National Museums Liverpool Blog - exhibitions

The Singh Twins next to Ranbindra's painting 'Oh Come All Ye Re-eds'

Is football a new religion? Can being a female artist be an advantage in some cultures? These are just some of the subjects covered in a brief interview I did with acclaimed local artists The Singh Twins. I chatted with Rabindra and Amrit at the private view of the Walker Art Gallery's latest exhibition The Rise of Women Artists, where Ranbindra's painting 'Oh Come All Ye Re-eds' is on display. One of the main things I was interested to find out was whether they ever actually define themselves as 'women artists' or if they didn't think about gender at all.

Amrit said; 'I think personally as artists we’ve never thought of ourselves as women, we’ve never defined ourselves as ‘British female artists’. I think that the gender issue is not really important, as ultimately I think the art should speak for itself and the quality of the work. Therefore it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman.

But I think that it is important in the context of if you consider throughout history where there has been prejudice towards female artists then obviously that is something that needs to be re-addressed. I think there should be more incentives to support female artists especially since many of them are juggling a million things; family life and other commitments around the work they are trying to do. And it’s not always easy to take up a career in art alongside that and to commit to all your other daily activities. Essentially though, no I don’t think that gender matters. The work should speak for itself.

Rabindra said; 'From a personal perspective though, in terms of support for women, in the context of our own background and coming from an Indian family, actually we’ve had a lot more support being women than we would have done being men. Because traditionally it’s the men who are meant to be the breadwinners and go out and get a so-called ‘decent job’. There was less pressure on the women! So I think from our own cultural context I think it’s been an advantage that we’re women and we’ve had 100% support from our family in pursuing a career as artists.

You can listen to or download the full interview with The Singh Twins here and see photos from the private view on our The Rise of Women Artists Flickr set.

Heather Price with her favourite photograph.

Last week our new exhibition at the Lady Lever Art Gallery opened - An Edwardian Family Album. I'm not a big photography buff, but I still found the photos pretty captivating. They not only give you a glimpse into family life in Edwardian times, many of them also have an ethereal quality that is really interesting. They create an effect that is almost like capturing ghosts from the past on film. One that definitely has this feel is the photo of a group of people exploring Castleton caverns. They are all holding torches in a pitch black cave - but of course the ladies are all still wearing their fabulous hats!

Owner of the collection, Heather Price and her late husband David, were given a large collection of glass negatives which had been found in a friend's attic. Both keen photographers themselves they were keen to get these unusual photographs on display, so that others could enjoy them. Heather said "Dai would have been so pleased with how the exhibition has come together. He'd have been here every other day to see it." You can see Heather above, with her and David's favourite photograph from the collection. It is of the photographer's daughter Mary, dressed in her Sunday best dress and bonnet, with pet dog Bob.

Heather told me that she felt the details in the photos were really wonderful and showed that the photographer, Jack Urton, must have been very knowledgeable about photography. This was a time when advancements in technology meant that more people could start taking their own photographs in any location, rather than having to rely on professionals in studios. This new found freedom must have been pretty exciting and this is palpable in the variety of photos from cute family snaps, to dramatic shots of the Wirral coastline.

You can also have a look at my attempts at photographing the exhibition on our An Edwardian Family Album Flickr set!

If anything in the exhibition reminds you of photographs in your own family album, you can share your memories by filling in a card in the gallery's response area, or post your comments below.

This Saturday (24 October) World Museum is running several events designed for our visually impaired visitors. Each is based around our highly successful 'The Beat Goes On' exhibition and covers the people, objects and stories behind Liverpool music history.

Events kick off at 12 noon (there's a full list of sessions on the exhibition events page), and you'll need to collect tickets from our information desk as places are limited. For more information contact the information desk on 0151 478 4353.

Fantine by Margaret Hall watches over installation of new exhibition.

The finishing touches are being put in place for The Rise of Women Artists which opens this Friday at the Walker Art Gallery.

The exhibition is a mixture of old friends such as Fantine above, who normally resides over the gallery's staircase, as well as work not on permanent display, like a dark and moving print by Paula Rego.

A combination of paintings, photography, prints, sculpture, textiles and ceramics, all from the gallery's own holdings, form a comprehensive look at womens' art from the 16th century to the present day.

Curator Kay Jones presented Liam with his v50 certificate

Liam Physick, a student at Liverpool University and one of our fantastic youth volunteers, has recently achieved his v50 Award for volunteering for 50 hours for the Museum of Liverpool's urban history department. Liam did a fantastic job of logging 5,605 comment cards from The Beat Goes On exhibition, which asked for visitors' Liverpool music memories. The responses will be used in research at the University of Liverpool. Liam says,

"The project developed my IT skills and taught me how to log records. It was very interesting to read people's experiences. One woman claimed that her husband had been the man who discovered The Beatles. It has clearly shown that people inside and outside Liverpool are fascinated by the city's musical heritage. Visitors came from all over the world including Malaysia, America, the Bahamas and Romania."

Alas, unlike the beat itself, this exhibition doesn't go on and on. We're into the final weeks of World Museum's The Beat Goes On exhibition and what a tune-tastic time we've had.

Paul McCartney's trousers made a visit as did half a million members of the public. Local bands had their tunes profiled in our on-gallery and online jukeboxes (check out the MySpace page and have a listen). Willing volunteers cut their museum teeth on the gallery, and we launched an online resource charting Liverpool's musical heritage.

But fret not! (fret...music...geddit?) You've still until 1 November to get down to the museum and to get down!  Take your kids during half term and show them what real music sounds like. And if you still need persuading the Guardian's video on Liverpool's music scene should do the trick.

And if you still don't manage to catch the exhibition you're going to have to wait until the Museum of Liverpool opens in 2011. The Creative City gallery will become home to items like the Woolton church stage where John Lennon and Paul McCartney first met in 1957, the vibrant 'All You Need is Love' bedcover from John and Yoko’s Bed-in-for-Peace in Montreal in 1969, and four Beatles stage suits.

And as it's the final month The Beat Goes On exhibition guide has been reduced to half price so now costs just £1.50. Get your copy in our groundfloor shop.

Bridget Riley

I was lucky enough to get to photograph Bridget Riley this week, while she was here for the opening of a major exhibition of her work at the Walker. She was pretty in demand so I didn't get to talk to her, but Press Officer Laura Johnson got chatting with Bridget who told her how pleased she was with the look of the exhibition. (You can see the final adjustments made to the displays by the handling team on our Moving Stories Flickr set.)

Bridget also talked a little about how she creates her work, describing how she doesn't always know what her work will end up looking like and that letting accidents happen often takes her in new directions.

You can get more of an insight into the inspiration behind her work in a short video clip on our exhibition page. In the clip Bridget describes how even brief moments when she sees light in a certain way, can be a form of inspiration:

'I remember one very hot summer, it was in the South of France and I was climbing a hillside of broken shale and the light was so strong that it dazzled. It seemed to come at me from all directions, it was beating down from above and beating back into my eyes at the same time. One lost all sense of focus. Everything seemed to disintegrate in light, the landscape dissolved - it was like standing in a field of pure energy.'

Her paintings are certainly dazzling as a result. Looking at 'Ecclesia', it is almost a dizzying experience, but definitely a pleasant one all the same. You can also see some of Bridget's early sketches that have many annotations around them and show the development of some of her paintings.

See more photos from the exhibition in our 'Bridget Riley Flashback' Flickr set and experience these stunning paintings and drawings for yourself, until 13 December 2009.

Stephen with the photo of Lizzie Christian

We would drive around Liverpool in a mini chasing news – two six footers crammed in the tiny car.

Stephen Shakeshaft was already an established staff photographer at the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo in Victoria Street when I joined as a news reporter in April 1970.

Even as a young man he was very distinguished-looking, tall with an aristocratic nose and an excellent head of hair (which he still has). Stephen was also very funny ha-ha, veering between droll comments and biting sarcasm. We got on well and often traded insults.

It was obvious that he was a rising star among some other very talented people in the office including John Sergeant, Tony Wilson and Roger Alton.

This is not to mention others making their mark such as Phil Key and a youthful, pipe-smoking Joe Riley. I worked with them all until September 1973 when I joined the Press Association in Fleet Street.

Stephen sometimes gave the impression of being rather cautious and methodical. This was deceptive as I could see he was always looking out for a good picture.

I have never seen him at a loss or flustered in any way. I think he may have sometimes regarded his day-to-day work as unchallenging – such things as head-the-ball shots at soccer matches, people scurrying out of the criminal courts or competition winners.

Stephen always poked behind the scenes for gold and about 70 of these largely hidden treasures are on view in his new exhibition Stephen Shakeshaft: Liverpool People at the National Conservation Centre until 24 January 2010.

I find this show totally and utterly fascinating. These brilliant studies capture a Liverpool going through great change from the 1960s onwards.

This is the third of Stephen’s exhibitions I have helped to publicise. I think it is the best because it demonstrates his great ability to capture the personalities of ordinary people.

He has also recorded some of the city streets as they were before pedestrianisation, CCTV, pelican crossings and hideous steel shutters.

This is a world before superstores sucked the life out of our corner shops and closed local pubs, where most people got around on shanks’s pony or took public transport.

To me the pictures evoke a time when people enjoyed mucking in together and laughing at the experience.

I also remember some of the people in the pictures. One of my favourites is this famous shot of greengrocer Lizzie Christian at her city centre barrow (shown). Mrs Christian always had a ready smile for everyone, lighting up the street around her.

Other pictures I like include a crowded wash house which was a great place for exchanging news, Prime Minister Harold Wilson at a packed public meeting and two dockers with a traditional wooden handcart.

Fay and Charlotte, two of our dedicated youth volunteers in The Beat Goes On exhibition at World Museum Liverpool, have both achieved their v50 Award certificate, having completed 50 hours volunteering each. Congratulations to both and a big thank you for all their hard work talking to the many visitors who have visited the exhibition this year.

If you are aged 16-25 and would like to find out more about youth volunteering at our museums please contact Claire Olson, Youth Volunteer Officer. You can also find out more on the v-inspired website. 

A few words from Fay and Charlotte:
 
"Volunteering at The Beat Goes On has provided me with valuable experience of working in a museum and has also helped me develop other skills such as communication and customer care. Working towards my v50 award gave me something to aim for and I am very pleased that I have achieved this goal." Fay
 
"Working on The Beat Goes On exhibition has given me the chance to combine my interest in museums with my love of music. Volunteering at the museum has given me the chance to gain experience and insight into different aspects of museum work, which will be useful for a future career in this area of work." Charlotte

Image courtesy of the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

I met the late Lord Sefton (1898 – 1972) several times walking around his country estate with his dogs in West Derby when I was a child out with my father. The 7th Earl was the last of the mighty Molyneux family who dominated Liverpool for centuries until merchants successfully challenged their power. After that they more or less retreated to their estates. I am involved in preserving their memory on the committee of the Friends of Croxteth Hall and Country Park supporting Liverpool’s own stately home.

Liverpool remained virtually the same size for hundreds of years – seven streets dominated by its medieval castle. For the first time the town started to grow quickly – and it was all down to ships bringing trade and prosperity in their wake. After the Civil War, when Charles I lost his crown and his head, big changes started happening in the growing port. The townspeople rebuilt their homes and their livelihoods while incoming entrepreneurs encouraged the expansion of trade.

A small group of wealthy merchants became the most important citizens and started to dominate the borough, setting a pattern that would continue into modern times. They believed Liverpool’s future success depended on its political freedom. The merchants resisted the influence of the nobility and landed gentry with few interests in trade. They refused to elect the local landowner Sir Edward Moore as either Mayor or the town’s MP in 1660. In 1668 they challenged Viscount Molyneux’s rights to land close to Liverpool. Their victory over him in 1672 gave the borough a large rental income.

In order to raise the £12,000 (£1.4 million today) needed to build the first dock in 1715, the merchants who controlled Liverpool Corporation mortgaged the whole town.

In 1799 alone Liverpool ships transported more than 45,000 enslaved Africans across the Atlantic. Between 1801 and 1901 Liverpool’s population mushroomed from 77,693 to 685,000 – an increase of almost 800%. An 1847 print (pictured) shows St George’s and Albert Docks on the busy waterfront as Liverpool boomed.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents, bookshops or from the Mersey Shop website (£1.50 p&p UK).

As a fervent Blue Nose (that's an Everton supporter in case you're football illiterate) I'm very excited that Thursday sees the launch of The Everton Collection website; the most complete treasury of football memorabilia in the world.  And if you're a supporter of another club or social history buff you should be excited as well as the collection isn't just about Everton Football Club. This is the history of football told through the story of Everton.

The collection is made up of over 18,000 items of football memorabilia, dating back to the founding of the club in 1878, itself a founder member of The Football League. Programmes, medals, tickets, transcribed ledgers, trophies, boots, shirts, contracts, cash books and photographs all feature and are now available to browse online. It features the earliest programmes of many clubs including Manchester United (then Newton Heath), Celtic, Aston Villa, Derby County, Bolton and Blackburn, and many of football's rarest artefacts.

I've had a sneak preview and think the transcribed ledgers are my favourites. The minutiae of life in the days before TV deals and big money transfers is fascinating. Players late for training because they missed their bus is a far cry from today's industry.

The collection will be launched with the major new exhibition at Liverpool's Central Library, ‘Everlution: The Everton Collection’. There's also a series of talks by Peter Lupson on topics such as joint Everton and Liverpool programmes, the birth of the football league and the man who many claim was responsible for that famous split that created Everton and Liverpool football clubs.

I should point out that my interest isn't totally partisan. The new Museum of Liverpool will be featuring many objects from the collection in the Creative City gallery, using the pieces to tell the story of Liverpool and its people.

As you can probably tell from my blog posts, I've been looking forward to the exhibition Liverpool People by Stephen Shakeshaft for months. The good news is that the exhibition is now open. The photographs on display present an honest and affectionate view of the many incredible characters that Stephen has encountered in the city over the last few decades. They are bound to bring back memories for many people, while the anecdotes that accompany them should raise a smile or two.

In addition to the photographs, Stephen's old Micro Press plate camera that he used during the 1960s is also on display. It's a real piece of history, and is fascinating to a digital camera user such as myself. I couldn't imagine lifting it, let alone taking a half decent photo with it, so it really does bring home what an accomplished photographer Stephen is. He recalled about using the camera:

Stephen Shakeshaft in the exhibition

"Using this camera was the perfect discipline for a young photographer and quite the opposite of today's technology. To cover a football match at Goodison or Anfield I would have 10 slides which would carry 20 glass plates (5 x 4 inches), this gave me just 20 opportunities to get THE photograph.

The camera required strong shoulders, it was cumbersome but I carried it everywhere with me. In the dark room the only way to test if the plate had been loaded the correct way was to taste the emulsion with the tip of my tongue. Maybe that is the reason why I have silver hair today!"

Nicky Lewis examining original photographs by Stephen Shakeshaft in the paper conservation studio

In the build up to Liverpool People by Stephen Shakeshaft, which opens in a few days, I have been posting some of the photographs that didn't quite make it into the exhibition on the blog along with Stephen's funny and insightful stories behind each one. But I'm sure you're all dying to know about the pictures that are actually in the exhibition. One person who has seen them already is Nicky Lewis, who has mounted and framed them all ready for display. This included a few original prints, which required extra careful handling as she explains:

"After days spent mounting brand new prints of Stephen Shakeshaft's work it was a real thrill to get my hands (gloved, of course!) on some of his original prints. All of his images have great stories to tell but there's something quite special about seeing the real thing. The creases, tears and fingerprints, the scribbled notes and pencil lines to show where the image was to be cropped, all transport you to the desk of the newspaper photographer and that - I imagine - frantic time before that day's newspaper went to print.

Although the images will be framed in a similar way to the copy prints I instantly have to think differently with original objects. We have a responsibility to not allow their condition to deteriorate any further. So I have chosen mounting materials that are acid free and controlled the amount of light that the photographs are exposed to, and will monitor them closely while they are on display. You can also take a closer look at them in the exhibition at the National Conservation Centre from Friday."

Many people will remember Stephen Shakeshaft's fantastic football photographs from the Soccer Shots exhibition a few years ago. The good news is that there are some more on show in Liverpool People by Stephen Shakeshaft, which opens a week today. Here's a picture of the crowds that didn't quite make it into the exhibition.

Being paid to go to football matches may sound like a dream job, but as Stephen recalls below, life on the touchline was far from easy:

Copyright Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

"Football crowds fascinate me, every emotion is on view - jubilation, frustration, anger, despair and a lot worse. Why don't photographers show excitement on a goal being scored? Because they are watching the aftermath from players and fans, the goal passes them by. Even now I watch football totally emotionless, after 40 years of sitting on the touchline it has taken its toll.

From the aching knees after lying prostrate in front of the Kop to the scars of European cup ties I have suffered for my sport. A bottle bounced off my temple in Rome, a police dog took part of my ankle in Rotterdam and a Bruges defender landed so heavily on my back I couldn't exhale for two days. I lost so many jackets after smouldering cigarettes landed on my back - 'Hey mister, you are on fire!' My shoes were taken off my feet at Wolverhampton Wanderers by a cheeky fan who was obviously annoyed that my body was blocking his view - I had to bribe him to give them back.

The problem was we had to lay flat on the grass on a groundsheet between the fans and the touchline, parallel with the goal post. This was not a position conducive with fast reactions - in other words we had to dodge the missiles from the crowd and the studs of the advancing winger heading for the penalty area. If a foul was committed on a home player in front of us the missiles showered down aimed at the offending player - coins (half crowns the favourite as they travelled the furthest, being the heaviest) hit me on the ear leaving me seeing stars for a few minutes, pop bottles, darts, meat pies. One night I counted five pellets that had been fired from an air pistol which I gave to the police. It wasn't all bad though, often after a stormy, eventful match there would be enough money scattered around the groundsheet to buy a round of drinks.

We would always follow the home team attack and at Anfield walking around the ground to the Kop for the second half on a wet cold day it was like walking into a giant hairdryer - the heat hitting us from the crowd. It was a great view and a dramatic angle to take photographs from, camera at pitch level. A wet day was miserable, the ground sheet resembling a pond. The secret was to dress accordingly - starting off with long johns underwear, two pairs of socks, thick jeans, two sweaters, scarf and cap and then a waterproof leather divers suit which had no ventilation. I just prayed I didn't need the loo at half time and at the end of a game, after a good soaking from the rain, I literally squeaked when walking.

Leaving the ground in the middle of the crowd my feet didn't touch the ground until I reached the main road, my elbows stood out like handles and I was lifted by the pressure of the throng as I hung on to my cameras.

