Liverpool Art & Design Academy (ADA)

Archive for the ‘Art History’ Category

M.Res. Art and Design is a year-long research programme in which researchers explore and critically appraise individually negotiated research projects in Art and Design. MRes Art and Design can be conducted in thesis only or thesis/practice mode.

Free bursaries are available within the following themed areas:

• Histories, Curatorial Practice and Popular Culture
• Autonomous Practices and Collaboration
• Urbanism, Class and Gender

Bursaries are for the amount of £4170 to cover fees over 1 year full time study

Click here for information on how to apply or contact Admissions apsadmissions@ljmu.ac.uk or on 0151 2315175

Two of the Royal College of Art’s most important collections have been made available to the general public through a new digitisation project which is accessible through the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS).

View the collections online at:

Royal College of Art Record of Student Work

Royal College of Art Collection

The Record of Student Work is a rare collection, containing over 30,000 slides of student work, which dates back to the 1960s and includes early work by notable College alumni including David Hockney, Tracey Emin, Ridley Scott and Thomas Heatherwick. A comprehensive and unique resource, it provides insight into the early creative processes of some of Britain’s best-known artists and designers, usually captured as they complete their postgraduate studies with installation shots from students’ degree shows.

The nature of the collection – comprised mainly of 35mm slides and usually locked in filing cabinets in the RCA library – has meant that many of these images have never been published. Now however, a three-year scanning project has resulted in over 5,000 of the most notable images from the collection being made publicly available for the first time.

The earliest slides (1960-1978) represent ad hoc attempts by individual departments to record their students’ work. Fashion and Textiles are especially well represented with images of the work of Ossie Clark and Zandra Rhodes among many others. However, from 1979, at the instigation of Christopher Frayling, then Professor of General Studies, Jan Murton, slide curator, and photographer Barry Marsden, the Royal College of Art degree show was comprehensively photographed and catalogued across all departments for the first time. The approach continues to this day, although slides were replaced with digital photography in 2003.

Notable alumni whose work is represented in this selection include: David Hockney, Zandra Rhodes, Chris Ofili, Tracey Emin, Julien Macdonald, Philip Treacy, Orla Kiely, Harold Offeh and Thomas Heatherwick. These images are a representative sample of the entire collection 1960-2002 and all have been scanned from the original 35mm slides. Senior tutors from each department worked with the Special Collections Manager to identify key students’ work. Once a student was selected, every available slide of their work was digitised to provide a comprehensive picture of their work.

In addition to the Record of Student Work, over a thousand works from the Royal College of Art Collection of Paintings have been digitised and are also being made available through VADS. The Royal College of Art Collection is an invaluable resource of works that represent significant developments in British painting from the middle years of the 20th century to the present. The collection is made up of works donated by Painting graduates and staff. Examples include works by: Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious, Paul Nash, John Piper, Frank Auerbach, John Minton, Peter Blake, David Hockney, Chris Ofili, Tracey Emin, Dinos Chapman and Sophie von Hellermann.

Dr Paul Thompson, Rector of the Royal College of Art said:

“These are indeed remarkable resources. Those selected from the Record of Student Work have been chosen not only for their subsequent eminence and reputation, but also for embodying particular trends, or producing especially idiosyncratic or revealing work. In both collections, the works have considerable research value and represent over half a century of work here at the RCA”

Neil Parkinson, Special Collections Manager added:

“The College believes in making the images available as widely as possible on a non-commercial basis for the purposes of learning, teaching and research. The Visual Arts Data Service (VADS), which collates images from the HE sector for educational use, shares this aim, which makes them a natural partner for delivery of our image collections to the widest possible audience.”

The East Side Gallery is one of Berlin’s most popular tourist attractions, a 1.3km-long brightly painted stretch of the wall which divided east and west for almost 30 years.

But now the outdoor exhibition space is embroiled in an expensive copyright controversy after Berlin council destroyed some artworks painted on the wall and reproduced others without the permission of the original artists.

The city of Berlin, which owns the wall and the land around it, is being sued by 21 artists over the way the council handled recent renovation of the gallery.

Full story from the Guardian.

May is a busy month round these parts but make sure not to miss a fantastic photography exhibition, ‘Creating a Cathedral:Photographs by Stewart Bale of building Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral’.The exhibition forms part of the Look2011 Photography Festival and has been jointly coordinated by Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and LJMU. Liverpool Cathedral, (the Cathedral Church of Christ), is the last great cathedral ever to have been built in the U.K. The astounding building process was documented by the cathedral’s official photographer, Stewart Bale, and these spectacular original photographs will be the focus of an exhibition in the cathedral during the month of May. This is a must see for anyone with an interest in the history of Liverpool or Architecture. The exhibition runs from the 8th - 27th May from 9:00 - 17:30 each day.

