Artefacts - SPRING 2022

SPRING 2022 • issue 68

Artefacts

MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATION OF FRIENDS OF MUSEUMS

Friends of Birmingham Museums Magazine SPRING 2022 • issue 68 ARTEFACTS 1

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ARTEFACTS

SPRING 2022 • Issue 68

CONTACTS PETER MILES Chair Email:

The Holy Grail Tapestries, page 10

CONTENTS

committee.fbmag@gmail.com

SARAH FARNAN

CHAIR´S observations

04

NEWS FROM THE office

06

news from the volunteers

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Membership SECRETARY Email: fbmagmembership@gmail.com

Melissa hughes Administrator and Artefacts Editor Email: melissa.page.fbmag@gmail.com

Friends´ Office

report from birmingham museums

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THE SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN HALL

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Friends of Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery c/o Birmingham and Midland Institute 9 Margaret St, Birmingham B3 3BS Tel: 0121 348 8330 Website: www.fbmt.org.uk Reg. Charity No. 528895

THE HOLY GRAIL TAPESTRIES

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Designed and Produced by PW Media & Publishing Ltd

Changing Birmingham ˜ its people and places: PARK LIFE

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Graphic Design Paul Blyth

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery set to reopen in April 2022

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Printed By Stephens & George

AN INTERVIEW WITH IKON DIRECTOR JONATHAN WATKINS

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Advertising Sales JO WILLIAMS

, Susan Philipsz s Station Clock

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THE COFFIN WORKS

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birmingham museums ˜ what´s on

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in the area

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BIRMINGHAM ˜ HOME OF THE PEN MAKERS

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friends´ QUIZ

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friends´ crossword

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Email: jo@pw-media.co.uk Tel: 01905 727902

ON THE COVER

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust

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CHAIR’S OBSERVATIONS

Climate Change, Collection Care and Conservation

BY PETER MILES I would like to wish you all a very happy new year and let us hope that 2022 will see some normality return to our lives.

We were delighted that our AGM in November was so well supported. Thank you very much to all those of you who were able to make it, enabling us to achieve our quorum. It is always a relief to do so! If we are not quorate then we are unable to conduct any business and so a resolution was passed at the AGM to reduce the quorate number for future AGMs, but also to permit us to hold electronic or ‘hybrid’ meetings should we need to do so.

As you know Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is currently closed, but we are looking forward to seeing some of the galleries reopen in a few months time, to coincide with the Commonwealth Games. More details about this can be found on pages 14-15.

At the AGM Jane Thompson-Webb, Birmingham Museums Trust (BMT)’s Conservation Team Leader, gave us a presentation on the restoration and conservation of the Morris & Co ‘Holy Grail Tapestries’. The Friends have contributed £15,000 to BMT’s fundraising campaign for two high-profile conservation projects: the re-glazing of Edward Burne-Jones’ ‘The Star of Bethlehem’ and the cleaning and relining of these six Morris & Co ‘Holy Grail Tapestries’. It was very interesting to hear about the project and you can read more on pages 10-11. In addition to this we are delighted that a number of our Members have individually made very generous contributions. Thank you.

‘Quest for the Holy Grail TapestriesVerdure with Deer and Shields’, Designers: Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris and John Henry Dearle; Manufacturer: Morris & Co; 1947M53; Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CC0

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In her talk, Jane told us that the ‘Holy Grail Tapestries’ are currently being rested but will be moved to Belgium in the near future to be washed and conserved. This reminded me of recent articles I have read on how climate change has impacted the conservation of tapestries and soft furnishings. In a recent interview Kathryn Hallett, Head of Conservation and Collection Care at Historic Royal Palaces, said: ‘Over the last decade we have seen an increase in common clothes moth activity across our sites, often seeing up to three annual breeding cycles, rather than the more usual one or two.’

So longer damper summers and, when it gets cold, turning the heating on, are ideal conditions for breeding for the clothes moth. In addition, furniture beetles are also enjoying this sultry weather, reproducing, and their offspring are looking for food. BMT is very fortunate in not having a problem with insect pests at any of its sites at present. Our wonderful Conservation team monitor for insects on a regular basis. Rest assured that any infestations would be dealt with swiftly!

And finally, if you are having withdrawal symptoms from the PreRaphaelites during BMAG’s closure, then Ford Madox Brown’s ‘The Last of England’ is currently on display at the Barber Institute. It is one of three internationally significant masterpieces which BMT has lent to the Barber Institute for a two-year period. The other two works are the monumental ‘Erminia and the Shepherd’, painted around 1620

by Bolognese painter Guercino, and ‘The Man of Sorrows’, a tiny panel by the Flemish painter Petrus Christus from around 1450. n

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NEWS FROM THE OFFICE

NEWS FROM THE OFFICE Happy New Year!

