Course on the art of landscape at Salisbury Museum

Every Wednesday, 16 May – 20 June 2012 (6 weeks), 10.30 am – 12.30 pm. Six lectures by Paul Chapman tracing the evolution of modern landscape painting from the Romantics to the present day.

Focusing on the landscape of the West Country, we will see how painters respond to their environments through changing times. Starting with the painters of the Romantic period and ending with the contemporary artists of today we will cover themes and ideas such as the response to agriculture, industrialisation, times of conflict and urbanization.

Together we will look at the landscape through the eyes of the painters and discover how a sense of place combined with a sense of self, produced some of the greatest English art of the last two centuries.

No previous knowledge is needed and there will be opportunities to contribute and discuss topics and ideas raised by studying these wonderful pictures.
Paul Chapman is an art historian whose specialist area is modern painting from the 1850's to present day.

Booking:  Please contact the museum to book.
Cost:  Members: £40.00; Non-members: £50.00.

Ancient Springtime Day at the Ancient Technology Centre

This is a day of traditional activities to welcome in the Spring at this working farmstead.

Participate in Roman and Iron Age ploughing, ancient crop seed sowing, building cob walls, making Suffolk hurdles and nets and building a hayrick.

10th March 2012 See http://www.ancienttechnologycentre.co.uk/index.html 

Congratulations to Salisbury Museum for securing Grant from DSCMS Wolfson Fund

The DCMS/Wolfson Fund have awarded £100,000 to the museum towards the development of our new Archaeology of Wessex gallery (working title). This new gallery will be of international importance, telling the story of Salisbury and the surrounding area from prehistoric times to the Norman Conquest.

The Archaeology of Wessex gallery will show why Salisbury has a unique place in the region’s and nation’s history. Our collections include some of the most important archaeological finds outside a national museum in Britain, including artefacts from the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and the Pitt Rivers Wessex Collection. The gallery will place the story of Stonehenge within its wider chronological and regional context.

http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk/about-us/news/museum-secures-grant-from-dcms-wolfson-fund.html

Bags of Creativity coming soon to Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum

Saturday 21 April - Saturday 1 September 2012.

Local artist Suzie Gutteridge is working in collaboration with the Museum and local schools and groups to create an exciting and sensory exhibition inspired by two items in the Museum’s Costume Collection. By treating this installation as an ‘archive’, the exhibition will also show visitors how the Museum documents and records its own Collections.

The Lavender Pin Cushion currently on show in the Costume Gallery and the Tudor Sweet bag (or pomander) held in the reserve collection have provided a basis for Suzie’s own modern versions of the sweet bag which will be filled with lavender.  Tudor sweet bags could be used to hold small, often scented, gifts.
Through Bags of Creativity Suzie shows how upcycling (finding a new use for an unwanted object) can result in unusual and exciting artwork.  She has invited a range of groups, schools and individuals to make and decorate their own sweet bag from old clothes or bits of material which hold personal memories for them.   

By following the Museum’s collection procedures, Suzie plans to create her own ‘archive’ for the sweet bags.  Each bag will be separately documented with its own accession number, label and object history using the stories and memories evoked by the upcycled item

This promises to be a fun, visual, sensory artwork.  There will be plenty of opportunities to take part, please see the What's On section of this website.

See behind the scenes at Stourhead House

Following last week’s snow, Stourhead house will emerge from it’s winter hibernation this weekend.
The team have been busy all winter with conservation cleaning and a thorough inspection of the historic collection inside. For the three weekends between 18 February and 4 March the team are giving you the opportunity to step inside and see this work in action, and to find out more about how they look after all the valuable objects, including the famous Chippendale furniture and numerous paintings.

Opening times are 11am-3pm and last entry is 2.30pm.


http://stourheadnt.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/rise-and-shine/

Conference in Bristol on Localism and Heritage Wednesday 7th March

English Heritage and Bristol City Council are holding a joint conference entitled Localism and Heritage: Working Together to explore what localism means for heritage.

The conference is on Wednesday 7 March at the Bristol City Conference Hall and is aimed at community groups, local amenity societies, elected members, local government and private sector conservation, design and planning professionals and any individuals involved in planning and managing change in the historic environment in the South West.

Check out the winter news from Stourhead house...

...and find out what happens behind the scenes when the house is closed. See here for the Stourhead Blog.