National Museums Liverpool Blog - walker art gallery

Any artists considering entering the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize would do well to get inside the head of a previous judge. Matthew Collings, who hosted What is Beauty? last Saturday evening, was on the panel for John Moores 22 in 2002 when the artist Peter Davies won.

 

In the programme Collings lists his top 10 favourite “beauty experiences” in art. From an amazing bridge designed by Sir Norman Foster to pre-historic cave art, his perception of beauty is really interesting and varied. Definitely worth a watch on iplayer.

The press team supervised filming at the Walker and Lady Lever Art Gallery last week. The film crew, from Oxford Film and TV, were making a series on the history of British art for Channel 4.

Our galleries will feature in the episode that looks at Victorian art, in particular at nudes and themes of sensuality. I had no idea quite how many naked people there are in both galleries. In case you are unsure let me tell you there is a lot and it turns out the Victorians were not as reserved as you might have imagined.

The writer Howard Jacobson was the presenter. He is Manchester-born and has known the Walker Art Gallery since a young age but this was his first visit to the Lady Lever, which he was hugely impressed by.

Unfortunately it is a long wait before what looks to be a really fascinating and thorough insight into British art hits our screens in Autumn next year but we'll keep you posted with dates when we have them.

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at one of the aspects of the work that our staff are involved in, courtesy of handling and transport technician Paula Frew. This week Paula travelled to Nottingham as a courier to supervise the installation of one of the Walker's most popular paintings, which has gone out on loan. Here's what she got up to, in her own words:

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"Monday morning at 7.30am I was on the train travelling to Nottingham to act as a courier for the installation of the Walker's David Hockney painting  'Peter getting out of Nick’s pool' by David Hockney, which is on loan to the Nottingham Contemporary art gallery for their Hockney exhibition. The painting had travelled ahead of me, having been collected from the Walker on the Friday by Momart, who handle and transport art works nationally and internationally.

Twenty minutes walk from the train station, Nottingham Contemporary art gallery stands on a corner like the raised prow of a ship looming in front of a sandstone gothic church, the opposing architectural styles complimenting the space.

Entering the gallery, construction work was underway installing interior features. I signed in and was introduced to the staff who escorted me into the exhibition space. Here was a quiet eclectic mix of organised disciplines consisting of painting conservators, curators a registrar and exhibition technicians.

I instructed the technicians on the safe removal procedure of the crated work. The work was carefully removed and placed on foam blocks and leant temporarily against the wall.

Painting conservators checked the painting against the relevant paperwork and images that I had with me from National Museums Liverpool's painting conservator David Crombie, who had supplied a full report. Content with the report and the painting's condition, the conservators allowed the technicians to continue with its installation.

I observed the technicians measure a space on the wall and install the original lifting brackets. Lifting brackets are used to support this painting, as a pretty chunky frame encompasses the canvas, giving it a weight of 105kgs.

A small lifting machine (SWL 227kgs) was used to elevate the painting onto the brackets. Once installed onto the brackets, the fittings attached to the back of the painting called ‘Oz- clips’ (nothing to do with a wizard’s hair!) were used to finally secure the painting to the wall, installation professionally completed.

Visitors to the Walker Art Gallery hoping to see a David Hockney painting over the next few months won't be disappointed as the Tate have kindly loaned 'Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy', which is going on display in gallery 15 for the duration of the Hockney exhibition in Nottingham."

Those of you who live locally might already have heard about the imminent arrival of over 100 penguins to the streets and venues of Liverpool. Go Penguins! launches on 22 November, and National Museums Liverpool is providing homes for 13 of the happy but slightly homesick birds. They include 'Moon Waddler', aka Neil Flipstrong, at World Museum, while the Maritime is hosting 'Under the Sea' penguin. This photograph was taken at the secret penguin storage facility and shows another of our arrivals, 'Look at Me' (front left) along with some of his feathered friends.

Each of the birds has been created by either local artists, schools or community groups and adopted by a local organisation. Together they form A Winter's Trail which you'll be able to follow around the city centre, making Liverpool a proper Capital of Christmas.

As well as our usual programme of festive activities and events we'll be hosting a series of special penguin events that are guaranteed to keep the kids amused over the Christmas holidays. We're even creating a dedicated penguin shop at World Museum. There'll be more on our penguins and our other Christmas activities on our main site shortly. In the meantime there's more penguin information on the official Go Penguins! website.  

Update: Should have mentioned that some of the penguins have already been sighted in an Antony Gormley-esque arrangement on New Brighton beach (more on the Art in Liverpool website). Local comedian, Paul O'Grady, has also created his own, 'Owl Ma Penguin', and the BBC website has a slide show of some of the other designs you'll soon be seeing round and about.

Even amidst a giant spider prowling the streets and a herd of superlambananas dotted across the city, Ben Johnson’s The Liverpool Cityscape stood out as a highlight of 2008.

Ben finished the vast painting in front of a live audience at the Walker Art Gallery early in the year. Thousands of visitors observed their city arriving on the canvas layer by layer through the intricate process the artist employed.

Once the painting was finished it took pride of place in the exhibition Ben Johnson’s Liverpool Cityscape 2008 and the World Panorama Series where it was joined by panoramas of Zürich, Jerusalem and Hong Kong and paintings representing Chicago and Paris.

Many of those who flocked to see the painting under completion and the stunning exhibition that followed have enjoyed taking part in the free events celebrating the astonishing work over the last few weeks. But don’t worry if you haven’t had a chance yet, the season of free events for all the family continues over the next couple of months. See the website for more details.

One of the events, We love Liverpool, is an opportunity for visitors to reminisce and share their memories of the city. If you can’t make it to the gallery but have got something you want share, please feel free to add it on the blog.

The events have been coordinated in partnership with the University of Liverpool.

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.

I thought my school days were over, but last week I was very excited to be able to join our class of Little Liverpool Designers on their very first school trip!

I had a lovely morning spent with Class R reception class from Kingsley Community School in Toxteth, touring Liverpool familiarising themselves with Liverpool’s famous landmarks to inspire artwork for the Museum of Liverpool’s dedicated children’s gallery Little Liverpool, opening 2011.

They will be working with illustrator Kate Pankhurst to develop the final artwork for display in Little Liverpool as part of our work with the ECHO in the Community programme, which aims to inspire young people by engaging in a cross section of activities, including the arts.

At four years old, Mrs Randles’ reception class were a credit to their school, and it was fantastic to be surrounded by such young, inquisitive minds who were visibly impressed by everything they saw.

The first stop on our magical mystery tour of Liverpool was at the Anglican Cathedral, and I only wish I’d had a video camera with me to record their faces on walking into that grand, vast space and filling the air ‘wows’!

We also took a trip to the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral, or Paddy’s Wigwam as it is affectionately known locally, where they were very taken with the colours and reflections coming in from the beautiful stain glass windows. Hopefully this will transfer to the marvellous artwork they’re soon to create for our Little Liverpool Gallery.

After the cathedrals, we also took a driving tour round many iconic buildings, including St George’s Hall and William Brown Street; home to World Museum, Central Library and the Walker Art Gallery.

Spotting the Radio City Tower overhead, our whistle-stop tour also took us past the Town Hall – "where the mayor lives" – and down to the waterfront where we met Museum of Liverpool buildings operations manager Martin Hemmings – "Bob the Builder" – and had a look at the location for Little Liverpool.

A lovely day out was had by all, so thanks goes to Mrs Randles and her ‘helpers’ for organising the trip, and for inviting Julia Bryan from the Museum of Liverpool team and I along. We look forward to seeing the wonderful artwork that Class R create in their roles as Little Liverpool Designers.

Observant visitors to the Walker Art Gallery may have noticed Echo and Narcissus has been away for some time. Lent to the Royal Academy as part of their J.W. Waterhouse: The Modern Pre-Raphaelite exhibition, the beautiful painting of unrequited love returned home yesterday.

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.

Before I went on maternity leave and was not a little deluded about life with a newborn, I harbored dreams of spending blissful hours drawing my precious new baby, who would of course sleep peacefully throughout.

Having studied art at university I felt sure this would at last be my chance to dust off the easel and ease my way back into drawing again… afterall what else would I have to do?

Well my little girl is now 16 months old and I am still yet to as much as sharpen a pencil. However my time might have finally come as she has suddenly realised the potential of crayons. They no longer go straight into her mouth but instead she eyes the room looking for a suitable suface to make her mark. She has even started to shout/command/instruct “DRAW!” as soon as she has a suitable implement in her hand.

Her timing couldn’t be more perfect as we are right in the middle of Big Draw, the annual celebration of all aspects of drawing.

The Walker Art Gallery  has some fabulous displays of Big Draw inspired artwork already on show, but there is still space for more. If you want to take part and maybe have your work amongst the Rubens, Rembrandt and Rossettis then head to the gallery any weekend in October.

Events at the National Conservation Centre will definitely appeal to the more scientific-minded. Members of the Merseyside branch of the British Science Association will be on hand on the 17 and 24 October, to help explore the relationship between science and art. Using the centre’s equipment, a range of pictures and patterns from the microscopic to the telescopic, as well as live images, will provide exciting inspiration for all budding artists.

A free downloadable drawing pack is available and details of all Big Draw events at National Museums Liverpool are here .

What sort of paintings inspire you? Those with flame-haired Pre-Raphaelite muses or striking 20th century works?

National Poetry Day is on Thursday 8 October and we want you to be involved! Get inspired by a painting at the Walker Art Gallery, write a poem about it and send it to us. 

We'll publish a selection of them on the website and pick one winning poem. The winner can choose one poetry book from the ones listed below:

• 'Rapture' by Carol Ann Duffy (hardback)
• 'The Mersey Sound' by Roger McGough, Brian Patten and Adrian Henri (paperback)
• 'Andraste's Hair' by Eleanor Rees (hardback)

The theme for this year's National Poetry Day is 'heroes and heroines', so we have put together a selection of paintings that we think fit in with this idea. These range from ‘Dante's Dream’ by Dante Gabriel Rossetti to 'Pin Up 1963 - For Francis Bacon’ by Sam Walsh. So now it's your turn to look through our selected paintings and get inspired!

Send in your entry by Monday 2 November using the online form on the Get inspired...at the Walker page. Good luck!

Post a comment to tell us what you think the caption should be for this image. It's 'The Black Brunswicker' by Millais (more on it and a larger image on our main site). The caption we think is funniest/quirkiest/most inventive wins this month's prize which is a rather nice hardback book, 'Women Artists In The 20th and 21st Century'. The book features Tracey Emin, Rachel Whiteread, Georgia O'Keeffe, Barbara Hepworth, Frieda Kahlo, Bridget Riley, Kara Walker and many, many more, and ties in nicely with the forthcoming exhibition, 'The Rise of Women Artists' which starts at the Walker on 23 October.

You've a couple of weeks to enter. If you're looking for inspiration September's entries are here.

The not-very-small-print: This is competition isn't open to NML staff or their families. The judge's decision is final. There's no alternative prize. Please keep your suggestions tasteful.

Update 27/10/09: October's caption competition has now closed although you can obviously still add your suggestions. The winner was 'The conversation waned somewhat while they waited for the butler to appear with the superglue remover'.

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.

You may think that retro fashion right now is all about shoulder pads, pink lippy and the influence of the 1980s. But some designers have shown that for the end of 2009, they are finding their inspiration in an era that is much more retro – try going back another 200 years to the 1780s!