Just to remind you that, due to the current closure of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery whilst essential electrical upgrade work of Birmingham’s Council House complex takes place, the postal address for Friends correspondence has changed. Please send all correspondence to: Friends of Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery, c/o Birmingham and Midland Institute, 9 Margaret St, Birmingham B3 3BS. BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP • Free entry to all Birmingham Museums’ Historic Properties • ‘Artefacts’ magazine and the Friends’ E-Newsletter • The opportunity to join the Friends’ social events and outings (NB. These have had to be put on hold due to Covid-19) • 10% discount at the Birmingham and Midland Institute’s Coffee Lounge on production of a valid Friends membership card

• BMAG and Historic properties shops and cafés

• 50% entrance discount to Thinktank at Millennium Point: www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/thinktank • 10% discount off purchases in both the shop and the café at Potteries Museum & Art Gallery and Gladstone Pottery Museum: www.stokemuseums.org.uk GIFT MEMBERSHIP Gift membership is available all year round and includes 3 extra months free. A Gift Membership form can be downloaded at www. fbmt.org.uk/subscriptions/. Alternatively, you can use the standard application form in this magazine. Complete the form with the recipient’s details and send it with a covering note giving your own name and contact details.

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VOLUNTEERS

RIGHT: A Unicorn cushion created by Libby for the Aston Hall Historic Needlework Group

We had a great deal of Volunteer Activity in October to support our Half Term events across BMT’s sites. A large team of volunteers pulled together to deliver the spooktacular Pumpkin Flotilla at Sarehole Mill and we had some ghoulish volunteers who supported the Thinktank team in delivering their busy Spooky Science night. To jump from one holiday to another Christmas was a wonderful time for our volunteers to get involved with something festive. We were kindly visited by Father Christmas at many of our sites and the Volunteer team played an important role as his festive helpers. A few of us had a lovely day creating some beautiful Tudor Festive Garlands at Blakesley Hall, of course accompanied by a mince pie or two!

I’m pleased to share we’re starting 2022 with a few more teams back onsite. It has been a pleasure to restart Conservation Club at the Historic Properties, and the team have already begun working hard to get Aston Hall looking spick and span. We also welcomed back the Historic Needlework Group who are starting work on some exciting and beautiful projects which we’ll get to see in Aston Hall later this year.

Our Volunteering for Veterans (VFV) project has successfully rounded up its debut year with the fantastic news that the project has been extended – so a big congratulations to the VFV team.

You may have heard them on BBC West Midlands radio or even spotted them on BBC Midlands today as they spread the word

about the amazing work they’ve achieved. A huge congratulations to everyone involved!

I’m also pleased to share that we have our Work Experience programme back up and running for 2022. Our work experience programme is open to anyone aged 15 years or over who is not currently in employment. Each placement is 3-5 days long and provides a great opportunity to develop skills and knowledge and to gain a general awareness of the working world. We have opportunities at Thinktank, Aston Hall, Blakesley Hall, and Sarehole Mill. Check out the BMT website for dates and further details on how to apply.

Finally, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me in this exciting role as I wind down to finish up my secondment as Interim Volunteer Manager for Birmingham Museums. It has been a steep learning curve and I’ve loved every minute of it! From cups of tea and garland making to watching Fiona Bruce present Antiques Roadshow – it has been so much fun and I’ll certainly miss everyone I’ve met along the way! A huge thank you for all your incredible hard work over these last 8 months. I’ve been bowled over by your passion and commitment and we’re so lucky to have your support here at BMT. Best wishes to everyone for the future, and I will look forward to reading the next issue of ‘Artefacts’ to find out what has been happening!

Thanks and best wishes! n

news from the volunteers

By Jennifer Shufflebotham SPRING 2022 • issue 68

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REPORTS

HELLO FROM BIRMINGHAM MUSEUMS!

Rachel Cockett, Director of Development Happy New Year from everyone at Birmingham Museums.

I am delighted to share the news that Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery will partially reopen on Thursday 28 April 2022 in time for the Commonwealth Games. Whilst much of the Museum & Art Gallery remains closed for essential electrical work, we have used this unique opportunity to collaborate with some of Birmingham’s most exciting creatives including Birmingham Music Archive, Fierce, Flatpack Projects and Kalaboration Arts. Visitors will be encouraged to explore and contribute to the many different stories that make Birmingham the fantastic city that it is. Read more about what you will see and experience on pages 14-15.

Sara Wajid and Zak Mensah, our Co-CEOs, embarked on their journey leading Birmingham Museums a little over a year ago. The pandemic has been a huge challenge for Birmingham Museums and our visitors, as it has for the whole of society, but it has also provided an opportunity to take stock and reconsider what a

museum in the 21st century can be. We’ll be sharing more about our exciting future plans in 2022 and look forward to inviting you to join us on our journey ahead.

Thank you to everyone who donated to our public fundraising campaign to support the conservation of two of Birmingham’s star treasures - ‘The Star of Bethlehem’ and ‘The Holy Grail Tapestries’.