Songs developed on the Kop from nowhere, it was if 20,000 people had been in a rehearsal room before the game, as one they developed the funniest anthems and hilarious chants against the opposition - but when they sang 'You'll Never Walk Alone' the hairs on the neck always stood up.

I couldn’t do it now but I'm glad I did it then."

Money can't buy love but who cares when you can go out any buy the latest line of Beatle merchandise. Beatlemania is back and this time it means business - big business!  Remastered versions of each of the albums have been released and are expected to dominate the charts for the next few weeks. And there’s two enviable box sets – one limited edition remastered in mono, the other in stereo.They were released on 09.09.09 - most auspicious because of John’s obsession with the number 9. 

Not that merchandising is a new thing of course. If you venture over to The Beat Goes On exhibition at World Museum you can see some of the weird and wonderful Beatle articles from our collection that were produced during the original wave of Beatlemania including Russian Dolls, talc and this rather nifty pair of sneakers.  

The latest must-have Beatles purchase is of course the Beatles Rock Band game. Now I’m no gamer – but I admit this amazing animation has got my purse strings twitching. Who could fail to enjoy this – it's compelling viewing, it even has penguins! The animation is part of the re-launched Beatles.com which has been absolutely crammed full of video, tunes, photos and memorabilia just incase you’re not Beatled up enough.

Anyhow, in the words of the Blue Peter, ‘here’s one we made earlier’. Beatles-themed games they most certainly are, Beatles Rock Band they are not. But they are still a lot of fun, they don’t cost anything and you don’t need any additional kit to play. Call me old-fashioned, but I'm in favour of playing a real guitar. After all, that’s how the boys started out and a very profitable investment it turned out to be for them.

Dockers. Copyright Stephen Shakeshaft

With just over a week to go until the exhibition 'Liverpool People by Stephen Shakeshaft' opens at the National Conservation Centre, here's another photo from his archive that didn't quite make it into the exhibition. Stephen took many photos of the dockers during his career as picture editor and chief photographer of the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo, and remembers that they were real characters:

"They provided the backbone to the city and its commerce. They also provided the material for the jokes of Liverpool comedians. They were very suspicious of a man with a camera. 'Don't take my picture, lad - take his - he has his makeup on!' Whoever sold caps went out of business when the dockers went. Walking around Canada Dock you had to keep your eyes skinned and spend as much time looking up as concentrating on your subject; 'Watch your 'ead, lad'.

I covered dockers' strikes and pickets, I was there when they received their redundancy notices and when they realised their jobs were gone - replaced by the container monsters of Seaforth.

All dockers had nicknames which fitted their personality or character such as 'Stanley Matthews' who, on the unloading of a crate, would always say 'I'll take the corner'."

Saturday’s Carnegie Challenge Cup is certainly going to be different. For the first time since the 1986 final between Castleford and Hull, none of the ‘big four’ - Leeds, Bradford, Wigan and  St Helens - will be going Wembley. That privilege will be enjoyed instead by Huddersfield Giants and Warrington Wolves along with coach loads of their thirsty fans. 

Ellery Hanley - a rugby league legend. Photograph by John Ferguson ©

I, for one, am relieved. Not only is it great for the game to share the silverware but we also have a family wedding on Saturday and a congregation made up of Wigan and Saints fans who would no doubt spend the day with their eyes on the score instead of the bride (and I include the groom in that). So hats off to Huddersfield, and the best of luck to Warrington who will be flying the rugby league flag for the region – it’s going to be a rip-roarer!

Anyone involved in the game of rugby league knows what an exciting and entertaining spectacle it can be and is always on the look out for ways to spread the magic. That’s why I am thrilled to see the formidable Ellery Hanley represented in John Ferguson’s photography exhibition ‘Black Britannia’ at the International Slavery Museum. The exhibition features portraits of Black Britons who have contributed to British culture and whose achievements can provide a positive role mode for many Black British youngsters today - and what an inspiration Ellery has been in his field.

Ellery played phenomenal top flight rugby at Bradford, Leeds and most notably for Wigan during the peak of their success, as well as for Balmain and Western Suburbs in Australia. Over the course of his career he was capped 34 times for Great Britain and became Britain’s first Black coach in 1994. In 1999 he also coached the Saints to Super League victory.  His accolades include the Rugby League World Golden Boot Award, Man of Steel, the Lance Todd Trophy, an MBE for services to rugby league and induction into the Rugby League Hall of Fame.

When it comes to rugby league Ellery Hanley certainly set the standard. If Warrington and Huddersfield need any inspiration for the weekend’s big clash, then this picture will surely provide it. 

Frank Green. Copyright Stephen Shakeshaft

The upcoming exhibition 'Liverpool people by Stephen Shakeshaft', which opens at the National Conservation Centre on 18 September, is bound to bring back a lot of memories for people who have seen Liverpool evolve since the 1960s. However Stephen wasn't the only person documenting the changing face of the city, as this photograph from his archive shows. This one of a selection of images that didn't quite make it into the exhibition itself that Stephen has kindly agreed to share here on the blog instead. He recalls:

"In a way we became unofficial archivists of the Liverpool scene. The post-war planners destroyed old Liverpool with a determination never matched by the Luftwaffe. Communities were wiped out. Slums went, but so did good houses. Folk songs were written about moving out to the housing estates in Speke and elsewhere. Uprooted families gazed from the windows of high rise flats.

The process was photographed by myself and painted by Frank Green. Our purpose was the same - to record the passing of the old city. This is Edge Hill as it was then. What would these houses have been worth today with modernisation and renovation?"

Frankie Vaughan. Copyright Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

Here's another photograph that didn't quite make it into the upcoming exhibition 'Liverpool people by Stephen Shakeshaft'. Over the course of his career at the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo, Stephen met a huge number of celebrities. One that he remembers particularly fondly is the legendary Frankie Vaughan:

"Frankie Vaughan, also known as Mr Moonlight, was one of the nicest people I've ever met. Sometimes entertainers or celebs disappoint when meeting them but Frankie was genuine and he loved Liverpool. In my teenage years I sat watching my mother swoon as he sang 'Give Me The Moonlight' on television's Sunday Night at the London Palladium.

He was everything that a pinup should be and he still had that Frankie giggle all those years later when he gave me a lift in his gold Rolls Royce along Lord Street in Southport. I can still see the expressions on the holidaymakers' faces as they
watched open jawed as we pulled up at the traffic lights. Looking in they saw that the driver was Frankie Vaughan and on the back seat there was ME!

I had persuaded him to be photographed on the beach at Southport when he was starring in the Summer Show. He walked in the sandhills with his wife Stella and was moved to tears. He told me as a child he would visit the same beach from his Dingle home for his one day’s annual holiday with his parents.

This photograph was taken in 1998 shortly before he died. He was in Liverpool and wished to visit the streets of his childhood."

I was very interested in an article in the Guardian by Syma Tariq on women artists and institutional collecting. The Walker Art Gallery has been collecting work by women artists since its foundation in the 1870s. These works, which now form perhaps the best collection of historic art by women in a public gallery in England, span from the 16th century to the present day. Artists include Lavinia Fontana and Rosalba Carriera, but what do we call them? Old Masters obviously not, but the alternative Old Mistresses is worse! A clear demonstration of the art historical bias.

Our exhibition, The Rise of Women Artists (opens on 23 October 2009), will examine historical changes affecting women, looking at their status and careers as they moved to assert themselves as artists in their own right. It will also highlight the breadth of the Walker’s collection. In fact such is the strength of the collection of work by women, that some key works can’t be included in the large exhibition space, but will instead feature in a tour of other works by female artists in the rest of the galllery.

The exhibition features work by Vigee-Lebrun and Angelica Kauffman as well as less well known artists of the 19th century such as Annie Swynnerton. Contemporary artists including Louise Bourgeois and Paula Rego will complete the journey to the present day. 

You have until Monday to enter our competition and win a luxury weekend away in London.

This fabulous prize is being offered to tie in with the Royal Academy's exhibition, J.W. Waterhouse: The Modern Pre-Raphaelite, which includes one of the Walker's paintings, Echo and Narcissus.

The prize includes two nights accommodation at a five-star hotel, tickets to the exhibition and first class return tickets from Liverpool.

Competition details and how to enter can be found on our main site.

Kenny Everett. Copyright Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

Here's another one of Stephen Shakeshaft's fantastic photos, this time of a well known face. This photograph hasn't made it into his upcoming exhibition 'Liverpool people by Stephen Shakeshaft', which opens at the National Conservation Centre on 18 September, but it made me smile so I thought I'd share it with you. Stephen took this picture early on during Kenny Everett's career and remembers:

"Celebrity Squares was a popular quiz show hosted by Bob Monkhouse. The voiceover as the prizes for contestants came on was from the irrepressible Kenny Everett - who went on to be a great DJ and television star. I was amazed how many bottles of cola he got through during the show."

As regular visitors will realise, there are always small changes taking place within our galleries, even in the 'permanent' displays, as objects do occasionally get removed for loans or conservation treatment. An example is the painting 'Elaine' painted by Sophie Anderson, which is going to be included in the exhibition 'The Rise of Women Artists' at the Walker from 23 October 2009. Framing conservator Roy Irlam is using this opportunity to address particular areas of the painting's framework, as access to this painting has been difficult due to its high position on the gallery wall. You can see photos of the de-installation in our Moving stories Flickr set. Handling and transport technician Paula Frew explains just how this large painting was safely removed from display below.

Installing 'Daniel in the Lion's Den' in the Walker

"The handling and transport team use specialised equipment for paintings at this height which include a block and tackle system used to elevate and lower paintings. Each block and tackle section is equipped to take a safe working load of 250kg which are suspended from a lifting strap (SWL 1000kgs) which is attached to a load bearing picture rail.

Another piece of equipment which is an old favourite of the team's goes by the fanciful name of 'Airwolf'. It's a gas operated hydraulic lift that enables technicians to access the heights needed to reach the galleries picture rails.

The most recent addition to the team's repertoire of equipment is an electrical hydraulic lift embellished with the title of 'Leonardo'. This machine takes the weight of one person and can be operated at its base or by the operator in the caged platform area at various heights to move around the gallery area. Unfortunately it doesn't go as high as the 'Airwolf' and is therefore restricted.

The Mobile Elevated Towers named 'Pulpit Towers' are mobile platforms that have replaced ladders due to the new ladder regulations and adhere to the new safety rulings.

The large maroon coloured machine is called the 'Sumner lift'. This machine has been specifically adapted to take a 500kg weight, having counterbalanced weights in the enclosed basket. The machine can access heavy paintings at particular heights on its forks. It works on a ratchet and geared system operated manually, preferably by someone who has eaten a lot of spinach!

The equipment has to be condition checked before use which takes time, so the team started at 7.30am to make headway before the Walker opened to the public at 10am. Once it opened we barricaded off half of the gallery space rather than closing it completely to the public. We found that the visitors were more interested in our operation than they were in the collections!

Before taking down 'Elaine' we removed the painting beneath it 'The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden' using the Sumner lift machine. The team then set up the block and tackle for 'Elaine' and removed it safely.

The painting 'Daniel in the Lion's Den' by Riviere has recently returned to the Walker after going out on loan to the British Museum for their 'Babylon' exhibition. We installed this painting in place of 'Elaine' using the block and tackle system, then re-installed 'The Expulsion of Adam and Eve...' beneath it and re-opened the remaining gallery space."

Earlier this month I was lucky enough to be allowed to tag along on a shoot of a video interview with internationally acclaimed artist, Emma Rodgers.

I went with our audio visual team to her house on the Wirral, where she has her studio. They needed to film Emma because her work is going to be included in our forthcoming exhibition ‘The Rise of Women Artists’ , which will be at the Walker Art Gallery from 23 October 2009 - 14 March 2010. This video would be used to create one of the interactive displays for visitors to explore in the gallery and also to make video clips for our website.

The team filmed her working on some of her sculptures, while she answered questions about her inspirations, early career and what it means for her to be a female artist.

It was really interesting to hear about the processes that Emma goes through when creating a sculpture, whether this is of animals or humans. Sketches form the foundation of her work, sometimes from observations at Chester Zoo and also during animal autopsies at Leahurst on the Wirral. Through her work, Emma also travels abroad regularly. This also helps her study of animal’s bodies as she is sometimes lucky enough to hold animals like monkeys. She said she had been able to get to know the character traits of different primates, which also influences the way she depicts them in her sculptures. Emma clearly loves animals as well as finding them inspiring – we even met her pet hare, Mr. Redfern, who she said has helped her think about joints and bone structures in her work.

Emma has also spent time observing and sketching dancers and said she is fascinated by their muscle structures and how their bodies become altered through dancing. As she was answering questions from curator, Robin Emerson, she was building up a sculpture of a woman’s body, piece by piece.

You’ll have to wait until the exhibition opens on 23 October 2009 to see the video clips and find out how that sculpture turned out! In the mean time you can find out more about Emma's work on her website or browse through our Emma Rodgers Flickr set.

Sister Marina, Walton Prison. Copyright Liverpool Daily Post and Echo.

There's just over a month to go now until the exhibition 'Liverpool people by Stephen Shakeshaft' opens at the National Conservation Centre. The exhibition will be packed full photographs spanning Stephen's career as photographer and picture editor at the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo.

There are lots of great photos that didn't quite make it into the exhibition itself, like this one, which prompted Stephen to reminisce about the time he spent behind bars - just visiting to take photographs of course.

"I photographed Sister Marina visiting Walton Prison. Her smile and compassion were for all - she was there to comfort those who needed her faith, solace, prayers and hope.

A hand stretched through the bars of a locked cell and a finger tapped me on the shoulder - looking round all I could see were dark penetrating staring eyes and a finger that seemed to be 6 inches long - the other hand came through the bars and I was offered a tin cup full of tea. I hesitated, smiled and took a sip - the warden teased me with a suggestion that there was something else in the cup that I would not want to drink!

One of the most uncomfortable situations I found myself in was covering life in a women's prison. Entering the recreation room I was confronted by more than 20 women prisoners, their jokes and repartee was X certificate - all to the amusement of the Governor, who wore a long white mac with epilettes and black knee length boots!"

I wanted to write something in tribute to Les Paul who died yesterday at the age of 94. Les Paul was a jazz musician who persuaded guitar maker Gibson to create a solid-bodied electric guitar. He’d already cobbled together such a guitar from a railway sleeper and a couple of pick-ups, but when Gibson refined ‘The Log’, the Gibson Les Paul was born. The Gibson Les Paul is an iconic guitar played by some of the most innovative rock guitarists the world has ever seen. Pete Townsend, Jimmy Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Slash to name but a few. I visited The Beat Goes On exhibition at World Museum to see if any trace of Les Paul’s influence could be found, and although there aren’t any Les Pauls in the exhibition I did find this rather familiar walk-through! (I should mention there are several other splendid guitars such as Will Sergeant's customised Telecaster and one owned by Billy Fury). Perhaps I should have also looked in the recording section because Les Paul also developed revolutionary multi-tracking techniques, but that is another story.

I then popped into St George’s Hall to see ‘For George – A Tribute to George Harrison’. (That's a lot of Georges). If you are a Beatle fan or enjoyed The Beat Goes On then make the effort to see this small but heart-warming exhibition dedicated to George. The display was created by fans for fans and features some lovely pictures, a few taken by Patti Boyd. It is like a little snapshot of all things George – his music projects, his film interests, his racing, Friar Park, The Beatles of course. There’s incense burning and a devotional feel, reflecting George’s dedication to his spiritual development, as well as his fans devotion to him.  It is only a small room but there is a lot to see if you take the time to have a proper look.

In particular I really enjoyed seeing some of the instruments that shaped George’s music, including a rare Gibson longneck banjolele (a cross between ukulele and a banjo) and a sitar. There wasn’t a Les Paul in sight – but it matters not, because here is where we find our Les Paul connection. George is associated with all manner of guitars, such Epiphone, Gretsch, Rickenbacker, and Fender , yet that mellow, rich and warm Les Paul sound will always define one song in particular - ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. The guitar solo was played on a cherry red 1957 Les Paul Standard – a gift from Eric Clapton – which he christened Lucy. (Infact it was Eric that played on the track)

Just put on the record. It’s as fitting tribute as any to Mr Les Paul – and it will explain better than my words just what all the fuss is about.

When they handling team say they're moving houses they usually mean literally!

As I've mentioned many times before, there's never a dull moment for the handling and transport team. Since I last reported on their activities they have safely transported a huge variety of objects from our collections, including ship models, paintings, a stained glass window and some Hindu Gods (well, sculptures of them, anyway). Some have been moved from storage to the conservation studios for treatment and back again, other objects have been gone on or off display and a few have ben loaned to other organisations.

Some of the more unusual jobs have involved taking a whole rack of uniforms to the conservation freezer to treat a possible insect infestation and weighing weapons from the collection in order to determine the floor loadings of planned displays in the new Museum of Liverpool.

On a rare break from work a few weeks ago the team had a sneak preview of the new galleries currently under construction at the Museum of Liverpool. They were all impressed by the scale and design of the building. However in the back of their minds I'm sure they were all thinking the same thing - they'll have their work cut out installing all of the many objects in this huge building in time for the opening.

You can see what they've been up to in the Moving stories Flickr set of photos.

Photograph from 'Shoot Nations'.

Quick reminder that Sunday 2 August is your last chance to see the Shoot Nations exhibition at the International Slavery Museum. The display features photographs by young people, highlighting the global impact of our changing environment, particularly the effects of global warming and intensive farming on the earth's natural resources.

While there you could also catch our latest display which opens today. Trafficked looks at a form of modern slavery - human trafficking - and follows the stories of those affected by the trade. 

Celebrations after Liverpool won the European Cup Final in Rome, 1977. Copyright Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

A little while ago I mentioned that preparations were already under way for the next exhibition at the National Conservation Centre. Opening from 18 September 2009 to 24 January 2010; 'Liverpool people by Stephen Shakeshaft', will include photographs spanning the career of the picture editor at the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo.

It has been a tough process whittling down the huge selection of images available to a suitable number for the exhibition. Unfortunately there just isn't space to fit everything in. So over the next few weeks I'm going to be featuring some of the photos that didn't make it into the exhibition itself here on the blog. This one in particular made me smile. Here's the story behind it in Stephen's own words:

"The Eternal City was ready for the arrival ofthe Liverpool fans. I had arrived a week before to send build up features to the Echo. It was Liverpool's biggest match - ever!

The first train to arrive in Rome's main station could be heard a mile away, the L-I-V-E-R-P-O-O-L chant was getting louder by the minute.

Hundreds of fans stepped into the sacred city in red t-shirts and scarves - no suitcases, no toothbrush, no change of clothes - and marched towards the city. I watched a group swaying down a road tunnel still singing - when in Rome do as scousers do. The city was a festival of red, who were the other team? There seemed to be few German supporters around.

