National Museums Liverpool Blog - Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Those trekking to Hinkley for this weekend's Discworld Convention will be interested in plans for a major retrospective of Josh Kirby's artwork at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, next year.

Josh Kirby studied at Liverpool Art School in the 1940s and is best known for designing the book covers for Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. The exhibition, planned for Summer 2007, will include around 150 works spanning his career. It will include original works, studies, sketches, magazines, film posters and book covers. I'm told it will encompass all sorts of weird worlds, marvellous maidens and fantastical, magical creatures - but it won't be restricted to just Discworld material, so watch this space. 

Kirby also designed the film poster for Return of the Jedi and one for Monty Python's Life of Brian (possibly inspired by Bruegel's Tower of Babel). Coincidentally, while looking for Kirby links on the Python's Daily Llama I stumbled upon the Silly Walks Generator. Not strictly connected of course - but far too silly to keep to myself. 

Staff at World Museum Liverpool's Clore Natural History Centre have been experimenting with their new macro lens and have sent over this image.

According to Mike Graham, Curatorial Manager of the Bug House, Planetarium, Aquarium and Clore Natural History Centre, 'We are looking at the reproductive organs of a Meadow Cranesbill, a wild flower which is a member of the Geranium family. The red stalk like rod in the centre is the carpel which consists of the stigma which receives the pollen and the style and ovary which contains the ovules. This is the female part and the black anthers on the stamens surrounding the stigma are where the pollen is produced. If you look closely you can see the pollen grains on the anthers. Bees cross pollinate the flowers when they are collecting nectar.'

• BBC Gardening Plantfinder - Meadow Cranesbill
• Natural History Museum Meadow Cranesbill seedpot greeting card
• Slideshow of photos tagged 'meadowcranesbill' on Flickr
• University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research's Botany photo of the day blog

See works of art up close in the conservation studios

Have you ever wondered exactly what goes on behind the scenes at the National Conservation Centre? Do questions along the lines of "just how the blazes do you clean a priceless fragile antique or work of art without damaging it?" keep you awake at night? If so then clear your diary next Wednesday and head over to the open day.

Throughout the day on 16 August eight different departments at the centre will be inviting visitors behind the scenes for guided tours.

Please note that for safety and security reasons places are strictly limited on each tour and must be booked in advance.

If you can't make it on a tour then you can see information about the work of our conservation departments on the website. There's also a recently updated gallery of case studies of projects by conservation technologies and sculpture conservation.

Well, almost. This afternoon Ann Bukantas, who looks after fine art at the Walker, gave a fab behind the scenes talk on the recent redisplay of the modern and contemporary collections at the gallery. She delivered a lesson on curatorial decision making covering topics like what colour to paint the walls, how to make the gallery accessible to all visitors, how to pick the pieces and then how how to arrange the artworks around the room. The talk went down really well with the visitors present.

If you think that's up your street you'll be pleased to hear Ann is repeating the session on Monday 31 August at 1pm. Booking isn't necessary.

Update: make that THURSDAY 31 August

Update: (04/09/06) an audio download of the talk is now available

Ann fascinates the visitors

This month the WildlifeTrust celebrates the UK's marine environment with a series of Marine Weeks events lasting from 5 to 20 August.

There's nothing I like more than a stroll along the coast in the sunshine. It was a bit breezy down on the waterfront earlier today though, so I might just enjoy some marine wildlife from the comfort of indoors in the Aquarium at World Museum Liverpool instead.

In their coldwater tanks you can see replications of two underwater environments from the north west - the rocky coast of the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales and the sandy shores of Dee estuary around Hilbre Island.

Outdoor types can find out more about Marine Week events on the Wildlife Trust website.

This afternoon I popped into the National Conservation Centre's felt making workshop.

The participants all assured me that they were complete beginners who had never made felt before, which was hard to believe when I saw their colourful creations.

One lady was enjoying felt-making so much she told me that she would have a go at making more at home with her granddaughter.

If these pictures have inspired you to get creative you'll be pleased to hear that the National Conservation Centre runs a variety of different free afternoon workshops, including calligraphy and mosaic making.

Have a look at the what's on listings for details of future workshops. No experience is necessary and materials are provided, but you might need to book in advance for some sessions.

Felt making can be a messy business when done properly!

Worrying news for chocolate lovers is that a tiny Asian moth could potentially devour entire crops of cocoa in Papua New Guinea, one of the world's main chocolate producing nations. Confectionery giant Mars are currently testing anti-moth measures to solve the problem.

Get up close to insects in the Bug House

Insects may be tiny but they can have an enormous effect on crops - it's estimated that one third of the crops produced in the world each year is lost to them. However, insects are also excellent pollinators and are vital to most of our food crops, flowers, fruit and many other plants. Read more fascinating facts about insects in the Bug House pages on World Museum Liverpool's webpages. You can also find out how to make an insect-friendly garden, to attract species that will help wildlife flourish.

If you visit World Museum Liverpool to see the Bug House you can satisfy any chocoholic tendencies in the fair trade shop downstairs, which has a range of fair trade chocolate. I don't think they serve moths though.

Time is ticking by if you want to take part in 'Digital Show' - an online exhibition of international digital art, which is part of the Independants strand of this year's Liverpool Biennial.

www.digitalshow.co.uk is a new website created by our friends at Art in Liverpool. They are looking for "exciting, interesting painting and drawing" created using computer software. The theme of fun because, in their words, "we like fun, its our favourite thing".