Elle magazine has picked up on this trend, which they say is inspired by the paintings of the ‘Old Masters’ and did a whole spread on it in their September issue. Dolce & Gabbana have practically based their whole new collection around it, with sumptuous devoré velvet skirts, silk corsets in deep jewel colours and long flowing gowns with prints from paintings. We have several pieces of costume from the 18th century in our collections, one of which you can see here, which definitely has similarities to this D&G outfit and also this one!

Elle reckons the ‘muse’ for this trend is the ‘porcelain-skinned creature in a heavily gilded painting in the National Portrait Gallery’.  But you don’t need to go all the way to London to find paintings to inspire you! You can come and look at a painting from this period by Joshua Reynolds of ‘Miss Elizabeth Ingram' at the Walker Art Gallery (pictured).  Wonder at her pale skin, opulent blue silky dress, corset and that dash of hand-on-the-hip insouciance that wouldn’t be out of place on the catwalk.

Reynolds created paintings that imitated the style of the Old Masters. He believed that by imitating the Old Masters he would help to ‘educate’ the British public, as he thought their taste was quite limited. You can also see works by these ‘Old Masters’ in our collections, such as Nicholas Poussin, Rembrandt van Rijn and Peter Paul Rubens.

But if all this expensive fashion seems out of step with the current economic climate, then have no fear. I read in one magazine that a ‘recessionista’ way of getting the look would be to borrow the tassled tie-backs from your parents’ curtains! Not too sure about that.

One of the things I love most about Liverpool is that despite it being a relatively small place or the fact I have lived here all my life I can still find amazing buildings or streets I didn’t know existed. A wise person once told me to always look above ground level to spot the original architectural features of old buildings. Not only are they often real works of craftsmanship but they can reveal so many clues to its history. 

This Saturday and Sunday is Heritage Open Day weekend, when lots of the city’s architectural jems will be open to the public.

I was lucky enough to be at the Oratory yesterday for a media call about the free events this weekend. It’s such an atmospheric place, perched above St James cemetery and in the shadow of Liverpool Cathedral. Hopefully the weather over the weekend will be as good as it was for me and visitors will enjoy the same view across to the city from the Oratory steps.

More details about National Museums Liverpool’s events over Heritage Open Day on our main website.

A random group of people who happened to be in our office at the time chose Linda Reeds' entry as the best caption. Well done to Linda. You can see all the entries here. Another image and another prize in a short while.

While I'm here and talking about artwork I'll tell you about the Flickr group we've just started that celebrates the weird and wonderful world of credit crunch art. There's no prize for this one - just the knowledge that you've far too much time on your hands. Pick an artwork from our collection and recreate it using whatever comes to hand - cats, toys, food, your children, your co-workers - the possibilities are as limited as your camera's battery life. Upload them to your Flickr page and add them to our group. Again, please bear in mind that this is a family site!

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.

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.

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"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.

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.

If you caught this week's episode of 'Desperate Romantics' you'll already know that some of our Pre-Raphaelite paintings featured pretty heavily. There was the Lady Lever's The Scapegoat looking resplendent; an imagined, in progress 'Dante's Dream' from the Walker's collection, and Millais' 'Bubbles' which was the cause of much amusement to the TV Brotherhood.

If you didn't catch the episode there's always the BBC iplayer.

Here at the Walker Art Gallery, in partnership with the University of Liverpool, we are launching an exciting new programme of adult and family events inspired by Ben Johnson’s 'Liverpool Cityscape.'

Join us for cultural walks around the city or bring your little artists to Big Art and try out making collages inspired by this impressive panorama. Like all our events and exhibitions, it is all free!

We'd also like to hear about your memories, views and opinions of Liverpool past and present in our event; 'We Love Liverpool' taking place at the Walker.  All of the comments we get from you will be recorded to form a living history of the Liverpool.

If you can't make it to the gallery you can still submit your memories by adding a blog comment below. So let us know what you think...

It's my first day back in work after a short break today, and I feel that I've returned with a whole new level of understanding of the works of art that I promote on the blog and website. For while I was off I did more than just DIY and sunbathing. I actually experienced what it feels like to be a work of art myself when I spent an hour on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square as part of Antony Gormley's One and Other project. One hour, one plinth, one Sam.

I've spent many hours amongst the crowds in Trafalgar Square but have never had those crowds watching and photographing me before. One man asked if I was going to do anything, which is a bit of a strange thing to ask a sculpture. I've never heard anyone ask any of the figures in the Walker's sculpture gallery if they were going to do anything, our visitors seem quite content to appreciate the sculptures as they are with no expectations of entertainment.

I did do something on the plinth though - I took lots of photos (which you can see in my Fourth Plinth Flickr set), I talked to people, I chased a very persistent pigeon and I waved at a lot of people on open top tour buses. That's something that I miss now that I've returned to ground level - I still wave at the tour buses that go past in Liverpool but nobody on them is remotely interested in waving back to me any more now that I'm just a regular person again.

With so many distractions the hour passed very quickly. I really enjoyed my time on the plinth but don't think I could handle that level of attention and public scrutiny every day. I'll try to be kinder and less critical of any sculptures I see in the future, now that I know the kind of pressures they face being viewed each day, some of them patiently sitting outside in all weathers for the public's enjoyment.

As usual, when I was down in the capital I caught up with a few familiar faces, in this case 'Echo and Narcissus', who appear in the Walker Art Gallery painting that is currently on loan to the Waterhouse exhibition at the Royal Academy. It's a fantastic exhibition which also features 'The Decameron' from the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

Angelica Vanasse is currently pursuing postgraduate studies in MRes Art & Design (Curatorial Practice) at Liverpool John Moores University.  Angelica recently lead a drawing workshop at the Walker Art Gallery and is here to tell us how it went. You can see more photos of the group and their work on Flickr.

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My research involves looking at the role of participants in art galleries, using the gallery as an immersive space for experiencing and interpreting artwork. Using the Walker Art Gallery’s sculpture collection as inspiration, I lead sculpture drawing workshops to explore this concept.

At one session, I gave the group a variety of tools and techniques that they could use during the workshop.  With pencil, graphite, charcoal, conte crayon and a variety of papers, the group spread out in the gallery to begin their creative investigation.  It was fascinating to see the varied ways in which all of the participants were negotiating their drawings. 

I worked with them on a one-on-one basis to help with their drawings, which included mapping out the drawings, investigating proportions and creating shading.  To help with breaking away from rigid focus, we also spent some time on gesture drawings with quick poses. 

I’ve discovered that using drawing as a way to interpret artwork encourages participants to look more carefully at the work around them and think about how it is made, as a way to create their own work. The session went really well - here are some of the comments from the group:

“I’d always thought sculpture was quite static and peaceful, but using different techniques - especially fast ones - creates an energy.  It must be similar to what a sculptor can visualize in a block of stone.”

“It made me look at items in more detail and appreciate form, light, lines, etc.  I enjoyed trying something semi-abstract.  I would love to come to another one!”

A huge thanks to the education team and gallery staff at the Walker Art Gallery for assisting in making this possible, as well as the wonderful participants who attended!

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.

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
 

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).

 

Hello there

Thank you to everybody who voted for the International Slavery Museum in The National Lottery Good Causes Awards. We find out if we have made it through to the final on 3 August so watch this space. If we do make it through to the live TV show then I'll have to get my suit down to Johnson's, dig out my Homer Simpson tie and practice my TV smile!

Talking of smiles (now that is a good link) I saw the most famous in the world recently whilst I was on a weekend break to Paris. We spent nearly a whole day in the Louvre and 'tried' to get a close look at Leonardo Da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' or 'La Gioconda' (an alternative title as the sitter is probably the wife of an Italian merchant called Francesco del Giocondo). As you can see from the picture the Mona Lisa draws crowds of visitors most museums can only dream of. It really is a sight to behold although there is hardly any room to stand and admire the picture as people are busy barging past. As a museum professional I am almost as interested in the behavior of the visitor as much as the collections themselves though. Don't expect to be able to stand in front of her and act like an art connoisseur but still worth the effort if you ever visit.

The Louvre really is an enormous place and deserves days rather a day to see it. I suggest setting your sights on seeing a couple of galleries or even just several specific objects. It will still take you a while to get there! We also visited the sumptuous apartments of Napoleon III tucked away in their own wing and the Egyptian collections. I think the same goes though when you visit one of our venues here in Liverpool. You will never be able to see everything in one day so think about what interests you the most and start from there. You will undoubtedly pass something else which catches your eye. I loved visiting museums before I worked in them so I still have to fight the urge of spending all afternoon wandering the galleries at the World Museum Liverpool or Maritime Museum after a meeting!

Whilst in Paris we also went to visit the apartment of Le Corbusier, one of the most important figures in modern architecture and design. Something of which I am particularly interested. Another seamless link here is that Le Corbusier, like Da Vinci, used the proportions of the human body to improve both the function and appearance of architecture. Le Corbusier called his system the Modulor whereas Da Vinci's produced a famous version of the Vitruvian Man. You might not know his name or that Da Vinci drew him but think of the multi-limbed man in the square and the circle! 

Le Corbusiers apartment was not particularly large or in any way luxurious as one might expect from someone of his standing but it was truly functional and built around his own needs. It made me think of just how much space we actually need to use in our own homes. The apartment also contained many pieces of furniture and design features we now take for granted – such as its open plan feeling where the living and dining areas are integrated. I could go on but I might become a bit of an anorak.

Closer to home, the Walker Art Gallery has a new exhibition called New Radicals: From Sickert to Freud which features some fine examples of Modernist art for those of you who have a Modernist streak in you.

Au revoir for now.

Here's a photo of a double celebration in the volunteers team. On the left is Sarah, who you may remember received her first v50 certificate for completing 50 hours as a volunteer in March. Sarah has just achieved her second v50 - bringing her total to more than 100 hours now.

With Sarah is another Big Art volunteer, Louise, who has just received her first v50 certificate. After all those hours of hard work with the younger (and therefore more energetic) visitors to the Walker Art Gallery, I'm sure you'll agree that they deserve a sit down!

The v50 certificates are awarded as part of National Museums Liverpool's dedicated youth volunteering programme aimed specifically at 16-25 year olds, funded by v, the youth volunteering charity.

If you would like to find out more about youth volunteering at National Museums Liverpool please email our youth volunteer officer Claire Olson.

Louise told us:
 
"I have enjoyed helping the children in Big Art to appreciate and be inspired by art through fun art activities. I have gained many skills and it has been a great opportunity."

 

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.

Across the National Museums Liverpool website, we have loads of great games, e-cards, online-only exhibitions, videos, interactives and podcasts for you to enjoy. And we've just launched our new VIP Zone as a hub for all these cool features that really bring our collections and exhibitions to life.

You can watch a video of a Pharaoh talking about life in ancient Egypt or download a talk by curator Pauline Rushton and photographer Francesco Mellina about our Sound and Vision exhibition - photographs of Liverpool music and fashion from 1978-82.

This multi-media stuff gives people from around the world the chance to get a better experience of what we have in our venues, even if they can't come along in real life.

You can also find all our social networking sites in the VIP Zone. So if you want to follow the new Museum of Liverpool on Twitter or join the Walker Facebook group then you can find links to our social sites there too.