Liverpool won, even Tommy Smith scored, and at the end I made towards him to take a celebration picture. The other photographers waited for him to turn around as he jumped into the trainer's arms. I went the other wat and my picture was just what I wanted. I later asked Tommy why he had run straight to the trainer at the end of the match. 'He had my teeth in his pocket and I wanted them back before having my picture taken', he replied."

It was a depressingly long time ago that I was an A-level student. The only highlight of these two years of study was when the local Bargain Booze was raided causing delightful disruption to the school day, and a feature on Crimewatch!

However its safe to say that students from Sutton Sports College St. Helens, All Saints Catholic High School Kirkby and North Liverpool Academy Liverpool trumped my highlight with their A-level art work being put on display in a special exhibition called Showcase at the Walker Art Gallery.

Students at launch of Showcase A-level art work exhibition

These lucky students from each of these three schools were invited to display their art work by Find Your Talent. This exhibition is part of Find Your Talent, a national programme that aims to give each child and young person access to five hours of culture.

The exhibition had its official launch last week. Here nervous students showed their work much to the enjoyment of proud parents, family, friends and teachers. It was a lovely evening and it was clear that everyone was genuinely impressed and excited by the skill and originality demonstrated by all these talented students. 

On until 31 July, 2009 Showcase is well worth a visit and is a true testament to the talent regional schools can offer. 

To find out more about Find Your Talent please follow the link
 

Something got Mick started... A young Mick Hucknall outside Pickwick's club. Copyright Francesco Mellina

With the Summer Pops in full swing a huge variety of international musicians have descended on Liverpool. The festival always attracts a lot of new big names to the city but also features many familiar faces and bands who started in the area many years ago. It was interesting to read an interview with Mick Hucknall in the Daily Post in which he reminisced about rehearsing in Liverpool in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His first band The Frantic Elevators, which he played in for seven years before forming Simply Red, was managed by Roger Eagle, one of the co-owners of the legendary Eric's club.

Inevitably another familiar figure on the Liverpool music scene at the time, the photographer Francesco Mellina, met and photographed Mick Hucknall many times during that early part of his career. Here's one of Francesco's photographs taken in a back street behind Pickwick's club. It's just one of the fascinating glimpses of bands before they were famous that you can see in the Sound and Vision exhibition at the National Conservation Centre - which also includes U2 back in 1980 when they were the opening band for Wah! Heat and Pink Military.

Rankin's studio at World Museum Liverpool

The bold and beautiful people of Liverpool called into World Museum Liverpool last Thursday to have their portrait taken by the acclaimed photographer Rankin.

For those who don’t know the name you will certainly know his work as there doesn’t seem to be a member of the glitterati he has not photographed. However it was “ordinary” scousers under the lens last week, as part of the Shoot Me, Rankin! project to photograph 1,000 people and form a portrait of modern Britain.

The whole process was quite fascinating to watch. A team of people looked after hair and make-up, while another team of photographic assistants worked on lighting, props, wind machines and the final touch ups of the portraits on the computer.

Rankin works amidst this whirl of assistants, producers, models and PR people, to produce stunning portraits that are all as different as each sitter but all maintain a Rankin "look".

The Shoot Me, Rankin! portraits will be on display alongside a major retrospective of Rankin's work at the Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London from 31 July to 18 September 2009.

If you have missed your chance to be photographed by Rankin you can still be photographed by a professional photographer at the Walker Art Gallery. The Iconic Portraits Competition is inspired by the Cecil Beaton: Portraits exhibition (until 31 August 2009).

Guests at the New Radicals private view

New Radicals From Sickert to Freud opened this weekend at the Walker Art Gallery. The photograph above was taken at the private view where guests had the opportunity to view the fascinating exhibition, drawn entirely from the gallery’s own collection, for the first time.

I have been reading a biography of Walter Sickert in preparation for this exhibition and it has given me a small insight into the art world of the time. I haven’t got very far through the book yet, but I have been struck by what an exciting time it must have been for Sickert as a young and promising artist, particularly one with connections. From early in his career he worked under the close guidance of Whistler whose work and artistic philosophy he greatly admired as well as holidaying in France with Degas, which often included chance meetings with other great names such as Gauguin. Such holidays influenced Bathers, Dieppe, one of my favourite paintings in the Walker's collection, and also included in this show.

These connections of Sickert's had a huge impact on his work and ensured he was a significant figure in the transition from Impressionism to Modernism, one of the themes of the exhibition.

The exhibition runs until 20 September 2009.

Whistler: The Gentle Art of Making Etches is on at the Lady Lever Art Gallery until 20 September 2009.

The Doorway - etching and drypoint, 1879-1880 by James McNeill Whistler. © The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow

Venice divides opinion. It can be far too busy and commercial, but if you are like me you will forgive such a truly beautiful place anything.

It would seem Whistler also appreciated the lure of Venice. There are four etchings of a Venetian doorway in the exhibition Whistler: The Gentle Art of Making Etchings at the Lady Lever Art Gallery. They are of the same scene but with small alterations. Hung together they convey a determination by Whistler to perfectly capture the charm of the place.

The artist found much of the inspiration for his etchings in the major European cities of the time including Liverpool. The exhibition features a lovely etching of Speke Hall from 1870.

The exhibition, organised by the Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, runs until 20 September 2009.

The Beat Goes On at World Museum, celebrates a wealth of Liverpool music across the ages right from the 40s until today, and not one decade has gone by when a Liverpool act hasn’t topped the charts.

One thing’s for sure, the exhibition is packed with fascinating objects and memorabilia charting the city’s musical heritage to date, but talent is still emerging daily and tomorrow’s stars could one day find themselves becoming part of Liverpool’s history, adorning i-pod screens and the walls of new Museum of Liverpool alike.

Yes, there is the idea that you have to be in the right place at the right time, but sheer hard work and determination is often necessary for a band or artist to gain access to the ‘right place’ at the ‘right time’, and our city offers some great opportunities to get noticed by the decision makers in the business.

As the Guinness Book of Record’s ‘City of Pop’, Liverpool avidly supports its emerging talent to climb the ladder of musical success, and those on the city’s youth music scene will be pleased to hear that the annual Streetwaves competition - doing just that - is back again for 2009.

This year, the competition is offering two lucky acts the chance to play a 25 minute outdoor set at the legendary Mathew Street Festival! Acts aged 14 – 25 can apply to audition by Tuesday 14 July, so be quick and visit www.liverpool.gov.uk/culture for an application form...and good luck!

Following up on our own competition, we’re also pleased to see that some of the artists voted for on The Beat Goes On’s Myspace are coming on in leaps and bounds since they’ve been featured on the digital jukeboxes in the exhibition:

A firm favourite in the votes, Dave Tyrell is releasing his debut album on 1 August, and band Jessica’s Ghost has also released an album, The Winning Hand with various gig dates in the coming months including Heebie Jeebies and the Mathew Street Finge. GK & The Renegades have sadly gone their separate ways, although GK (Gavin Kaufman) has announced he will be launching solo projects, so we look forward to hearing more from him.

Tracey Emin, In You, 2009. Embroidered cotton. 13 9/16 x 16 1/8 in. (34.5 x 41 cm) © the artist. Photo: Stephen White. Courtesy White Cube.

She might ignite controversy wherever she goes, but Tracey Emin's artwork - particularly her sewn work - has an amazing skill that often seems to be overlooked. I checked out her latest exhibition 'Those who suffer Love' at the White Cube in London , which showed a range of neons, drawings and several sewn pieces.

Even if you don't 'get' what she is trying to say, I think you'd have to try pretty hard to not appreciate the skill involved in sewing what looks like a sketched drawing on a six-foot piece of cloth. You get up close and there are hundreds of small and precise stitches which create something that appears to be quite devil-may-care. One of the tiniest pieces of cloth seemed to hold the most emotion - a sewn 'sketch' of a kneeling figure, with the words 'no, no, no, no' stitched above it. 

I guess a lot of people find her work hard to relate to as it's so personal and she is always wearing her heart on her sleeve. But I think the things she shares seem quite universal; love, lust, loss, pain - they're all things most adults have experienced. I don't think you have to try too hard to find these emotions in her work either - what you see is more or less what you get. It's explicit (sometimes in both senses of the word!), simple, sometimes ugly and sometimes beautiful.

I'm biased of course because as you will see from one of my previous posts, I am really into her anyway. But if you're in London in the next few days (it finishes on Sunday 5 July) I say go, give it a try and make up your own mind, rather than listening to the critics!

We'll be looking at the rich variety of work produced by well-known and lesser known female artists in our forthcoming exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery; 'The Rise of Women Artists'. You can see it from 23 October 2009 - 14 March 2010.

Curator Jessica Feather and Exhibitions Officer Lucy Johnson get a closer look at Audrey.

It is a dream situation to be in the same room as Mick Jagger and Marilyn Monroe and although that's never going to happen for real (Mick won't return my calls) I felt at least a little closer to that dream in the Cecil Beaton: Portraits exhibition. Beaton was well-known for charming his subjects to get the best out of them and it certainly shows.

What's interesting is the way he seems to use the style of the portrait to reflect the persona of the subject he's photographing. Audrey Hepburn is photographed in a very minimal and striking pose, which seems to echo her elegant and chic image. Marilyn Monroe is pictured sprawled on a hotel bed holding a flower - almost like a lover's snapshot - showing her as carefree and sexy. I always prefer these less styled photos of Marilyn, rather than the done-up pouting images that you see most of the time.

The photographs offer an insight into Beaton's career through the decades, from the glamour of his work with Vogue to his grittier work as an official war photographer.

You can check out this free exhibition from today, at the Walker Art Gallery.

Peterson Kamwathi's work on display

I went to see a small but fascinating display of prints by Kenyan artist Peterson Kamwathi at World Museum Liverpool today.

The prints contain symbols and imagery that explore Kenya’s political situation. Each image contains a bull which represents the Kenyan nation in the midst of unrest.

Kamwathi says about his work: "I view myself as a part of my society and as such I’m accountable to the society. Being an artist, this society extends beyond my immediate environment to include the world. In my work I strive to address and document issues that affect and impact my country, my continent and now the planet."

The display officially opens tomorrow (26 June) when there will also be a presentation in the Treasure House Theatre on Peterson’s work and Kenya’s contemporary art scene by artist and collector Ed Cross at 3pm.

Halima Cassell with one of the exhibits

One of the highlights of summer in this city is the annual Liverpool Arabic Arts festival (17-19 July). There is always so much to see from performances to exhibitions, and most excitingly for myself, there is also plenty of delicious food to be had too!

Here at National Museums Liverpool we are hosting a lot of the free events and beginning to prepare for the festival. One of the events to look out for is a small display of Halima Cassell’s work at the Walker Art Gallery. The other day I went to see Halima at our decorative arts store when she dropped off the exhibits. Her work is all hand-carved and as you can see from the photograph quite large in scale. I loved the sharp geometric patterns and earthy colours. They should look great when they go on display. 

Halima’s work is on show from 11 July to 9 August and she will be giving a free gallery talk on 17 July at 1pm.

 

We were very excited this morning as staff returned triumphant from The Mersey Partnership’s Annual Tourism Awards with some great news.

National Museums Liverpool won Tourism Experience of the Year and Marketing Project of the Year - both for the fantastic Art in the Age of Steam exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery last summer.

We were also pleased that the Lady Lever Art Gallery shop was 'highly commended' for Tourism Retailer of the year. 

More than 520 guests joined the celebrations to recognise and reward the best of the best during a black tie dinner at the BT Convention Centre on Liverpool's UNESCO world heritage waterfront.

You can see Marketing Officer Sam Vaux (above) with the award for Marketing Project of the Year, which was presented to her by Ranvir Singh from BBC North West Tonight.

Volunteer Qianer Sha receiving her v50 certificate from Lauren Yule, assistant volunteer coordinator

Congratulations to Qianer Sha, our latest volunteer to receive her v50 award for completing 50 hours. Qianer has volunteered regularly since November 2008, starting in Big Art for Little Artists at the Walker before helping out in The Beat Goes On exhibition. Qianer told us:
 
"It is a great experience for me to be able to volunteer in The Beats Goes On exhibition. It is a good opportunity for me to learn a lot of things about the city and its music and discover a lot which I took for granted before. Also, it is not only a chance to learn communication skills but also have so much fun."

Have a look at our website for further information about youth volunteering with v-involved at National Museums Liverpool.
 

Pauline with a fab sparkly dress from the Mrs. Tinne collection.

From an early age I was interested in vintage clothes, fashion and customising. I liked nothing better than rummaging in my Mum's (cool) friend's cast-offs and cutting big holes in tops so that I could look punky - or something close! (I was obsessed with the cartoon Jem and the Holograms).

So it's no surprise that for the first Ask the curator feature I asked Pauline Rushton, curator of costume and textiles, to be in the hot seat.

If you have a question about the fantastic range of costumes in our collections (from Edwardian frocks to Vivian Westwood suits) then take part in Ask the curator, which gives you the chance to ask our featured curator anything you like.

Send in your questions to Pauline by midnight on Sunday 21 June and we'll choose the best ones to ask her in a video interview, which we'll put on the site.

Although curators do gallery tours at the museums and galleries, most of their time is spent working hard behind the scenes. So we are lucky to have Pauline for this short period of time for you to ask her questions.

The video of Pauline's interview will be up from Monday 6 July so come back and check it out. You'll be able to find out her answers and listen to her talking about one of her favourite objects from the collections.

Have a listen to Pauline and I talking to Claire Hamilton about Ask the curator, on BBC Radio Merseyside. (Interview starts at 50 minutes into the program.)

In the centre of Francesco Mellina’s Sound & Vision exhibition there’s a screen slideshow which is well worth dwelling over. There are some really impressive names in terms of rock pedigree – people like Joey Ramone, Johnny Thunders and Joe Strummer.  However, the person who took my eye was a youthful, mop-haired Wayne Hussey propping up the bar in The Pyramid Club alongside Pete Burns. I completely forgot that before creating goth band The Mission and spawning a legion of devoted fans Wayne had been a member of both Sisters of Mercy and Dead or Alive. I really like the picture because he looks like an average guy – not the untouchable, lamenting, god-like stage persona that my friends and I worshipped. (Or maybe it's just because he is standing next to the ever-flamboyant Mr Burns!)

I’m still a little bit fond of Wayne as he touched our lives albeit briefly. Tasked with devising a social studies project at school, we set out to find how music impacts on youth culture. While I interviewed local Smiths' fan ‘Sad Eric’ and a Lemmy-alike Motorhead fanatic, my buddy set her sights a little higher and wrote to Wayne to find out how music had helped to shape his identity. Imagine our joy (and I mean the sort of ecstasy that only an unhealthily preoccupied teenager can experience) when a pale purple envelope dropped through the door containing an eloquent, beautifully handwritten letter on Mission branded paper! Pure bliss.

The Sound & Vision exhibition has sparked a lot of gigging memories for me. So much is captured on digital cameras and phones and uploaded to Facebook nowadays, whereas I have rely on my rather grainy recollections. I have this mad idea that I saw The La’s supporting The Mission at the Royal Court and there was a power failure. Someone jumped on stage and did an acoustic spot until the lights came back up and I heard it was Pete Wylie – another Liverpool star that features in the exhibition. It all sounds so unlikely now ... whether or not it was really the case, I can't say. Does anyone else remember?

Anyway, thanks to Francesco I’ve dusted off my God's Own Medicine album and given it a twirl and it still sounds amazing. I’m just glad someone had a camera handy as well as the talent and inclination to capture some of this bygone era.

Press Assistant Alison Cornmell has been looking after the publicity for the exhibition Sound and Vision at the National Conservation Centre. Last week she took a special visitor around the exhibition for the first time:

Jill Furmanovsky visits Francesco Mellina's exhibition

They say that there are no more than six degrees of separation between all people, and I think there is some truth to this. My mum’s sister’s husband’s auntie knows Ben Shephard’s Nan, thus meaning that me and that fine-looking GMTV presenter are practically best mates!

Ok that was a tenuous link but after my meeting with rock photographer Jill Furmanovsky there is now only one degree of separation between me and some of the greatest musicians in the world…of all time...ever!

On Friday 5 June I was lucky enough to be introduced to Jill Furmanovsky by Francesco Mellina. She has captured many of the biggest names in rock music, including Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield, Bob Marley, Eric Clapton, Blondie, The Police, The Sex Pistols, The Pretenders, and the night before I met her she had been photographing Oasis at their gig at Heaton Park in Manchester.  

Francesco and Jill know each other from many years ago when Francesco was manager of Dead or Alive and hired Jill to photograph them. Now years on they  have re-established contact and Jill came to visit Francesco’s exhibition Sound and Vision at the National Conservation Centre.

After having a brief chat with her me and Francesco left her to have a look around the exhibition by herself. Twenty minutes later she emerged from the gallery telling us that she thought the exhibition was fantastic, and was filled with quite technical questions, none of which I could answer. So after grabbing a quick picture of them both I let them have some time to catch up and discuss all things photographic.

As I walked out the Conservation Centre on Whitechapel I thought of all the people I am obviously now closely linked with…Debbie Harry, Sting, Chrissie Hynde, Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher. I’m now in very good company..although nothing tops Ben Shephard.

A daring performance by our talented Youth Theatre

After a 12 month break for maternity leave I'm feeling a little rusty, so I've been enjoying the opportunity to reacquaint myself with our venues and exhibitions. Last week, during a trip to the Walker Art Gallery, I was lucky enough to catch an on-gallery performance from our very talented Youth Theatre in the exhibition Fashion V Sport.

The young people explored the four themes of the exhibition; dare, desire, play and display to create a quirky interpretation of each area. The budding thespians interlinked poetry and drama to produce a funny and unique short play that questioned our addiction to fashion and celebrity.

Unfortunately the exhibition closed last weekend but you can find out more about the Youth Theatre Project here. Or contact Helen MacBryde on 0151 478 4818.

The Liverpool Daily Post launched a survey yesterday asking people to vote on which Liverpool personalities should be included in the Liverpool Map.

Could Billy Fury be your choice to represent Liverpool music on the map?

Readers have already been involved by submitting their opinions on which places should be included in the map, and the public have recently provided examples of their handwriting for inclusion in a community layer of the map.

People now have until Sunday 31 May to visit the Daily Post website to take part in the survey to find out which people they feel best represent the city in fields including the arts, music and sport.

These names will then form the final layer of the Liverpool Map, which will stand in the People's City gallery of the new Museum of Liverpool when it opens in 2010.

For inspiration, why not visit The Beat Goes On exhibition at World Museum Liverpool to find out more about the musical acts that have made an impact on Liverpool's history.

Click here to find out more about the Liverpool Map and its unique structure and creation.

