National Museums Liverpool Blog - lady lever art gallery

Sorry to those of you who won't have seen the answer to July's Name That Object competition - slight technical hitch. The answer was 'Waiting for Legal Advice' by James Campbell, and the winner of the exhibition catalogue was A Porter of Liverpool. Another competition and another prize next month.

Lauren Gould, Learning Officer at the Lady Lever Art Gallery writes to invite artistic young people to join a summer course...

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We still have a few vacancies on this year's week-long course for young people who want to explore their artistic side.  There will be plenty of sketching, outdoor painting, art history, and photography during the week of activities.  The course is free, although participants will need to bring a packed lunch. It is suitable for all 11-16 year olds.

The course runs from Monday to Friday, 28 July to 1 August, 10.30am-4pm at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, Bebington, Wirral. Contact 0151 475 4143 to book a place.

Michelle O’Callaghan, our youth arts officer, has this great news:

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"Young people from National Museums Liverpool Youth Theatre, Lady Lever Art Gallery Junior Guides and Culture Vultures course participants achieved a rip-roaring success when they joined forces last Saturday to have their Young People's Arts Awards moderated.

The Young People's Arts Award, run by Arts Council England and Trinity Guildhall, enables young people to achieve a nationally recognised qualification at three levels (Bronze, Silver and Gold) through their participation and enjoyment of the arts.

It encourages the young people taking part to think about their own development as artists and encourages development of leadership, communication skills and confidence, as well of development of their own artistic skills.

At Bronze level the award involves taking part in arts activity, enjoying the arts as an audience member, researching an arts hero or heroine and leading an arts activity for peers.

This is the first assessment and moderation since NML became an Arts Award Centre in 2007 and there are currently two trained Arts Award advisors within NML; myself and Lauren Gould, learning officer at the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

16 young people's work was moderated last Saturday and we are very pleased and proud to confirm that all 16 were successful in achieving their Bronze Arts Award.

Certificates will be winging their way to the young people very soon and they will be treated to a presentation evening to mark and celebrate their success.

A big thanks goes to all of the young people involved for all their hard work on the award and a massive well done on their success! It is well deserved!

Congratulations to the following young people who successfully passed their Bronze Arts Awards:
 
Sarah Kenny, James Garland, Deniece Courtney, Natasha Sweeney, Marcella May Rick, Kezia-Jaye Atherton-Davis, Charlotte Clynch, Dominic Hughes, Laura Baker, Craig Parry, Kaz Worrall, James Woodfinden, Beckie Clarke, Keily Hogarth, Abigail Hill and Marc Taylor."

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.

If you're in Liverpool you won't have failed to have noticed that there's been a veritable fall of Superlambananas around town the past few days (apparently 'fall' is the collective noun for lambs). That includes our own colourful trio. Just been sent this snap of the Cloudorama at the Lady Lever being lifted into place outside the gallery. Thankfully the 'fall' noun wasn't appropriate to the operation and it made it to the ground in one piece.

There's just a few days left to submit your application for one of the 10 Creative Apprenticeships on offer. A number of Merseyside-based cultural organisations, including National Museums Liverpool, are involved in a project to foster emerging talent and give young hopefuls a solid grounding in the arts and culture industry.

By the end of the year-long apprenticeship you'll have earned a Level 2 Certificate in Creative and Cultural Practice, and a Level 2 National Award in Community Arts Management, but perhaps more importantly you'll have developed the skills and contacts you'll need for a career in the industry.

More details are available on the Creative Partnerships Liverpool website.

Claire Olson summarises National Volunteers Week, and thanks all the willing souls who help out here.

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Last week the Volunteers Team were out and about at different venues and events in the North West promoting volunteering opportunities at NML.

During the week we met with lots of people who are keen ‘volunteers in the making’ and eager to find out more. We also received lots of positive feedback about our museums, with many families telling us how much they enjoyed visiting! We also welcomed the launch of Mersey v’s; our new Young Persons' Steering Group, who will be championing volunteering across NML.

National Volunteers Week may only come once a year, but we would like to take this opportunity to thank our volunteers for all their support and hard work throughout the whole year – their positive involvement is much appreciated – as acknowledged by our director, Dr David Fleming:

“I have nothing but praise for volunteers, who devote their own time to helping make museums more popular and accessible. Volunteer effort is often overlooked, but without volunteers most museums would provide an immeasurably poorer public service.”