I am delighted to share that we have raised over £10,000 from public donations to date which, with generous support from The Pilgrim Trust, The Friends of Birmingham Museums and Tru-Vue, means we are able to start ‘The Star of Bethlehem’ conservation work. We will share the details of this exciting and somewhat nervewracking project as it happens. We are continuing to fundraise for the conservation of ‘The Holy Grail Tapestries’. To ensure these magnificent tapestries can be displayed in 2024 please donate here: justgiving.com/campaign/BurneJones. Thank you. n

‘The Star of Bethlehem’, 1887-1891; by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, 1891P75; Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CC0

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FEATURE

THE SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN HALL The Birmingham and Midland Institute (BMI)’s Board of Governors recently determined to improve one of the areas of the BMI prior to the Viability Study upon which it is going to embark in 2022.

Adjacent to the BMI’s Reception there was an area that was subdivided into four smaller rooms, but had once been the main library hall of the Birmingham Library. The room divisions had occurred when RIBA West Midlands had occupied the space, and latterly the Birmingham College. The Board decided to remove the partitioning and make the room whole one more, revealing the original 1899 parquet flooring.

This new area has been named The Sir Arthur Sullivan Hall, after the 35th President of the Institute in 1888. Sir Arthur gave his Presidential Address to members of the BMI at the Town Hall on 19th October 1888.

Sullivan wrote two pieces for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival: ‘The Masque at Kenilworth’ (1864) and ‘The Light of the World’ (1873). He also wrote ‘The Prodigal Son’, a cantata for the Worcester Music Festival in 1869. By the time he became President of the BMI, he had already collaborated on 10 operettas with W. S. Gilbert: ‘Thespis’ (1871), ‘Trial By Jury’ (1875), ‘The Sorcerer’ (1877), ‘H.M.S. Pinafore’ (1878), ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ (1879), ‘Patience’ (1881), ‘Iolanthe’ (1882), ‘Princess Ida’ (1884), ‘The Mikado’ (1885) and ‘Ruddigore’ (1887); and his 11th, ‘The Yeomen of the Guard’, would premiere in the year of his Presidency at the BMI. He wrote ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers’ in 1871 and ‘The Lost Chord’ in 1877.

A room dedicated to former President, Charles Dickens, has been in existence for years, but the BMI now has four rooms named after previous Presidents: The Charles Dickens Hall (16th President in 1869) representing literature; The Sir William Blake Richmond Gallery (55th President in 1908) representing art; and The Guglielmo Marconi Hall (68th President in 1921) representing science, in addition to The Sir Arthur Sullivan Hall, named to represent music. The BMI’s Steinway piano will be re-located to the Hall.

Work is almost complete, with the restoration of the parquet flooring planned for February; and in March the BMI hopes to have the President of The Sir Arthur Sullivan Society, film director/ producer, Mike Leigh come and formally dedicate the space with a celebration of Sullivan’s music.

The room will be 10.5 metres x 12 metres and has three beautiful arched, leaded windows which look out onto Margaret Street and the Edwardian baroque façade of the Council House extension. It will be available at a daily rate of £390. n

By Stephen Hartland Honorary Secretary of the Birmingham and Midland Institute

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FEATURE

THE HOLY GRAIL

TAPESTRIES

The Holy Grail tapestries are some of the jewels of BMT’s collection and we are fortunate to have the most complete set in the UK. How the tapestries came into being is itself a fascinating story.

William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones met at Exeter College, Oxford in 1853. They shared a love of the medieval and the romantic, reading the romantic poets to each other and later Malory and his ‘Le Morte D’Arthur’. Originally they intended to take Holy Orders, but they discovered Rossetti’s work and art became their obsession.

Morris soon decided that his forte was not painting and became an architect, but he was drawn towards craft, establishing Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co in 1861 to pursue decorative work. This became Morris and Co in 1875, showcased by a shop on Oxford Street. Morris was a committed socialist and felt strongly that 19th century industrial working methods produced poor quality goods and were destroying the working man. He felt that “nothing should be made by a man’s labour that is not worth the making” and that human beings needed to find pleasure in everyday surroundings.

He very much wanted to bring hand-crafted work to the working people but was quickly to discover that the time taken in handworking put the products out of the reach of the working classes.

He pursued the medieval style of weaving, known as high-warp.

The art of high-warp weaving had almost died out in Britain until reintroduced by William Morris. In the 1880s, most tapestry weaving was low-warp where the frame and warp were parallel to the floor. Morris felt that this resulted in poor quality design.

In high-warp looms, the warp threads are set vertically in a vertical frame. The weaver has to manually lift the warp threads to pass a bobbin through them. High-warp meant that Morris could achieve the highly detailed designs that he wanted. This was the method used at his tapestry works at Merton Abbey.

The technique of high-warp weaving required the design to be placed against the warp, the main elements were traced on using Indian ink. Weaving took place from the reverse of the work, with the design being created sideways. The coloured designs were on benches behind the weavers – if they had been placed in front of the work they would have blocked the light. Mirrors 10

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were suspended in front of the tapestries to enable the weavers to follow their progress. Morris had a team of apprentices to carry out the weaving, they joined as young boys and Morris felt that their small, flexible fingers were most suitable for the work.