Swishing and searching for cool vintage clothes is very popular right now, but who would have thought that celebrated poet Roger McGough would be into recycling clothes!

Last week Roger, who is himself part of Liverpool’s musical heritage, lent the World Museum a unique item to adorn the walls of our massive music exhibition, The Beat Goes On. This unusual item is in fact a pair of trousers; but not just any trousers! They once belonged to Roger’s fellow Scaffold member Mike McCartney’s brother Paul, a member of another little-known band from Liverpool; The Beatles. (You may have heard of them, they were around a bit in the 60s.)

Roger told us how he came to be the proud owner of the trousers:

“I was friends with Mike McCartney at a time when I began teaching in local schools. It was obvious that I needed to smarten up and make an effort at work in order to set an example to the pupils, and Mike suggested I have some of his brother’s cast offs."

"I’m pleased they are going to be displayed somewhere for all to enjoy and The Beat Goes On is the perfect setting. It’s strange to think that when I used to wear them, the thought never crossed my mind that my mate’s brother’s trousers would one day be hung on the wall of a museum!”

They were also the inspiration behind a poem entitled 'To Macca’s Trousers', which is also on display alongside the trousers. The poem describes how Roger went from wearing the trousers on nights out in the 60s, to finding them packed up in a suitcase of old clothes in his attic years later. Here's the first verse for you:

You were part of a suit that Paul handed down to his brother.
High-buttoned Italian style, circa ‘Please Please Me’
The jacket fitted but you were too short in the leg
so Michael passed you on to me.
On Saturday night we went to the disco
and although we looked cool on the dance-floor
it didn’t seem right. Greater things you were meant for.
So I hung you in the wardrobe and awaited the call
‘Hello mate, can I have me trousers back? It’s Paul’

'To Macca’s Trousers' is also part of a new collection of Roger’s poetry being published this June by Penguin Books, entitled 'That Awkward Age'. The collection is a powerful testament to the miraculous in the everyday, describing one-off chance encounters, embarrassing questions and small wonders, as Roger resolves – and fails – to live every day as if it were his last. 

We hope Paul won't be asking for the trousers back too soon!

Update 15/5/2009: Please note that this object will temporarily be removed from display from 22 May until early June.

Photograph taken by Francesco Mellina of two punks in Liverpool City Centre. Do you have a simliar quirky style?

Alison Cornmell, press assistant at NML in charge of Sound and Vision at the National Conservation Centre writes:

Do you consider yourself to have a unique and quirky style? If so The National Conservation Centre is offering people like you the chance to celebrate your own individual style in a fantastic fashion competition, Picture This!

This competition takes inspiration from Sound and Vision: Music and Fashion, photographed by Francesco Mellina, Liverpool, 1978-82 on display until 31 August 2009 at the National Conservation Centre.

Sound and Vision captures the late 70s to the early 80s in Liverpool, a pivotal point when music and fashion merged to create new sounds and styles. This sub-culture developed their own style and fashion creations making themselves into New Romantics, Rockabillies and Punks.

This competition asks you if you have the same flair for fashion as the people pictured in the exhibition. The person judged to have the most distinctive and individual style will have their picture displayed in the exhibition for its duration: the perfect opportunity to be part of an exhibition documenting the past’s creative look and prove that Liverpool still has a imaginative and innovative style!

So why not pop along to the National Conservation Centre and pick up an application form in the Sound and Vision exhibition, to book your slot for one of the sessions. Be quick – entries must be submitted by tomorrow and places are limited!

Francesco Mellina will photograph all successful entrants over two sessions on Wednesday 27 May and Saturday 30 May, 1pm – 5pm. Each session will last up to 15 minutes, and photographs of all entrants will also appear on our website.

Boxhead recreating his pose from one of Francesco Mellina's photographs

Yesterday evening the National Conservation Centre resounded with the sights and sounds of the 1980s to celebrate the opening of the exhibition Sound and Vision - music and fashion photographed by Francesco Mellina, Liverpool, 1978-82.

The exhibition takes a look at the music and fashion scenes in the city at the time, including punk, New Wave, New Romantic and Rockabilly. There's also some great shots of some of the local and visiting bands who played in the city at the time, including an early photo of New Order still finding their feet without Ian Curtis. You may also recognise a certain unknown Irish band who opened for Wah! Heat and Pink Military on tour in 1980. What was their name again? Oh yes - U2!

As you would expect, the opening event was attended by lots of fashionable Liverpool faces, some of whom you can see in our Sound and Vision opening event Flickr set.

From 1910 to 2010, sailor chic rocks!

When choosing an outfit for a sunny day (though it is raining right now) you can't go wrong with navy and white. In particular, I'm very into the nautical stuff that is around at the moment. On a recent trip to Beyond Retro in Shoreditch I had to be talked out of purchasing a vintage sailor bib top, possibly taken from a real sailor in the mists of time (that's an actual era you know.)

In 1910, fashion fanatic and philanthropist Mrs. Emily Tinne would have been right on trend for this summer with her quirky sailor inspired espadrilles, which are now on show as part of A Sweet Life at Sudley House until Spring 2010.

Everywhere you look on the high street right now there are beachy espadrilles and sailor-style pumps, but none that combine the two things quite as well as Mrs.Tinne's little beauties. They are made of white linen and have a cool anchor design that has been hand-embroidered onto the toe with red wool.

Even über-model Agyness Deyn is a fan of the nautical trend - who would have thought Mrs.Tinne and Aggy would have something in common!

Dr Alexine Tinne in front of one of her older sisters’ dresses

For Mrs Tinne shopping was more than just a necessity or a hobby, during the Depression she even elevated it to a charitable event. She was very concerned about conditions for women, especially the unmarried girls working in shops who received no salary and relied on the commissions from sales to make ends meet in those difficult times. Mrs Tinne would often buy expensive items like fur coats and glamorous evening gowns just so that the shop assistants would get the commission, even though she never wore many of these extravagant purchases.

Not surprisingly she amassed a huge collection of clothing for herself and her large family during the period from her marriage in 1910 until the outbreak of war in 1939. Many years later her youngest daughter, Dr Alexine Tinne, donated this collection to the decorative arts collection at National Museums Liverpool. Numbering more than 700 items, this is now probably the largest surviving collection of period clothes from one person's wardrobe in Britain.

Many people will remember the first exhibition about the collection, A Passion for Fashion, which was held at the Walker in 2006. Since then a large collection of letters has been discovered, which reveal a lot of background information about the well dressed family. Insights from this correspondence have been used to build up a broader picture of their lives for a new exhibition, A Sweet Life, at Sudley House

I was lucky enough to meet Dr Alexine Tinne when she came in today to give her approval to the exhibition before it opens to the public tomorrow. She talked fondly about her mother, who she remembered as being a very kind hearted and generous lady. Alexine's father, Philip Tinne, came from a wealthy family of sugar importers, a source of income that was relatively unaffected by the Depression in the 1920s. Besides doing her bit to support shop assistants, Alexine remembers that her mother was involved in running a couple of hostels for women where she was not afraid to roll up her sleeves and get stuck in with the practical work. She also worked with Bessie Braddock campaigning for pensions for spinsters. The whole family were involved in hosting garden parties for pensioners from Toxteth and Garston in the summer, which people queued for 2 hours beforehand to get into. Alexine and her sisters would prepare bunches of flowers for the guests in jam jars on the table, then give tours of the garden. The family also took part in Christmas concert parties at Garston hospital, inviting the whole cast back to the house for a cold turkey dinner afterwards.

Pictures of family life, including Alexine herself as a baby, and a number of accessories from the collection, help to round off what could only be described as a very sweet exhibition. You can have a sneaky preview peek at some of the displays in our A Sweet Life exhibition Flickr set.

 

King Henry in formidable form

I recently watched the film adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s 'The Other Boleyn Girl’ – I can’t say I enjoyed the mixing of fact with fiction, but it made me think about how much speculation, debate and gossip Henry VIII has drummed up in the 500 years since he became King. I am sure he would absolutely thrilled that his reputation is still thriving in the 21st century due to his larger-than-life character, ill-fated marriages and the major decisions he made that have shaped the history of the country (not to mention a million documentaries and dramatisations). Any publicity is good publicity, right?

 

Henry was declared king in April 1509 and just about everywhere up and down the country with a Henry connection is marking the occasion. I am desperate to get to Hampton Court for the Henry VIII: Heads and Hearts exhibition, as well as the Dressed to Kill at The Tower of London and Man & Monarch at the British Library. Infuriatingly I’m missing out on the Great Recreation of Tudor Life at Kentwell Hall this summer which will be focused on the Henrican year of 1535. (Look out for Kentwell on Channel 5's ‘I own Britain’s Best Home’).

In the meantime I am relishing the prospect of David Starkey’s new documentary, Henry VIII - Mind of a Tyrant which starts on Channel 4 this Monday 6^th April. The episodes are billed with the tantalising subtitles of Prince, Warrior, Lover and Tyrant. The Walker’s own spectacular Henry VIII portrait is to be featured on 20^th April with David doing a piece to camera from the gallery. You can brush up (pardon the pun) on our iconic painting on the website – there’s an in-depth write-up and podcast, as well as some fun online stuff for kids to do.

If you’re looking for family friendly activities with a hint of Henry then don’t miss the Walker’s ‘Terrible Tudors’ day on 18 April when there’ll be mask making, music and drawing activities. Sounds fun – though I say less of the Terrible - the Tudor dynasty will always be undeniably terrific in my eyes!

In these grim economic times and rainy days, we could do worse than remind ourselves that there is usually a light at the end of the tunnel! Forty years ago this week, John Lennon and Yoko Ono set about bringing a message of peace to the world from their bed in the Amsterdam Hilton hotel. They vowed to stay in bed for a whole week (24 - 31 March, 1969) in what they called a "bed-in for peace". It certainly drew alot of media attention to their message of peace and in particular their stance against the war in Vietnam, which can only be a good thing.  While this might not be everyone's idea of a great honeymoon, I can't think of a better place to stage a peace protest than a nice comfy bed. I took part in an anti-war demo in Manchester once and by heck it was freezing!

Feel the love

This wasn't their last bed-in though. A few months later on 26 May 1969, John and Yoko checked into Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel to start their next peace protest, to continue the momentum of the first one. For another week the couple, along with Ono's five-year-old daughter Kyoko, entertained guests including U.S. black civil rights advocate Dick Gregory, Quebec separatist Jacques Larue-Langlois and American cartoonist Al Capp. It was at the end of this bed-in that a historic and spontaneous performance of 'Give Peace a Chance' was recorded.

Here at the museums, we're very proud to hold a piece of this moment in history. In our collections we have an 'All You Need is Love' beadspread that was handmade by the local Montreal Hare Krishna Chapter and given to John and Yoko for the protest. 

Currently you can see the bedspread from the Montreal bed-in for peace in The Beat Goes On exhibition at World Museum Liverpool. Peace out.

Stephen Shakeshaft with just a few of his photographs

Today anyone passing through our Design offices might have thought they'd taken a wrong turn and ended up in the news room of the Echo, with picture editor Stephen Shakeshaft sifting though a selection of photographs to pick the perfect ones to illustrate a story.

We haven't started our own newspaper up though - Stephen was working on the selection process for an exhibition of his photographs which will open in the National Conservation Centre in September.

Many people will remember Stephen's earlier exhibitions, which took a candid behind-the-scenes look at the famous faces from the worlds of football (Soccer Shots at the former Museum of Liverpool Life) and celebrity (Shooting Stars, also at the Conservation Centre). 

His next exhibition will cover a broader and arguably more fascinating subject - the people of Liverpool itself. Stephen has been photographing the city's residents for the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo since the 1960s, so it could be the understatement of the century to say that he's a bit spoilt for choice in terms of material for this exhibition. As before his pictures will be accompanied by his fascinating anecdotes about the characters behind the pictures, giving an insight into the news and people that have helped shape the city over the last few decades.

Stephen has promised to keep the blog posted about progress and maybe even give a preview of some of the great stories behind some of his favourite pictures in the run up to the exhibition.

Neon brights and clashing colours ruled the catwalk at the sports/casual show.

Following the fashion theme from Dawn's previous post, today it was Liverpool One's turn to host a series of fashion shows as part of Liverpool Fashion Week. Performing arts students from LIPA worked the catwalk (with plenty of attitude) wearing sports and casual wear from brands such as Blue Ink, Henleys and Fred Perry. Trainers were a big feature, with models carrying them around their necks while walking barefoot! Neon colours featured heavily, perhaps a hangover from the recent nu-rave trend, giving the whole show a bright, spring-like feel. It think my favourite t-shirt from the show was the Mr Men one from Blue Ink with the slogan 'I left Mr Grumpy at home', very cool.

If you are mad about sports/casual wear then take a few photos of your favourite tops or trainers and join our Metro V Retro Flickr group. Or drop in to see our Fashion V Sport exhibition and drool over the funky customised trainers.

Fila Collection. Copyright V&A images, Victoria & Albert Museum

Back in 1984 all the coolest boys at my school would spend their time practising the windmill and body popping to Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa. They idolised Turbo and Ozone from Breakdance (remember the Tour de France scene with the broom?), Beat Street and local crew Broken Glass. They wore Nike Windrunner jackets, Fila BJ tracksuits, Lacoste and Fred Perry t-shirts. There were more trainers than I can remember – from Puma California to Adidas Samba, Bamba, Mamba, Trimm Trab, Forest Hills, Palermo, Corsica and Tenerife. The highlight of any school disco would be a highly anticipated uprock between two of the best poppers. To this day I still get a little flutter when I see a Fila sign. 

When Fashion V Sport opened at the Walker, the memories came flooding back, and it got me thinking about all those brands and clothes - how they still resonate with my particular generation, and what sort of clobber kids get excited about nowadays. So we’ve set up a Flickr group – Metro V Retro – where you can upload, post and reminisce about your sports casual gems or tell us about a future classic. If you’ve got something great in your wardrobe, we’d love you to share it – whether it is a cutting edge release, or a retro design.

As fortune would have it, Fashion V Sport also coincides with the Adidas ‘60 years of soles and stripes’ campaign for which they produced this fantastic TV commercial. It’s a powerful combination of an amazing soundtrack (Pilooski mix of Beggin’ by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons), a plethora of celebs including Method Man, Katy Perry, Estelle, The Ting Tings, DMC (of Run DMC), Missy Elliot and David Beckham, and of course some very cool trainers.

At the same time, an edgy new movie called ‘Awaydays’ is drawing on the earlier influence of the 80s casuals scene (which is widely thought to have originated in Liverpool) set against a backdrop of football rivalry and violence. I recently saw an interview with the wardrobe advisor for the film who talked about how difficult it was to source all of the gear. So if you’ve got something special, keep hold of it. It could well be in demand in years to come.

We billed The Beat Goes on exhibition ‘from The Beatles to the Zutons’, but has anyone heard of 'from The Hollies to the Happy Mondays'? That’s what you’ll find if you take a trip to the other end of the East Lancs Road, to Salford Museum & Art Gallery. They’re currently showing Quiffs, Riffs and Tiffs – a small but perfectly formed exhibition about the music scene in Salford.

I spent a happy hour there a few weeks ago and thought there were a few gems to be seen. Top of the list for me were notes by Morrissey and Johnny Marr – with Salford Lads Club getting its rightful mention. There’s also handwritten lyrics to Crosby, Stills & Nash’s Teach Your Children, signed by one of my all time idols,  Graham Nash. There are some childhood pictures of Graham at his home in Salford, before his success with The Hollies and later with CS&N stole him from these shores.

The Beat Goes On exhibition

Other items featured in the exhibition relate to Joy Division, Happy Mondays, Anthony Wilson including The Hacienda , The Ting Tings, and even The Salford Jets - former band of Rock Radio 106.1 DJ Mike Sweeney (yes, he's still going on radio, and very good he is too). 

On the other hand, if you are reading this from the outskirts of Manchester, hop on the train to World Museum Liverpool where you’ll find The Beat Goes On exhibition covering Liverpool’s finest music. Morrissey fans will be thrilled by the Billy Fury display. Old Hacienda heads will feel at home in the Cream and Quad sections, while first generation punks and indie kids will be bowled over by memories of  Eric's, The Las and other such legends. Oh, and then there’s that other band from Liverpool. You may well need more than one trip to take it all in.

To celebrate the opening of our new Fashion V Sport exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery, I've put together a Flickr gallery of some of the cool and stylish outfits worn by some of our private view guests.

Part of the exhibition examines street style and the variety of styles I saw in one evening was certainly varied and creative. Damian Quinn, the man responsible for the gold topped ‘Onthamike’ trainers from the 'Play' section, was wearing a similar pair on the night from his Supremebeing brand. On the other end of the scale, self-confessed trainer obsessive 'Mookie' told me about her Nike Air Force 1 trainers that she had customised using multi-coloured paint spatters. She had worn them on her Duke of Edinburgh hike, before giving them a new lease of life with her own design! Mookie is a creative apprentice at the moment so who knows, she might be a Footwear Director like Damian one day.

Some of my favourite outfits of the evening included; Olivia's bowler hat, shoe-boot and vintage satchel ensemble and Amina's Camden/Indian mash-up including a sports top, shawl and gold belt. Have a look through the slideshow and pick your favourite fashionistas!

This may be the closest I will get to a piece of Chanel clothing, but our curators of decorative arts are used to getting their hands on clothes from big names such as Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney in their everyday work!

Curator of Costume and Textiles, Pauline Rushton, has been working on our forthcoming 'Fashion V Sport' exhibition organised by the V&A, London, which opens on Friday 13 February at the Walker Art Gallery. You can see Pauline (below) unpacking some trainers from a huge collection featured in the exhibition, all belonging to an obsessive collector called Kish.

If you've ever wondered what it's like to be a curator, as I discovered, it's a very varied job! Pauline works on the styling and interpretation of touring exhibitions like this, dressing the mannequins, taking care of the clothes throughout the exhibition and also giving tailored gallery tours. She has dealt with the display of many pieces of historic costume in the past, which can involve carefully putting delicate outfits onto custom made mannequins. Luckily most of the clothes in 'Fashion V Sport' are far more sturdy and durable due to being sportswear.

Curator Pauline Rushton unpacking some precious trainers and part of the 'Play' section of the exhibition during installation.

The 'Play' section gives you a taste of the creative street-style of customised sportswear. I particularly like the slightly scary Ronald McDonald themed outfit (above), designed by Walter van Beirendonck, with its stars and stripes trousers. Slightly political perhaps?!

If you want to get a more in-depth look at some of the highlights of 'Fashion V Sport', you can go on one of the free guided tours with Pauline, happening throughout the exhibition. Check our what's on listings for all Fashion V Sport related events and activities.