If you wish to find out more about becoming a volunteer at NML please contact the Volunteer Team on 0151 478 4775 or volunteerenquiries@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk and keep an eye on the blog for more volunteer updates coming soon!

The answer to last week's Name That Object competition was Salem by Sidney Curnow Vosper which hangs in the Lady Lever Art Gallery. Coincidentally, this year sees the centenary of the painting, and this weekend S4C is showing a programme on the painting. It will be broadcast at 8.30pm on Sunday 15 June (in Welsh with English subtitles).

If you don't know the painting it's really quite a strange piece but one which, I'm told, has hung in many a Welsh home after Lord Leverhulme bought the original and then gave away prints with his soap. It's said to show the Devil's face in the folds of the shawl of the central character, Siân Owen. There's more on the programme on the icWales website.

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 trading arm, NML Trading, is holding a Recruitment Open Day on Saturday 10th May. They're looking to recruit Team Leaders, Catering Assistants, Venue Supervisors, Chefs and Banqueting staff. They're looking for people who are passionate about catering for their daytime operation plus occasional evening work. You'll be working in Liverpool’s world class museums, providing high quality food and refreshments to over two million visitors each year.

To find out more about the roles on offer, bring your CV to World Museum Liverpool, William Brown Street, Liverpool between 10.30am and 4.30pm.

If like me you need cheering up after Riise-nt events cast your eyes on this cute fella currently being prepared for his new home at the Lady Lever Art Gallery. We’ve been lucky enough to get local artist Paul Cousins to paint our SuperLambBanana as part of the Go SuperLambBananas project which will give birth to herds of them around the city.

Paul has christened his creation ‘Cloudorama’ and it is a reflection of a series of sky paintings he has produced that highlight the threat pollution poses to the earth’s atmosphere. After Paul has put the finishing touches to the piece Cloudarama will be welcoming visitors to the Lady Lever from 16 June – 25 August. Let’s hope having him there in his blue-skied splendour will be a good weather omen for the summer. 

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.

 

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.

Can't believe no one's got this yet - thought it would have gone yesterday. The prize in this month's Name That Object game is still not won and today is the last day. This is today's clue - bit of a give away. All of this week's clues, plus the link to enter the competition, are on the Name That Object page. The prize is the catalogue from the recent Joseph Wright of Derby in Liverpool exhibition.

Are you a budding Botticelli, a promising Picasso or would you just like to be able to make you stick figures look less like, erm, a pile of sticks? If so and you’re aged between 11 and 16 then Culture Vultures at the Lady Lever Art Gallery is the place for you. There are still a few places left on this week-long course for young people who want to explore their artistic side running from 25 - 28 March. You’ll get to try your hand at sketching, craft activities and photography all in the inspiring surroundings of the Lady Lever. If you want to book a place call Lauren Gould our Learning Officer on 0151 478 4143.   

I think it’s fair to say we all need a little encouragement to draw out our artistic sides. It took an influential primary school teacher to force, sorry encourage me, to play Joseph in the school musical (Boltonian boys are notoriously tone-deaf) and I’ve never looked back. As my colleagues in the Press and Marketing office will tell you this extensive training has not gone to waste and is regularly demonstrated in the finest Liverpool karaoke establishments.  

The second of what will hopefully be a monthly feature (prizes allowing) begins on Monday. Name that Object shows a new detail from an object in our collection every day for five days. Could be from any venue and any collection.  To win the prize all you have to do is identify the object and be the first to mail us the correct answer (use the 'contact us' form link on the competition page). As there's only one prize - the rather excellent catalogue that accompanied the recent Joseph Wright of Derby in Liverpool exhibition - most of you will be 'playing for fun', and it is fun as you'll discover if you check out last month's game - bit of a warm up for you.

Here's a snap of last month's prize - a Superlambanana now christened Hogarth (I'll leave you to figure out why) - happily ensconced in his new home. His new owner got the answer right on clue one so you'll probably have to be there from kick off on Monday to be in with a chance. To make it a bit easier I'll tell you it is a painting and it is featured on our website.

You can also play via the rss feed so there's no chance of you missing a clue.

Today we've launched what will hopefully become a regular feature on the site - our 'Name that Object' competition. We'll be revealing a new detail of an object (it's an artwork this time - bit of a clue for you there) every day for a week with the answer at the end. This is today's clue. There's a prize of a miniature Superlambanana to the first person to correctly identify the piece and to email us the answer using the form on the competition page.

