National Museums Liverpool Blog - sudley house

Are you an adult on a part-time art course or a member of a community art group? We are inviting you to put your creative talents to the test and create a piece of artwork inspired by the collections at Sudley House, World Museum and the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

Perhaps you could take inspiration from the internationally renowned Pre-Raphaelite collection at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, or the only art collection of a Victorian merchant in its original domestic setting at Sudley House, or maybe from objects in World Museum’s World Cultures gallery.

A panel of curators, educators and artists will judge. Winning artists and groups will see their work hung in an exhibition at World Museum and receive prizes. The closing date is 1 August 2011, and winners will be announced by the end of September.

For further information, to book a session, or to download your entry form, please go to: www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/inspiredby or contact Kenn Taylor on 0151 478 4977.

Here's Caitlin Allan, one of our most recent volunteers, talking about her work experience in the Decorative Arts Department...

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My name is Caitlin and I have had my work experience at National Museums Liverpool for two weeks. In the first week I visited the Lady Lever Art Gallery for the first time. I was shown around the gallery and learned a lot about the story of the gallery and its collections. I was then asked to choose three pieces from the gallery that really caught my eye and to do some research on them and write up my findings.

I assisted in buying a few modern accessories for an upcoming exhibition ‘The Finishing Touch’, which were to be used in the dressing up section of the exhibition. When I saw them displayed in the exhibition I felt very proud that I was involved in choosing them.

In the second week I photographed accessories related to the forthcoming 'Costume Drama' exhibition due to open at Sudley House in July. I thought this was really enjoyable because photography is one of my favourite hobbies and also gave me more experience in handling clothing. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed the past few weeks and my view of art galleries have changed dramatically. I never knew how interesting they could be! I feel very privileged that I was allowed to have a really interesting placement for my work experience.

Little did we know when we opened the Hitched: wedding clothes

and customs exhibition last Summer that its closing weekend would coincide with that most lauded of all nuptial ceremonies – the Royal Wedding.

As speculation grows about Ms Middleton’s dress, wedding fashion through the ages is once again the subject of intense media and public interest. Kensington Palace is displaying a set of Royal dresses to mark the occasion, tracing style changes from Princess Charlotte’s 1816 silver-embellished number to Princess Alexandra of Kent’s magnificent 1963 lace creation. And tomorrow another dress (and designer) will join the history books!

Speculation over who has designed the dress has reached fever pitch. We haven’t witnessed this sort of excitement since Carrie Bradshaw nearly made it up the aisle with Mr Big in a stunning Vivienne Westwood gown. Original speculation put Dame Vivienne in the mix, but given her anti-establishment stance (and let's not forget the Sex Pistols' high jinx on the Thames during the Jubilee), it’s not really that surprising she’s out of the running. Names like Sophie Cranston, Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen, Phillipa Lepley, Alice Temperley and Jenny Packham are currently being bandied about while Bruce Oldfield says it’s definitely not him.

The Hitched exhibition at Sudley House features wedding outfits from the Victorian age to the present day and includes dresses from Jewish, Chinese and Traveller communities, as well as civil partnership suits. Sudley House also has a pretty garden and traditional tea room – a lovely place to continue the celebrations and toast the Royal newlyweds with a scone and a brew.

'Hitched: wedding clothes and customs' closes this Monday 2nd May, so this weekend is the last chance to see it. Later in the year you will be able to see Costume Drama: Fashion from 1790 to 1850 at Sudley House, exploring outfits from the ‘Jane Austen’ era - the type of designs you might see in a TV adaptation. If you can’t wait until then, the Lady Lever Art Gallery will be hosting The Finishing Touch: women’s accessories, 1830-1940 from later this month.

Our guest blogger Rosie Marr has some suggestions for ways to treat your mum this Mother's Day.

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Sunday 3rd of April 2011 is Mother’s Day. National Museums Liverpool provide a brilliant atmosphere for a relaxing and memorable day out. In fact, we’ve got Mother’s Day all wrapped up- from delicious food, to gorgeous and thoughtful gifts and even cards, so treat your mum to a day she will treasure!

Whatever your mum is interested in; there is something fun to do together in Liverpool. Why not visit the breath-taking Walker Art Gallery and see amazing paintings from Medieval to modern! Kids can even create their own masterpieces for their mums in the Big Art.  