Billy Fury thanks you for voting for The Beat Goes On! Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post and Echo.

I know you will be truly excited about finding out the result of our poll to find out your favourite exhibition from our venues in 2008, so I will put you out of your misery. With an admirable 52.75% of all the votes, our monster music exhibition The Beat Goes On came out on top. But don't fret if you haven't been to this exhibition yet as it is staying at the World Museum until 1 November 2009. You can also check out our listings page to find out about any events going on that are related to this exhibition.

There was an interesting profile piece in the Sunday Mail this week about England manager Fabio Capello. Reading between the lines, you get the distinct impression that football and cultural pursuits are deemed mutually exclusive - that it is somehow surprising that a man into his football should also enjoy a bit of modern art. But then Fabio Capello is Italian, and an appreciation of the arts is central to his national identity, we surmise. 

A work of art? The 1966 World Cup Final ball © National Football Museum.

This really got me thinking. It’s difficult to accept that football and art don’t mix when you are in a city where football is art.  In Liverpool we have put football at the centre of Capital of Culture year through UEFA’s Only A Game? exhibition at World Museum Liverpool. Football is one of the city’s key assets - part of the currency, the vocabulary, the mythology, the identity - full stop. To omit it would be a nonsense. Football can create as much passion and drama, and elicit the same heightened emotions as a great piece of theatre, an imposing painting or a rousing music recital.  It brings an aesthetic quality to the sports field that requires elegance, balance and poise – infact, as a rugby league fan, I have often joked that football has more in common with ballet than rugby. Isn’t that why it’s called ‘the beautiful game’? (The introduction video for Only A Game? is worth a look - it's fun and light-hearted look at football in a European cultural context).

Capello is reported to be a big fan of Scottish painter Peter Doig, who won the Walker Art Gallery’s John Moores Painting Prize in 1993 with Blotter. Blotter is currently featured in a major solo show in Frankfurt,  but you can still see Pelican (Stag) which was loaned by the artist in exchange. The current John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize ends this Sunday 4 January, so if you share Fabio’s passion for modern art, seize the moment. If on the other hand you prefer his penchant for football, then you've got until 1 March to see Only A Game? at World Museum Liverpool.

The relationship between sport and culture will be further scrutinised in a new exhibition, Fashion Vs Sport that opens 13 February at the Walker Art Gallery. It ends its run at the V&A this Sunday.

Yes everyone, it's that time again! The end of the year and time to vote on which exhibition you think was the best from our venues in 2008. Cast your minds back to the dramatic shots of the city from 'Metropolis - capturing modern Liverpool', or maybe your favourite was the 'John Moores 25 Contemporary Painting Prize' exhibition with it's cutting edge contemporary paintings? Here is a selection of some of our exhibitions from 2008 for you to vote on....

If you'd like to find out about our main exhibitions for 2009, then check out the listings page for more details.

Sunday is a special day. Yes, I know it is the last day of November, and that many of us will be counting down to Christmas from Monday – but it is also the very last day of voting for the very last The Beat Goes On Top Ten.   

The digital jukebox is now full – packed to its limit with fantastic, home-grown tunes for your listening pleasure – and so we won’t be having any more Top Tens for the moment. But at least you can escape the Slade, Roy Wood and the like – not to mention the controversial X-Factor cover of Hallelujah that’s about to be inflicted on us - and come down to the museum for some proper music. Infact, I suggest you suspend all X-Factor related activities and vote for The Beat Goes On instead!

There’s just one more tune to be added. Who will it be? You decide:

Aeris Presley 

Emma Jane’s Monkey Mind 

Puzzle 

Little Miss Strange

Rude Ruby

15 Storeys

The Sums

BeakerFolk of The Bronze Age

Polaris

Great North Western Hoboes 

The public have spoken! After several weeks of voting, you have chosen Julian Brain's painting, 'Special Relativity', as the worthy winner of the Visitors' Choice Award. Julian was also chosen by this year's jurors as one of four runners up in the main John Moores 25 competition and is the only self-taught artist in the entire exhibition. 

He was at the Walker Art Gallery this morning to collect his prize. Alex Richmond from Rathbone Investment Management presented him with a cheque for £2008 to celebrate the 2008 Capital of Culture year. Julian was also given a bottle of champagne - though he said it was a bit early in the day for him to open it!

Alex Richmond (right) presents Julian Brain (left) with a cheque for £2008.

As promised in an earlier post, here's an update on the work of Kensington Youth Inclusion Group who have recently been creating their own versions of paintings from the John Moores 25 exhibition. Their interpretation of 'Black Bile' is certainly a refreshing new take on the painting, using an attractive candy pink! Here's Learning Officer Lauren Gould to tell us more...

Over four after-school sessions at the Kensington Youth Inclusion Project centre, we have created some fabulous works.  Local artist Keiron Finnetty help each of the two groups to create a large work based on some of their favourite paintings from the John Moores exhibition.

They collectively worked on a re-interpretation of 'Fontana' by Peter McDonald and 'Black Bile' by Alex Gene Morrison.  I highly recommend making a visit to the Walker Art Gallery once these unique works go on show at the beginning of December!

Each young artist then created a painting of their own, based on sketching done during their visit to the John Moores 25 exhibition in October.  This coming Saturday they will make their final visit to the Walker to write poems responding to the paintings that inspired them most. 

I'm good at making spaghetti bolognese, I'm not bad on bass guitar, but I am no good at drawing! I'm envious of anyone who's good with a pencil and we've been lucky enough to have some budding artists at the Walker Art Gallery recently, from Kensington Youth Inclusion Group. Here's Learning Officer Lauren Gould to explain what the group have been up to...

Making great art together: budding artists from the Kensington Youth Inclusion Group.

You may remember that some fantastic young artists took part in completing the 'Superfiveadaybanana' that was in the Walker Art Gallery as part of 'Go Superlambananas' over the summer.  Once again, these young people are participating in a project that will bring their work into the gallery for a unique display. 

Eleven young people from Kensington Youth Inclusion Group visited the John Moores 25 exhibition during the October half term.  They explored the exhibition looking at texture, colour, pattern and light as well as discerning the difference between abstract and figurative art.  The group focused on 'Fontana' by Peter McDonald, 'Sometimes We Sense the Doubt Together' by Roland Hicks and 'Special Relativity' by Julian Brain and explored the themes of; artists at work, everyday objects and home. Each young person did a drawing that they are going to develop into their own painting with local artist Keiron Finnetty.

Watch this space for images of their work progressing on the blog and for their paintings, which will be up in the resource area in the John Moores 25 exhibition at the end of November.

Sunday 2 November will be your last chance to vote on who you think deserves the Visitors' Choice award, from the John Moores 25 Contemporary Painting Prize exhibition. You can get a voting card at the Walker Art Gallery and have your say about who should win the prize of £2008.

Take a look at my earlier post about the Visitors' Choice award, and watch a video with some of this year's judges talking about a selection of paintings from the exhibition.

Get inspired and get voting!

Just got hold of the video that greets visitors to the Only A Game? exhibition. There's a slightly larger version on the main site as well.

Only A Game? from National Museums Liverpool on Vimeo.

I'd seen the preview photos of the new 'unfolding' exhibition at Sudley House, but seeing the sculptures in reality was still quite a surprise! The sheer size of each piece was much bigger than I had imagined, which gave them real impact. Seeing them in situ at the house allowed you to see how they fit in with the building and its rooms. Each sculpture has subtle details that link them to each room - whether this is its furnishings or the original use of the room. At the same time, each piece has been designed to represent different aspects of the mind. 

Below is the 'Shell' sculpture that is in the morning room (also known as the study), which you can see has a floral pattern on the inside. This is inspired by the wallpaper that is in this room.

The red pointy creations seen below are laid out on the dining room table of the house.You can see that the darkest shades match the red upholstery on the chairs.

These sculptures represent the industrious self (left) and the social self (right).

It is as if the sculptures are almost chameleon-like, taking on a feature of the room but still standing out as they are so contemporary in comparison.

It makes you wonder what the Holt family might have thought if they came downstairs for breakfast and saw these sculptures on their dining room table!

Wow. What a great feeling it is to give rather than to receive, yes?! Well you have the power to help decide who will get the grand sum of £2008! All you have to do is get voting in our Visitors' Choice award for the painting you like best in the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery.

Take a good look through the exhibition and think about which painting deserves your vote. Which one jumps out at you? Which one leaves a lasting impression? Is there one that really gets under your skin?

Once you've made your decision, just cast your vote while you're in the gallery by filling in a Visitors' Choice card by Sunday 2 November 2008.

To get you thinking, here is a video with some of our judges;  Sacha Craddock, Paul Morrison and Graham Crowley, talking about some of their favourites:

.

Artist Paul Cousins standing next to his award winning painting 'Night Flight'

As you probably already know, the Best of Merseyside exhibition at the National Conservation Centre features the highlights of this year's open exhibitions held at galleries throughout Merseyside. Having made it through the rigorous selection process for the exhibition, the artists then faced perhaps their toughest critics - the visitors.

Since the exhibition opened visitors have been voting for their favourite artwork. Today Paul Cousins was announced as the winner of the Visitors' choice award for his painting 'Night Flight'. He was presented with a bottle of champagne and some Rennies vouchers in the exhibition.

If Paul looks familiar that may be because he was the man responsible for 'Cloudorama', the Superlambanana that was displayed at the Lady Lever Art Gallery over the summer.

Paul is not the only artist whose fate lies in the hands of our visitors, as you can now vote for your favourite painting in the John Moores 25 exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery, which opened at the weekend.

As I mentioned yesterday, the fantastic Metropolis exhibition closes this week. The exhibition is packed full of incredibly detailed photographs of recognisable Liverpool landmarks and some unfamiliar places.

The project team for the exhibition had the difficult task of selecting just 60 photographs for display from almost 200,000 negatives in the Stewart Bale collection. Here Nicky Lewis from Paper Conservation explains a bit about this process and chooses her favourite Metropolis shot:

"Picking a favourite Stewart Bale photograph is not an easy task.

During the image selection process for Metropolis: capturing modern Liverpool I spent time, as part of the project team, weighing up the merits of many of Bale’s photographs. We searched the archive for striking images that best portrayed Liverpool as a developing, modern metropolis- a reflection of the city today. The most difficult part was choosing only 60.

To me Abbey Cinema exterior is a stunning photograph - much more Hollywood than Wavertree. By taking the image at night the photographer could exploit the building’s illuminated architecture. You can see why we chose this as an image to enlarge for the exhibition.

I‘m also captivated by Crowds at the launch of Mauretania II. The launch of a ship was obviously a very popular event in those days, something we no longer experience. The amount of detail in the photograph is exceptional. Take a look at the extent people will go to for a good view. Some are perched on top of shed roofs and cars, whilst other dare-devils cling to steel work. 

That brings me to my favourite Metropolis image. It is not a highly iconic shot and does not depict a famous event or landmark architecture. It is Anglia Vans on the Assembly Line. Obviously Ford played an important role in Liverpool’s history and the image shows cutting edge technology of the time but my reason for picking it is much more personal. We always wanted to include ‘never-seen-before’ images from the Bale archive in the exhibition, not an easy task considering that our film negatives are frozen to stop them deteriorating (see How have the photographs survived? for more detail).

Using the order books from the Bale company combined with documentation from the storage process we were able to pinpoint a box (out of just over 1300), that contained images commissioned by Ford - we had no idea what they would look like however. The box was removed from its freezer and transferred to an insulated bag, where it would defrost at a slow rate. Twenty-four hours later, after removing the protective packaging layers I had a bundle of film negatives. It’s so thrilling to be the first person to look at these images since they were originally commissioned- you just never know what you may find.

As you look through them on the light box, the anticipation builds and you fear the image you are hoping for isn’t there... Then in a eureka moment it appears. The image stood out instantly as fitting the Metropolis theme and had all of the expected high qualities of a Stewart Bale work. Its composition is striking, with the assembly belt giving a great line of perspective. Not only is it satisfying to have brought this image into public view but I also see it as a symbol of how much hidden potential the Stewart Bale archive has.

NML’s long term aim is to digitise the Stewart Bale collection, to allow the public to view them more easily."

Detail of Anglia vans on assembly line at Halewood factory, 1965

The selection process for 'The Best of Merseyside' involved a lot of intense discussions and difficult decisions

We've reached the last few days of the rather fabulous Metropolis exhibition at the National Conservation Centre, so if you haven't seen it yet then do try to get over there this week.

Preparations for the next exhibition, 'Best of Merseyside', which opens at the National Conservation Centre on 22 August, have been taking place all year and seem to have involved a mammoth operation. Sarah Craven from Knowsley Arts Service was on the selection panel, and has kindly explained the process below. You can also see some behind-the-scenes photos in our Best of Merseyside selection process Flickr slideshow.

"Best of Merseyside is a selection of the best from the open exhibitions run by the Merseyside boroughs: Halton, Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral. In putting together this exhibition we have drawn on entries to existing exhibitions and selected from them. 10 artists have been chosen from each of the 5 exhibitions and together they give 50 artists; 50 works that reflect the variety, the breadth of work that is being produced in the area. The majority of these are not professional artists, who often do not enter the local open exhibitions, but semi-professional or talented amateur artists who are glad of the platform these open shows offer.

The selection process is now over. The selectors for this exhibition were Jo Dry and myself from Knowsley Arts Service, Louise Hesketh from The Brindley, Runcorn, Jess Bowstead from St Helens Arts Service, Colin Simpson from the Williamson Art Gallery and Phillip Wroe from Sefton Arts Development. We all have very different Open exhibitions in our Boroughs so the selection process has been fantastic. We have had laughs, arguments, stamping tantrums and lengthy debate over the artworks. We were looking for technical ability, use of medium, creativity, subject matter, composition and sheer genius which we have found in excess as we travelled around greater Merseyside.

One of the highlights of the selection was 'Man in a Blue Sweater' by Michael Kirby, from Kirkby, Knowsley. This small but powerful image has been used to promote the exhibition in the publicity so the portrait will be printed on thousands of flyers and banners. 

We will be running workshops to support this exhibition which will be announced shortly so watch this space for details.

Thanks are due to Arts Council England and to National Museums Liverpool, we couldn't have done it without you."

I’m afraid it’s that time of the month when we prepare to say goodbye to another The Beat Goes On top ten. So if you haven’t already voted for your favourite track now would be a good time. It’s been another fantastic competition and I’ll be really sad to see the tracks come down.

We’ve been weeping into our pillows with Ellewood and Letters In Red … rocking out with Major Major, The Crew and The Extroverts … chilling with Minion TV, Sensorites and FoE … and singing our hearts out to The Lapis and The Affection. Ah, such sweet memories.

We’ve had almost 4900 votes so far this month with Ellewood and The Crew seriously going for it - but the race is by no means over, so vote now! The poll will close at 11.59pm on 31st July.

Don’t forget you can already listen to June’s winner, Jessica’s Ghost, on the digital jukebox in The Beat Goes On exhibition at World Museum Liverpool.

Apparently it’s summer. It bears no hallmarks of the season I once knew; no pavement cracking sunshine, no smell of freshly cut grass and certainly no big decisions like what flavour of ice pop to get from the corner shop to make.

My typical summers day was brightened up today by a visit to the Lady Lever to check out our hardworking team putting the finishing touches to Masterpiece Watercolours and Drawings. The new exhibition opens this Saturday and runs till 9 November and is full of great pieces by Turner, Constable, Rossetti and Burne-Jones.

Looking at Turner’s painting of Falmouth harbour and Helen Allingham’s beautiful watercolour of a cottage in Pinner made me temporarily forget the dreary scene outside. Turner’s sinister depiction of Dudley brought me crashing back to earth though and sums up our current climate. It is an incredibly atmospheric picture, the almost apocalyptic light is how I imagine Vienna was last night during the amazing storm that brought the global coverage of the football semi-finals to a halt. Glad to see our friends on the continent aren’t escaping the rain-sodden summer.

Ah, the lovely British summer

We're cranking it up for the final run down of The Beat Goes On Top Ten. There's only a week left to vote for your favourite band in June's poll, so there's no time to lose.

The Howls are an awesome three-piece combo that crop up somewhere between The Strokes and Wolfmother. They will be shaking the walls of the Barfly on 4th July.

The Queen Tantrum track is deceptively chilled, but hang on in there –she can really let those vocals rip. The self-proclaimed first lady of Liverpool is a fusion of power and soul – like Chaka Khan meets Audioslave. Impressive stuff.  

If you're recovering from Download Fest and waiting for Leeds / Reading, then maybe Eighth Day Army can fill the gap. Kaleidoscopic swirly guitars build into a full on metal outburst à la Napalm Death or Megadeth. Bourgeois thrash.

Not much to report on Jewel Thief because they split up the day we launched the poll. But they certainly rocked. RIP Jewel Thief.

And that's it for June.

TBGO needs your vote: visit www.myspace.com/thebeatgoesonliverpool

Director of art galleries Reyahn King has this update from the end of the judging process for this year's John Moores competition:

"Friday was the last day of judging and the jurors came in to review the 41 paintings selected for the exhibition. Interesting that the competition with the most entries ever is going to become the exhibition with the fewest exhibits to date. The exhibition is going to be clearly about painting today and reflects an approach from the jurors that amongst them was coherent and much considered. As Sacha Craddock put it "We've argued a lot in the first stage but we found now we had a coherent sense of what we had got". All the jurors, Sacha Craddock, both Chapmans, Graham Crowley and Paul Morrison, agreed that the works selected all reflect a self conscious and sophisticated approach to painting that has absorbed and moved on from earlier debates. Jake Chapman put it well "All paintings have to emerge from conceptual rules. You can talk about pictorial art but not figurative".

The day finished up at lunchtime with a barbecue with guests from Tate Liverpool and Liverpool Biennial in A Foundation next to the paintings' warehouse – and despite their pleas, our lovely colleagues were not allowed in for a sneak preview! The art handlers had a well earned break over lunch – without their behind-the-scenes moving around of paintings and their flexibility – bringing out some paintings, taking them back, bringing them out again – the process could not have been so smooth or so well considered.

The next big dates are 8 and 9 September for the exhibition layout and hang. Between then and now we need to plan the exhibition, catalogue and so on and we'll keep you posted."

Here's the latest update from director of art galleries Reyahn King, who has had a busy couple of days at the critical final stages of selection process for this year's John Moores competition:

"After sifting to make a first selection yesterday the judges looked again at their choices which our art handlers had set out around the warehouse so all were visible. Wandering around they then all pointed out works they wanted to discuss again and confirm whether they should stay in the exhibition or not and I had my work cut out as they moved about sometimes together sometimes separately marking the works to be reconsidered.  They decided to discuss about 15 in more detail.

