What is the percentage of art made by men in the Tates' collections?

@ngadc  National Gallery of Art, Washington DC (USA).
What is the percentage of art made by men in the gallery's collection?

@MuseeLouvre  Musée du Louvre, Paris (France).
What is the percentage of art made by men in the Louvre's collection?

New Hall Art Collection of women artists, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge
Percentage of art made by men: zero.  Doesn't redress the balance but still: yay!

I hope we have another #MuseumWeek next year!

Permalink:  http://artincambridge.blogspot.com/2014/05/museumweek-askthecurator.html

Is there art in Arbury?

Is there art in Arbury?

Every town has a neighbourhood where art is not expected.  In Cambridge, this is Arbury.

A street in Arbury

Arbury is an area to the north of the centre and the river.  It is still sometimes called 'the Arbury', after the Arbury Estate developed there in 1957.   It's a low-income area, and in Cambridge it has a reputation for having a high crime rate (although statistics show that this is somewhat unfounded).

It's also an area with no reputation for art at all.  It's not listed in the 2012 Cambridge Walks nor in the Cambridge Sculpture Trails.   There are no galleries there, and the BBC Your Paintings database includes no works kept here.  This year, Arbury did have a couple of Open Studios (Derek Batty and Mohammed Djazmi), and last autumn, it did have one of the Street Pianos.

Cambridge Open Studios, July 2013, detail from the brochure

Street Piano (part of Luke Jerram's project), Arbury Court, Oct. 2012

Finding art in Arbury

Two studios and one piano that is no longer there:  that's not a lot of art.

But I was convinced there had to be more.  So I set out with my bike on a warm summer afternoon to discover if the perception of 'no art in Arbury' is based in any fact.  I went in quest of art in Arbury.

This is what I found:

Meadows Community Centre

I started out at the Meadows Community Centre on St Catharine's Road.  A very nice receptionist showed me to the hallway where there is a haunting exhibition of photographs from the University of Cambridge archives. What a surprise!!

The exhibition is called Dark Strangers and was originally curated by the artist Abdul Hakim Onitolo for the Black & Minority Ethnic History season in 2009 -- but it's now on permanent loan to the Community Centre.

A sign on the wall explains (in Onitolo's words):

The photographs in the show are from a mixed variety of sources and influences in how they are taken and their purposes.  They serve an anthropological, historical and referential purpose and are a legacy of times past that we are still reconciling and trying to relate to our present situations.  The photographs are taken by a variety of explorers, historians, social anthropologists and enthusiasts.  T. J. Alldridge being one of the more prominent even had a book published:  The Sherbro and its Hinterland (1901).

Photo from the Dark Strangers exhibition, Meadows Community Centre, Arbury, Cambridge

I like this image of a studious man.

Dark Strangers exhibition

So strange, these relics of an indeterminate past.  Not dated, not captioned.  Where are these men?  And what are they doing with those suit jackets?  Amazing pin-striped trousers.

Dark Strangers exhibition

Eyes from a colonial past.

Dark Strangers exhibition

And where is this lonesome building, photographed as if in the middle of nowhere?

Dark Strangers exhibition

I am intrigued by the German pharmacy:  Deutsche Apotheke, run by "W. Richter & Co."

There is more art outside the Meadows Community Centre:  Graffiti by the committed and enthusiastic Blight Society.

Graffiti by the Blight Society, Meadows Community Centre, Arbury, Cambridge

Graffiti by the Blight Society

Graffiti by the Blight Society, detail

Graffiti by the Blight Society

I couldn't find out who made this mosaic wall, with its little mosaic people.  Parts of it (the ovals showing sports activities) were crumbling which was a bit sad.

Mosaic wall, Meadows Community Centre, Arbury

Mosaic, Meadows Community Centre, Arbury, Cambridge (detail)

I walked through the Community's Centre café, past the childcare rooms, and found some rather good ironwork.  I don't know who made it or when (the Centre was founded in 1997 so perhaps it dates to that year?).

Wrought iron gate, Meadows Community Centre, Arbury

Lovely nature symbolism.  If only I could do botany and identify flowers...!

Wrought iron work, Meadows Community Centre

Wrought iron work, Meadows Community Centre

Wrought iron work, Meadows Community Centre

Arbury Court Library

If you ever want to find art, two good places to start are with a local library and a local school.  Look what there is in the inner courtyard of the Arbury Court Library!

Owls by Tony Hillier, Arbury Court Library

Owls by Tony Hillier (detail)

The sculptor of these owls, Tony Hillier, is a bit of a Cambridge eccentric and maintains a large ramshackle studio in Histon (to the north of Cambridge), full of his iron creatures and quirky beasts.  It's open to the public, too.  

I have no idea who sculpted this jolly buddha:

Buddha, Arbury Court Library

Arbury Schools

I didn't go into any schools so saw only the outsides but even so I was pleased to find quite a bit of art.  Here's a mosaic (possibly showing the school's emblem?):

Mosaic, Mayfield Primary School, Arbury

And this dashing bird of paradise:

Mural, Mayfield Primary School, Arbury

The dragon seems very much in the style of Tony Hillier (sculptor of the Owls in the library) but I don't know if this is one of his.  It's a fun logo for a school.

Dragon, Arbury Primary School (possibly by Tony Hilliers?)

Orchard Park Community Primary School has this fun gate.  It reminds me of Matthew Lane Sanderson's gate for St Faith's School on Trumpington Road.

Orchard Park Community Primary School, gate by Adam Booth

Wrought iron with colourful enamelled "monsters".

Orchard Park Community Primary School, gate (detail)

Orchard Park

I had read about this new development in north Arbury, started around 2007 by Gallagher Estates.  I was excited to be cycling around this new estate and seeing the variety of architectural styles employed (the developers' website doesn't name individual architects).

Orchard Park, Arbury, house

Orchard Park, Arbury, another house

Considering that Cambridgeshire's public art policy requires 1% of a property development budget to be spent on public art, I found very little art in Orchard Park.  I did, however, discover three works that might qualify:

Some coloured glass stuck to the façade of the Premier Inn.

Coloured glass sculpture by glass artist Chris Wood, 2008-2009, Premier Inn, Orchard Park, Arbury

A bronze deer in front of the Travelodge (lots of hotel art here).  Some joker had stuck a lime green sponge onto the sculpture's horns:  clearly there's interaction going on with the art.  No idea what the tyre symbolises or if the deer has local connotations for what used to be Arbury Park.

Urban Deer or Second Glance at a Roe Deer by Kenny Hunter, Travelodge, Orchard Park, Arbury

Finally:  two groups of stones.

Stones by Unknown, Orchard Park, Arbury

Art or nature?  They remind me a lot of the rocks at the Classics Faculty.

Another view of stones, Orchard Park, Arbury

One of the stones by Unknown, Orchard Park, Arbury

I ended the day with a refreshing fruit salad in the shade, just a bit further from the  groups of stones.

Lunch at Orchard Park

Is there an 'art-less' area where you live?  Why not go there on an expedition?  You never know what you might find...  :-)

More about Arbury:

Wikipedia page

Roman Arbury, Sylvia Plath and the 'Arbury Coffin'

Related posts:

Graffiti on Newmarket Road by the Blight Society

Cambridge critters

Permalink:  http://artincambridge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/is-there-art-in-arbury.html