| The Wilson, Cheltenham's Art Gallery & Museum | 30/11/2013 |
 Museums come in all shapes and sizes, from the very small volunteer-run ones to London’s world-famous venues, among the most popular tourist attractions in the country. The Wilson, Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, has recently blossomed from a medium-sized provincial museum into one with new, bigger galleries and some brand new, big ambitions! Already well-known for its impressive Arts & Crafts Movement collection, The Wilson now has two new galleries for touring exhibitions. Currently showing spectacular glass sculptures by renowned artist Colin Reid, theses spaces will be filled in the New Year with art works associated with the theme of “the embrace”, as The Wilson hosts Rodin’s iconic sculpture The Kiss. The permanent collections are the responsibility of The Wilson’s Curators, while the touring shows are co-ordinated by the Exhibitions Team Leader. Both collections and exhibitions teams work very closely with the Learning Team, who organise a very wide range of activities for schools, families and the wider public. During the museum’s two-year closure, while the building work was in progress, the teams faced quite a challenge – keeping up the public profile of Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum while the collections were inaccessible. So while the public were unable to come to The Wilson, the Learning Team was very busy taking the museum out to the public. As well as delivering a wide range of history and art workshops in schools and World War II Evacuation Sessions in conjunction with the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway at Winchcombe, team members set up outreach activities in shops, parks, pubs, barns and even a castle. Education & Outreach Officer Sandra Ashenford said: “The museum’s temporary closure gave us a brilliant opportunity to take what we do out to people who do not traditionally come into the museum. We have worked alongside a number of other organisations and have made a lot of new friends!” The Learning Team contributed widely to the Off the wall, on the move programme, which staged major exhibitions in community venues. This included a ground-breaking show Exploring Solitude by artists Neville and Joan Gabie, which featured video installations from Neville’s time in Antarctica, and Joan’s drawings created in response to his daily emails during his absence. The theme for this exhibition was inspired by objects in The Wilson’s collection which tell the  story of Cheltenham-born South Pole adventurer Edward Wilson, one of Scott’s party who perished on their return from the Pole a century earlier. While the show was on display in a local community gallery, the Learning Team hosted the Antarctic Adventurers re-enactment group, who gave families hands-on experience of Polar life for Edward Wilson and the rest of Scott’s men. Wilson’s story was further brought to life in a highly-acclaimed play, The Final Journey of Edward Wilson, commissioned by the team in conjunction with Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre. And an earlier partnership with the Everyman saw characters from The Wilson’s Stanley Spencer painting Village Gossips stepping out of the canvas and onto the streets in the nearby village of Leonard Stanley, where the sketches for the painting were first made by the artist. Faye Little, Education & Outreach Officer, commented: “The Everyman promenade performance marked the culmination of a very successful series of activities based on the painting run with schools and community groups. The event was held to celebrate the Big Draw event when local people joined artist Imogen Harvey-Lewis in a barn to paint birds on blocks of wood as a take on the modern phenomena of ‘tweeting’ as a form of gossip!” The museum & art gallery also staged a 1950s exhibition in a vacant shop at a Cheltenham shopping mall and invited members of the public to share their memories of the Coronation decade. Prompted by such items as a Bush black and white television set and a cooker from the period, tales from the era of rock ‘n’ roll soon came flooding in. And then it was off to Sudeley Castle to work in conjunction with an artist on family activities celebrating the life of Henry VIII’s last wife, Katherine Parr. Now that The Wilson is once again open to the public and has been very busy welcoming thousands of visitors since its re-opening on 5 October, the teams are planning to keep those outreach connections alive and well and are looking forward to working with the community both within the walls of The Wilson and without. Images courtesy of - http://www.cheltenhammuseum.org.uk/ With thanks to Sarah Ashenford. |
|
Make a comment on this article
All comments are vetted before being published on this page
Comments
Be the first to write a comment on this article