The exhibition is free to visit and will be accompanied by events and activities, two of which are well worth putting in your diary: Read the rest of this entry »

Emma Roberts, Course Leader in B.A. (Hons) History of Art & Museum Studies, was invited recently to contribute to a BBC Radio Four programme about the history of the Lewis store in Liverpool.  Specifically, Emma was asked to discuss the development and significance of the famous ‘Liverpool Resurgent’ sculpture by Sir Jacob Epstein on the front of the store.  Emma’s long-term research has involved sculpture.  Her Ph.D. was gained in 1997 on the topic of the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, and since then she has researched and written about a mixture of Liverpool arts history and sculpture.  Her publications include the books ‘The Liverpool Academy and Other Exhibitions of Contemporary Art in Liverpool 1774-1867’ (University of Liverpool Press, 1996) and ‘Public Sculpture of the North-West’.  The latter will be published in 2012 by University of Liverpool Press and the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association. If you would like to hear the interview, check it out here

Photographs by Stewart Bale of the Building of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral

This exciting photographic exhibition in association with Liverpool John Moores University presents the work of Stewart Bale (1889 – 1944) and centres on the amazing history of the building of Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral. The exhibition is curated by the ADA’s Emma Roberts and is part of the Look11 Photography Festival.

More information can be found here.

This Wednesday we have Karl Abeyasekera of Studio A visiting to give a lecture on Museum and Exhibition Design.
Lecture Theatre 1 at the ADA

ʻDesign Lecture Seriesʼ 5.30 -7.00 pm Wednesday 16th February 2011
All welcome!

reform furniture require your assistance!

reform furniture is a collaborative project set up by two third year history of art and museum studies students – alice young and victoria hellewell

Our aim is to revive and recycle pieces of old furniture into works of art.

Please donate your old and unloved furniture so reform can give them the love and attention they deserve. We are currently in desperate need of unwanted chairs – please contact reformfurniture@live.co.uk

Visit our blog at www.reformfurniture.tumblr.com for further information.
Thanks!

Image via vecteezy

Liverpool’s National Conservation Centre will close to visitors as a result of government cuts. The city centre venue will close at 5pm on Friday 17 December.

National Museums Liverpool, which is funded by central government, received a 15% cut to its budget in October. This was on top of a 3.5% earlier this year. Managers have been working to maintain its world class venues and safeguard jobs as much as possible.

After reviewing costs of managing all our buildings, it is no longer possible to afford to keep the National Conservation Centre open as a visitor attraction.

“We bitterly regret having to close one of our venues to visitors but this is the harsh reality of government cuts. If you cut public spending there is pain for the public.”

Read more here.

This Month, Stuart Borthwick, Principal Lecturer in the Liverpool School of Art and Design, will be exhibiting a series of photographs of Belfast wall murals in the main Art and Design Academy gallery. The photographs were taken as part of a research project that examined the changing nature and roles of wall murals following the signing of the St Andrew’s Agreement in 2006 by the UK government, Irish government and all the major parties in Northern Ireland. Stuart Borthwick states;

“my interest in wall murals was sparked by my involvement in the Liverpool Mural Project, who invited artists from both sides of the political divide in Belfast to paint two separate murals in Liverpool. After meeting Belfast artists Mark Ervine, Danny Devenny, Marty Lyons and Micky Doherty in Liverpool, I was invited to their home town to see their work, and became fascinated by the current speed of change within the mural culture, away from paramilitarism but still intricately connected to Ulster Loyalism and Irish Republicanism. I’m currently involved in the search for further spaces in a specific part of Liverpool for a new cross-community mural project”.

Academy Gallery, 5-7pm, Friday 3 December 2010 until Friday 7 January 2011.