The tapestries had cotton warps, the vertical threads. The weft threads were more varied. Wool was standard, silk gave shimmer and glisten and was used in flowers and garments. Mohair and camel hair were used to give texture, especially for animals – these yarns gave a 3D effect. Natural dyes gave the colours.

The Holy Grail tapestries were commissioned in 1886 as part of a scheme to decorate Stanmore Hall, the home of William KnoxD’Arcy. Originally from Devon, he made his money in Australia, first as a solicitor and later as the sole investor in a gold mine.

The commission was for a set of six tapestries telling the story with a further six decorative tapestries or verdures that hung below with captions explaining the subject of the narrative piece above. Burne-Jones created the main design, John Henry Dearle (originally an apprentice and later manager of the tapestry works) made recommendations of colours based on dyes and added foreground and background details. They cost £3500 (£318,000 today); Burne-Jones received £1000 as his fee for the design. They were woven between 1892 and 1895.

Although a socialist, Morris was something of an intellectual snob in relation to design and he didn’t like Stanmore Hall or the architectural changes made to the house, but it was a very large commission, so he accepted it.

The set of tapestries were never remade in full again, but there were later weavings of some of the designs. In 1895-6: ‘The Arming and Departure’, ‘The Failure of Sir Gawaine’ and ‘The Attainment‘ were made for Laurence Hodson, Compton Hall, Wolverhampton.

They were acquired by BMT in 1907. Those made for Mr Hodson were the last works that Morris himself supervised and it was felt (by Morris) that they were technically superior to the Stanmore Hall set.

FEATURE

In 1898-99 a complete set of narrative panels and one verdure were made for George McCulloch, London – he was a colleague of Knox-D’Arcy and had presumably seen the originals in situ.

‘The Summons’ from this set was acquired by BMT in 1980, the other four were bought by Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1994. In 1900 ‘The Ship’ and a verdure were made for Mrs Mary Middleton and these were some of the last tapestries made by Morris and Co. They were acquired by BMT in 1947. The fate of the original set is unknown.

What is the story of the Holy Grail or Sangreal? For a full account, I suggest reading ‘The Light Beyond the Forest’ by Rosemary Sutcliffe. The tapestries give a slightly abbreviated version of the story. They tell the tale of a damsel appearing on Pentecost eve who summons the knights to search for the Holy Grail, the cup used at the Last Supper and to collect Christ’s blood at the crucifixion. It was brought to England by Joseph of Arimathea. (‘The Summons’ or ‘The Knights of the Round Table Summoned to the Quest by the Strange Damsel’) The knights set off on the quest (‘The Arming and Departure of the Knights’). Sir Uwaine and Sir Gawaine spend weeks without meeting adventure. At a ruined chapel they are given a vision of an angel who tells them that they have led too sinful a life to find the grail and their quest ends (‘The Failure of Sir Gawaine’).

Lancelot received a vision of the grail, but he was unable to find it due to his infidelity with Guinevere (‘The Failure of Sir Lancelot’).

This is the tapestry missing from BMT’s set.

The remaining knights then travel to Sarras, the land of the soul; this transition is represented by ‘The Ship’. Here, Sir Bors and Sir Percival are able to come to the grail chapel, but not enter. Only Sir Galahad is pure enough to enter the chapel. The quest ends with Galahad’s death, for to see the grail is death for it is seeing the face of God (‘The Attainment’). Not long after the grail quest comes the battle with Mordred and the death of Arthur.

BMT’s verdure panel is from a later weaving and was designed

by JH Dearle combining elements from the verdures from ‘The Summons’ and ‘The Arming and Departure’ (‘Verdure with deer and shields’). The heraldry on the shields was designed by Morris – the knights were all fictional and so had no specific coats-of-arms, but he felt that they should have appropriate heraldry.

At first sight the tapestries look wonderful and it’s true that they are in good condition. Closer inspection reveals that they have a number of problems. Firstly, they are very dirty! Whites are rather grey; the garments of the figures have lost their sparkle; and the differences between the textured animals and the figures and flowers have been lost. Secondly, the Velcro used to hang the tapestries is well past its useful life and might fail allowing the tapestries to fall from the wall.

All of these factors together mean that conservation is needed now to keep the tapestries looking amazing.

We plan to send them to the De Wit tapestry works in Belgium where there is a specialist wash bath. A spray arm sprays water and detergent onto the tapestry, whilst the perforated table sucks it through – the tapestry is washed without sitting in water. Rinsing then happens in the same way and finally air is drawn through the tapestry to dry it. Washing and drying with this process takes just 24 hours.

New linings and Velcro will be added by a textile conservator based in the Midlands. This work should ensure that the tapestries retain their glow and sparkle for many more generations to enjoy. n

By Jane Thompson-Webb Conservation Team Leader, Birmingham Museums Trust

We are continuing to fundraise for the conservation of ‘The Holy Grail Tapestries’. To ensure these magnificent tapestries can be displayed in 2024 please donate here: justgiving.com/campaign/BurneJones.