Full details can be found on the website. The deadline for entries is 31August 2006 - so you've got three weeks.

For many people summer means just one thing - the opportunity to dance yourself silly to some top bands in a big field, hopefully in the sunshine but more often in the rain and mud.

Nostalgic ravers may be interested to see memorabilia from Liverpool's Creamfields 2000 festival on display in the Reveal permanent exhibition in the National Conservation Centre.

Were you at Creamfields 2000? Or have you been to any major music festivals since then? Your memorabilia from these events could be featured in our new online gallery about the 'objects of your affection'.

Find out more about the unusual objects in the Reveal gallery and the challenges that they poses for conservators in the Revelation database, which is now available online.

Here are some behind the scenes shots of Sudley House, the art gallery and former merchants' house, which is undergoing a bit of a face lift at the moment. The building is currently closed and is due to reopen in spring 2007. The images show the rear first floor exhibition area, the new lift under construction and an exterior view from the former walled garden. More details on the plans for Sudley can be found on our main website.

The new lift will make Sudley House so much more accessible

Gallery attendants admire the revamped first floor exhibition space

Scaffolding surrounds the building

Our latest downloadable mp3 is Robin Emmerson's gallery talk on Fritz Spiegl's 'Loophonium' (mp3/transcript/links). The 'Loophonium' (sometimes known as the 'Harpic-cord') is the Walker Art Gallery object of the month and is a cross between a euphonium and a toilet.

The twenty minute talk covers descending valves, ophicleides, transverse spring slides, the metamorphosis of ajax, bog houses, stink traps, Banner's Patent Drain Trap, Alexander Cummings, Dr Pridgin Teale's 'Pictorial Guide to Domestic Sanitary Defects', the washdown closet, a concerto for two tuning forks, Ibert's 'March for a Dead Parrot', Z Cars, Handel's 'Water Music' and the Loophonium itself.

Robin (Head of Decorative Arts at National Museums Liverpool) will be delivering the talk again at the Walker Art Gallery on Thursday 24 August 2006.

Yesterday Dawn told you it was National Play Day 2006. There was plenty going on at World Museum Liverpool as part of the Liverpool Children's Festival as these pictures show. Hoardes of happy kids got stuck into face painting, dance sessions, dressing-up and making workshops, culminating in a parade along William Brown Street, accompanied by drummers, stiltwalkers and museum staff. Happy days!

Umbrella fun at the parade

See this teddy in the Reveal display

Sad news this morning from the Wookey Hole Caves Teddy Bear Museum in Somerset. More than 100 teddies were damaged last night by a guard dog, including a rare Steiff bear that used to belong to Elvis Presley. Hopefully the teddies are made of stern stuff (and stuffing) and will be able to pull through with a few well placed stitches.

Caring for objects that have either been damaged in incidents like this one, or are just suffering from age and normal wear and tear, is all in a day's work for the staff at the National Conservation Centre here in Liverpool. Our conservators are often asked about the care of treasured objects like teddy bears, photos and other family heirlooms. If you would like advice you can ask them in the opinion service.

You can see another well worn Steiff teddy bear in the Reveal display, which explains how conservators use science to unlock the stories hidden in everyday objects.  If he reminds you of your own teddy bear or another favourite toy, then we'd like to hear about those special memories. Tell us about the object of your affection and we might include it on the website.

For more cuddly fun have a look at the website for the old Teddy Bear Story exhibition, held at World Museum Liverpool a few years ago.

I expect I'm not the only woman who's counting the hours until Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx return to the big screen in Miami Vice. The film, like the 1980s TV series before it, follows two undercover cops on the trail of arms and drug traffickers.

Dancing coke can from the museum collections

If you can't wait to see the film you could always pop along to the Customs and Excise Museum in the Albert Dock to see the real stories of how customs officers in this country protect society from smuggling.

We might not have any Hollywood superstars, but we do have dancing coke cans and a very unusual toilet...

Image copyright Ken Stein

The Brooklyn Museum of Art, have used innovative online services to promote and enhance their current exhibition 'Graffiti'. A series of podcasts are available, allowing visitors to transfer the audio files to their mp3 player and bring them on an exhibition visit. The museum also has its own Flickr account, which it has used to invite the public to upload their own photos of graffiti in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn graffiti flickr group currently has over 1200 photos submitted.

Our own online exhibition Stewart Bale 2.0 features classic photographs from our archives 'recreated' by Liverpool-based flickr photographers.

Today is Playday 2006 (who decides these things?). 

It coincides with Liverpool Chldren's Festival and judging by the PA I can hear booming down William Brown Street, there's going to be lots for children to do throughout the day. But why should the kids have all the fun?

Guy Cheeseman invites you to play the ever popular Pick Of the 'Pool

I can't think of a better reason for a bit of frivolous online gaming, so I thought I'd dust off our resident Pick of the 'Pool compare Guy Cheeseman and create a list of activities for your gaming pleasure. 

Have fun!

• Shipwrecked - Survival game
• Pick of the 'Pool
• Conker Collectables
• Agents of Deterioration
• Fish Olympics
• Beatles Games
• Portrait Detectives