Here's one of the latest videos we've put online featuring George Holt, the former owner of Sudley House, in the dining room. He talks about dinner parties, his plans for improving the city of Liverpool and describes some of the paintings in the room.

Regular visitors to the Walker Art Gallery may have missed some familiar faces from the Pre-Raphaelite room in recent months. Such is the enduring popularity of the Pre-Raphaelites that from time to time our works go travelling around the world on loan to other galleries. This time it was to an exhibition at Nationalmuseum Stockholm, but I’m happy to tell you they are now back where they belong.

You may well be seeing even more of one the returning works, Lorenzo and Isabella, as it is featured in the new BBC drama Desperate Romantics.

If you’re heading into town for Beatles Day on 10th July stop off at The Beat Goes On to see its fantastic array of Beatles memorabilia - but don’t neglect the Walker Art Gallery. The Walker may not stand out as major landmark on the Beatles trail but it is actually a rather interesting (and not insignificant) footnote in the Beatles' story.

When Paul McCartney’s exhibition of paintings at the Walker was planned, he recalled how he and John would spend 'many a pleasant afternoon’ in the gallery. It’s difficult to get your head round - the young two mates swaggering through the galleries, fooling about, mulling over the paintings. Boy, would I have loved to have been a fly on the wall, listening to what they said about the pictures - I have a suspicion they may have had a few things to say about the nudes, for one!

In fairness to John it makes perfect sense that they spent time in the Walker. Art was a recurring theme that ran throughout his life and here was this highly-acclaimed gallery right on the doorstep. John was at art school after all and he had a talent for sketching that he later shared in his books, 'In His Own Write' and 'A Spaniard In the Works'.

Another major artistic link in the chain was of course Stuart Sutcliffe. Stuart was John’s best friend and they were at college together. Such was Stu’s talent that he exhibited a painting at the Walker in 1959 and artworks by Stu remain in the gallery's collection. The way history tells it, Stu used the money from the sale of his painting to buy a guitar. When he set off to Hamburg with the band he met photographer Astrid Kirchherr and her boyfriend Klauss Voorman. The couple had a big influence on the style of the boys giving them their trademark ‘mop tops’ (and coincidentally Klauss went on to design the Revolver album cover). Stu and Astrid became an item and the young artist swiftly returned to his true calling of painting. Sadly he died prematurely of a brain haemorrhage before he could fulfil his potenital. He is buried locally in Huyton.

Despite Stu’s passing, art continued to play a decisive role in John Lennon’s life. It was in an art gallery (the Indica) that John met Yoko Ono, herself a credible and well-established avant-garde artist. It’s clear that Yoko stimulated John creatively and intellectually. John had loved and admired Stu but he may well have felt inadequate in his shadow. Yoko on other hand  gave him the confidence to take himself seriously in artistic terms and validated his ideas outside the field of music. I sometimes wonder if it the loss of Stu that later propelled John into such an all-consuming and intense relationship with an artist. All I can say for sure is that art had a pivotal role to play in the lives of John, Stu and even Paul – and I’d like to think that the Walker played some small part in that.

Note: You can see the pictured Beatle suit as well as other garments and memorabilia in The Beat Goes On exhibition at World Museum until 1 November 2009.The photograph shows the suit in the Walker's Craft & Design gallery in a previous display.  

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.

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Inspired by the exhibition we're also running an 'Iconic Portraits' competition - enter to be in with a chance to be styled as one of four icons from the exhibition and be photographed by professional photographer, Zoe Richards, at the Knowsley Hall estate! 

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.

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Update: As Art in the Age of Steam at the Walker won ‘Tourism Experience of the Year’, this means we're now automatically finalists in the England’s Northwest Tourism Awards that will be held in September at Blackpool Tower. If we're successful there, we could be entered for the Enjoy England Excellence Awards!

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.
 

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.

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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.)

Here at the press office it can get pretty busy at times, so we are very grateful for the generous help of our volunteers. Matthew Linden has been with us for several months so we felt it was time he had a break from the office and took a trip around the venues. Here is what he discovered:

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I’ve been carrying out voluntary work in the Press Office since February 2009.  I have a degree in the History of Art, and was asked to write a piece on a favourite artwork at the Walker Art Gallery.  On visiting I was immediately affected by The Falling Warrior (bronze), originally a public sculpture created by Henry Moore between 1956 and 1957.

The sculpture is seen standing on the first floor, placed centrally, an ornament dominating the interior landscape, and an object designated as the intended focal point of the audiences’ attention.

The sculpture seemingly ‘rests’ on a platform, it possesses a dark, decaying exterior, with a contrasting smooth and rugged organic surface.  As one approaches the enigmatic form, one is drawn in; but on closer inspection, the figure is not ‘resting’ – Moore’s human form is abstract, dynamic, expansive, protecting itself with a shield, struggling for life, close to death, a body with no identity, full of ambiguity.  Who is this stranger, this ‘falling warrior’?

The sculpture suggests the simultaneous act of birth and death, an infant and a corpse, the beginning and the end, echoing Moore’s experience of the pain and trauma of the two World Wars.  ‘I wanted a figure that was still alive…in the act of falling…emphasising the dramatic moment that precedes death’, says Moore.

As the viewer walks away from ‘the falling warrior’, the figure remains on the horizon, evoking history and the past, the memory and experience not forgotten

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.

Press Officer Ed Casson has been getting up close to a new installation at the Walker - read on to find out what he's been up to...

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Visitors to the Walker Art Gallery are being encouraged to take a seat to enjoy art. Six unusually-designed chairs have been placed in Room 15 for people to sit on and admire, and I was one of the first to try them out. The installation is titled ‘Sitting On Art’ and the chairs can be freely moved around the room.

Designs include Harry Bertoias’ uncomfortable-looking wire diamond chair (cushions definitely needed for any sustained sitting), Verner Panton’s 1960 blue plastic chair (the first design for a plastic chair that could be made by injection moulding in a single piece) and the 1988 Dr Glob chair by Philippe Starck (which simply has front and back legs of different sizes).

Each design is famous and unique in its own right, reflecting the designers breaking free of the past and using up-to-date techniques and materials, such as tubular steel, plywood and plastics. The chairs are not the date of their design, but quite new. Some are reproductions, others have never gone out of production. That is why they are art you can sit on.

My personal favourite is the blue plastic chair, although I wouldn’t advise any adults to take a seat on its little brother (I foolishly did) which is also on display and clearly designed for children.

Sitting on art is one thing, breaking it is definitely another.

Here's the last review of our venues written by visiting art historian Eleanor Beyer from the British Museum's conservation and science department. In addition to visiting the paper conservation department in the National Conservation Centre, Eleanor had a look round Sudley House and the Lady Lever Art Gallery. We couldn't really let her go back to London without seeing the Walker as well. Here's what she thought of it:

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"After visiting the National Conservation Centre it was great to go to the Walker to see where the conserved pictures go – some to newly decorated galleries like the sumptuous Georgian style gallery (room 5) which was a perfect setting for the full length Gainsborough and Reynolds portraits. I liked the way Liverpool mixed old and new, with contemporary displays in some of the galleries and old masters in others. The High Victorian gallery (room 8) was also fun, with Edward Burne-Jones' (1833-1898) painting, 'Study for The Sleeping Knights', showing the knights asleep on verdant green vegetation, beautifully offset by the gallery walls.

Having talked to Nicky at the Conservation Centre I could imagine how varied working to care for this sort of collection is. Staff mentioned how complex managing the building can be as well, for instance retaining the past context of the nineteenth century building at the same time as making displays visually appealing to a modern audience. Although much of the building was changed in the 1940s when new galleries were added and improved lighting put in, the museum still retains its character. I particularly enjoyed the sculpture gallery which reminded me of the casts court at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where statues of similar style jostle for space with one another.

I returned to The British Museum thinking of how much galleries in museums have changed since the nineteenth century with better lighting, stimulating gallery events, and with a mix of - often abstract - contemporary art with older pieces. At the British Museum for instance modern objects were displayed next to ancient objects in a recent exhibition in which artists like Damien Hirst and Marc Quinn were invited to contribute. In 'Living and Dying' (Room 24, The Wellcome Trust Gallery) the display ranges from a nineteenth century death mask from the Indian Ocean to the recent work 'Cradle to Grave' (2003) which consists of lines of pills. Seeing both recent art work and old master's works offer a different visual experience and interest to visitors."

Liverpool street fashion has always been an inspiration for professional and budding photographers alike. In 2006 we held the Street Life exhibition at the National Conservation Centre, which celebrated the unique styles of the residents of Liverpool no matter what their age. Our current Fashion V Sport exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery has inspired Creative and Media Diploma students from Liverpool Community College to create some striking images that explore current fashion trends among young people today. These images have been brought together to form Street Fashion, an exhibition in two parts; photographs by Level 2 students are currently on display until 29 April and Level 3 students will show from 1-31 May.

Also inspired by Fashion V Sport is our style-spotting competition! We are offering fashionistas the chance to win a £50 voucher for All Saints, Nike or Urban Outfitters or you could win tickets to see Pink or  Blur.  To be in with a chance of winning, come along to the gallery on Saturday 18 April when style-spotters from the Radio City Ground Crew will be at the exhibition. If you dress to impress then they might choose you to be a winner…

Press officer, Ed Casson, tells us about a fascinating soundtrack that has been created to accompany one of our most popular paintings...

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If someone asked you to describe a painting, how would you go about it – would you be objective or subjective? For visually-impaired artist Alison Jones that was the key to her project 'Arts, Lies and Audio Tapes' – to explore issues of interpretation and censorship. 

Aigburth-born Alison invited visitors to the Walker Art Gallery to give descriptions of the famous William Yeames painting 'And When Did You Last See Your Father?' While some people were happy to give brief explanations of what they saw, others spent up to an hour outlining each precise detail of the piece. Alison edited these together to create a soundtrack, which was then played in front of an imprecise line drawing of the painting at a Liverpool DaDafest exhibition.

This fascinating recording has now been added to the 'And When Did You Last See Your Father?' page on our website where you can also see the painting, which shows a Royalist house under occupation by Parliamentarians and a young boy being interrogated as to the whereabouts of the master of the house.

Alison – the arts manager for Liverpool DaDa (Disability and Deaf Arts) – has recorded an interview with Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour about the project, which will be broadcast later this year.

At the end of March, we held a launch party to celebrate the release of 'Something Wild… at the Walker Art Gallery' - the very first storybook that National Museums Liverpool has published. Public Programmes Officer Nicky Fawcett can tell us what went on at the launch...

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We wanted to hold a launch party to thank everyone who had helped create the book and to encourage Liverpool primary schools to take up their entitlement to a free copy of Something Wild… All the children from St Pascal Baylon and St Columbas Out of school clubs were invited as they had worked with Kate Pankhurst to help draw the illustrations for the book.  The Mayor also came to the launch and gave out free copies of the book and a goody bag to everyone that took part. He congratulated the young illustrators on all of their hard work in bringing the book to life.

The launch was lots of fun as we had organised plenty of activities that families could take part in. The storytelling sessions proved most popular and 'Jenny the Artist', one of the characters from the book, led an exciting tour of the gallery to find all of the paintings and objects featured in the book.  We also had a mask making workshop and afterwards many of the children were wearing the horse, pig or bird masks they had made around the gallery!

The launch was a huge success and it was great to see just how much everyone enjoyed the night and most importantly the book itself.  We’re all looking forward to seeing families and schools having fun using the book at the gallery.

