National Museums Liverpool Blog - Thursday, April 27, 2006

Yes, we are on television again (in the Granada region anyway), this time in a behind the scenes series produced by local company, Conker TV.

'Culture Vultures' will run on ITV1 every Tuesday from 2nd to 23rd May at 7.30pm. So if you have ever wanted to know what goes on behind the scenes at the museum tune in.

...or maybe that should be Sky+ boxes.

Anyhoo, National Museums Liverpool is on telly as part of The People's Museum series on BBC2. Transmission dates for our venues are:

Monday 15th May @ 3.30pm - Walker Art Gallery
Friday 26th May @ 1pm - Conservation Centre
Tuesday 7th June @ 3.30pm - Lady Lever Art Gallery

We'll remind you nearer the time as well.

Ever fallen in love in an art gallery? As part of Museums & Galleries Month, the 24 hour museum are undertaking a survey to find the country's most romantic gallery or museum.

I can certainly vouch for the Walker Art Gallery.

At the impressionable age of sixteen, my former beau - suited and booted - met me on the 360 bus from Wigan and brought me to Liverpool for one of the most memorable days of my life. In the wonderful, elegant surroundings of the Walker, I realised I was hooked.

Sadly, the relationship never lasted. But I loved the gallery so much that I got a job in the cloakroom!

Yesterday was St George's Day. (It was also St Adalbert's day, but not a lot of people know that).

Culture Online’s Icons  project has just announced that the St George’s Flag had made it on to the ‘official icons’ list as nominated by the public. But for many the St George’s flag is more likely to conjure up visions of World Cup fever than a gallant knave rescuing a damsel in distress.

This got me thinking about the nature of Englishness and how the Icons project is aiming to reflect a true and diverse picture of English life, rather than tired old clichés.  The first round of icons featured  Holbein’s portrait of Henry VIII, as well as stereotypical candidates like the cup of tea and the Routemaster bus.

Now's the time to make a difference. There are people voting furiously for everything from Basil Brush to the Battle of Agincourt. Liverpool's waterfront is up there, along with the garden shed, morris dancing, real ale, queuing, salad cream, football and (oddly enough) the film ‘Four Weddings & A Funeral’.

Is this what England means to you? Add your own nominations and get voting!

The next set of official English icons will be announced on 28 April.

Finding himself in the company of journalists, photographers, film crews, artists and celebrities is all in a day's work for senior press officer, Stephen Guy. But just recently, Stephen has been enjoying a share of the limelight himself.

Stephen's unique perspective on life - evolved through years as a cutting-edge news reporter - makes him the ideal candidate to mull over the morning papers on Radio Merseyside's Breakfast show. He also writes the intriguing 'Maritime Tales' for Saturday's Liverpool Echo.

However, it is his voluntary roles within the community that have catapulted him into the media spotlight of late. As Chairman of the West Derby Society, Stephen has played a key role in securing funds for his beloved 'Lowlands' - dubbed Britain's most beautiful community centre, and home to the West Derby Community Association since 1957.

Stephen is also on the management committee of the Friends of Croxteth Hall & Country Park, where one of his roles in running the bar for Friends' events. He hastens to add that the behind-the-bar activities haven't got him into the news yet!

Every St David's Day my Welsh mate Dave at uni would proudly wear a leek in his shirt pocket.

I'm not sure if there's an equivalent English dress code or ritual to celebrate St George's Day on Sunday. It would probably involve watching a cricket match while sipping a cup of tea and listening to the Archers.

If that's not your cup of tea (sorry) you could always have a patriotic trip to the Lady Lever Art Gallery to see a sculpture of the legend himself indulging in his favourite pastime, dragon slaying.

Or you could check out a painting of St George entering The Dragon's Den from the comfort of your own home thanks to the online Pre-Raphaelite feature on our website. Cup of tea and cricket whites entirely optional.

How many doors do we walk through every day without even noticing them? Most people regard doors just as things to pass through on the way to somewhere interesting and beautiful (like, for instance, the Walker Art Gallery). We probably only notice them if they are too awkward, slow or heavy to get through easily, especially if we're hindered by heavy shopping or a pushchair.

As part of ongoing improvements to the Walker, the old revolving doors at the entrance have been replaced by sleek automatic glass ones. You probably wouldn't notice the difference from the outside:

However, inside the light flooding through the large glass panels make the entrance foyer seem much lighter, bigger and altogether more pleasant.

Next time you visit the Walker Art Gallery, spare a thought for our lovely new doors.

Preparations are well underway for the Walker's first ever costume exhibition, 'A Passion for Fashion - a Liverpool lady's wardrobe', which takes a stylish look at fashion between about 1910 to 1940.

Every single one of the 130 items on display in the exhibition is from the enormous collection of 700 items formerly belonging to Mrs Emily Margaret Tinne. Donated to National Museums Liverpool by her family, this is now probably the largest surviving collection of period clothes from one person's wardrobe in Britain.

Conservators and curators will be working flat out for the next 2 weeks to get the mannequins assembled and dressed in time for the opening of the exhibition on 29 April 2006.

Conservator Vivien Chapman attaching an arm to a mannequin.

Mars, the mythological god of war is actually sporting a child-like smile. Europe's Mars Express spacecraft has captured a charming picture of 'Crater Galle', which resembles two eyes and a smiley mouth drawn in a sandpit. Not quite as Orson Welles envisaged when he wrote ‘War of the Worlds’.

One the other hand, the Venus express probe has just gone into orbit around the 'love' planet in a bid to get up close and personal. Let’s hope our neighbour isn’t lying in ambush!

Find out more about Mars in our regular event,  ‘A Tale of Two Planets’ at the Planetarium of World Museum Liverpool.

 Edward Burne-Jones' drawing of Venus, goddess of love, is part of the Lady Lever Art Gallery’s Pre-Raphaelite Drawings exhibition. The beautiful sculpture, The Tinted Venus by John Gibson can be viewed in the Walker Art Gallery.

We've now received over 1000 entries in our 'favourite colour' online poll, accompanying the 'eye for Colour' exhibition at World Museum Liverpool. Most entries  are short and sweet, unlike no.1051 - Rebekkah O'Gorman from Birkenhead:

'MY FAVOURITE COLOUR IS YELLOW BECAUSE I LIKE PLAYING ON THE BEACH AND I LIKE FUDGE AND I LIKE COLLECTING LIMESTONE THAT IS YELLOW AND I LIKE THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD ON WIZARD OF OZ ALSO I LIKE YELLOW TOPS AND A BONNET THAT IS YELLOW AND I LIKE YELLOW CHICKS AND VANILLA ICECREAM ALSO I LIKE MAKING A BONNET WITH YELLOW CHICKS AND YELLOW STRING AND YELLOW PAINT ALSO I LIKE THE STONES OF TUTANKHARMEN AND I LIKE YELLOW MARBLES AND I LIKE YELLOW CHIPS AND I LIKE YELLOW PAINT AND I LIKE YELLOW SLIDES AND MY OTHER COLOUR IS SKY BLUE BECAUSE I LIKE THE SKY AND I LIKE BLUE SWEETS AND I LIKE BLUE PAINT AND STRING AND I LIKE BLUEPUPPETS AND MY OTHER COLOUR IS GOLD BECAUSE I LIKE GOLD AND MY OTHER COLOUR IS GREEN BECAUSE I LIKE MONEY TO SPEND ON LOTS OF TOYS, NECKLACES, AND SPECIALLY THE BOOK CALLED GREEN EGGS AND HAM'

All entries received through the website are projected live into the gallery exhibition space. Let us know your favourite colour.