If you're as forgetful as me you can always subscribe to the rss feed to get updates, or just click backwards to see previous clues. And as a final hint I'll tell you that the object is somewhere on our website. There, I've said too much already...

I met Dr Yupin Chung at the Lady Lever Art Gallery today. Yupin has a busy job as both curator and researcher for the gallery’s Chinese collections. Today Yupin was being interviewed by the Daily Post for an article on her work. Hopefully this will help shed some light not just on the fabulous collection at the gallery but also on the work Yupin is doing to interpret it.

Lord Leverhulme began to collecting Chinese art in the 1890s. He orginally bought blue-and-white and enamelled porcelains of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) as furnishings for his various homes but they are now on display for us all to see in the gallery.

Yupin is working towards an electronic catalogue of the collection to be made available to the public as a web-based resource in 2009.

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.

You wait ages for a great Christmas themed performance on William Brown Street then two arrive at once. Not only is the BBC Three Liverpool Nativity taking place there on Sunday, as I reported yesterday, the characters from 'A Christmas Carol' will be invading World Museum Liverpool over the weekend as well.

The theatrical invasion is in anticipation of the retelling of the famous Dickens story in the museum's Treasure House Theatre later this month. This Saturday and Sunday members of the National Museums Liverpool Youth Theatre will be roaming the museum in costume as Dickens characters, chatting to the public and sharing a good dose of Christmas cheer or ‘humbugs’. So come along and join in the Christmas spirit - or spirits, depending on who you meet!

The Treasure House Theatre’s production 'A Dickens of a Christmas' premieres on Thursday 27 December and is on every day until Monday 31 December with performances at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm. See the World Museum Liverpool What's on page for further details.

And while I'm on the subject, here's some trivia about the author to impress your family with over Christmas dinner. Did you know that Charles Dicken's daughter Kate was the model for the painting 'The Black Brunswicker' shown here? Usually on display in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, the painting is currently on loan to the fantastic Millais exhibition at Tate Briatin in London.

Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat, but don't go panicing and filling your stockings with tat! I have a much better idea - head down to the shopping night at the Lady Lever Art Gallery tonight and bag yourself a cracking gift instead. There's jewellery, candles, gift stationery, cards and christmas decorations - something for everyone. To make it a totally stress-free experience mince pies, mulled wine and musical refreshment courtesy of Church Drive School choir are on offer to help you on your merry way. Sounds perfect.

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.

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!

We're often told that we should open our minds to new experiences in galleries and try to approach art from a new angle. Visitors can now do this literally at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, where the old south entrance has closed and been replaced by a new fully accessible entrance at the west. Director David Fleming and head of the gallery Sandra Penketh are shown welcoming some of the first visitors to use the new entrance.

This is just the first of a series of imporvements at the gallery, find out more on the capital projects page.

Uber-shop assistant Lynn Taylor has scooped yet another award. She won in the Customer Service category at the North West Tourism Awards held last night in Manchester. You might remember that she's already the holder of the 'Outstanding Customer Services' The Mersey Partnership Tourism award, and now goes on to the national tourism finals.

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:

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"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)."

Last Friday the Duke of Kent paid a visit to the Lady Lever Art Gallery. He was in Liverpool to officially open the new cruise liner terminal on the waterfront, and while here popped over the water to the Lady Lever. Here he is chatting to gallery head, Sandra Penketh.

Update 26.09.07: caught up with Sandra who told me that HRH was amazed by the size of the collection and thought it would take several days to tour properly. He was particularly interested in the Chinese displays, and the Masonic collection as he is Grand Warden of the United Grand Lodge of England (Freemasons).

Forget Eastenders, Coronation Street and Neighbours, there’s a new soap storyline in town. Take a tour around the Lady Lever Art Gallery this weekend and experience the amazing architecture and collections through the eyes of a Sunlight Soap worker. You can catch our role-player giving a unique insight into the gallery on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 September at 1, 2 & 3pm. These sessions are part of a jam-packed Heritage Open Day programme happening across our venues. Check out our full programme for details.

The installation of the new access ramp at the Lady Lever Art Gallery is continuing this week with the fitting of the new glass balustrade. Did a previous post on the ramp itself if you are interested.