If you are a teacher in a Liverpool primary school, you can are entitled to a free copy of the book. If you are a parent who would like a copy to use with your children, you can buy a copy from the Walker (or any of our venues) or by mail order.

 

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!

Ah what can you say to describe the amazing PJ Harvey? Rock star. Legend. Fan of Nick Cave. Player of Gibson Firebird guitars. The most glamorous person to come from Dorset...and now a lover of bouncy castles! Let me explain. 

PJ Harvey has been recording with her long-time collaborator John Parish and the first single from their forthcoming album will be out on 13 April. The video for this single, 'Black Hearted Love', has been made by British artists Jake and Dinos Chapman who we were pleased to have on the jury for the recent John Moores 25 Contemporary Painting Prize at the Walker Art Gallery.

The video is pretty cool I think, spooky yet graceful is what I'd say. Here's what the Chapman brothers said about it: "We decided 'Black Hearted Love' deserved something haunting and enigmatic - yet brazen and colourful. Hence, a collision between an ominous forest and a garish bouncy castle seemed entirely appropriate..." (Quote from NME.com)

Have a look and see what you think...

At National Museums Liverpool we have a dedicated youth volunteering programme aimed specifically at 16-25 year olds, funded by v, the youth volunteering charity. Young people can get involved with all kinds of interesting and fun volunteer projects and if they complete 50 hours of volunteer work they are awarded a v50 Award certificate.

Our latest volunteer to achieve their v50 is Sarah. Both the Learning team at the Walker Art Gallery and the Volunteers team would like to congratulate Sarah on her achievement and hard work within the gallery – well done Sarah!

If you are aged 16-25 and would like to find out more about youth volunteering at National Museums Liverpool, please email our youth volunteer officer Claire Olson.

Here’s what Sarah has to say about her time volunteering:

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"Hello I’m Sarah and I’m 24. I volunteer in Big Art for Little Artists at the Walker Art Gallery and I have just completed my v50 Award.

I love volunteering in Big Art, as you meet and get the chance to talk to many young children and each day is different. I enjoy helping the children to use the wide range of interactive and practical resources. I especially like assisting them with the craft activities, such as making magic maize pictures, finger puppets etc.

As well as logging my hours for when I volunteer in Big Art, I also went on a Disability, Diversity and Equality training course for my v50 Award, which I found really interesting."

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.

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.

The late George Melly had a long association with Liverpool's art galleries. This dates back to before the war when as a child he would visit his cousin Emma, who would tell him all about the paintings she owned and read him Beatrix Potter in her library. Cousin Emma just happened to be a certain Emma Holt and her library and painting collection were, and still are, part of Sudley House.

Years later Melly was a familiar figure at the Walker Art Gallery, whether on official duty as a judge of the John Moores 20 exhibition or opening speaker at the Aubrey Beardsley exhibition, or just as a visitor, unmistakable in his loud suits.

It's entirely appropriate then that an exhibition of portraits of 'Good time George' by the distinguished contemporary artist Maggi Hambling, is being shown together for the first time at the Walker. George always, which opens today, is a riot of colour and personality. Melly was a great friend of Hambling's and sat for her many times. After Melly's death in July 2007 she continued to paint a series of portraits from memory and imagination. The most recently completed triptych from this series has not been on public display before.

We've just published a cute little pocket guide to many of the fab happenings at NML in 2008. It's good to revisit highlights like Ben Johnson's residency, the Superlambananas, the opening of Seized! and exhibitions like Art In The Age of Steam and The Beat Goes On.

You can download your copy of The Little Book of Big Highlights here (pdf 6mb).

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!

I have long been fascinated by artists’ preoccupations with all aspects of love in works at the Walker Art Gallery. Radio Merseyside asked me to talk about some of my favourites so I took a walk around the gallery with presenter Claire Hamilton for a Valentine's Day feature.

Creative artists often smoulder with passions that spill out on to their canvases or through their chisels. They can choose equally passionate subjects, being drawn to affairs of the heart in all its forms.

I have been intrigued by Henry Holiday's 'Dante and Beatrice' (pictured) since I was a child. My father took great pleasure in telling how he walked over the Santa Trinità Bridge in Florence, seen in the painting. Poet Dante loved Beatrice from afar and it remained a platonic love - he married someone else. Here Beatrice cuts him in the street following some misunderstanding, although her two girl companions look knowingly at Dante who dramatically clutches his heart.  

Over on the other side of the room is Rossetti's famous symbol-strewn picture 'Dante's Dream'. Love leads Dante to Beatrice's death bed. Flowers, depicting purity and virginity, are scattered about - a flickering lamp depicts Death.

Next we are on our way to the Tudors and the era of courtly love but pause at 'The Betrothal' from Rembrandt's studio. This well-dressed couple do not really look very happy. It is a gloomy canvas full of sombre hues - not the ideal engagement present. Perhaps this was an arranged, dynastic marriage. He gazes at her with some semblance of affection, she looks out at us as if to cry 'Help!'

Standing by the massive portrait of 'Henry VIII', we muse on the romantic tastes of this most kingly of kings. Standing at about 6 ft 2 inches, he was hugely successful with the ladies and famously made a habit of getting married. Henry certainly took huge risks in breaking with Rome so he could marry Anne Boleyn before moving on to four other wives. Holbein, who did the original version of this painting, captures the king in his awe-inspiring majesty.

Next to it hangs 'Portrait of a Man of the Delves Family' painted by an unknown British Tudor artist 40 years later. This courtly gentleman in orange tights stands in a Garden of Love holding hands with his late wife (her face symbolically covered with leafy fronds). Armour piled at Delves' feet indicates that not only was he proficient in the art of love and had good legs but he could fight as well.

We end with 'TheTinted Venus' by John Gibson, a flesh-tinted marble goddess denounced by the Victorians as "a naked impudent English woman". Pygmalion-like, Gibson loved his statue so much that he refused to part from it for years.

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.

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.

Here's the latest picture from Superfiveadaybanana's travels to local schools. Today the handling and transport team shepherded the sculpture from Brae Street School to St Michael's School in Kensington.

This is the latest move in a busy month for the team, which has involved taking plant models from World Museum Liverpool to Wrexham Museum for an exhibition and returning the huge Peter Doig painting 'Blotter' to the Walker after it had been out on loan. Closer to home, the team have also transported some delicate pieces of sculpture from our stores to the National Conservation Centre for assessment and treatment, as well as helping to install the next big exhibition at the Walker, Fashion V Sport. You can see some of what they've been up to in the Moving Stories photographs on Flickr.

As David Bowie would say; "fa-fa-fa-fa-fashion" - it's a funny old thing. For spring/summer 2009 newspapers and magazines are saying 'there are no trends this season, anything goes.' Isn't that just called individuality?! Anyway, while Yves Saint Laurent goes about trying to convince us that his new 'cage boot' is somehow beautiful (it's not) and wearable (I doubt it) I had a couple of thoughts of my own about new items which I reckon are pretty cool right now.

Firstly, and perhaps most controversially, are 'geek specs'. I've gone for a fetching pair of tortoiseshell Ray-Ban style ones from ebay. Admittedly, I am waiting to wear them on a night out where I won't meet anyone I know, in case they exclaim; "I didn't know you wore glasses!" and I have to sheepishly admit that I don't and it's just a so-called fashion thing. Maybe I'll try them at a club-night in Bolton?

Secondly, following on from the end of 2008, I like knotted scarves. Avoiding looking like Dot Cotton is of course a consideration, but I think rolling a small one up and tying it with a knot sitting on top of your head kind of works. You feel a bit like a 1940s land girl. Sort of.

Lastly, my most recent addition is a slouchy longer-length blazer with an embroidered emblem on the pocket. Elle magazine seem to be mentioning this kind of thing as a good item to get your hands on - though I bet the version they featured is much more expensive than mine, which I got for a fiver from an ace vintage shop.

Also on the subject of fashion, check back here soon for regular blogs about the upcoming 'Fashion V Sport' exhibition that will open on Friday 13 February at the Walker Art Gallery. Expect a sequinned Chanel 'wetsuit', Stella McCartney sportswear and lots of trainers!

Now, if I could just fit some 'party feet' gel pads into those YSL cage boots, I'm sure they'd be really comfy?

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. 

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.

I'm getting very excited now that there's less than a week to go before Christmas, especially as I've been fairly organised this year and have sent all my cards and bought or made all my presents already. Can you feel my smugness?

If you're still panicking about Christmas then don't worry, we're here to help. If you miss the last posting date for first class post tomorrow then you could always send a free vintage e-card from our selection from the Decorative Art collection.

Anyone worried about what to do with the family over Christmas may be interested in our programme of free events and activities throughout the Christmas holidays at our venues.

Looking further ahead, keep the evening of Saturday 10 January 2009 free in your diary for the Transition events, celebrating the end of the Capital of Culture in style. The Maritime museum and International Slavery Museum will be open until 10pm that evening with a programme of free entertainment, see our Transition: Liverpool Late Night page for further details.

The fun doesn't end there though as we have lots of great exhibitions to come featuring fashion, Freud, football, French Impressionists and more things that don't even begin with the letter f - see our exhibition programme for 2009 for further details.

And one last thing on the subject of great exhibitions, don't forget to vote for your favourite exhibition of 2008 in our poll.

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.

We've been following the progress of Kensington Youth Inclusion Project on the blog, from when they first started working on ideas based on the John Moores 25 exhibition, to doing paintings of their own with artist Keiron Finnetty, right up to now, with the final display of their paintings in the gallery at the weekend. The group have even tried their hand at Haiku and rhyming couplet poems inspired by the exhibition! We recorded their readings of these poems and they'll be available to download as a podcast on the website soon.  Here is Learning Officer Lauren Gould's final words on the work of these budding artists:

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After a lot of hard work by our young group of artists from the Kensington Youth Inclusion Project, their masterpieces were finally unveiled at the Walker Art Gallery on Saturday 7 December. 

Be sure to make a trip down to the Walker to see these unique takes on paintings in the John Moores 25 exhibition before the show closes on 4 January 2009; a great way to walk off those extra Christmas calories!

The people in the house behind mine have already put up a Santa and sleigh made of flashing lights, blue icicles on every bit of guttering and a large grinning snowman - I shudder to think what the carbon footprint of all that is! But for all this bah-humbug-ness of mine, it is nearly Christmas and at the weekend the Walker got it's decorations up on the tree in style. Press Assistant Alison Cornmell was there to join in the fun:

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At the weekend children gathered around our giant Christmas tree outside the Walker Art Gallery, making this Christmas one they won’t forget. Chairman Phil Redmond invited local schools to design and make Christmas decorations that were hung on the giant tree by a stilt-walking Jack Frost. Jack had to brave the elements to make it to the Walker, but eventually he made it and the tree decorating was underway by the afternoon.

Schools including Belle Vale Catholic Primary School, Our Lady of Assumption Primary School, Blackmoor Park Junior School, Pleasant Street Primary School, Notre Dame Catholic College, Holly Lodge Girls College, West Derby Comprehensive School and Gateacre Comprehensive School all got involved in the festive spirit.

Outside, children and families gathered to watch Jack Frost decorate the tree and inside the Christmas activities continued. Visitors were invited to join in Christmas themed activities and workshops including Christmas storytelling, lantern making and a musical performance. 