As each work selected was brought before the panel back in the viewing area the discussions were almost always excited and occasionally sparks flew if only for a moment. Early on it had been agreed that critical distance was important and discussions were frequently about what could be understood about the intention of the artist when viewing the painting. Be prepared for an exhibition likely to challenge older concerns about painting. In relation to definitions, one juror commented "the competition's not about whether or not it's a painting, it's about whether or not it's good." And on those criteria, the judges selected the final show and with a surprising degree of agreement the prizewinners!"

Sooo much love for Liverpool music

It gives me great pleasure to introduce Lucy Cattell, press officer for The Beat Goes On to announce some very special news:

" It’s taken six weeks of campaigning and thousands of votes, but finally the announcement came today that Liverpool has scored the number one spot as the UK’s Most Musical City!

Taking the title in Arts Council England’s Take it Away search, Liverpool took 49 per cent of the public’s vote, pipping other Northern cities Sheffield and Manchester to the post, who claimed second and third places respectfully.

It’s such exciting news for the city, adding yet another musical title to our bow (we’ve also been hailed as the World Capital City of Pop by The Guinness Book of Records) in a Capital of Culture Year which has already drawn so much attention from audiences at home and abroad.

It’s also great news for National Museums Liverpool, confirming our suspicions that it was high time an attraction was put in place to mark the city’s musical history and influence on popular music around the globe.

The Beat Goes On exhibition is due to open at World Museum Liverpool on 12 July, and with only weeks to go this latest announcement is perfect timing to centre all eyes on Liverpool, showing that it still tops the charts in the hearts of the nation.

After seeing Sir Paul McCartney, The Zutons and The Rascals all live recently, it’s a privilege to live in a city where artists are proud to return to their roots, and I’m in no doubt that the title of Most Musical City is completely deserved. Old or new, our city’s sound is second to none! "

Work has started on the installation of the summer's big exhibition at World Museum, The Beat Goes On, which opens on 12 July 2008. The exhibition will explore Liverpool's musical identity over the last 60 years. As you'd expect, there will be a number of items on display relating to a certain fab four.

Head of furniture conservation Graham Usher is currently putting together one of those items - the very stage that Paul McCartney and John Lennon met on when John's band The Quarrymen played at a garden festival in Woolton in 1957. The Museum of Liverpool acquired the stage a couple of years ago and it was featured on the blog last year but this will be the first time that it has been on display in our venues. I'm sure it'll be a must-see for Beatles fans when the exhibition opens.

Every day thousands of cars travel through the Queensway tunnel under the Mersey. However, it is being reclaimed by pedestrians on Sunday when the traffic will be stopped to allow a special walk through the tunnel. 

This picture from the Metropolis exhibition of Stewart Bale photographs captures a rare moment of calm and solitude in the Queensway tunnel when it was still under construction back in 1931. I expect it'll be considerably busier on Sunday with 5,000 people expected to do the walk and the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra playing in the middle.

Working on The Beat Goes On MySpace page has been an absolute joy for me, being someone who lives and breaths music – music of any kind, so long as it’s good. What a talented lot you are! Take a bow, Liverpool.

The good news is that inaugural Top Ten for The Beat Goes On is now online so you can share some of the fantastic music Liverpool has to offer, and vote for your favourite.  Yippee!

The winner each month will be added to the digital jukebox in the exhibition at World Museum Liverpool. Over the next week or so I'll give each artist or band a shout-out. Of course, these are purely my ramblings and TBGO will remain completely impartial.

First up is the refreshingly-talented Little Name whose gentle and breezy lounge-pop has a heart-warming summer melancholy about it. Think sunshiny Morrissey (possibly on a sun-lounger with a cocktail), sprinkled with a smidgen of Magic Numbers and Super Furry Animals. (Thanks for the blog, Leebo).

Still in the lounge vein, we welcome Walter Cheapskate, whose retro psychedelia is off-set by super-smiley Scouse rhymes – he’ll have you grooving all day long. I love this rather cheeky vid on XFM.

Finally, there’s the chirpy Joel Morton. His MySpace profile classifies his music as zouk – grime – shoegaze. Personally I’m getting The La’s or Lenny Kravitz’s Mr Cab Driver with a rockabilly lilt. With influences ranging from Elvis Costello to Napalm Death, it is probably best to make your own mind up – whatever it is, he makes it sound effortless.

Anyway – happy listening you lucky people – and don’t forget to vote!

(NB. Please remember these are just my humble opinons, not those of TBGO or National Museums Liverpool, and that we are not responsible for content on other people’s web pages / MySpace pages and / or their songs).

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that there wasn't a May Name That Object competition. We were rather busy with the redesign for the main site (check it out if you've not already) and it kind of took a back seat.

Anyway, June's is now up with the first clue available here. As ever you need to figure out which object from our collections (and our website) the detail is from and email us the answer using the contact link on the competition page. There's a new clue every day this week.

We've had lots of enquiries from people wanting to buy the Art In The Age of Steam exhibition catalogue so that's this month's prize. Good luck.

Our roving work experience reporter Isobel paid a visit to see Ben Johnson's Liverpool Cityscape 2008 and the World Panorama Series, here's Isobel's verdict on the Walker's latest offering:  

I was lucky enough to be able to visit the opening event and preview of the new Ben Johnson painting of Liverpool. It is hanging in the Walker Art Gallery alongside the other completed paintings of the cities of Zurich, Jerusalem and Hong Kong.

The Liverpool painting is not what I expected it to be. I was anticipating a long, narrow panoramic view of the waterfront but I was greeted with a large rectangular view of the city reaching right back to Fiddler’s Ferry. It’s hard to predict what time of day the painting is supposed to be and it is strange to see a waterfront with buildings not yet constructed. However there is a feeling of pride amongst the people of Liverpool at having their city amongst these impressive paintings.

I do have some reservations about the painting though. It is not the Liverpool I know. It does not show the culture and the people and seems a little bit like a computer made image… leading onto the fact that Ben Johnson did not solely create this image of Liverpool! I had notions of an artist stood traditionally drawing out an image, pencil in hand. That was not the creation process however, behind the scenes lay a team of people working to create stencils (yes, stencils!) for the artist to use.

The sheer detail of the painting is very astonishing though - from the hands of the clock to the lettering of the Radio City tower. A lot of thought and consideration has evidently been put into this painting. It is the main focus of the room, commanding a whole wall, as well as being the largest. The glossy book that partners it tells an impressive story too.

The Jerusalem painting was a favourite of mine with its dusty dusk light. Unlike the image of Liverpool it does have an element of life, a historic settlement with a story to tell. Hong Kong was also eye-catching. The vibrancy of the trees caught in the corner shows something deep within the painting, the light shining from an individual window of a tower block deep in the hillside of a mountain is something special. The final painting is of a city I have never laid eyes on, so in some ways the painting holds a responsibility to show it off, and that it certainly does. The painting gives a glimpse of a romantic city bordering a river - it entices me.

I think the painting of Liverpool is special in its own right and commands attention to finite detail. It is definitely worth a visit, even to just see what it looks like. Take some time out to seek where you live, or find a place only you know then walk away knowing this archive will remain for generations to come to see the place you lived and the Liverpool before the city undergoes another era of transformation.

Next stop Jerusalem for Isobel ...

Anne Gleave, our curator of photographic archives, has had an interesting phonecall from a sharp-eyed lady, who discovered a mysterious presence in the Stewart Bale photograph of the Anglican Cathedral under construction from the current Metropolis exhibition.

In the middle of the photograph there is a figure walking along the street, but only their legs are visible. Anne says this is probably the result of somebody walking past during a long exposure photograph.

Update 23/06/2008: After further examination of the image Anne has this update: "It could be that the figure was standing approximately in one place with the top half moving more than the lower half and a slightly long exposure only captured the lower half as the legs were more still. It is also possible that a dye may have been used on the negative to obscure a figure that was not wanted in the photograph; however, examination of the negative does not show any obvious signs of dye use. The detail of the image on the website does indicate a certain change of tone, as if a dye may have been used to remove the top half of the figure but then the question is if a dye was used, why wasn't it used to remove the feet; it does seem to be a bit of a mystery."

However there could be a more eerie explanation - after all, the mysterious figure is walking past the graveyard...

See what you think in this picture.

The camera never lies - but sometimes it only captures half the truth!

Terry standing next to his painting RS Thomas Triptych.

Standing Stones, a display of work by Liverpool-artist Terry Duffy, opened today at the Walker Art Gallery.

The display consists of two diptychs and a triptych, forms that work really well with the symmetry and the classic architecture of the gallery.

Standing Stones is on show at the Walker Art Gallery until 8 June 2008 and will be followed by further exhibitions of Terry's work in various locations throughout the city during Capital of Culture.

Today is day one in April's Name That Object competition and here is today's clue. To win a copy of the rather nice catalogue that accompanies the Art In The Age of Steam exhibition all you have to do is identify the object in question (it's an artwork this month) from the clues given every day this week, and email us your answer using the link on the competition page. Best of British.

Michael Palin (copyright Basil Pao)

You’d think that Michael Palin  would have had enough of travelling, wouldn’t you? Well apparently not, because he has kindly trekked up north to open the Walker’s new transport-themed exhibition, ‘Art in the Age of Steam’. I can’t help being stoked at the prospect. Not only are his travels compulsive viewing, he’s an ex-Python.

He won’t be the only star in the gallery though, as the exhibition features pictures from the likes of Manet, Monet, Van Gogh and Hopper. I haven’t actually managed to see the finished article myself yet - so more about that later - but we’re getting a great response from those who have.

At Liverpool Cathedral’s craft fair this weekend, another star of the rail Frank Hornby will be in the spotlight. As well as model trains on display there will be a track where model enthusiasts are invited to try their own Hornby trains out. (Rather bizzarely, one of the office has just spotted French and Saunders hanging out there).

If all this transport talk has whet your appetite, there are lots of steamy activities about - as long as you’re willing to travel of course. There’s East Lancashire Railway,  Ullswater Steamers,  Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways , Snowdon Mountain, Ribble Steam Railway, Severn Valley Railway, and Middleton Railway, Leeds.  

As a special treat this Summer, you can also catch a steam train from Lime Street. 2008 is the 40th anniversary of the last ever scheduled steam train, which departed from Liverpool, so the Rail Touring Company will be running some special events.

Once you’ve run out of puff, come and relax in the exhibition. I hear it's first class.  

Gallery attendants Brian and Dave meet Aled Jones at the Walker Art Gallery

BBC’s Songs of Praise filmed at the Walker Art Gallery yesterday. Presenter Aled Jones met up with local artist Cecelia Matson who introduced him to the gallery by showing him work by her favourite artist and source of inspiration JMW Turner. Cecelia told Aled how the Walker was a great place for contemporary artists to learn from old masters.

The feature, which is part of a programme dedicated to Capital of Culture will be aired on Sunday 4 May.

There will be more Turners to feast on over at the Lady Lever Art Gallery this summer when Masterpiece Watercolours and Drawings opens from 28 June- 9 November 2008.  The exhibition features other big names such as Constable, Burne-Jones and Cox and offers a rare opportunity to see a selection of the gallery’s most delicate artworks.

'Art Matters: The Pool of Life', image courtesy of the Singh Twins

In the normal scheme of things, art galleries are where you go to see paintings. However, in the fantastic work of the Singh Twins (deserved winners of the recent Liverpool Art Prize People's Award), you can look at art galleries in paintings instead.

You may remember that last year I spotted some of our venues in their painting 'Liverpool 800' when it went on display at St George's Hall. The talented sisters have just unveiled a new painting, 'Art Matters: The Pool of Life' to celebrate Liverpool's Capital of Culture year. As always, the picture is bursting with life, featuring a plethora of Liverpool people and landmarks infused with the vibrant colours of the traditional Indian miniature style of painting.

There's way too much detail to cram into a tiny space like this, but you can just about make out in this image that the Walker Art Gallery has made an appearance once again, half way down on the right hand side. It's being visited by the blue time-travelling taxi from the Magical History Tour exhibition, which appears to be driven by an escapee from World Museums Liverpool's Bug House. There's even a poster advertising the upcoming exhibition The Beat Goes On (thanks for the publicity ladies!)

The Lord Mayor shows off his handiwork

We invited press to the Walker Art Gallery yesterday to see the Lord Mayor of Liverpool making his mark to the fabulous Liverpool Cityscape. We all held our breath as he sprayed in the clock hands of the Municipal building to point to the time 12.07. But as the picture above shows he didn't go over the lines and did a perfect job!

The time 12.07 was specially chosen to represents the year 1207 when Liverpool was granted its own status in King John’s Royal Charter, an important part of the city's history covered in Magical History Tour at the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

Ben Johnson has been working on the painting in front of a live audience for nearly six weeks. The last day for his public residency is 7 March 2008. The finished painting will be revealed in the exhibition Ben Johnson’s Liverpool Cityscape 2008 and the World Panorama Series.

Make sure you check out 'The Pool' show with Dave Monks on BBC Radio Merseyside, from 8pm this Sunday 2 March! I'm going to be on choosing my top three favourite Liverpool tracks of the moment and talking about 'The Beat Goes On'.

So tune in to hear my choices...a bit of eighties, a bit of punk and some wooly-hat-wearing-Velvet-Underground- meets-psychedelic sounds. I once did a similar thing choosing some tracks on the fantastic Halton FM a few years ago (yes, the dizzy heights of stardom) but at the BBC you get free coffee and the microphones are bigger.

If you miss the show you can also listen online for a week after it has aired by going to the BBC Liverpool website.

BBC Radio Merseyside – 'The Pool'

Every Sunday evening from 8-10pm

BBC Radio Merseyside 95.8 FM, 1485 AM and on digital

Creamfields 06 UK (2006) © Cream

Just to let you know that Merseyside bands will get the chance to be part of the massive music exhibition, 'The Beat Goes On', if they join our new Myspace page at: http://www.myspace.com/thebeatgoesonliverpool !

It doesn't matter what kind of music you're into, just join us as a friend and you will be in with a chance to become part of the exhibition, alongside bands such as The Zutons, The Wombats, Echo and The Bunnymen and OMD.

'The Beat Goes On' exhibition will start this summer at the World Museum and will celebrate the city’s music venues, bands and creativity. 

On the Myspace page each month, we will choose ten tracks from bands on the friends list. These tracks will be featured on the Myspace page as a monthly top ten chart, where the public will be able to vote for their favourite online.

Top ten bands will have their band and track name displayed on a wall in the exhibition to show the top ten for each month. The number one track at the end of each month will be added to a ‘digital jukebox’ in the exhibition and will become part of 'The Beat Goes On', giving bands great exposure for their music and the chance to reach a larger audience.

Voting will begin at the start of June when the first top ten chart will be displayed on the exhibition’s Myspace page.

If you’re not in band, but you love Liverpool music, you can still join The Beat Goes On as a Myspace friend to get the latest updates from regular news bulletins.

So what are you waiting for? There's already some tracks up on the site to keep your ears occupied until the voting starts, so check out some new music today!

If you haven't seen the Hello Sailor! exhibition yet, here's a great video by our friends at Homotopia TV to show you what you're missing. The short clip features Jo Stanley, whose research formed the basis of the exhibition, talking about the background to the whole project and showing some of her favourite things inthe displays, including some very bling shoes.

DefNet Media have recently teamed up with Ian Jackson to start the Art in Liverpool podcast, providing a relentlessly enthusiastic look at the Liverpool visual arts scene. The latest show features "Out of Body at the Open Eye Gallery, Ian Meets the new Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham MP, ArtFinder Gallery... Ben Johnson... FACT PV, Tate PV... and the opening of the Arthur Dooley archive at the Liverpool Academy of Arts featuring Bryan Burgess and Carl Hodgeson".  

Ben Johnson press call, October 2005

You've missed a bit...

Wow what a mammoth painting! Like Angela (below) I came along to jostle with the local paparazzi (well, Jayne Barrett from North West Tonight, pictured above) and national press, to catch the first glimpse of Ben Johnson’s Liverpool Cityscape. Taking a closer look, I could see that a few essential bits are still missing…where are the Liver Birds? And the burning question – why have the hands on the clock of the Liver Buildings not been added in yet? Is Ben waiting until the last minute to add them, showing the exact time he finishes? That’s my theory anyway. Ben is also asking for your opinion on your favourite building in The Liverpool Cityscape. You can vote for your favourite by filling in a voting card in room 15 of the Walker and dropping it in the box that’s there. If you submit your entry before 11 February, you will be entered into a draw to win a signed print of your favourite building by Ben Johnson. A pretty unique prize!

Left a bit, right a bit ...

It’s been all go at the Walker over the past few days. A herculean effort from our handling team to bring in one of the biggest works the gallery has ever seen, the installation of our very own artist in residence and a swarm of local, regional and international press can mean only one thing: the Ben Johnson residency excitement has begun.

On Friday I was lucky enough to witness our handling team brave the notorious William Brown Street winds and skilfully transport Ben’s huge Liverpool cityscape (it measures a whopping 8 ft by 16 ft) up the steps of the Walker and through the gallery to it’s new home in Room 15. Trust me it’s no mean feat getting something that size through the door - next time I’m struggling with my shopping bags I’ll think back and count myself lucky!

Ben has already spent 3 years working on his masterpiece and you can watch him and his busy team beavering away on the picture for the next 6 weeks. Ben’s arrival has already caused quite a stir, journalists from Bangor to Paris have been along to check out the monumental panorama and chat to the man himself. One of the most exciting things about the piece for me is the inclusion of projects still under construction in the city such as the Paradise Project, canal link and the picture’s eventual home, the Museum of Liverpool.

I’m definitely going to keep popping in to see the progress but if you can’t get to the Walker that often yourself our web team have installed a webcam for your viewing pleasure so you can keep an eye on the action. 

I've just noticed from the Google homepage that they are celebrating 50 years of the lego brick today. A great excuse to look again at 2005's Walker Art Gallery installation by the Little Artists, Art Craziest Nation, which has consistently remained one of the most popular features on our site for the last couple of years.

Damien Hirst's 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living'

Now it’s coming to the end of the year. Your reindeer antlers are drooping after the office Christmas party, the sequins on your party dress are fading and you’re wondering what happened to that pile of sprouts you hid behind the piano to avoid eating them (and avoid upsetting your host). So while you consider if you can stomach another mince pie, why not have a think about your favourite National Museums Liverpool exhibition from 2007 and vote in our online poll!

Did ‘Doves and Dreams’ inspire you way back in Spring of this year? Or did you enjoy getting an intimate glimpse of The Beatles with Michael Peto’s revealing photography exhibition? Have your say and come back to find out the results in January. Once you’ve voted, you can also check out our program of events for 2008 here…

Note: Now These Days Are Gone, Victorian Visions, Magical History Tour and Merchant Palaces are continuing into 2008.