Photos by Birmingham Museums Trust

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FEATURE

Changing Birmingham ˜ its people and places

Park Life

With this being the Spring edition, it seemed a good opportunity to explore both the history and representation of our public parks in Birmingham Museums Trust’s Digital Asset Resource. Providing the green lungs for our city, the development of Birmingham’s public parks came about as a result of the same social movement that produced Birmingham’s Museum and Art Gallery, which we can look forward to opening again in April.

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FEATURE

FAR LEFT: ‘Aston Hall From the Park’ by C. Ashmore, 1891, 1973P4 (detail); Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CC0 TOP LEFT: ‘Birmingham, Cannon Hill Park’, Topographical Views - Kesterton Collection, 1908, 1995V632.1242; Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CC0 TOP RIGHT: ‘Postcard - Birmingham Parks’, Topographical Views - Kesterton Collection, 1913, 1995V632.344; Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CC0

The initial impetus in the development of Birmingham’s public parks came from wealthy individuals with a philanthropic outlook.

This produced Adderley Park in Saltley in 1856, the first free park based on land donated by Charles Adderley MP, a local landowner.

Meanwhile, a crisis was developing concerning the future of Aston Hall and its Park, which was then outside the Town’s boundaries.

Following the death of Aston Hall’s last tenant, James Watt Junior, the owners were selling off the land for development and the Hall was facing demolition. This resulted in a campaign to save the Park led by George Dawson, one of the architects of the ‘civic gospel’.

After some false starts, including failed negotiations between the Council and Aston Hall’s owners, it was the formation of a working men’s committee chaired by Dawson, with J.P. Langford as Vice Chair and Daniel O’Neil as Secretary, that provided the vital spark. This committee, combined with a like-minded group of philanthropists, was able to form a company and to secure a deposit to initiate the purchase of part of the Park and Hall, and to facilitate a grand opening by Queen Victoria in 1858.

The opening was a huge success but unfortunately the company which had been set up to run the Park quickly hit financial difficulties. In order to help generate revenue the Park was let out for popular entertainments. During a tightrope act at one of these events ‘The Female Blondin’ was tragically killed when her rope broke. The Queen’s involvement in the opening now became significant as George Surge, the Mayor who was a devout Quaker, received a letter from Osborne House in which one can feel the Queen’s indignation: ‘her personal feelings of horror... a female sacrificed for the gratification of demoralising taste...’

Despite receiving this direct admonishment from the Queen neither Birmingham Corporation nor the local gentry were prepared to raise the necessary funds to buy the Park. This resulted in a second, equally strident letter from Queen Victoria: ‘Her majesty is still unwilling to believe that in a locality in which so much wealth is found... funds can be wanting to secure to the population an enjoyment to value’. This finally produced a reaction and, through a combination of funds, Birmingham Corporation was able to

purchase Aston Hall and Park in 1864, which was, at the time, a unique act for a civic authority. It became the first historic country house to pass into municipal ownership.

As the outlook of the Council changed, it gave a much more positive response to the donation of the freehold of 66 acres of land by Louisa Ryland in 1873, along with £5,000 for it to be laid out with ornamental gardens and attractions designed by John Gibson. This created one of the City’s most popular public parks, Cannon Hill. But who was Louisa Ryland and what was her motivation for the gift?

Her story has a personal tragedy at the heart of it which is, perhaps, the answer. Louisa was born into a wealthy Birmingham manufacturing family which had accumulated its wealth through a wire pulling business in the eighteenth century. Like many families of that background they were set on a path of gentrification, with a move into the Warwickshire countryside. Louisa, born in Birmingham, was set on marrying the son of a leading brass founder called Henry Smith. However her father, Samuel Ryland, aspired for an aristocratic link up and stopped the marriage, after which Louisa never married. In 1843, on the death of her father, Louisa inherited all of his considerable estates at the age of 29.

Not forgetting her birthplace, Louisa gave away much of the Birmingham estate in trust to Birmingham Corporation for public benefit, notably Cannon Hill Park. Unlike previous philanthropists one of her conditions of donation was that her name should not be attached to the park and she kept a very low profile at the opening events. There is now a blue plaque to Louisa at Cannon Hill Park which is well deserved, but would she have approved?

Whilst visiting our city’s wonderful parks why not take advantage of both Sarehole Mill and Aston Hall’s refreshment facilities, situated within their own parks. n

By Jim Wells Friends Trustee For sources and background reading please visit our website: fbmt.org.uk/publications

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FEATURE

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

set to reopen in April 2022 Many of us have been missing being able to visit Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG), so you will be pleased to hear that the doors will be reopening once more when the building partially reopens in April 2022. New displays will bring a fresh new feel to the Museum ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

After being closed, firstly by the pandemic and then by essential electrical works, BMAG will reopen on Thursday 28 April 2022, welcoming visitors back to the Round Room and Industrial Gallery seven days a week, from 10am – 5pm.