This afternoon's picture of the month talk at Lady Lever Art Gallery saw Sandra Penketh discussing William Holman Hunt's 'The Tuscan Girl', now available to download (mp3/transcript/links).

The painting is in a private collection and is currently on a long term loan to the Lady Lever Art Gallery. In her talk Sandra looks at Holman Hunt's early years, the formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, his time in Italy and his aptitude for painting portraits of children.

A few weeks ago I told you we had been nominated in two categories at the The Mersey Partnership 2007 Tourism Awards. Well, we're pleased to report that we won, and in both categories.  'Big Art for Little Artists' won in the 'Large Visitor Attraction' category, and Lynn Taylor from the Lady Lever Art Gallery won the 'Outstanding Customer Service' category. Obviously we're pretty chuffed with both awards and proud of Lynn's individual achievement.

More on the awards can be found on the icLiverpool website.

Recently saw this Guardian article on Millais and a new Tate exhibition. Reading it I felt quite sorry for Millais and I'm a bit puzzled about his work needing rescuing. A lot of people like 'Bubbles', which is on long loan at the Lady Lever Art Gallery and will be returning there once the Tate exhibition is over. Ok, it might seem a bit sugary and sentimental to our modern eyes but that's a lot of people's cup of tea and fair play to them.

In case you don't know Millais didn't paint 'Bubbles' to advertise soap; instead he intended the bubbles and the innocence of the child to represent the fragility of life, and the painting as a whole is meant to encourage us to ponder the brevity of our existence. Some people think that Millais wasn't best pleased when it was used to advertise Pear's soap, but he'd sold the copyright so there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it. Others suggest that he was happy with the sale as long as the reproduction was of a suitable quality

'Bubbles' actually fits in quite well at the Lady Lever, partly because we've a good few Millais's in the collection (you can explore them in this Millais online feature), but also because of the gallery's history and links to the soap industry. Lord Leverhulme began buying art, not just Millais's work, in the late 1880s to use in advertising for his 'Sunlight Soap' brand. Pieces like The Wedding Morning, Girl With Dogs, Besieged, His Turn Next, A Dress Rehearsal and The Centre of Attraction were purchased to promote soap, and many a home still has a print, postcard, jigsaw or tea tray depicting one of them.

So, if 'Bubbles' is your cup of tea you can read more about it here or listen to a gallery talk on our main site.

For Museums and Galleries Month I've been asking which everyone to nominate which people from the past related to our collections they would bring back if they could, so it seems only fair that I should share my suggestions. It has taken me a while to think of somebody, mainly because there's so many to choose from, I just couldn't decide.

It'd be interesting to talk to any of the sailors from past centuries related to the Merseyside Maritime Museum's collections - the people who set out to sea during an era when they were never really sure if they'd make it home safely again. I'm sure they'd all have some great tales of their adventures on the ocean wave, but I can't narrow down my choice to just one.

I'd also like to talk to the person who did some rather strange things to a 15th century painting of St Michael and the Dragon, which were discovered by our paintings conservators recently, as I'd like to know how they could treat a work of art that way.

I'm tempted to have stern words with the questioning soldier in the painting 'And when did you last see your father?' and tell him to pick on someone his own size, but I realise that he's not real so doesn't really count.

So in the end I've decided that the person I'd bring back would be Mrs Emily Tinne, whose enormous collection of clothing was the focus of the exhibition A Passion for Fashion last year. I'd love to take her shopping to see what she thinks of all the designer shops springing up in Liverpool now. Today's clothing may be a bit too daring for her tastes, but I'd love to get her to at least try on a colourful new pair of shoes, as the shoes from the Tinne collection tend to be more practical than glamorous. I'm sure I could convert her to the joys of bling footwear!

This painting, May Morning on Magdalen Tower by Holman Hunt, would have been really appropriate if I'd written this post a few hours ago. I suppose it's still morning in some parts of the world - I'll just pretend I'm on New York time, it sounds glamorous. A complete aside, but on the subject of odd timing I noticed that this painting was the Lady Lever Art Gallery's Picture of the Month a few years ago. In July. I'm saying nothing.

Anyway, back to the point. As you probably already know, May is Museums and Galleries Month, an annual UK-wide celebration. As always, we've got lots of free events, activities and exhibitions taking place all month, way too many to list here. I will draw your attention to one in particular though.

