National Museums Liverpool Blog - walker art gallery

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.