Not only has the Walker Art Gallery been taken over by the Christmas spirit, so has the website. Online you can send Christmas e-cards and open the virtual windows on our advent calender.

For some people shoes are just a practical necessity to stop your socks getting wet and tatty, while for others shoes can be more of an obsession. Here's an early Christmas present for anyone in the second category.

There are lots of shoes of all shapes and sizes in the collections at National Museums Liverpool's venues. For the first time ever we've gathered together a selection of them in a brand new shoes online exhibition. The online exhibition features a range of fabulous footwear, from the rather bling Terry de Havilland platforms shown here, to a fragment of a leather heel from a 17th century shipwreck. There's also a lot of publicity material from the archive of local shoe makers and retailers J Collinson & Company, which is now held in the Maritime Archives and Library.

Most of the shoes and shoe-related items in the online exhibition are currently in storage, so the only place to see them all together is on the website. So indulge your inner Carrie Bradshaw and take an online stroll round the collections. Go on, you know you want to.

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!

So the prices of new potatoes and i-pods are going up and we're being told to be prepared for a measly Christmas. But what does this mean for fashion? Will we be wearing polyester smocks for spring/summer 2009? Well one theory is that hemlines rise and fall with the stock market, so maybe we can expect ankle-skimming skirts to be everywhere. Though a recent article in the Guardian argues that this rule doesn't really work as; 'During the wartime years, arguably the period of greatest privation in modern history, hemlines were shorter than before or after the war.'

I think the tenacious fashion world will be ok as it's been through harder times than this and still made it to the other side with great style. Times are of course not as tough as during the second world war, when people had to 'make do and mend' while also facing the rationing of clothes and the introduction of 'utility' wear.  And this didn't mean combat trousers from Gap!

One of our curators, Alyson Pollard, will be giving an insight into these hard times for fashion, in a talk about our 1950s dresses display at the Walker Art Gallery.

She explains; 'From 1939 women had learnt how to cope with the shortages caused by the war. However, in June 1941 the shortage of material for clothing was so severe that the government introduced clothing rationing. Clothing could only be purchased by giving up a fixed number of coupons from a very limited quota. Each person was given 60 coupons for the year; a skirt was seven coupons, a short jacket  was 11 and shoes were five coupons. Buying enough clothing for a whole year was a struggle.'

Though despite these restrictions on clothes, the '1940s look' is still one that remains extremely popular - remember Kate Moss and her tea-dresses from this summer? After the war ended, gradually the fashion world got back on its feet and was able to celebrate the end of rationing by designing dresses using acres of fabric - the classic fifties look was born! Our object of the month, a stunning evening dress by the designer Jean Dessès, is a great example of this.

If you want to find out more about the dresses of this period, then come along to Alyson's gallery talk on Wednesday 26 November at 1pm at the Walker. And the best thing is that like all our talks, it's absolutley free. So beat the credit crunch and come along!

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There are two new exhibitions for 2009 that explore different aspects of fashion; 'Fashion V Sport' at the Walker and a Francesco Mellina photographic exhibition at the National Conservation Centre. Check our forthcoming exhibition listings for more information.

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...

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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. 

It’s World Toilet Day.  There’s no polite way of introducing it – you’ve just got to say it. You have to wonder who thinks these things up, but then there is a serious and worthy message about the state of the world’s sanitation to be gleaned.

Actually, museums and art galleries have formed a healthy relationship with the toilet that goes back beyond Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ or urinal.  What self-respecting museum would be caught out without the humble (or in some cases the ridiculously ornate) chamber pot? You can see one that was designed for Napoleon, no less, in the Walker’s Craft & Design Gallery.

A quick internet search will reveal more toilet-related museums and collections than you imagine, including the Flushed With Pride gallery at Gladstone Pottery Museum  I love this female chamber pot or ‘Bourdalon’ at the Science Museum. Replica ‘pee’-pots (I’ve sanitised the phrase for blogging purposes) are still very much in demand in the historical re-enactment community. They are incredibly handy for using under inaccessible kirtles and petticoats (as well as in tents).  

In addition to the bog standard collection of chamber pots, National Museums Liverpool has got some top notch toilet exhibits. At the Seized! gallery at Maritime Museum you can see a ‘Special Isolation Unit’ or frost chamber which was used to locate internally smuggled drugs once they passed through the body. According to our web page, ‘Before its invention customs officers used rubber gloves and a colander, so this was seen as a much-needed replacement!’  Yak.

If lavatories are your idea of a laugh then look no further than The Walker’s truly spectacular Loophonium, which was designed and played by Fritz Spiegl, The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s former principal flautist. I’ve heard of toilet humour, but that is just ridiculous. 

Believe it or not we actually have a Loophonium e-card. I can’t think of many occasions when it would be appropriate to send it (although I can think of a few people who would fit the bill) so we may as well make the most of World Toilet Day.

But if you really want to celebrate World Toilet Day in style then how about downloading our podcast, and listening to it ...  on the loo?

Over the last few weeks the handling and transport team have been helping to prepare the Ancient Egypt gallery, which will open at World Museum Liverpool on 5 December. However in complete contrast to the ancient Egyptian artefacts, today they transported one of the newest works of art in our collections, the popular Superfiveadaybanana.

After spending the summer at the Walker Art Gallery, Superfiveadaybanana has been on display in local schools. Today Paul Kelly, Richard Roberts and Andrew Mountfield took the sculpture from Kensington New Park School to Kensington Junior School. Paul says that the children were really excited to have this unusual guest displayed in the main entrance to the school. You can see more of his photos of Superfiveadaybanana on the move on our Flickr page.

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...

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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.

As you are probably aware, the popular Ben Johnson exhibition at the Walker closed earlier this month. Most of the paintings in the exhibition were on loan from other collections, so they have been packed up ready to be returned. One of them, the 'Jerusalem' painting, was too big for the lift, so it was carefully carried down the stairs this morning. This was quite an operation - for every person supporting the painting on one side in the photo above, there's another person hidden on the other side.

The good news is that one of the paintings hasn't left the Walker. The Liverpool Cityscape belongs to National Museums Liverpool, so it will go back on display on 21 November once the gallery it is in has been rehung.

Have you ever wondered what exactly goes on behind closed doors after an exhibition has closed though? Here's your chance to find out, as there are some photos of the handling and transport team taking down the Ben Johnson exhibition on our Flickr pages. I'll let handling technician, senior driver and ace photographer Paul Kelly explain what's going on in them:

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"When works of art are to be moved from one location to another one of the principles we utilise is the creation of micro climatic conditions for the protection of the artwork. We achieve this by essentially wrapping the painting in large sheets of polythene which is then sealed. It sounds easier said than done simply because some of our works are extremely large and the Ben Johnson works fall into this category. The process is quite involved requiring assessment of the job in hand and almost telepathic communication between each member of the team if the goal is to be achieved safely. This work is seldom if ever seen by the general public because after the works are wrapped in Polythene they are put into large wooden crates then onto the vehicle that will transport them to their new location. Other work involved in dismantling an exhibition is the wrapping of the safety barriers and miscellaneous information boards - all part of just another day's activity for the handling team.

The crates used to transport large paintings need to be handled with extreme caution as they tend to be rather unstable when on the move and can be very heavy. We do have a wide range of skills and equipment to draw on and this enables members of the team to move these big objects effectively and safely."

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!

Here's a recommendation for anyone who like me (I'm ashamed to say) doesn't often make it further into the Walker than the exhibition galleries. If you venture as far as the far end of room 3 upstairs you can see a study for the Murillo painting 'Virgin and Child in Glory', which is really rather sweet.

The study is on long term loan to the Walker and is on display in a cabinet in front of the finished painting. Apparently the small oil sketch was probably painted as a 'modello' to show Murillo's patron Ambrosio Ignacio Spinola, Archbishop of Seville, before starting on the large altarpiece that is now in the Walker's collection. It's rather cool to be able to see them together and compare the two

I'm a bit of a fan of Titian - an artist who I must admit I knew very little about before the fantastic Titian exhibition at the National Gallery in 2003. Since then I've enjoyed any opportunity to see his work, so was very excited when the painting 'Supper at Emmaus' came to the Walker on long term loan the following year (it's still there - have a look next time you're in and see if you can spot the cat under the table!)

So as you can imagine, I'm looking forward to a trip down to London next month when I'm hoping to catch the exhibition Campaign for the Titians at the National Gallery, which reunites two of his paintings for the first time in two centuries - 'Death of Actaeon' from the National Gallery's collection and the prequel painting 'Diana and Actaeon', which is visiting London for one month only. This is a rare opportunity to see both paintings together but hopefully wont be the last chance we get, as the National Gallery and National Galleries of Scotland are hoping to jointly purchase 'Diana and Actaeon'. Fingers crossed...

This photograph may look like a scene from a horror movie but it’s actually just part of a fairly normal day’s work for driver and handling technician Andrew Mountfield. He captured the scene when the former Inspiration display at the Walker’s Craft and Design gallery was taken down and the new display of 1950s evening dresses was installed. I’ll let him explain:

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"After the decorative art curators had taken down the old display, we turned up to transport the bodies (sorry mannequins!) from the Walker Art Gallery to their final resting place at the Decorative Arts department.

Dave Moffat, assistant curator of decorative art, was the technical adviser for the day, with myself and Richard Roberts on the Transport and Handling team’s van. As you might imagine the restraint techniques involved in securing the multi positioned mannequins proved problematic to say the least, but luckily I was able to draw upon my years of experience in shifting bodies... (just kidding!).

The mannequins were actually from France, apart from the heads, which were sourced from the UK, and they were dressed in clothes by designers from around the world, which made the whole thing even more cosmopolitan and surreal than it was macabre!!

After everyone (sorry, the mannequins) were secure in the back of the van, and a final check of straps and protective coverings were in place we bid a momentary yet fond farewell to Dec Arts and left the Walker, happy and smiling.

As Richard and I drove along Dale Street, we both heard some scraping noises from the back and then some banging, followed by voices screaming 'Let Me Out, Let Me Out!' from the back of the van. We glanced at each other but we were both too scared to stop, after all, it is Halloween next week..."

I've always been fond of looking at old photographs. Whether it's a building which has long since been demolished, or a person from the dim and distant past, I've always found it interesting to wonder what they were like. 

In the Decorative Art Department, we have a large collection of photographs which we use for, amongst other things, dating our extensive costume collection. Some clothes in history were only fashionable for a short time and we can usually pin things down to a few years using the photographs. 

During a recent search through them, we came across this picture of one William Gihon. Taken on the 1st January 1864, it's fairly old for a photograph, but of more interest is the fact that in the photo (though he doesn't look it) he's 94. 

To think that we are looking at a image of someone who was born in the same year as James Cook's discovery of Australia, Mary Antoinette marrying Louis Auguste and William Wordsworth's birth is astonishing. 

It was Saturday. I had just finished watching ace band, Long Finger Bandits (painted faces, blues guitar, trumpets) at the Atelier Bow Wow Rockscape, when I saw these pavement artists at work. Taking over the whole of Ropewalks Square (that bit between Bold St and FACT) they were using pastels to create colourful masterpieces, despite the rather rubbish weather.

It turns out that this was part of something called the Carling Pavement Art Competition, named after a 19th century pavement artist called James William Carling. He used to 'screeve' chalks and pastels onto the pavements of Liverpool to earn money.