The Lady Lever Art Gallery contains a spectacular collection of paintings, furniture, tapestries and sculpture. Or you could visit Sudley House, an elegant location where you can get psyched up for the Royal Wedding by visiting an exhibition of wedding dresses, or unwind in the beautiful springtime grounds around Sudley House. On the 2nd of April you can even make a bouquet of flowers for your mum. Best of all, everything is free!

Our cafés and dining rooms serve some of the best food in Liverpool- offering a brilliant variety of food and drink for amazing prices.

Whether you decide on posh afternoon tea or a traditional Sunday roast at the Maritime Dining Rooms, taking in the stunning city views with a glass of wine at the World Museum, or a more indulgent meal at the Lady Lever which has a delightful and diverse menu- all our museums and galleries serve a variety of tasty treats!

Our gift shops are a fantastic place to buy a unique Mother’s Day present! Surprise her with a book on her favourite exhibition (you can also buy these on our online shop ) or a poster of an amazing piece of artwork. We also have gorgeous jewellery, ornaments and souvenirs.

And remember to send a card! You can even send an e-card from our website, choosing from a number of Mother’s Day themed paintings (and even one of an Egyptian mummy!)

Over a hundred leading artists including David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Anthony Caro, Howard Hodgkin, Anish Kapoor, Richard Hamilton, Bridget Riley, Antony Gormley and Tracey Emin have joined the campaign to make the case against the proposed 25% cuts in government funding of the arts.

Other supporters include John Moores 2010 exhibitor Ian Davenport and Wolfgang Tillmans who is about to open an exhibition here at the Walker Art Gallery.

The campaign is launched today with the release of a new video animation by artist David Shrigley highlighting the effect of the funding cuts, which you can see below. Each week the work of a different artist, created in response to the campaign, will be released. Mark Wallinger will present the next project.

Supporters of the artists’ campaign will be asked to sign a petition on the Save the Arts website, which will be sent to the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. It points out that it has taken 50 years to create a vibrant arts culture in Britain that is the envy of the world and appeals to the government not to slash arts funding and risk destroying this long-term achievement and the social and economic benefits it brings to all.

Reyahn King, Director of Art Galleries at National Museums Liverpool is keen to support the campaign: "It's great to see arts organisations using artists to make their case: David Shrigley's animation is the first in several commissions in support of this campaign.  Watch it, laugh, enjoy and remember the arts reaches wider and deeper than you might imagine. Cutting back on the arts impacts on the economy, people's wellbeing, and our international reputation."

Please note: there is some adult language in this video!

The artists acknowledge that reasonable cuts and efficiencies are necessary but
they fear that the 25% cuts being proposed will destroy much of what has been achieved and will have a particularly damaging impact on national and regional museums and their collections.

The campaign is being organised by the London branch of a national consortium of over 2,000 arts organisations and artists dedicated to working together and finding new ways to support the arts in the UK. The costs of David Shrigley’s animation have been covered with a grant from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

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National Museums Liverpool also has its own petition against government cuts with 15,000 names added already. You can sign this petition here.

It's all go on the publications front at NML with new titles arriving and due shortly.

You may already know that we recently launched a book to accompany the Hitched exhibition at Sudley House. Also called Hitched it features 13 beautiful wedding outfits in full colour, together with close-up details and many original wedding photographs. It's a snip at £4.95 and is available through our venue shops and our online bookshop.

If you enjoyed The Beat Goes On exhibition at World Museum last year then the new book of the same name is for you. It is a critical historical account of popular music in Liverpool, looking at why the city is so important musically and how has it sustained its importance, from the Beatles to the Zutons and beyond. It's also available to buy online and through our venues.

Very soon we'll be launching Transatlantic Slavery: An Introduction and that old favourite, the John Moores catalogue to accompany this year's exhibition - more on both on the online shop.

Win a book: If you fancy getting your hands on any of these just answer this simple question - how many art books are featured in the NML online shop? (clue: some are available in more than one package so count carefully.) Send us your answer with your name, address and the name of the book you would prefer using this contact form. The deadline for entries is noon on Friday 10 September at 2010.

Update 01.09.10: Apologies to people who tried to enter yesterday and couldn't. Please use the entry form instead.

Have you ever wanted to know about how you look after an Egyptian mummy? Do you ever dream of putting together your own art exhibition? If you'd like to ask some of our museum and gallery curators a question about what they do then read on...

Ask a Curator day is Wednesday 1 September and curators from all over the world are signing up to take part in this giant Q&A session - taking place on Twitter!

We are joining in and want you to ask our curators questions on either art, slavery or Egyptology, as these are their specialist subjects.

