Newsletter October 2021

Registered charity 1171756

Contents

• Grayson Perry ‘The Vanity of Small Differences’
• Venues reopen for volunteers and groups
• Black and White House 400th Anniversary seminar
• HMSSG event: Susan Edwards guided visit
• Other news and dates for your diary

‘The Vanity of Small Differences’

This national touring exhibition from the Arts Council Collection, will be at Hereford Museum & Art Gallery 9 October – 18 December, Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 4pm
Tickets: Adults £5, students with ID and under 18s free

The museum team are thrilled to offer the opportunity to see Grayson Perry’s work in Herefordshire for the first time. The exhibition is the final stage of a nationwide tour running since last October which has taken in Penzance, Norwich and Rochdale.

HMSSG hope to arrange a private view for members and volunteers towards the end of the exhibition period. Don’t let this stop you visiting as soon as you can!

The touring show features six large scale tapestries, 2m x 4m each, telling the story of class mobility and exploring the influence social class has on our aesthetic taste. Inspired by William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress, the tapestries chart the ‘class journey’ made by young Tim Rakewell. They include many of the characters, incidents and objects Perry encountered on journeys through Sunderland, Tunbridge Wells and The Cotswolds for the television series ‘All in the Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry’.

Aside from being a Turner-prize-winning artist, Perry is committed to encouraging everyone to express their creativity through art. You may have seen his Channel 4 programme ‘Art Club’ during lockdown which encouraged people to send in pieces based on the ‘view from my window’. A selection of works are now on show at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. See graysonartclub.com for details

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Community curation is an integral part of the exhibition in Hereford too. Following a call for submissions for Herefordshire Gets Creative, the curators have selected a range of wonderful works which will be on display in the Woolhope Room during the Grayson Perry show. Although it was necessary to make a selection for display, all exhibits will be available to view in an online exhibition. This link is not yet available.

A film of Perry speaking directly about the works and his inspiration was reedited last year, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq2rxFTzG9I. The Arts Council collection website includes multimedia features which complement the exhibition, artscouncicollection.org.uk. There are also links on https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/graysonperry.

Venues reopen for volunteers & students

We are pleased to report that museum service staff have been able to reopen access to venues. Volunteers have started back at the Museum Resource and Learning Centre working on defined projects. It goes without saying that both staff and volunteers are enjoying everyone being back! Access to volunteering opportunities with the collections team remains very restricted due to the limited time for supervision from professional staff.

The autumn is always busy with visits as students from Hereford Art College are offered tours of the collections. It is great news for everyone that these are being offered this year. A group from the Art Illustration course has also visited the Black and White House with sessions scheduled later in the autumn for students to draw inside and out. We hope some of their work will be on display later this year.

It has not yet been possible to plan a regular series of events and talks due to the limit on the size of groups the Council were prepared to host. These have recently been reviewed and, as a result, we hope that a programme can now be developed.

Black and White House 400th Anniversary seminar
Saturday 6th November 10am to 4pm, MRLC

Tickets are £40 and available from the Black and White House.
Don’t miss out on this fascinating day! Speakers are:

• Dr Tara Hamling, ‘Domestic life, rooms & furnishings in the first half of the 17th century’.
• Dr Kathryn Davies, ‘The significance of wall paintings and what they tell us about the lives of ordinary people’.
• Duncan James, ‘Timber-Framed Treasures of the County and why we need them’.
• Elizabeth Pimblett, ‘Butchers, brewers and bankers: art and commerce in the Old House’.

HMSSG Event – Susan Edwards: Inspired by Local Heroes:

A guided exhibition tour for HMSSG members and museum service volunteers was held on Tuesday 21 September 2021

HMSSG supporters and volunteers were treated to a thoroughly entertaining and informative guided tour of this exhibition by Susan Edwards. The show of her own portraits and landscapes was accompanied by work by Dame Laura Knight, John Ward and David Cox from the Herefordshire collections.

Susan’s talk touched on artistic influences on her own work as well as her varied career as a portraitist, researcher, teacher and tutor.
One intriguing selection was an image of St Mark’s Square, Venice by John Ward. Susan explained her delight in finding this as she had once recognised the artist working in the square and set up her easel close by. By mutual agreement ‘no talking’ was the rule whilst both were at work!
As a young man, Ward developed his skills in Hereford museum drawing items from the collection, including costume pieces. The expertise and creative flair he developed led to later work in the fashion industry and are a clear example of the importance of art works and objects being freely available to artists and students through public galleries.
Susan left us inspired and hoping that she will fulfil her promise to deliver a one-hour course for aspiring artists, however limited their experience, very soon.

Other News and dates for your diary

Black and White House Museum Heritage Open Sundays

12 and 19 September, Free entry 10am-4pm
The Black and White House welcomed over a hundred visitors on each of the Sundays 12 and 19 September. Entry was free.

A special display of weaving was mounted including a loom, wool from Ryeland sheep and a variety of caps and collars.

Sally Pointer, local artist and reenactor, demonstrated how many people in the past made these beautiful items in their own homes.

Launch of artroom magazine Herefordshire: online and print editions

Zoe Rose, shown here with Susan Edwards in the art gallery, has launched a new magazine and website to improve networking between those interested in the visual arts in Herefordshire. Details at http://www.artroomhereford.co.uk

Pick up your print version at museum and other venues.

For advertising/listings email artroomhereford@gmail.com.

Coming up at the Black & White House

October Half Term: Spooky family trail!
20th December: Family day ‘When Cromwell banned Christmas…’

Herefordshire HOARD

There is news that the Treasure Committee at the British Museum has now recommenced its work following suspension of activities during the pandemic. We hope to bring you news of firm plans to acquire this wonderful collection of coins and objects soon.
HMSSG have offered our support in any fundraising needed to acquire the HOARD for the county.

County Museum & Art Gallery redevelopment

Herefordshire Council are working to deliver a major redevelopment and expansion of the county museum in Broad Street. The City Library will move to the Maylord centre. A broad timescale for the project is:
• Autumn 2021-Spring 2022: project development & stakeholder engagement
• June 2022: Submission of full business case for approval
• December 2022: Hereford Museum and Art Gallery building closes
• 2023 & 2024: redevelopment

Autumn Opening Times at the Galleries

The Museum and Art Gallery, Broad Street (disabled access)
Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 4pm (Saturday hours extended for Grayson Perry).
Black and White House Museum, High Town, Hereford
Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 4pm; Sunday 12 noon – 3pm

Interested in joining our volunteers in the galleries?

Email Julia on Julia.Radburn@herefordshire.gov.uk

HMSSG is a registered charity which works to promote the development of Herefordshire Museum Service. Our priorities are to:
• Encourage Herefordshire Council to invest in enhanced galleries and staff.
• Develop our membership to enable active support for the museum service.
• Raise funds to support the services and promote public enjoyment of the county collections.
If you have some time to spare and support our aims then please contact us.