There were quite a range of artworks, from contemporary to more classic styles. One artist was doing an interpretation of 'Portrait of Mrs Catherine Smith Gill and two of her children', byTissot, (pictured here) which we have here at the Walker Art Gallery.

Despite being an Evertonian through and through, last week was quite a week for me in terms football encounters of the red variety.

First we had ex-captain and coach of Liverpool FC Phil Thompson attending the press launch of our new UEFA exhibition Only a Game? at World Museum Liverpool, and then I was lucky enough to meet some other famous LFC faces for a completely unrelated project.

This month’s national Big Draw campaign is aimed at getting people across the country to uncover their artistic abilities through a variety of creative projects, and in its 2008 Capital of Culture year Liverpool is having its Biggest EVER Draw.

Teaming up with a number of cultural centres around the city, NML has put on a programme of events which included a return visit to the Walker Art Gallery from Liverpool Cityscape artist Ben Johnson at the weekend.

Ben has worked with NML to encourage people to take part in an exciting project to recreate his Liverpool Cityscape as The People’s Panorama; dividing it into 400 squares and inviting Liverpool’s people - including Liverpool Manager Rafa Benitez! - to each draw a square…

So, in the name of art I swallowed my blue-pride and accompanied Ben Johnson on a trip to Liverpool FC’s Melwood training ground last week to get Mr Benitez to draw his square. Stepping into his office I couldn’t have gone any further into the heart of the ‘enemy’ if I’d tried, and the disloyalty to my team felt almost too much to bear. This feeling quickly vanished however on ‘bumping into’ Sammy Lee and the legend that is Kenny Dalglish as they left Rafa’s office. So, feeling quite overwhelmed, I resolved to enjoy the encounter…and help complete the mission to get Rafa to draw his little piece of Liverpool!

Rafa’s artwork can now be seen in the Liverpool Cityscape gallery at the Walker, alongside that of the Lord Mayor’s and 398 other people of Liverpool!

October's 'Name That Object' competition starts today. Here's the first clue with a slightly larger version on the competition page. As ever there'll be another clue every day this week with the answer on Saturday. The first person to mail me the correct answer, using the contact form on the competition page, wins the prize which this month is a copy of the John Moores 25 exhibition catalogue. Lotsa luck.

Yes, today is National Poetry Day and the theme this year is work! Not too sure how inspiring that is as a subject, however, the aim of this day is to get poems into places you may not normally expect to find them. This might be; on toilet doors, on trains, on tablecloths in cafés and anywhere else that a poem will fit!

Here at the Walker Art Gallery, we have a free poetry workshop today from 2-4pm, with local writer Gladys Mary Coles. She will be taking a group of visitors around the gallery to hopefully get some inspiration from the paintings and then assist the group in writing some poetry. To book, call 0151 478 4178.

The Bluecoat's first Chapter & Verse Literature Festival also kicks off today and you can go to free workshops and cool performance nights there for the next ten days. The final night of the festival, on Sunday 19 October, will be taken over by Heart Beats Poetry Night. This night will feature three exciting young poets, a band and free cake.

You can also send a free e-card, featuring poems from well-known writers if you want to spread some poetry love today. Just go to the National Poetry Day website.

Or if all this seems like a bit too much effort, why not just pick up some poetry and have a read at home with a cuppa? Sounds good to me.

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:

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I am particularly proud that Modern Liverpool 1907 (shown here) was acquired by Merseyside Maritime Museum last year as a result of my Maritime Tales column in the Liverpool Echo. The owner of this important oil painting rang me after I wrote about several historic views of Liverpool in our collections. He revealed that he had this large oil painting showing the city at the height of its Edwardian prosperity.

Ships of all sizes can be seen around the waterfront in this stunning aerial view of the bustling port. The city panorama was painted by Walter Richards as part of Liverpool’s 700th anniversary celebrations. There is a fascinating wealth of detail, particularly around the Pier Head, Prince’s Stage and nearby docks, some of which have long vanished.

A huge four-funnelled Cunard liner is moored alongside the Prince’s Stage. No name can be seen on the bows so it could be either the Mauretania or her doomed sister Lusitania, sunk by a German submarine in 1915. Many other ships can be seen, some from shipping lines identifiable by their funnels.

Three ferry boats, including a paddle steamer, are moored at the Pier Head while passengers come and go. In 1907 there were many more ferries than today, including services to New Brighton, Egremont, Rock Ferry, New Ferry, Seacombe, Birkenhead and Eastham. When the ferry service to Eastham ended in 1929, it marked the last use of paddle steamer ferries on the River Mersey.

Other ships depicted in the painting include tugs and tenders which assisted the big liners. Most of the vessels are steamers but there are a few sailing ships moored in the docks. Among the vanished docks depicted in Modern Liverpool 1907 is the George’s Dock standing between the Liver Building and the Port of Liverpool Building.

I recently went into the basement of the Cunard Building, which now stands on the site, to see a surviving section of the George’s Dock wall. I closely examined the huge sandstone blocks which are almost seamlessly mortared together. It was quite emotive for me because my Guy ancestors were living and working within sight of the dock when it was built. One was mariner Peter Guy, who was 35 in 1771. He worked as a tidesman – a customs officer who boarded merchant ships. For a time he was also employed as Liverpool’s postman or letter carrier – when only the rich and influential generally received letters.

Modern Liverpool 1907 is currently on show at the Walker Art Gallery in the 'Historic Liverpool Cityscapes' section of the Ben Johnson's Liverpool Cityscape 2008 and the World Panorama Series exhibition. The exhibition is open until 2 November.

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).

The following poem was written in September 2008 by Matthew, aged 20, following a visit to see ‘The Liverpool Cityscape’ by art teachers and inmates from the Learning and Skills section at Thorn Cross Young Offenders Institute in Warrington.

In the video on the gallery Ben Johnson (who painted the cityscape) says he hopes that visitors will put themselves in the picture - populate it with their minds - and Matthew seems to have been inspired by this. We think his poem is really good and Matthew has been kind enough to allow us to share it with other visitors.

What if the painting was in our imagination?

What if boats docked at the train station?

What if the picture was just vegetation?

I wouldn’t be here with a look of fascination.

As far as the eye can see I stare

I am a massive work of art

I was made with pencils, paints and stencils

I am a piece of Ben Johnson’s heart

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.

Another month, another competition and another prize in our 'name that object' competition. Actually, it's the same prize as last month - a set of Beatles figures - but as so many people entered last time we figured they were popular and are offering another set this month. First clue appears on Monday morning (22nd). If you're keen to get your mitts on the figures you might want to visit the John Moores exhibition that starts this weekend and have a wander around the rest of the gallery while you are there...

About 18 months ago John Edmondson used this blog to appeal for living descendents of William Roscoe to get in touch. Plenty of people did contact him and some met up (see John's follow up below). If you'd like to contact John about this project use this contact form.

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To mark the publication of Jyll Bradley's book "Mr Roscoe's Garden" on the history of Liverpool's botanic gardens, and the launch of her photographic exhibition "The Botanic Garden" at the Walker Art Gallery, a reunion of William Roscoe's relatives took place on 17 September 2008. Eight descendents of the Roscoe family (the youngest only twelve days old) met at World Museum Liverpool for a chance to inspect Roscoe's cultivated plant collections from the original Liverpool Botanic Garden, after which they visited the City Library where Janet Graham, special collections librarian, showed them some of his botanical drawings in the Oak Room. The visit concluded with lunch at the Athenaeum, founded by William Roscoe in 1797.
 
Plans were discussed for a more extensive reunion of Roscoe family members in 2010, by which time we hope that the contacts established today will have led to a 'joining up' of the various family trees. One family has traced its ancestors back to William Roscoe's grandparents and beyond, to the delight of others who had been unable to progress beyond his father. We look forward to hearing from other Roscoe relatives so that we can update them with these plans.

I had an email from fellow Wiganer and author of ‘Pies and Prejudice’ Stuart Maconie today. (You won’t hear me utter the ‘W’ word very often being a Saints fan, and incase you were wondering Saints and Wigan drew last week. But I digress).

Actually, it was really from England’s Northwest announcing a new set of short stories penned by the Radio 2 presenter. Each tale highlights some of the fantastic things you can do in the North West. Now I am a bit of a fan of Mr Maconie on account of his excellent musical knowledge and the fact that he always turns up at local events and supports grass roots events. I like that. So I have signed up online for a free copy (yes – FREE copy) of his short stories which will go to print early next year.

One of the stories is entitled ‘Liverpool Museums’ and we don’t feature as much as you'd expect – but he does give the Lady Lever Art Gallery and the Walker Art Gallery a mention, so I’ll let him off. Infact, what he actually says is, “Liverpool has galleries the way some cities have roadworks and the Walker is the Bill Shankly and daddy of them all”. High praise (but I hope it doesn’t put the Evertonians off).

Slightly less satisfying is the fact that The Beat Goes On exhibition is overlooked in the 'Liverpool Music' story. He does talk about Eric’s and The Beatles  though – and given Liverpool’s musical pedigree I expect it is quite difficult to squeeze it all in.

Stuart, if you are out there then come and see the exhibition because you would absolutely love it, from Billy Fury’s guitar to The Zutons’ video props, but especially all the Eric’s stuff. I’ll stand you a pie and a pint if you make it.

While I’m here I’d also like to extend that offer to Mr Charley Boorman who metaphorically sprinted through Liverpool on his latest adventure, 'By Any Means'. I have been following Charley for many a year, in the motorbike series 'Long Way Round' and 'Long Way Down' with Ewan McGregor, as well as the brilliant 'Race to Dakar'. So I was absolutely gutted when he jumped off the ferry in Liverpool, hailed a black cab and legged it onto the train at Lime Street without seeing anything at all. To add insult to injury he went on to sleep overnight at the Transport Museum in Coventry where one of his Long Way bikes resides. And he didn't even say hello!

Note to Charley - all is forgiven - but you definately should’ve used the Wacker Quacker if you were looking for different types of transport.

If you didn't have access to a computer over the weekend you mightn't have seen the answer to August's 'name that object' competition. The answer was 'The Annunciation' by Edward Coley Burne-Jones, and the winner was C Sharp of Liverpool. Another competition and another prize next month.

This week saw the unveiling of the mysterious 'Arbores Laetae' or 'Joyful Trees' which started spinning near the Cains Brewery in Liverpool, to herald the run up to this year's Liverpool Biennial.  It all kicks off on 20 September, with the announcement of the winner of the John Moores 25 Contemporary Painting Prize at the Walker Art Gallery.

The creation of artists Diller Scofidio + Renfro, these spinning trees are certainly a bit spooky, but also not great if a dog decides to spend a penny nearby I think. Here is a video so you can check it out for yourself:

We're cutting it a bit fine with the August 'name that object' competition, but are launching it on Tuesday 26th August (so the final clue will be on Saturday 30th). The prize this month is this fab but vaguely surreal set of Beatles figures. I say surreal because, as you may have noticed, there's a crocodile on stage with them.  The figures are 'straight from the classic Beatles cartoon series' that launched in the US in 1965, and apparently the croc featured in the series. The mind boggles.

Anyhoo, should you wish to give the Fab Four and their crocodilian friend a home you first need to name the object from our collection. It's an artwork, with a new detail being revealed each day for five days. Enter using the link on the competition page.

Should you fail to win I'm reliably informed that you can buy these sets in the World Museum Liverpool giftshop where they are on sale as part of the The Beat Goes On exhibition.