The Merseyside Maritime Museum is holding 'The great museums debate', asking what the purpose of modern museums actually is, on Thursday 17 May, 6-8.30pm. Chaired by journalist and broadcaster Gillian Reynolds, speakers include David Fleming of National Museums Liverpool, writer James Delingpole, David Barrie of the Art Fund and Dea Birkett of Kids in Museums.

Do you think that there should be ‘as many people as possible visiting our great museums, not just the wealthy and overseas tourists?’ (David Fleming). Or is the ‘idea of ancient vases being mauled and chipped by mobs of primary schoolchildren’ abhorrent to you? (James Delingpole). This is your chance to have your say.

The debate is free for anyone to join in but places are limited, so please call 0151 478 4402 or email events  to request your free ticket.

See the What's On listings for further details of all our events in May, including the debate.

Changes are afoot at the Lady Lever Art Gallery. Last week saw the installation of a new ramp for visitors who can't manage the steps. This photo shows work in progress at what will be the new entrance - it's to the right of the front entrance as you currently look at the building. The new entrance and foyer will be a big improvement on the current cramped, inaccessible one, and will lead people right into the heart of the building. Fans of the building should rest assured that all of these changes are totally in keeping with the building and its listed status. More on the improvements we're making to the gallery are on the main site.

Update 10.04.07: sorry, that should read 'to the left of the front entrance as you curently look at the building', so that's the west side of the building.

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? 

 

I’m delighted to reveal Port Sunlight has made it into the BBC News website’s top 20 hidden tourist gems. After asking a gaggle of celebrities to pick their favourite places off the typical tourist track readers were invited to nominate secluded spots of their own. It’s heartening to hear that the Lady Lever Art Gallery is gaining a reputation on both sides of the Atlantic and I couldn’t agree more with Daniel from Charleston, USA, that the gallery does have a ‘surprisingly good art collection’. I’ll let him off for calling us a museum.

As for Tony ‘Time Team’ Robinson’s rather random choice of Newbury Park Bus Station, think I'll give that one a miss.

 

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.

Julian Treuherz's last speaking engagement before his retirement was delivering a picture of the month talk at the Lady Lever Art Gallery on Hubert von Herkomer's 'The Last Muster'. The talk is now available to download online (mp3/transcript/links).

The painting portrays a group of Chelsea Pensioners in chapel. One of the men has  died during the service. The talk covers Herkomer's time working on 'The Graphic', Van Gogh's admiration for his work and the subject of death in Victorian painting.

If you missed Bernard Fallon when he briefly returned to Liverpool to open the exhibition of his photos The Long Way Home at the National Conservation Centre, then don't worry. A podcast of Bernard giving a guided tour of the exhibition is now available on the website. Yes, we do spoil you.

For further proof of how much we spoil you, there have been extra talks added for our other photography exhibition, Merchant Palaces at the Lady Lever Art Gallery. Exhibition curator Joseph Sharple's talks about Merchant Palaces have been so popular that 2 more dates have been added on 27 March and 16 April. Full details are in the Merchant Palaces events programme.

Two Liverpool legends turned 60 this week, both of whom I met when I started working at the Walker Art Gallery a long time ago (we’re talking more years than I have fingers here).

I’ll never forget being introduced to Julian Treuherz on my first day of work as an information assistant at the Walker. He told me that he thought the front of house staff were the most important people working in the building, as we were the first ones the public saw when they came in.

Give him his due though, as the keeper of 3 national galleries (the Walker, Lady Lever Art Gallery and Sudley House) and the brains behind blockbuster exhibitions including Rossetti in 2003 and Alma Tadema in 1997, he wasn’t exactly insignificant himself. Julian retired on Friday but I hear that he'll still be involved with a major exhibition at the gallery next year.

Also celebrating his sixth decade is one of my former colleagues from the info desk, Norman Killen. He spent most of my first weeks tidying up after me, then once he had knocked me into shape he started broadening my musical horizons with some mix tapes that I still treasure. He was well placed to do this, for after DJ-ing at many of the city’s coolest clubs including Eric’s and the Sink, as well as working at Probe Records, he has played a major part in improving the musical taste of the city over the years.

As you’d expect, the music at his party on Saturday was fantastic. The birthday boy himself got behind the turntable, in between live music from the Rocketeers and Deaf School, who were joined for one song by a singer who was truly 'one step beyond'. Happily Norman has no intention of hanging up his uniform, or his record bag, just yet. The Walker just wouldn't be the same without him.

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.