We have three great experts ready to answer you; Egyptologist Ashley Cooke, art curator Laura MacCulloch and curator of transatlantic slavery Angela Robinson.

To ask a question and get your reply, this is what you do:

1. Get yourself a Twitter account by going to Twitter.com

2. On 1 September 'tweet' your question with #askacurator at the end to:
@LivMuseums (Art or Egypt questions)
@slaverymuseum (Slavery questions)

3. Check your Twitter account for our response!

So get thinking and tweet us your questions on 1 September!

Here is the Senior Education Manager for all our art galleries, Nicky Fawcett, to tell us about some of the important community work that goes on at Sudley House...

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Sudley House has been providing a safe and welcoming setting for a range of people dealing with mental health issues for a while now. We have developed an ongoing partnership with Mersey Care NHS Trust and every year they use our Learning Suite to deliver a series of art projects for those who use their services. Two of the facilitators of the group are Sue Williams and Steve Rooney - from TAG (The Artists Group). We also worked with them on an exhibition called 'unfolding' in 2008. This featured amazing paper sculptures inspired by their work with former patients of the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre at Mossley Hill Hospital.

Our Visitor Services staff at Sudley House do a great job in supporting the group and we always aim to exhibit the work produced. Last week we held an event to celebrate a mini costume display that you can see in the picture above. Ralph Killey was part of this group and spoke passionately about how much the project had helped him. He wrote a fantastic poem, which I'd like to share with you, below. Ralph also has a slot reading his work on the Linda Mac show on Radio Merseyside every month. 
 
Our Painting Session. Where’s my Depression?

There’s a palace that’s called Sudley House , A monument really supreme.
It was built by, The Holts. Who had hundreds of boats.
And this family created a dream.

The, art-work is really sublime. All of this beauty was theirs.
Then on the first floor, there’s a little white door,
behind which, some magic occurs. 

An Art Course is run for disabled. We are people with mental ills.
We’ve been anxious, depressed and by devils possessed,
and we’ve taken the potions and pills.

Sue and Steve, manage the project, their techniques and skill they impart.
They find out what you, have an aptitude to.
Then they help you, express this as Art.

The patients in there are all loving.. We’ve all suffered similar pain.
And Stephen and Sue, know just what to do.
To help people whose brain’s ‘Down the Drain’.

But joking aside, it’s fantastic, feels so natural when we’re all together.
And when the Course ends. We will all be good friends.
But I wish it could go on forever.

By Ralph (The Writer) Killey.

To mark the publication of Hitched: Wedding Clothes in National Museums Liverpool, we're giving away a couple of free copies. The book features 13 wedding garments from our collections, ranging from cute 19 century pageboy's outfits to a 1970s knitted wedding dress, alongside the more familiar white floaty creations.

To be in with a chance of winning a copy you need to tell us your wedding story. It might be a wedding you attended or your own big day. It might be funny or a horror story. Did you walk up the aisle with your dress tucked in your knickers? Did you fall onto the wedding cake? Was the best man's speech a shocker? We want to know (providing they're clean).

Just post your story as a comment and we'll select the winners on 19 August.

If you'd like to buy a copy of the book anyway it's available at a very reasonable £4.95 from:

• the gift shops at the Walker Art Gallery, Lady Lever Art Gallery and Sudley House (where the Hitched exhibition is being held)
• by phoning 0151 478 4685
• or by emailing publications team 

Fundraising and membership officer Sarah Houghton reports on a member's event last night - which you could say went off without a hitch!

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"Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue... and even something red was the theme of last night’s special event for members - a preview of the new exhibition at Sudley House - Hitched, wedding clothes and customs.

Opening to the public today, the exhibition showcases a small selection of the 120 wedding dresses in National Museums Liverpool’s collections, alongside a small number of outfits worn by grooms and pageboys.

Our members were treated to a fascinating insight into the exhibition by curator Pauline Rushton. We were taken on a historical journey of wedding attire, all very different in style; including a brown dress made of corded silk, dresses inspired by famous designers Paul Poiret and Christian Dior and a typical blue wartime wedding dress. The most modern piece on display is a dress on loan from the travelling community worn by Winifred Delaney for her wedding in March 2010.

Members thoroughly enjoyed this exclusive insight into the exhibition and for many it brought back happy memories of their own special day. I felt very nostalgic thinking about my own wedding day last year only to talk to a couple of members who are celebrating 56 years together on Saturday!

For more information on how you can become a member and take part in our fantastic events along with many other exciting benefits call our Membership Officer on 0151 478 4157 or visit our membership web page."