They’re not small, or fluffy, but they have certainly proved to be cute and cuddly.

The Superlambananas, which have taken the city by storm in Culture Capital year, are now approaching their final week on display and I will be sad to see them go.

Here at National Museums Liverpool, we have been watching visitors engage with our own Superlambananas – located at World Museum Liverpool, The Walker Art Gallery, The National Conservation Centre, and the Lady Lever Art Gallery at Port Sunlight. These colourful creatures have been receiving a lot of hugs and will no doubt feature in hundreds of photograph albums and holiday snaps.

If you haven’t been to see our flock, remember they will be going away on August 25 – so we’ll see you soon!

You might remember a while ago I mentioned a rather large painting that was about to undergo conservation, 'Flower Sellers of London'. A few people commented on it, thought it was an interesting piece. Conservation work has now begun and painting conservator, Rebecca Kench, has the latest.

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The painting came into the Conservation Centre for treatment at the end of last year. It's been in need of treatment for a while and we have finally been able to fit it into our schedule.  The painting was bought from the artist shortly after it was painted in 1875 by Henry Thompson. He gave it to the Walker in 1880.  "The Flower Sellers" is painted on canvas attached to a stretcher and the figures are a little larger than life size.  Treating this painting presents me with several problems. Firstly I need to deal with anything which could lead to paint loss. When the painting arrived in the studio, the paint was flaking and needed to be consolidated, or reattached, to the canvas.  This mainly affected the area of the flowers where there is damaged and broken impasto (thick brush strokes of paint), and old paint losses down to the canvas.   Although this area has been consolidated (stuck back down to the canvas) in the past, there are still some areas which are loose and fragile.  In order to fix this, I laid the painting flat on a table, with a support behind the canvas, and any flaking areas of the painting were laid flat and consolidated using a water based fish glue.

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.

Today two halves of a medieval ivory diptych will be reunited thanks to a special collaboration between the Walker Art Gallery and National Museums Wales.

The diptych, which was made in the 14th century, portrays the birth of Christ, with the Virgin and Child flanked by Saints Peter and Paul, on the left-hand panel, while the right-hand side shows Christ on the cross flanked by Mary and John. Originally the leaves would have been joined together - you can see the holes for the hinges in the image above. However, over time they were separated and now the left hand panel is in the collections of the Walker Art Gallery, while the right hand one belongs to National Museums Wales.

The Walker's panel has been lent to National Museum Cardiff for a year-long display with the other half of the diptych, which starts today as part of National Archaeology Week.

When the original is returned to Liverpool visitors to Cardiff will still be able to see what the complete diptych would have looked thanks to a highly accurate copy of the left panel made by the Conservation Technologies team at the National Conservation Centre. Laser technology research scientist Annemarie La Pensee told me all about it:

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"Last year Conservation Technologies was commissioned by Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales - to make a replica of the left-hand leaf of the diptych that we have here at National Museums Liverpool. Using 3D laser scanning and CNC machining we made an accurate replica from polyurethane resin that was patinated to make it look like the original.

Here in the laser technology team, we found the project really great to work on. The leaves are quite small, only 10cm in height. However, because of the highly carved surface we used our most accurate scanner to record the sub-millimetre details and the resulting dataset was as big as those we create for much larger objects. It is also interesting to see how different the two original leaves are in colour and texture because they have been apart and have been exposed to different environments."

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

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"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:

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"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!"

We're getting to the business end of the John Moores competition process - judging the paintings that made it through the first round and picking a winner from them. Chair of the judges and director of art galleries, Reyahn King, has the latest.

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Paintings have been arriving from depots all over the UK to our judging venue in Liverpool over the last few weeks. Jurors arrive in the city tomorrow and I am rushing to get back to Liverpool in time myself after a trip to London. Two of our jurors, Jake and Dinos Chapman, have an exhibition on at White Cube which I went to see today - painful and painstaking revisitings of Hell - and appropriately enough new paintings. Their paintings are literal comments upon old bad paintings so I fully expect them to be tough critics in front of all the competition entries tomorrow.

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.

Each day this week we will be handing the blog over to our fabulous volunteers as they tell us about their different volunteer roles at NML.

Today, Harriet talks us through her time volunteering on the Ben Johnson residency earlier this year at the Walker Art Gallery. Harriet is also a member of Mersey v’s.

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Day 1: Harriet

Volunteering on the Ben Johnson Cityscape project was a real privilege. I was lucky enough to get to engage with the visitors and also work with Ben and the team on the practical side. As I talked to the public about the piece I met some brilliant characters with lots of interesting tales to tell about their city. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to do the hands on part too; I will always be able to point out which little bit I helped make the stencils for or try to guess where the paint I mixed was used!

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:  

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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.

Here Michelle O'Callaghan, our youth arts officer, talks to two young people about fruit!

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Two weeks ago I made a visit to the Bridewell Studios on London Road to witness the ceremonial first brushstroke on the Superfiveadaybanana which will be installed in the Walker Art Gallery in June as part of the Go Superlambananas Project.

NACRO Kensington Junior Youth Inclusion Project was the lucky group selected with their winning ‘Superfiveaday’ fruit and vegetable themed ‘Lambanana. Working with professional artist Vince, the group will be working hard over the next three weeks to ripen their ‘Lambanana and bring him to life! During the session I took two of the young participants, Jessica and Ashleigh aside for a quick interview about their initial experiences of the project so far and this is what they had to say…

“Today was our first session with our ‘Lambanana and five of our group came to get started. ‘Lambanana started off purple – which was weird! We expected it to be white or cream.

The boys worked on painting the orange, the broccoli and the banana and we (the girls) worked on painting the strawberry – the 'Lambanana’s head. It felt boss painting the first bit on the ‘Lambanana, actually it was just boss painting it full stop! The best bit about today has been the actual painting, getting started and having fun!

We can’t wait to come down to the Walker Art Gallery when it’s finished to see what it looks like when it’s properly done. There is the proper space set out for it in the Walker and it’s going to be filled with our work - something we’ve done!

Working with Vince the artist has been boss, we didn’t know he was a professional artist at first but when we found out the session just kept on getting better and better. We really like painting and arts, so this is brilliant to be able to do this.

We’re going to be dead proud when we go into the Walker and see our ‘Lambanana, and people say “did you see that Superfiveadaybanana?” and ask us “wow, are you the one’s who did that?” We think that people will be surprised when they find out it is kids that have painted this ‘Lambanana! They might think that kids have designed it, but that it’s been painted by professionals, but when they find out it’s us kids that have done the painting, with a little help from Vince, I think they’ll be shocked!

Our ‘Lambanana will have different textures, details and effects and hopefully people will be able to stroke it. There should be some information next to it at the walker that can tell people about healthy eating and ‘five a day’ and tell people what to eat and where to get it from. So our ‘Lambanana not only looks good, but has a purpose too! The normal Superlambanana is just yellow but ours is dead bright and colourful!”

The next session will see the group adding more layers of paint onto the Superfiveadaybanana and starting to add textures to the fruit. A different group of young people from Kensington Junior Youth Inclusion Project will be coming along to work on the ‘Lambanana next time so more images, interviews and news on progress to follow… keep those eyes and those bananas peeled…

More from Reyahn King and the judging of the 25th John Moores prize.

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After what can only be described as an excitable breakfast, the jurors got going this morning in great good humour. They have reached a remarkable degree of agreement about what they are looking for. Their approach is to look not just for good paintings but for paintings that have a sense of “time and place” – in other words, that have taken on board the history of art and painting, that are intellectually up to date.  And they have  great enthusiasm for originality and unpredictability in works. At least twice today their comments made me look again, harder, at works the subtlety or cleverness of which I had initially missed. I think by the time they’d gone through all the entries, there was only one of the around 150 they have selected to go to the next stage that I would disagree with – I’ll never reveal which!

Watch this space for stage 2 when we get together with the actual works in Liverpool! I for one am really looking forward to June!

Director of art galleries, Reyahn King, is in London at the moment, presiding over the judging of the 25th John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize. Here's her report from the end of day one (yesterday).

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Today, 1 May 2008, the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize jurors started stage 1 of judging the exhibition and prize. The jurors are artists Jake and Dinos Chapman (shown), Paul Morrison, Graham Crowley and critic Sacha Craddock. Jake and Dinos are in the midst of preparing for a big show, Paul Morrison's work is on currently in lots of places including Liverpool, London and Japan, Graham Crowley has been on the news commenting on the state of art teaching in London and Sacha Craddock is a legend for her longstanding reputation as a critic and Chair of another competition, New Contemporaries. Given all this it is wonderful to me that these five will come together to spend two days in a darkened room selecting work for our exhibition in Liverpool.

At the beginning of the day over breakfast I stressed the sheer volume of art to see. With 3,448 entries I was worried that the process might run beyond the two long days everyone had set aside. Judging started at 9:30am and went on to 7pm with food breaks. Incredibly we finished ahead of schedule - the jurors were really keen, taking only short breaks before itching to get back to it.

My role is to keep the jury on schedule and coordinate with the technical team. In the main this means checking that all five jurors have agreed whether a work is to be selected or are they still pondering? Yesterday they were focused on a first sift, and if any one person liked a work it got put to one side without much debate. Already though you can see preferences for kinds of work emerging and I expect debate to really get going when we revisit the first sift.

Today we'll finish looking at all the entries and then go back to all those put on one side and reconsider them.

By the end of tomorrow, 2 May, we need to have decided which 250 or so artists will be invited to send their work to Liverpool to be judged at stage 2 in June. Watch this space!  

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.

 

 

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.

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.  

 

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.

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!)

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.

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.

Admit it - in your rush to get to see the portraits of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I at the far end of the Walker you've probably dashed past most of the other Medieval and Renaissance paintings without giving them a second glance. Which is a shame because there are some real gems on display.

Take 'St Bernardino Preaching' by Francesco di Giorgio for example, which is the Walker's picture of the month in March. It's being highlighted following recent conservation treatment, which has brought all of the vibrant colours and incredible detail in this busy scene back to vivid life. Have a look at our online feature about the conservation of 'St Bernardino Preaching' to see images of the painting before, during and after treatment, plus some fascinating insights into the techniques used by the artist.

There are also some gallery talks about the painting this month. Curator of continental European art Xanthe Brooke will be giving the first talk today at 1pm. Then Nicola Christie, the head of paintings conservation, will be talking about the conservation of the painting on Thursday 13 March, also at 1pm. See the Walker Art Gallery's What's On page for further details.

Thursday saw the 2008 Academy Ambassador Awards which celebrate excellence in customer care in Liverpool. Three members of staff were nominated: Emma Calver from the Weston Discovery Centre in World Museum, Ros Appleby from the Learning team at the Walker, and Eddie Harvey from Gallery Services at World Museum. Emma fills us in on the night's events.
 

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We all had a fantastic night. The awards ceremony was at the Crowne Plaza hotel in the city centre, and as it was Valentines night there were lots of hearts decorating the ceremony, and the theme of people leaving their hearts in the city when they come to visit.
 
Several NML staff attended plus the nominees and their partners, and we were treated to a lovely three course meal.
 
Ros won the Family Friendly Award, and I won in the Arts and Culture category. It was a real surprise to win - I was over the moon.
 
Edwin was highly commended in the Visitor/Event award, and judges commented that the quality was so high in his category that any of the nominees could have won.
 