To mark the reopening, BMAG is being handed over to some of Birmingham’s most exciting creatives. Animating the Round Room and Industrial Gallery, while the rest of BMAG remains closed for essential work, are Birmingham Music Archive, Fierce, Flatpack Projects, Kalaboration Arts and working in collaboration with Birmingham Museums - Don’t Settle in partnership with Beatfreeks.

Having been invited to respond to the theme of ‘This Is Birmingham’ visitors can expect a collision of new exhibitions and live events as well as space to join in and contribute themselves. The Edwardian Tearooms will also be an exciting hub of activity and back open as a welcome pitstop for a bite to eat and a cup of tea.

Bringing together a striking combination of stories that bridge popular culture and global struggles, the vibrant new displays will share different encounters and experiences, playfully turning the theme of ‘This Is Birmingham’ on its head by asking the question: ‘What’s your Birmingham?’ Visitors will play an important role and 14

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be encouraged to explore and contribute to the many different stories that make Birmingham the fantastic city that it is.

Sara Wajid and Zak Mensah, Co-CEOs of Birmingham Museums Trust said: “The year ahead is really exciting. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery has been closed – firstly by the pandemic and then for rewiring – and we’re going to partially reopen in 2022 in time for the Commonwealth Games, and it’s going to feel very different.

“We’ve invited some of the city’s leading creatives and arts organisations to animate the Round Room and Industrial Gallery with vibrant new displays that feel much more immediate. We’ll be touching on themes like popular culture, identity and community and there will be a very warm welcome inviting everyone to join in. We can’t wait!”

In an exciting shake up, BMAG’s reopening will be launched with a radical transformation of the stunning Round Room. We Are Birmingham will reflect the people of 21st Century Birmingham.

Co-curated by Birmingham Museums and a group of six young people from Don’t Settle in partnership with Beatfreeks, the new display will present a vivid celebration of the city that Birmingham is now as well as aspirations of what the city could become.

FEATURE

Brummie music lovers will want to head straight to a new exhibition which will celebrate one of Birmingham’s greatest music venues – the Que Club. Curated by Birmingham Music Archive, ‘In The Que’, will feature previously unseen photographs by critically acclaimed photographer Terence Donovan, personal artefacts, archive film footage, flyers and posters. Reflecting the experiences of the Que Club – from the ravers to the DJs, musicians to staff – the exhibition will encourage visitors and former clubbers to share memories and join in with a lively programme of events.

‘The Healing Gardens of Bab’, presented by Birmingham 2022 Festival and produced by Fierce, will be a multidisciplinary programme that uplifts alternative expressions of gender, sexuality and family. Fierce will work with leading Aotearoa/New Zealand-based artist Sistar S’pacific, aka Rosanna Raymond, who will create a unique installation in collaboration with LGBTQIA+ communities in Birmingham.

Cinema lovers will be catered for too, as ‘Wonderland’ by Flatpack Projects and presented by Birmingham 2022 Festival will explore how cinema has shaped the streets, social lives and dreams of Brummies over the past 125 years. Flatpack plans to map all 100 plus cinemas in the city - from fairgrounds to multiplexes and from South Asian extravaganzas to pop-ups. The display will showcase photographs and cinema memorabilia, alongside Birmingham’s collection of magic lanterns and optical toys. Visitors can join in by sharing their own cinema-going memories, watching film screenings or taking part in drop-in activities.

From the mid-1980s and over a period of two decades artist, cultural activist and filmmaker, Mukhtar Dar, documented the struggles of Asian and African Caribbean communities against racism. ‘Blacklash: Racism and the Struggle for Self-Defence’, by Kalaboration Arts, draws on Mukhtar’s extensive archive of photos,

videos and other political ephemera, providing a historical context for contemporary anti-racism movements such as Black Lives Matter, as well as encouraging reflection, discussion and debate.

As you can see there’s a lot of electrifying new displays and exhibitions ready to be explored, but it wouldn’t feel right to reopen the doors of this important cultural space without reflecting on all that has passed in Birmingham over the last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. ‘Unprecedented times’, developed in partnership with Birmingham City Council’s Public Health Division and Birmingham Museums’ Community Action Panel, will explore survival of the human spirit in public crises past and present. The display will explore themes of hope and loss featuring historic objects from Birmingham’s collection alongside new work and photographs by Birmingham-based artists.

Finally, in the Gas Hall from 14 May, the Arts Council Collection presents ‘Found Cities, Lost Objects: Women in the City’, a national touring exhibition curated by Turner Prize-winning artist and cultural activist Lubaina Himid CBE, which explores modern city life from a female perspective.

Birmingham City Council’s essential electrical works programme will continue at BMAG until 2023/4. For the work to take place over 36,000 items of Birmingham’s collections have been moved into safe storage. For the reopening in April 2022, it is planned that only the Round Room, Industrial Gallery, Edwardian Tearooms, Bridge Gallery, Gallery 10 and BMAG shop will be open.