A ghostly Phil Sayers gives us an insight into his work

I went to the Walker Art Gallery yesterday to catch a talk by artist Phil Sayers about the Changing Places project he has produced with fellow artist Rikki Lundgreen. It consists of reinterpretations of certain paintings and sculptures that are on display in the Walker and the Lady Lever Art Gallery. Phil told us that one of the main reasons for doing the project was his and Rikke’s love of dressing up! They seem to have used this interest to great effect in their re-workings of the paintings, giving them a 21st century twist. Phil explained that he felt the women in the paintings they had chosen were portrayed as passive or dependent on men, so the artists’ idea was to ‘free’ them from this in their versions of the work.

Rikki’s video installation, ‘Ascension’, was inspired by Segantini’s ‘The Punishment of Lust’. Her version shows the central woman as a living, breathing person whose heart you can hear beating. Phil explained that his, ‘St Agnes’ Eve with hindsight’ was inspired by the painting ‘Madeline After Prayer’ by Daniel Maclise. The original depicts a young woman ‘looking to the heavens’ as a ritual before sleeping, so that she will dream of her future husband. This idea is turned on its head in Phil’s digitally created image, as he dresses as Madeline and looks towards the floor, holding a string of eye-shaped beads. He told us that he wanted to show Madeline as an independent woman who sees everything around her and is rebelling against the ritual in the original.

Some of the pieces in the collection have an eerie, almost ghost-like quality, using double exposure to layer images on top of each other. As you can see from my great photograph (!) of a blurry Phil Sayers on the left and his transparent hands, I have accidentally paid a small homage to their work!

The installations will be on display at the Walker and the Lady Lever Art Gallery until 20 April 2008.

Fierce!

Local press attended a preview this morning of the lovely exhibition Victorian Visions, which opens to the public at the Lady Lever Art Gallery on Saturday.

There are some big names in the world of Victorian photography included in the exhibition such as Julia Margaret Cameron and Francis Frith. But my favourite work is by Lady Hawarden, an artist I had never heard of before this exhibition.

What I love about her photographs is their intensity. Hawarden was a master of composition and used light and shadow to give her images an amazing elegance. I also love the models. She used her own daughters who appear to be experts at striking dark, moody poses. Their gloominess may well have more to do with being forced to pose for hours for a perfectionist mother than artistic expression, but they might have been comforted to know that their intense and unusual photographs could easily be on the pages of modern day fashion spreads. Contestants of America’s Next Top Model should watch and learn!

The Paradise Street Development

There are seven more Ben Johnson progress photos up on our Flickr page, all taken on 31st October. They include the work just beginning on the Museum of Liverpool, Neptune Developments and the Paradise Street Development. Admittedly none of these developments are actually finished yet but they will be, and so are being included. Ben has been in close contact with city planners and architects throughout the process and is including buildings which will definitely appear on the city skyline, ie have planning permission, detailed architects' plans etc. 

If you missed the Face of the City drop-in session the other day fear not. Because the session went so well the organisers are repeating the session every Monday in November starting today, 5th and then 12th, 19th and 26th. Again sessions will be held at the BBC Radio Merseyside studios on Hanover Street and will run 10am-5pm.  As ever more information is available on the project website.

I had the chance to have a sneak preview of Ben Johnson’s Liverpool Cityscape last night. Blocking my view of the painting were several famous faces including the artist Peter Blake whose studio is next door to Ben’s and Weakest Link presenter Anne Robinson who came to see the portrait of her home city.

Seeing the work close up really enables you to appreciate the amazing amount of work and effort that goes into each tiny detail. I chatted to Ben’s assistants who help produce the separate computerised drawings of each building in the painting. We discussed the enormous amount of time that goes into each key building, some taking several weeks. One mentioned that a few months ago they had worried about how they would possibly get such an enormous painting finished on time. Thankfully he seemed quite confident it was all on schedule now!

Visitors to the Walker Art Gallery will get the chance to see Ben complete the artwork from 28 January - 7 March 2008.

Ben with his wife Sheila and his assistants

Sorry this is a bit short notice - worth making the effort though. A few weeks ago I told you about a project several museums staff are involved in. Face of the City is encouraging the city's workforce to get involved in the 08 celebrations by producing their own artworks and displaying them in their own workplaces.

Paul Miller, who came up with the idea, will be in the BBC Radio Merseyside studio on Hanover Street from 10-5pm today (that's Wednesday 31st October) chatting to the public about the project and how they can get involved. More info on the Face of the City website.

I was in Paris last weekend and went to a cool exhibition at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, an amazing glass fronted building near Montparnasse cemetery (I had just been to visit the graves of Samuel Beckett, Serge Gainsbourg and Charles Baudelaire). The exhibition was 'Rock'n'Roll 39-59', which looked at the birth and evolution of rock'n'roll in the USA from its blues, jazz and gospel roots, right up to the late '50's.

View of the exhibition Rock’n’Roll 39-59 From June 22 to October 28, 2007 Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris. Photo : André Morin

I really liked the huge screen with comfy bean-bags you could lie on while watching footage of stars like Chuck Berry and of course Elvis, in a film that told the whole story of rock'n'roll. It made you realise just how crazy singers like Jerry Lee Lewis were and how shocking he probably was in his time. Of course Little Richard seems pretty odd now, so imagine his impact on audiences in the 1950's! Though where were the female performers? I like Wanda Jackson and she wasn't in the film, though she was in the music pods that we listened to later on. We also saw some priceless objects, such as the actual guitar that Elvis used during his first recordings at Sun Records! 

It actually got me thinking about the forthcoming exhibition at World Museum Liverpool, 'The Beat Goes On', which will show from 2 July 2008 – 1 Nov 2009. It will look at the history of Merseyside's music scene and celebrate the creativity of the city. Keep an eye out for more details on what you can expect to see in this exhibition...

'Christ Discovered in the Temple' by Simone Martini

Sharp eyed visitors may have noticed that a few of our paintings are not on display in their usual places in the Walker and Lady Lever Art Galleries. Don't worry, they haven't gone forever, they are just out on loan to other galleries. Our works of art are always in demand and this autumn is no exception, with National Museums LIverpool making significant loans to three major exhibitions.

The Walker's Simone Martini painting Christ Discovered in the Temple is one of 18 items from our collections, including paintings, frescoes, ceramics and stoneware, that are now on display just down the M62 in the Art Treasures in Manchester exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery. Another eight paintings have been lent to the Millais exhibition at Tate Britain down in London.

We haven't been left with empty walls though as we've received reciprocal loans from their collections. You can see four of the Tate's paintings including 'The Little White Girl: Symphony in White no 2' by Whistler in the Lady Lever Art Gallery and Manchester Art Gallery are lending 'Crucifixion' by the School of Duccio to the Walker.

We have also sent five paintings, including The Scapegoat, Mrs Mounter and Mr and Mrs  Atherton, even further afield to the British Vision: observation and imagination in British art 1750 - 1950 exhibition at the Museum voor Schone Kunsten (or Museum of Fine Arts) at Ghent in Belgium. Paintings conservator David Crombie, who was there earlier in the week to install the paintings, reported back:

"British Vision is a very large exhibition with over 300 works including paintings, sculpture, sketches, prints and photographs spanning two centureis of British art. The Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Ghent has only recently been reopened after a complete refurbishment, and the exhibition takes up about half of the entire gallery space in the building. The permanent collections are also significant and more of these will be re-displayed when the exhibition finishes. The historic city of Ghent is well worth a visit if you want to see the show and there is a gallery of contemporary art as well, the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (SMAK)."

No it's not another tragic episode of Celebrity Big Brother - I found these well-known 'personalities' side by side during my latest visit to the Magical History Tour exhibition at Merseyside Maritime Museum.

The lively 'L Factor' audio-visual display celebrates many of the sportspersons, actors, musicians and other famous faces who originate from the city of Liverpool, through film clips and a wall of fame. Pete Burns was almost unrecognisable from the footage of his eighties hey day while Cherie Blair (her Father, the actor Tony Booth was from Liverpool) stared calmly out from her photo on the surrounding wall. The wall also includes the likes of Kathy Tyson, Kim CattralI, Levi Tafari and even Cheggers!

Has Cheggers earned his place on the wall? (Image © Chegwin Media Associates)

I will admit to having a bit of a dance to the footage of Echo and the Bunnymen (much to the embarrassment of my companion). I was surprised to see the likes of Jason Isaacs – aka Lucius Malfoy from Harry Potter - on the wall of fame. I had no idea he was a scouser!

Perhaps Courtney Love should be given an honorary place on the wall, as she lived in Liverpool for a while in the eighties. She stayed with Julian Cope from Liverpool band, The Teardrop Explodes, at his flat on Devonshire Road and she was apparently very inspired by the city.

Have a look and see if you agree with the choice of famous faces in the exhibition - who else do you think deserves a place there?

Nathan Pendlebury with one of his paintings

We've mentioned before that several of our staff lead exciting creative double lives outside office hours. Take Nathan Pendlebury for example. By day he works in our photography department and by night he takes highly acclaimed photographs of his own, some of which were recently selected for the 2007 Chelsea International Fine Art Competition at the Agora Gallery in New York. He's also an abstract artist whose paintings have been widely exhibited.

Anyone wondering where he gets his artistic streak from needs to look no further than the Liverpool Academy of Arts on Seel Street, where Nathan's work is being shown until 5 October as part of a joint exhibition 'Begin' with his dad Tony. This is the first time that they have exhibited together and is a fascinating body of work. While each artist has his own distinct style, their work complements the other's beautifully, as you would expect from a pair who have worked so closely and inspired each other. There's even a painting that they worked on together.

Artist Anthony Brown gives museum volunteer Charlene Ugbode a preview of his exhibition

You may have seen some of Anthony Brown's distinctive portraits already, as they have been appearing in venues all over the city as part of the 100 heads thinking as one exhibition. As the title suggests, there are 100 portraits in the collection which together form one very personal portrait of the characters who make Liverpool the city it is today. From tomorrow ten of these portraits will be on display at the Maritime Museum, including three (of George Melly, Gareth Abbott and Bill Citrine) that have not been on show before. 

Now the prospect of seeing this display, the Magical History Tour exhibition and the International Slavery Museum all in one building would surely be enough to tempt anyone down to the Albert Dock this weekend. Add to this the return of the popular Hello Sailor! exhibition, which returns tomorrow after a successful visit to Southampton, and I think you've got a winner.

It's almost enough to make the people visiting on the QE2 today want to jump ship and stay in the city for the weekend. Well, they wouldn't want to stay for the weather, would they?

Update: sorry for any confusion - I did say that there were nine heads but I can't count - there's actually ten including a last minute addition. Thanks to the ever vigilant and sharp eyed Ian Jackson for spotting that!

National Museums Liverpool staff are heading a unique independent project for 2008. Face of the City is encouraging workers in Liverpool city centre to get creative and to display their own artwork in their workplaces as part of the Capital of Culture celebrations. The idea is that we should all be showing off our talents during the Capital of Culture year, whether we've ever done anything remotely artistic or not.

The Face of the City team are looking for volunteers to become Project Coordinators - basically the person who organises the exhibition/display in your workplace, as well as people to display their work. The display doesn't have to be anything huge and amazing, a section of wall in a corridor or your office would do just fine. Check out the website for more information.

First exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery in 1907, Walter Richards’ extraordinary aerial painting of his vision of ‘Modern Liverpool’ is now on display at the Maritime Museum. Looking at the painting makes you wonder first of all, how in 1907, he was able to achieve such height and perspective in order to create the work at all – your mind starts to speculate – perhaps he was in a hot air balloon! The painting aims to portray Liverpool as a bustling and confident imperial city and capture the spirit of the time. The attention to detail is particularly impressive, though as Richards apparently worked as a lithographer, this is perhaps not surprising. These small details show Edwardian Liverpool as a city of grandeur, with its Rolls Royce and ladies in exuberant hats in the foreground. It will be interesting to compare this painting from a century ago with the new panorama of Liverpool being created by Ben Johnson that will be completed in 2008.

An Edwardian view of Liverpool

First the good news: Animated Adventures at World Museum Liverpool has been extended slightly and will now finish on Tuesday 28th August. Also, the Culture Company is organising a family festival on William Brown Street from 12 noon until 5pm on 26 and 27 August, as part of the Mathew Street Music Festival, so you could visit both over the bank holiday weekend.

The bad news is that because of the family festival William Brown Street will be closed from 6pm on Saturday 25 until 8pm on Monday 27 August. Also, because of the 800th birthday pageant which starts and finishes on William Brown Street, the road will also be closed on Tuesday 28th August, so if you were hoping to park there you will have to find an alternative. Check out the World Museum Liverpool visitor information page for alternatives.  Obviously the same arrangement applies to the Walker Art Gallery.

Sorry - should have put this up last week but it's still current. John Edmondson has been involved in a new exhibition showing at the Picton LIbrary - that's the round, reading room that's part of Liverpool's Central Library. It's between World Musem Liverpool and the Walker so could easily be fitted in with a visit to either.

Emily and Predrag in front of Menagerie

On Saturday I attended a talk at the Walker by artist Emily Stainer and curator of the Bound exhibition, Predrag Pajdic. Predrag asked Emily questions in front of an audience about her installation Menagerie, which went on display to the public at the Walker on Friday.

I had worked with Emily throughout the installation and knew a lot about the practical side to the installation; how it is set up and how the pieces are assembled. However it was the first time I’d heard Emily talk about the inspirations and concept behind the artwork, which was really interesting.

Menagerie was influenced by Emily’s interest in the cabinets of curiosities of the 17th Century; these ‘cabinets’ were small rooms filled by the wealthy with unusual natural history objects, works of art and religious and historical remnants. Menagerie similarly displays curious items, including found and composed objects which present contradictory ideas of the playful and sinister. Emily explained that in the past she’s found it really interesting how reactions to Menagerie have differed. Some visitors, usually children, are lured in by the bright lights and strange objects and find the moving doll body parts fun and amusing. However in contrast, most adults do pick up on the sinister connotations of the moving doll parts and the ideas of confinement.

The discussion was a great insight into Emily’s thoughts and ideas about her work. She will be at the Walker again on 10 October at 1pm to talk about her work and I’d highly recommend going along to it.

The installation also links well to the wonderful exhibition 'WunderKammer' curated by Oliver Braid at the Bluecoat Display Centre on Hanover Street, which is also inspired by 17th-Century cabinets of curiosities.

Four fab photos of the fab four (try saying that quickly) waiting to be hung on the wall. All photographs in the exhibition © University of Dundee.

Lucy Johnson has been keeping us posted about the installation of 'Menagerie' at the Walker. She's not the only exhibition officer who has been busy lately though. Linda Brizell has sent over this sneaky peek of the next exhibition to open at the National Conservation Centre this Saturday, which she reckons fans of a certain band will love:

"Last week I was on gallery for the installation of Now These Days are Gone, an exhibition consisting of over 40 fantastic photographs taken by Michael Peto during the filming of Help! The photographs range from filming on a very cold Salisbury Plain, having tea at the Antrobus Arms to at home with Ringo, Maureen and their pet dog, Tiger. The exhibition will be of great interest to any Beatles fan as it gives a glimpse of the famous four off-guard and relaxed.

This will be the first time the photographs have been shown in the North West, they have previously been on shown in London, Dundee and Ireland.

Now These Days are Gone opens on Saturday 18 August and runs until Sunday 2 March 2008."

Roy Irlam, Frames Conservator and Steve Casey clean the glass of the newly installed painting

As part of the Museum of Liverpool on the Road project the painting, 'Unemployment on Merseyside - Campaigning for the Right to Work' by Mike Jones has recently gone on loan to the People's Centre, Mount Pleasant.

The impressive painting, previously on display at the Museum of Liverpool Life depicts the effects of unemployment and the ways in which Liverpool people have actively campaigned for the right to work. The painting will be on display until 2009.

Exhibitions officer Lucy Johnson is a handy person to know if you want the news on what's coming up at the art galleries. Here's an update she sent me on the latest exhibition that she's been working on:

"Emily Stainer, a South African artist, has been installing her artwork 'Menagerie' in room 14 at the Walker this week. This intriguing installation is part of the BOUND exhibition. BOUND is a contemporary art project led by curator Predrag Pajdic, which explores human enslavement from a historical perspective through to the modern day.

Emily installing the works at the Walker with assistance from her father, David

'Menagerie' is made up from many unusual items, including Victorian style birdcages with mechanical limbs and mounted owls trapped inside them. The sound of the old fashioned clockwork mechanics, the curious Victorian objects and the dim lighting create an uncanny display.

The Walker is the first gallery outside of South Africa to show 'Menagerie'. Each time it is shown, the set up of the objects differ depending on the space in which they are situated.

The BOUND exhibition is being shown across other venues in Liverpool, including FACT, Tate Liverpool and Open Eye Gallery. It opens this Friday (10 August) and runs until 20 October 2007. The exhibition is then moving to London.

Emily will be giving a talk about her installation this Saturday at 1pm at the Walker and again on 11 October."

Looking for inspiration for writing or for creating your own artwork can sometimes be hard in a busy city, so I tried going out to see the exhibitions at Sudley House, to see if this would help. Having not been at National Museums Liverpool for long, I had never been, even though it is tucked away in leafy Mossley Hill, not far from my house. After getting a brief video 'talk' off a George Holt look-a-like, I started to take in the vast personal collection of work belonging to the man himself. In the Garden Hall, I found what turned out to be my favourite painting in the gallery; Circe and Scylla, by John Melhuish Strudwick.

The painting tells the story of two characters, Circe and Scylla, from the Greek myth as retold by the Roman author Ovid. It is a tale of jealousy and revenge, as the enchantress Circe poisons the water that Scylla is about to bathe in - because Scylla has captured the affections of the man Circe wants. I don't have a degree in fine art or anything like that, but I like the painting because of the mysterious and foreboding feeling it evokes, with the dark and mist and also because of the amazing detail that you can only see if you get up really close. Luckily at Sudley House, you are able to do this!

On the bottom right hand corner you can see the poison dropping into the river, with tiny bubbles and splashes as it hits the surface - I nearly missed the evil looking bat, lurking in the darkness nearby. I think you can tell that Circe is intent on bad things, not only by her expression, but also by the way her hand is clenched at her dress. I think details like these are really great in a painting.

I like to look at paintings before reading about them, to decide what I think the painting is about - my guess was something representing heaven and hell, you can probably see why I thought that. The other thing I like is that Scylla reminds me of Boticelli's Venus as well, with those robes and flowing hair.

It definitely inspired me to look up the myth, to see what happens next - Scylla is supposed to turn into a sea monster! I'd recommend going to have a look as you can't really appreciate it from a photograph and it is really good being able to go to a gallery and see such interesting paintings up close.