During March-April 2011 the Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon will be showing Modern Takes on Cromwell. To complement the exhibition the Museum is running an open art competition. Oliver Cromwell’s image has been portrayed in many ways, positively and negatively, over the last 350 years. It has been the source of inspiration for portraits, historical paintings, coins and medals, cartoons and caricatures.The Cromwell Museum was established in 1962 and is housed in the former town grammar school where Cromwell was a pupil. The Museum’s permanent collection includes work by significant 17th century artists, such as Robert Walker, as well as 19th century and later works. The competition invites artists to respond to Cromwell and to submit original work for exhibition. Each entry must be submitted on Friday 15th April and accompanied by a completed entry form. Works cannot be accepted earlier and they must be collected on Monday 18th April. Because of space restrictions two-dimensional works submitted should not measure more than 500mm in any dimension. Three-dimensional works should fit within a cube no larger than 300mm x 300mm x 300mm. Digital works should be capable of being viewed on a standard pc (not Mac format)

The Huntingdon Library and Archive (200m from the Museum) will be the venue for the exhibition of submitted works over the weekend of the 16th and 17th April. The winning works will then be shown in the Museum as part of Modern Takes.The competition has three categories of entry: for young people, schools and colleges and over 18s. Click here for more details.

If anyone is interested in this project and needs to research Cromwell and his image, then there is an important statue of Cromwell in Warrington which History of Art Programme Leader, Emma Roberts has researched for her book on public sculpture. You can email her at E.E.Roberts@ljmu.ac.uk for any of the relevant pages from the book you would like to use.

Please visit the blog below which was made by a History of Art & Museum Studies student, Rebecca Leary, who is volunteering at the National Trust.

http://www.mubu.org.uk/pestspolishandponyhair/2010/11/26/attic-6-project

Please do write comments on this blog and ask questions as it would help Becky’s project enormously

This week’s History of Art & Museum Studies film is ‘Aguirre, Wrath of God’, (1972). This is directed by Werner Herzog and is a travel and adventure film. It is also noted for its soundtrack which is composed by the German progressive / Krautrock band, ‘Popol Vuh’. It is known to have influenced Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979).

The film will be shown in Lecture Room 1 of the Art & Design Academy at 4.30 p.m. on Thursday 25th November and is free to all.

History of Art & Museum Studies student, Katrina Shock, is completing her level two Internship on this production and is acquiring multiple
experiences and transferable skills by working with artist, Mark Storor, and producer, Anna Ledgard on the Unity Theatre’s current production, ‘For The Best’.

Katrina states,

“The show is going really well, we are now into our fifth day and it is completely sold out for the whole run. The complex working of performance and art installations in the show has opened my eyes to a new concept and it is really very fascinating to be working in. It has given me an insight into arts and health partnerships, an added bonus as it is something I didn’t expect to gain from this internship.”

Please see the following links for reviews:
Telegraph Review. – Awarded 5 Stars!
Guardian review -‘A devastating theatrical journey.’

This week’s HAMS Film Club showing is Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Throne of Blood’ (1957). This takes the plot of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ but transposes it to feudal Japan. The movie has received great critical acclaim. This will be screened at 4.30 p.m. on Thursday 18th November in Lecture Room 1 of the Art & Design Academy.

All are welcome to attend and, of course, these screenings are free of charge.

This week’s film in the HAMS Film Club series is ‘Dr. Strangelove’ (1964), directed by Stanley Kubrick.
This is a black comedy. The film takes place in the Johnson Foundation Auditorium at 4.30 p.m. Thursday 11th November.

All welcome!

This week’s HAMS Film Club screening is ‘Wings of Desire’, 1987, directed by Wim Wenders.
This is a German romantic fantasy film which was voted one of the top 100 films of all time by ‘Empire’ magazine. The screening takes place at 4.30 p.m. on Thursday 4th November in Lecture Room 1.

This week’s HAMS Film Club offering is a Halloween special. On Thursday 28th October at 4.30 p.m. in Lecture Room 1 we will be showing ‘Night of the Living Dead’ (1968), directed by George Romero. This is a zombie film which received great critical acclaim on its release and has therefore been selected for preservation by the American National Film Registry because of its cultural, aesthetic and historic significance. It is also perceived to make references to the Vietnam War that was ongoing when it was made and released.

As usual, this film is screened for free and will be a nice prelude to the Halloween weekend.

The London Design Museum is currently setting up it’s new exhibition showcasing 30 years of fashion design drawings.

Drawing Fashion celebrates a unique collection of some of the most remarkable fashion illustrations from the twentieth and twenty first centuries. These original works define the fine art of illustrating fashion, from the collections of Chanel, Dior, Comme des Garçons and Poiret as well as Viktor & Rolf, Lacroix and McQueen

Courtesy of the Vatican – you can now visit and explore Michelangelo’s detailed artwork of the Sistine chapel – here.