All other galleries can still be explored online via the BMAG virtual tour at birminghammuseums.org.uk/bmag/virtual-tour. n Photos by Birmingham Museums Trust

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FEATURE

AN INTERVIEW WITH IKON DIRECTOR JONATHAN WATKINS

Since winning the inaugural Ampersand Foundation Award in 2019, Ikon was given the opportunity to put on its dream exhibition. ‘Shadows on the Sky’ realises this dream as the first exhibition in the UK dedicated to the work of Renaissance artist Carlo Crivelli, running 23 February - 29 May 2022. Ikon Director Jonathan Watkins discusses the show.

Can you describe why this exhibition is so special to you?

I’ve been fascinated by Crivelli ever since I encountered his paintings at the National Gallery in 1981, instantly struck by their combination of elegance and cleverness. The way he used illusionism, and trompe l’oeil in particular, was radical to the extent that he should give art historians pause for thought to revisit assumptions that formed the basis of their theorising. I was later awarded an Italian Government Scholarship which allowed me to undertake research at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. With the Brera’s Crivelli collection – second only to that of the National Gallery’s – and access to libraries nearby, I was able to sharpen up my case for him. Now, more than 40 years later, thanks to The Ampersand Foundation, I have a chance to demonstrate the extraordinariness of this artist and his beguiling aesthetic.

Why do you think Crivelli isn’t included in the dominant Renaissance canon?

Simply because he has not been on the straight timeline, favoured by conventional artist historians, connecting artists like Giotto to modernism. The Renaissance writer Giorgio Vasari didn’t mention him in his ‘Lives of the Artists’, to some extent because he didn’t anticipate Michelangelo. Crivelli didn’t paint like contemporaries, such as Mantegna or Bellini, because he didn’t want to. Clearly, he knew what was happening in the artistic “centres” of Florence and Venice, but he had his own distinct agenda and he was revelling in the cultural richness that Italy’s Marche region had to offer. A bit like an artist working today in Birmingham, responding to the local context – especially its local industry and crafts traditions – he was not in a spotlight of critical attention, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t a genius!

What makes Crivelli’s use of perspective particularly interesting?

Crivelli used single point perspective, as developed during the early 15th century by Alberti and Brunelleschi, to represent terrestrial reality – in other words, how things occur to us in everyday life. The difference between this and spiritual reality accounts for the incongruities which often exist between various elements in his paintings. This is most obvious in those representing a collision between terrestrial and spiritual realities, namely crucifixions and annunciations. ‘The Annunciation, with Saint Emidius’, Crivelli’s pièce de résistance at the heart of our exhibition, involves illusionism but its effects are deliberately

negated – through a ray of divine light that cuts across a composition otherwise revolving around a vanishing point (the genesis of single point perspective). Any cohesive pictorial space thus becomes fractured in order to demonstrate that paintings are not windows onto other worlds, but part of our object world.

Why was it so important for Crivelli to distinguish between these different realities?

Crivelli’s paintings can be seen to operate self-referentially as a form of visual critique – not unlike those of the 20th century Belgian artist René Magritte – but, at the same time, it must be remembered that he was steeped in a 15th century value system.

The contrived and arbitrary nature of perspective was something that Crivelli exposed, paradoxically – along with the whole business of picture making – in order to communicate what was for him, his patrons and his audience, a much more important truth: namely the omnipresence of the divine.

What is the value in revisiting Crivelli’s work today?

The combination of contemporary, modern and historical work in Ikon’s programme is vital, reminding our audiences that all historical figures were once contemporary, and that all contemporary artists will, one day, be historical! This exhibition – incidentally, the most historical in Ikon’s history – exemplifies such philosophical thinking, but there’s more to it than that. Crivelli’s work presents a challenge to good old-fashioned notions of art that still persist.

Postmodernism was supposed to have “ended” art history, but most museums still conform to models that were established more than a hundred years ago. And in this respect, particularly, Crivelli is an attractive figure, compelling because of his impressive originality and independence – a kind of maverick identity that is projected onto him – and his achievements are considered more relevant than ever by many contemporary artists. There has never been an exhibition dedicated to the work of Carlo Crivelli before in the UK and, in short, it’s about time. n ‘Carlo Crivelli: Shadows on the Sky’ at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, 23 February - 29 May 2022, ikon-gallery.org’ LEFT: Carlo Crivelli, ‘Virgin and Child’ (c. 1480), Tempera on panel, 48.5 x 33.6 cm © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

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FEATURE

, Susan Philipsz s Station Clock to be new aural landmark for Birmingham Birmingham Big Art Project Ambitious, distinctive, and an euphonious way of bringing Birmingham’s people together through sound, the design of sonic artist Susan Philipsz triumphed as the winner of the Birmingham Big Art Project back in April 2017.

Orchestrated by renowned conductor and composer Esmerelda Conde Ruiz, open recording days will commence in the coming months for any Birmingham citizens to have their voice documented, social distancing restrictions dependent of course.

There is a sensibility to it that is really moving,” producer and music director of the clock’s tones, Ms Conde Ruiz, said of the artwork. “For the community to identify with these voices and to have such a unique art piece that you can’t have anywhere else, I think that lots of people are going to come to see the piece as well. I think it will make the citizens of Birmingham really proud.”