After the awards we all danced along to the Merseybeatles band.

Emma

Even the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport gets time off to enjoy a family day out. I got this photograph while Andy Burnham visited the Walker Art Gallery with his wife and three children. They had already been to Big Art where the girls had been fitted out with fairy costumes. When I found them the family were absorbed by Ben Johnson’s Liverpool Cityscape and trying to spot Everton’s football ground.

Well, the proportion who have visited the Walker in the past few weeks have. We've been asking visitors to the Ben Johnson residency to tell us their favourite building in the Ben Johnson cityscape of Liverpool. The winner, if you hadn't guess by the image, is Liverpool Cathedral (that's the Anglican Cathedral) with the other buildings we love on this Valentines Day being:

1. Liverpool Cathedral
2. The Liver Building
3. St George's Hall
4. The Metropolitan Cathedral of Liverpool
5. Port of Liverpool Building
6. St. John's Beacon
7. St. Nicholas Church
8. Albert Dock
9. White Star Building
10. Walker Art Gallery

Despite asking visitors for their favourite in the painting we got several strange suggestions including the Pilgrim Pub, which if you know Liverpool you'll know is difficult to see from the end of Pilgrim Street never mind on the artwork. It amused me though.

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...

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".  

In a bonus this week, they've also released a recording of an interview with Ben Johnson at the Walker Art Gallery on Monday. Ben and Ian begin by discussing a 2005 press call (photograph above) and look at the development of the painting over the period since.

I’ve just recently got slightly obsessed with Tracey Emin. It started when I picked up her diary-style book, ‘Strangeland’ from my local second-hand bookshop (Amorous Cat Bookshop, really cool). It has crept up on me, to the point where I now buy the Independent every Friday to read her column and look at the accompanying artwork. And then recycle the rest of the paper. Ignoring the celebrity element, she is pretty fascinating and now I want to find out more about her actual work. Luckily my obsession has not gone un-noticed and I was given another book about her for Christmas, so I can start to read more about what she has produced. From what I already know, her work seems to be intensely personal and her sketches are appealingly messy and haphazard looking. I’ve started taking some polaroids which are mostly blurry, messy and definitely haphazard (because I’m not very good), so maybe I’ll carry on trying with that technique!

 I also found out that Tracey also has strong links with Liverpool, having co-judged John Moores 24 and created the ‘bird on a pole’ bronze sculpture, which was placed outside the Anglican Cathedral in 2005. She was even immortalised in Lego form in ‘Art Craziest Nation’ by The Little Artists (John Cake and Darren Neave) in an exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery! Her latest venture in Liverpool will be a neon installation, which is due to go on display in September 2008 at the Anglican Cathedral. She is now sober and has a growing interest in religion, so I can’t wait to see what that will be like…

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!

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.

Ahead of the comprehensive Peter Doig exhibition at Tate Britain  (5 February - 27 April 2008), yesterday's Observer carried a great interview by Tim Adams with the artist.

When his 'White Canoe' sold for £5.7m last year it became the most expensive work ever sold by a European living artist, but his first big break was winning our John Moores prize in 1993 with 'Blotter'.

Doig discusses 'Blotter' in Saturday's interview, including an interesting explanation of the painting's title. The deadline to register for this September's John Moores 25 is 15 February 2008.

You can't have failed to notice that Liverpool is European Capital of Culture this year. The official People's Opening takes place this Friday, 11th January, at St George's Hall plateau on Lime Street. Took a snap this morning to show you the progress made with staging. The blue containers seem to form a stage area at either end of the plateau with another stage in the centre. Also looks like there's going to be staging around Steble Fountain, just outside the Walker.

As well as Ringo Starr on the roof and a community choir there's also what the Liverpool 08 website is describing as, "an epic aerial ballet of dancing cranes, containers and scissor lifts, as Liverpool celebrates the transfromation of the 'Big Dig' into the 'Big Gig'". All kicks off at 8:08pm (20:08?)

To mark the occassion, and because we are literally a minute away from the main event, both the Walker Art Gallery and World Museum Liverpool will be staying open until 10pm, with last entry at 9.30pm which is also when the venue cafes and shops close. If you're planning to take the kids to Big Art at the Walker we suggest you go early rather than later as it will be closing at 7.30pm.

The museum will be hosting a number of environmental organisations, which will complement the launch of an international school environmental project exploring climate change and disaster risk reduction.

And to cap it all there will be fireworks! Huzzah!

Last year (!) the Antiques Roadshow visited St George's Hall and unearthed the usual hoard of gems. While there Michael Aspel popped over the road to see some more treasures at the Walker Art Gallery. If you're a fan of the AR, the Walker or both tune into BBC 1 this Sunday (13th) at 6.40pm to see the show. 

Just when I was feeling hard-done-by for being back at work after Christmas when someone people have until Monday, I was sent this image which had the dual effect of being both depressing and uplifting. It's a rather huge piece by Gustave Doré called ‘Flower Sellers of London' which entered our collections in 1880.  The reason I'm flagging it is because it's about to undergo pretty extensive conservation before going on display at the Walker, where I'm sure it'll be very popular with the public - a nice painting with a sad story, pretty protagonists and a bit of social realism thrown in.

Doré was a French illustrator and painter who, like other Romantic artists, often visited London specifically to paint such scenes of poverty. At the time London was the largest and richest city in the world with extremes of opulence and misery. Apparently Doré "was touched by the sad beauty" of such flower sellers, many of whom are thought to have been prostitutes.  

Will keep you posted on the progress of the conservation work.

Not long now until Ben visits the Walker to finish The Liverpool Cityscape. In the meantime there are a few more progress pics on Flickr - all are named 'Jan 08' and are towards the end of the set. As you can see from this image lots of progress has been made on the Albert Dock area, including the building that holds the Merseyside Maritime Museum and the International Slavery Museum.

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.

Yet again the Walker has won an award, this time it was the Visitor Award at the Juice FM Style Awards on Friday night. For the last 6 weeks Liverpool has been voting through street surveys, web votes and focus groups for who they want to see crowned the people's style favourites. The Walker fought off the Tate Liverpool and Albert Dock to claim that accolade. Tracey McGeagh (Director of Marketing and Communications) and Reyahn King (Director of Art Galleries) collected the award which is now on display in the gallery foyer. The image shows Tracey and Reyahn in the centre with Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace from Big Brother on the left and Naomi Mills from Shipwrecked on the right.

Update 06.12.07: Forgot to credit Juice FM for the use of the photo - thanks very much chaps! 

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.

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. 

Michael Aspel and some huge white trucks were stationed at St Georges Hall on Sunday as the Antiques Roadshow came to town. The broadcasting legend that is Mr Aspel was recording his final roadshow and we were delighted he popped into the Walker Art Gallery and Merseyside Maritime Museum beforehand to record some links for the programme. He had a look at some of our treasures including 'And When Did You Last See Your Father?' and our outstanding sculpture collection. I’ll certainly be glued to the TV when the programme airs in January to see whether the experts uncovered any hidden gems from dusty Liverpool lofts.

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.

Is the Walker Art Gallery your favourite place in Liverpool? Do you love its beautiful pre-raphaelite paintings for a stylish date on a Sunday afternoon? Then vote today!

We were pleased to find out that this week that our very own Walker Art Gallery has been nominated in TWO categories at the Juice FM Style Awards.

The Walker has been recognised in both the culture award and visitor award sections and we're asking for your votes!

If you think that the Walker is one of the best places to visit in Liverpool and deserves an award, then please show your support and vote for us here:

Culture Award 

and here:

Visitor Award

I also just realised I said I would give you an update on the Daily Post's fashion shoot of Vivienne Westwood clothes, which happened a few weeks ago at County Sessions in the Walker Art Gallery. My previous post gave you a taster from behind the scenes and here is some video taken by the Daily Post of the whole shoot... See if you can spot a member of the press team, Angela Barlow, who was there to make sure it all ran smoothly!

 

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)."

Getting quite exciting now! These snaps were taken on 14 September and you can really see progress even from earlier in the month. As ever the images are on our Flickr page.

When I've labelled them I've tried to pick out the main, visible landmarks. If there's a building you're not sure about or think we should mention (no advertising please!) let me know and I'll try to identify it or add the mention - or add a comment to that image on Flickr yourself.

Work on the Ben Johnson commission is continuing and I've put a few more progress snaps on our Flickr page.  These new images include the area around Dale Street featuring the Liver Building (shown) and our venues on William Brown Street (World Museum Liverpool and the Walker Art Gallery).

We've been posting images for just about a year now and you can really see the progress made as you browse them (dates are in the title of each).

It was party time at the Walker Art Gallery this morning as the gallery celebrated it’s 130th birthday. Staff donned birthday badges and enjoyed a slice of cake in honour of the big day.

Named after brewery owner Sir Andrew Barclay Walker who paid for its construction to commemorate his term as mayor of Liverpool, the gallery was opened on 6 September 1877 by the 15th Earl of Derby. A number of events are being staged over the next month to commemorate the birthday, including a special birthday tour and a lecture by former Keeper Julian Treuherz. 

I only hope when I enter my twilight years I look so well. Don’t worry Walker, you’re wearing well … you don’t look a day over 129.

 

The Walker Art Gallery's County Sessions House was the scene of a glamorous Vivienne Westwood  fashion shoot for the Daily Post yesterday, as models, make-up artists and photographers took over the former courthouse for most of the day. Wearing pieces from Westwood's new Autumn/Winter collection, models posed in doorways and amongst the pillars outside the gallery.

Purple is the big colour of the Autumn/Winter season (yes, it's the new black don't you know?) and the stylists reflected this by choosing a tight fitting purple dress from the collection, along with a ruffled stripy dress and slouchy grey overcoat. 

Westwood's trademark huge heels threatened to cause problems for one of the models, as she teetered around on the extra seven inches of patent leather, but she managed to carry it off in the end as no broken bones were reported. When the article goes on the Daily Post website, I'll give you an update on how it turned out!

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.

For many years the Richard Ansdell painting The Hunted Slaves was a familiar sight above the grand staircase of the Walker Art Gallery. However, sharp eyed visitors will have noticed that the painting is no longer there.

Although it hasn't been on public display, the painting has still been the centre of attention behind the scenes at the National Conservation Centre, where our conservators have examined it and prepared it to go to a new venue.

This morning the painting was taken to the Albert Dock, where it will soon be going on display again in the new International Slavery Museum. As you can see, moving such a huge painting is a big operation as it takes several people just to lift it. It was in safe hands with the museum's specialist handling team though, who soon got it inside.

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.

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:

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"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.

'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."

Anyone in the area this afternoon will have noticed that the usually tranquil William Brown Street was a riot of noise and colour. Our roving reporter Laura Johnson couldn't resist going to see what all the fuss was about:

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"The children of Liverpool took control of William Brown Street today. With the kids in charge the only rules were to have fun!

So a sandy beach arrived outside the Walker Art Gallery, dancers and musicians performed on the steps to the old entrance of World Museum Liverpool and William Brown Street was invaded with stilt walkers, jugglers, face painters and role players."

The Guardian has an interview with illustrator, Shirley Hughes, on the homepage of its books channel - you can listen here.  There's also an article about her latest collection (in case you're wondering why I'm telling you this, we had a Shirley Hughes exhibition a few years ago and still get a fair few enquiries about it).