I'm sure that this far into 2007 most people are pretty well aware that it's Liverpool's 800th birthday, so I wont mention that again here. Apart from just then, that is, but I'm done now. Really.

With all the historical activities that have been taking place this year I thought that I'd heard just about everything there was to hear about the story of this great city. So I was quite impressed when just a quick look through the research for the Magical History Tour exhibition revealed all sorts of new facts and anecdotes that I was completely unaware of. For example, did you know that the first x-ray machine in Britain was installed at Liverpool's Southern Hospital in 1896? 

If you did know that and consider yourself a bit of a local history buff then you should take the Cab driver's challenge quiz on the exhibition website. Or from tomorrow you can pop along to see the exhibition itself. The opening weekend promises to be quite spectacular, with performances from the Beat Beatles and all sorts of other activities.

Preparation work for Magical History Tour Exhibition, which opens 28 July at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, is well underway.

Illustrator and artist Olivia Du Monceau can be seen here hard at work on a recreated Medieval market scene. The weekly market was held in Castle Street, Liverpool.

She has even managed to feature a few familiar faces in the scenes - see if you can spot them when the exhibition opens!

I saw him standing there

Having recently bumped into Philip Olivier and Bombhead from Hollyoaks I’ve known for a while that William Brown Street’s cobbled knoll is a haven for Liverpool celebrities, but even I was surprised to see the Walker Art Gallery playing host to some true A-listers.

To mark Liverpool’s birthday celebrations, St Margarets C of E High School have been working with local primary schools to create Scarecelebs, a display of sculptures representing Liverpool legends. King John is currently keeping a watchful eye on John Lennon, Robbie Fowler and Levi Tavari, while Cilla Black’s contending with Ken Dodd and his tickle stick. 

I was lucky enough to be able to see the mandala destruction ceremony at the World Museum Liverpool on Saturday morning and I thought I would share my experience with you in this blog! There were so many people there that I had to stand on tip-toes to be able to see, but it was great to see that so many people from Liverpool (and visitors from outside of the UK) wanted to be part of this unique and moving event.  After several minutes of hypnotic chanting the monks approached the mandala, ready to being its destruction. 

You could sense the anticipation in the room as all eyes where fixed on the brightly coloured coloured artwork and the monks in their striking robes and head-dress. After scoring the sand into four sections, the monks then took some of the sand into a container and began to sweep the sand into the centre of the board, creating rainbow patterns. The ceremony came to an end as the monks began a parade out into the street, with the surrounding crowd following, all the way to the Steble Fountain outside the Walker Art Gallery.

Monks outside the Walker Art Gallery

There were many stunned faces in the street as this unusual procession passed by! Some of the monks had already reached the fountain as our procession approached and they called out to us using large, thundering wind instruments. The monks circled the fountain before stopping to empty some grains of sand from the mandala, into the water...

You can read about the creation of the mandala in an earlier post, and see more photographs on Flickr. Watch our video of the monks creating the mandala using small tubes, funnels, and scrapers  and then view the chanting and desctruction ceremony from Saturday morning.

Last Friday the web team attended the Museums on the Web Conference at Leicester Uni. We were all pretty impressed by Sebastian Chan from Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and the work the team there has done on folksonomies. Encouraged us to just do it with our own collections. You can check out their blog, Fresh + New(er), which is also pretty good. Not sure if the conference papers are going to be available on the site but you might want to check back at some point.

Then yesterday I saw that a fab bracelet currently featured in the Peter Chang exhibition comes from Powerhouse and has a zoomification on their site (the same feature we use), so you can see the piece in all its shiny detail.

If you’re sat wishing you had tickets to Glastonbury, wondering what to do with your weekend, never fear there's lots to do on your less boggy and much drier doorstep.  

The Walker Art Gallery is spoiling you with three new exhibitions ripe for discovery. Enter the mystical world of Josh Kirby and Peter Chang or mark the end of Refugee week with a visit to Once upon a tile.

If abstract art is more your thing Laura Galloppo, one of National Museums Liverpool’s hard working volunteers, has curated a show at the International Gallery on Slater Street. For one week only the vivid and minimalist work of Italian artist Pasquale Napolitano will be on show. Catch it while you can.

Who wants to queue for hours for a filthy toilet and swim around in a pool of mud anyway?

Everyone has been talking about the two new exhibitions at the Walker, Out of this World and Unnatural selection. However, for the staff at the National Conservation Centre, those shows are so last week. Paintings conservators David Crombie and Rebecca Kench are already preparing paintings for the Walker's next big exhibition about Joseph Wright of Derby, which opens in the autumn.
 
I popped in today to see them conserving two of the Walker's portraits by the artist, of Fleetwood Hesketh and his wife Frances Hesketh. You can see a Filckr slideshow of the partly-conserved paintings here.

David updated me on the progress so far:

 "When these paintings were hanging in the gallery they appeared to be in good condition, apart from their slightly discoloured varnish. However nobody expected how discoloured the varnish and dirt layers would turn out to be.   Once the varnish and dirt were removed, we could see the bold areas of colour and Wright's distinct subtle purples that were somewhat obscured until now. It's remarkable just how bright the paintings really are.
 
The yellowing of the varnish is a result of the gradual oxidation and degradation of natural resin varnishes over time. Underneath, the original paint is generally in very good condition and these portraits are good examples of a sound oil painting technique. Wright painted them in a very consistent manner and didn't use any particularly radical techniques, unlike Sir Joshua Reynolds for example, who could be more experimental. 

One interesting thing that we noticed in another portrait being lent to the exhibition from a local collection is that the lady in the painting appears to be wearing a similar blue material wrap and wristband to the ones worn by Frances Hesketh in the Walker's portrait. The wrap is even tied in a similar way at the front. This may mean that they were studio props given to sitters by Wright. However, we'll have to check to confirm this when the loan painting comes in and we can examine them properly together."

Darth Vader. Alfred Hitchcock. Elephant Man. Captain Cook. Rincewind. Luke Skywalker. Monty Python. These iconic figures are all currently battling for wall space as the finishing touches are added to Out of This World, our Josh Kirby retrospective opening at the Walker on Friday.

Liverpool born artist Kirby is best known for his cover illustrations of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, but he started his career producing film posters and book covers. Some of the titles for the books he illustrated are brilliant, The Robot in the Closet, A Whiff of Madness and Hello Lemuria Hello, to name but a few. I can’t wait to see how Kirby interpreted these.

Don’t forget to catch Unnatural Selection also on show from this Friday. Peter Chang’s vibrant jewellery, objects and sculpture are really breathtaking. Let’s hope Darth and Luke control themselves - note to participating science-fiction characters, all breakages caused by over-exuberant use of light sabers must be paid for. 

Update 15.6.07: If you click on the Out of This World link you can now see our lovely new Josh Kirby exhibition pages rather than our coming soon page.

The handling team hard at work

MMM.1997.16.7

Whilst searching the Museum of Liverpool social history collections for images of Liverpool in the 1960s for the forthcoming exhibition – The Beat Goes On, which explores Liverpool’s popular music from 1945 to the present day (opening at World Museum Liverpool summer 2008), I came across these images taken by Harold Morton, who as a keen amateur photographer took many photographs of the city.

The image of the policeman directing traffic on Lime Street near St Georges Hall shows just how much the city has changed, and what could be more 1960s than the mini? – this image of one being loaded onto the Aer Lingus aeroplane at Speke Airport is great!

MMM.1997.16.88

Archaeologists among you may remember that back in 2004 an impressive hoard of Viking silver was found near Huxley in Cheshire. That silver, now known as the Huxley Hoard, has since been jointly acquired by Chester Grosvenor Museum, Cheshire Museums Service and National Museums Liverpool with Heritage Lottery Funding.

The hoard has gone on public display for the first time this week at the Grosvenor Museum as part of the Viking celebrations in Chester. You can see it there until Tuesday 17 July 2007, then it will come to Liverpool as one of the highlights of the Magical History Tour exhibition, which opens at Merseyside Maritime Museum on 28 July 2007. Look out for further details on the website nearer the time.

I haven’t posted for a while, mainly because I’ve busily working on the web pages for our forthcoming exhibition, Out of this World: The Art of Josh Kirby  before I go off on maternity leave. The pages aren’t ready yet – but in the spirit of the current Star Wars 30th anniversary celebrations I thought it would be good to share this spectacular artwork. Many of you will know Josh for his work on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, but did you know that in 1983 he also created the original artwork for a ‘quad’ format poster for the British release of Return of the Jedi?

Return of the Jedi. Finished artwork for quad poster, 1983. Used with the permission of the Trustees of the Josh Kirby Estate.

Now I’m no expert, although like many of my generation, the Star Wars theme still brings a nostalgic tear to my eye. But I'm reliably informed that this particular image is pretty special, as it is one of very few that features the Royal Guards (red gowns, upper right), Boushh (masked, lower right) and Boba Fett (masked, firing weapon, far left). The poster was painted for Feref from an Eddie Paul design to promote the film in Britain.

Josh Kirby also has one or two other surprises up his sleeve (do the names Monty Python or Alfred Hitcock mean anything to you?) so don’t forget to check back  when the exhibition opens on 15 June or bob along to the Walker Art Gallery for a closer look.
 

How could anyone leave this cute little chap behind?

As the popular exhibition Shipwrecked closed last weekend, I've had a look at the statistics for the survival game from the exhibition website.

Designed to test people's survival instincts, the game asks you to choose which 5 items from a possible 20 you would take with you had to leave a sinking ship to swim to the safety of a desert island. Some of the items are extremely practical for surviving in the wild, but we also tugged at your heartstrings by including Fluffy the hamster on the list. Surely (or so we thought) nobody who looked into his big dark eyes could bear to leave him behind?

We obviously didn't count on how cold hearted and practical people could be in a survival situation. Out of 23,146 votes cast, only 2% of people voted to save poor Fluffy.

Pet lovers can take comfort in the fact that he wasn't the least popular item to save - only 1% of people voted to take the sweets, MP3 player, credit card, plastic bin bags, plastic bowl, the complete works of Shakespeare and the wristwatch. Some of those items are considerably more useful than a hamster on a desert island!

The exhibition may be closed, but you can still do the online activities, including the survival game, and learning semaphore on the Shipwrecked website. See if you can resist the hamster's charms.

It was with a heavy heart - and an even heavier gut - I had to order myself to step away from the Easter egg last night, listen to the feelings of nausea and save the rest of its shell of creamy loveliness for another day. If like me you devoured the weight of a small motor-home in chocolate over the weekend your thoughts may be turning to the world of points counting, soup eating and general misery that is diets. Don’t do it.  I’m glad to report that American researchers have discovered that diets actually make you put on weight. A balanced diet (including a small amount of antioxidant rich chocolate naturally) and exercise are the way forward - which is why I’m prescribing a course of LoveSport at World Museum Liverpool to all you Easter egg gluttons. It's only open for a couple more weeks so catch it while you can and trust me, sinking a couple of points on the Hectic Hoops and a quick burst on the Tour de France simulator has done me the world of good. I definitely deserve the rest of that Easter egg tonight.

You might have seen in local press a rather big splash about our Bunny Run event over the Easter weekend. Sorry to disappoint folks but that's a bit of an error (not ours you understand) and there's no chasing of rabbits or any other animal for that matter at our venues this weekend.  There are lots of other events though (check out the 'what's on' section of the main site), and there are actually a good few rabbits in the Wallace & Gromit section of the Animated Adventures exhibition so it's not a totally bunny-free weekend after all.

Liverpool style icon Coleen McLoughlin celebrated her 21st birthday at Thornton Manor this weekend and I can exclusively reveal that pictures from inside the house are now on show at the Lady Lever Art Gallery.
 
Ok, you’ve rumbled me. We couldn’t quite match the offer Hello! put on the table to secure the rights to capture Rooney serenading the birthday girl or Peter Crouch celebrating his Liverpool hat-trick with more hilarious robotics. But we can treat you to a glimpse of the music room at Lord Leverhulme’s former residence as part of the Merchant Palaces exhibition. Who wants to see a bunch of WAGs and B-listers drunkenly cavorting when you can see some true Victorian splendour anyway? 

Music room minus the Sugababes and P Diddy

Anyone for a slice of cathedral?

Today is architect Sir Edwin Lutyens's birthday. Born in 1869, he would have been 138 in the highly unlikely event that he was still around today.

I don't know if anybody out there is up to the challenge, but I think that Angela had the right idea in her blog about potentially edible buildings in Liverpool. The only suitable way to mark the occasion would be with a cathedral-shaped cake, ideally the size of the model in the Walker's exhibition The cathedral that never was (I'm being practical, not greedy - the cake needs to be big to fit all the candles on).

Or you could just treat yourself to a normal size piece of cake in the Walker cafe in Lutyens's honour if you don't have an industrial size oven of course.

Digital, 35mm or good old pinhole, pick up your camera, I’m declaring 2007 the year of the photograph.

We've got Bernard Fallon’s atmospheric images of Liverpool going down a storm at the National Conservation Centre and the images of Merchant Palaces at the Lady Lever Art Gallery provide a fascinating insight into the way the other half lived.

If you fancy a shot at photography and are lucky enough to be aged between 12 and 16 there’s a Victorian photography workshop at the Lady Lever on Thursday 12 April. Places are limited so call our learning department on 0151 478 4178 to snap up a place. 

Never fear oldies, there's also opportunities for those of us old enough to remember when Polaroid’s were cutting edge to develop our skills. Shoot Liverpool is an interactive photographic treasure hunt happening in May and promises a fantastic day of creativity and camaraderie on the streets of Liverpool. Sounds like a reel good time.

If your photographic thirst hasn’t been quenched by that fine lot I visited the BALTIC in Gateshead last week to see the Vik Muniz exhibition. Check out a chocolate Elvis  and Che Guevara reborn through the magic of black beans. Definitely the best exhibition I’ve seen all year – apart from our own of course.

Bernard Fallon's Crosby babes

Miss Everton Courtesy of Cunard

It only seems like the other week when it opened, but the Hello Sailor! exhibition at Merseyside Maritime Museum is due to depart our shores and sail off into the sunset next week.

To see it off in style, Pink Quartet will be providng music and performance from the high seas at 2.30pm and 3.30pm on Saturday and Sunday.

There will also be a final performance of 'Nothing's queer once you have left that pier' at 1pm on the last day of the exhibition, 25 March. This whirlwind story told by Dennis - ship steward by day and diva by night - is a real treat, well worth a trip to the Albert Dock for.

Full events listings are available on the Maritime Museum What's on page.

The exhibition will be touring once it closes here, the next stop will be Southampton, where it opens in a few weeks.

Our major exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery in 2008 looks at the artist’s response to the railway, and will feature such luminaries as Monet, Manet, Hopper, Van Gogh, Pissaro and De Chirico.  We've come up with a few possible titles and would like to know  what you think of them. The options are:

    Painted Stations Whistle By

    Art, Steam and Speed

    Travelling Companions

    Iron, Steam & Speed

Send us an email using this contact form, and include your choice in the 'comments' section. If you want to explain your choice please do, and if you've got something even better in mind feel free to tell us. We may use the subtitle 'The Artist and the Railway' for the exhibition as well so let us know what you think of that.

Extra housepoints if you got the Simpsons reference in the title of this post.

I’ve just been acquainting myself with Merchant Palaces, our photographic exhibition of Wirral and Liverpool mansions, currently on show at the Lady Lever Art Gallery. I was interested to discover that Dawpool in Thurstaston, the magnificent home of Sir Thomas Henry Ismay, was designed by Richard Norman Shaw the architect responsible for the White Star Line offices in James Street. I’ve always had a strange obsession with this candy striped masterpiece and yet again this morning its hooped turrets of copper and cream stirred me from my rush-hour induced slumber as I crept along the dock-road. Ever since I visited Liverpool, as a wide eyed 7 year old Boltonian, I’ve always had a sneaky feeling the White Star building actually has an edible façade. I remember looking longingly and almost salivating at the prospect of a huge building encased in chocolate and icing. So far I have resisted giving its auburn bricks a cheeky lick so I’d like to think there’s still a small chance it could be Liverpool’s equivalent of the Hansel and Gretel gingerbread house.

This got me wondering if there are any more buildings in Liverpool with culinary characteristics and I discovered the Radio City tower is in fact a marshmallow ripe for melting and the columns of the Walker Art Gallery bear more than a slight resemblance to sticks of coltsfoot rock. Ah, if only Lutyen’s Cathedral that Never Was had made it past the planning stage, Liverpool would have been home to an ice-cream sundae of mammoth proportions. 

The delicious White Star Line offices

Joseph Sharples at the Merchant Palaces exhibition opening

This man probably knows more about the historic houses in the area than the people living in them do. Many people will remember Joseph Sharples from his time as a curator at the Walker Art Gallery during the 1990s. Since leaving he has been involved in several architectural research projects, including rewriting the Pevsner guide to Liverpool. While he was working on this I occasionally spotted him standing in the street looking up at buildings, which he always claimed was critical research.

Most recently Joseph has been the guest curator for the Merchant Palaces exhibition, which opens today at the Lady Lever Art Gallery. The exhibition features photographs of local Victorian and Edwardian mansions from the Bedford Lemere Collection at the National Monuments Record, the public archive of English Heritage. At the opening yesterday evening Joseph described how he had to wear thermals and fingerless gloves while examining the negatives in the collection, which are refridgerated in order to preserve them.

His painstaking research has resulted in a fascinating exhibition of incredible photographs, beautifully capturing a lost era of grandeur and opulence.

The view from the ferry this morning

Coming in on the ferry this morning, I couldn't help wondering what the Liverpool skyline would look like if Lutyens' Cathedral that never was had actually been built. It's hard to imagine something that big towering over everything around it.

The new Museum of Liverpool is another significant building that at the moment only exists as a model. However, it took a step closer to becoming a reality yesterday, when the HLF announced that a major grant has been earmarked to support the fit-out of the new museum. Read more about HLF announcement in our newsroom.

How long would you spend getting ready for an evening event at the Walker Art Gallery? A few hours perhaps? How about thirteen years? That's how long it has taken to conserve the huge and intricately detailed Lutyens cathedral model pictured here. However, everybody who attended the preview of the exhibition The cathedral that never was yesterday evening agreed that it was time very well spent, as the model is truly breathtaking.

I managed to pin down four of the conservators who worked on the model, David Parsons, John Whitehead, Chris Moseley and Bernie Morgan, at the end of the evening for this photo. You can see the whole team of ten conservators involved in the project and behind the scenes pictures of them at work in the Lutyens cathedral model image gallery.

The exhibition looking at art and climate change finishes this Sunday, 28 January 2007.