Now, nearly four years on, and despite the national tempest of pandemic-related regulations, creative processes are well under way for executing Turner Prize-winning Philipsz’s vision into a mellifluous reality.

Initially shortlisted alongside four other international artists, Philipsz’s aural ‘Station Clock’ sculpture was selected after approximately one million people took part in the decision to choose the winning artwork.

Implementing the twelve tones of the Chromatic musical scale to replace the twelve hourly chimes of a clock, the masterpiece will involve the recording of 1,092 voices from across Birmingham, each producing a tone from the scale. Once recorded, the participating voices are being transformed by Philipsz into different harmonic and discordant tonal combinations to be played on the hour, every hour, over a seven day period. Composed of between one and twelve voices, the sonic compilation has been aptly named ‘Twelve Tones’.

“The idea for ‘Station Clock’ came from looking at a drawing of the Chromatic Scale in my studio,” Berlin-based artist Philipsz reflected. “I look at it every day, there are twelve tones in the Chromatic Scale and I thought it’s kind of like a clock face. Every station should have a clock, but rather than have digits from a clock, I thought it could have tones from the Chromatic Scale.”

Internationally recognised for her poignant sculptures using sound, Philipsz’s ‘Station Clock’ design promises to move and inspire the city daily, a reminder for its people of their emotional connection to each other.

According to Brigitte Franzen, James Lingwood and Michael Morris, director and co-directors respectively of a book of compiled essays on Philipsz’s works, an encounter with her art makes the onlooker feel ‘as if the sound is coming from the fabric of the place itself, emanating from stone or concrete, emerging from water or just hanging in the air.’

For people working and living in the city, ‘Station Clock’ tones will emanate from its heart outward, as if Birmingham is voicing its diverse and creative community.

With the next objective to achieve a fundraising target of £1.5 million, Philipsz’s master vision is still in the early stages of its accomplishment.

Until the construction of our beautiful landmark commences though, the original maquette of the ‘Station Clock’ can currently be viewed in the Birmingham and Midland Institute on Margaret Street. For more information about the artist, clock and team involved in this project, please visit the Birmingham Big Art Project website birminghambigartproject.org.uk n

By Izzie Pridmore, Barques

Set to be located outside the front entrance of HS2’s Curzon Street Station, ‘Station Clock’ will be situated on the ground, appearing as a large clock face, 15 metres in diameter with concealed audio equipment to produce its habitual sound. Lighting will also be included to enhance the aluminium, brass and nickel alloy strips used to define the clock sections.

As of today, 60 percent of the 1,092 voices have been recorded in partnership with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire for ‘Twelve Tones’, in spite of sessions being halted due to COVID-19.

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FEATURE

THE COFFIN WORKS embracing change and exploring new opportunities Since the Coffin Works first opened its doors to share the history of Newman Brothers’ coffin fittings manufactory in October 2014 its guided tours have, for the most part, been the only way to experience the museum.

This has won the museum and its volunteer tour guides many awards, including the notable Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services. However, when Covid-19 forced the Coffin Works to close its doors and reopen with government guidelines in place, it took the bold decision to change this award-winning model.

Without this change it wouldn’t have been profitable to run hourly guided tours based on the rule of six and this also mitigated against the risk of losing tour guides, due to shielding. Following a brief period of reopening, the Coffin Works conducted an online survey which overwhelmingly indicated that most people wanted to experience the museum by themselves, but also have the option of a guided tour. On 25th June 2021, the museum re-opened with a hybrid model consisting of a guided tour at 11am, and self-guided entry 12pm-4pm, and they haven’t looked back since!

Offering the chance to take the museum at your own pace has made the museum much more accessible to families; those with language barriers; those who have time restraints (this includes people on day trips to Birmingham or people who may physically or mentally struggle to spend over an hour focussing on a guided tour); and those who simply do not like guided tours. The Coffin Works is really pleased with the success of this new model; being able to welcome a whole new range of visitors and still provide their famed guided tours means they are achieving the best of both worlds.

Their latest reviewer said: “My boys are both autistic. It’s not easy to get to attractions unless it’s special days in holidays, but today was fantastic for them. Volunteers were all great, the kid’s activity was spot on and everything was autism friendly whether it’s intentional or not. Will definitely be back!”

In July 2020 the Coffin Works was awarded a prestigious Museums Association’s Sustaining Engagement With Collections grant of £21,500, to make innovative adaptations to the museum. The

process was extremely competitive, with only a 10% chance of success, so they took confidence that the funders had faith in their resilience and vision. This grant enabled the museum to add certain enhancements to their self-guided model, ensuring their award-winning visitor experience was not just maintained, but exceeded. This involved creating a digital Mobile Tour; an introductory information booklet for each visitor; natural barriers to guide visitors round the new one-way system; object and oral history QR codes; and a new interactive area, which all visitors, adults and children alike, seem to love! Most importantly for the self-guided model and enhanced visitor experience, they created the volunteer role of ‘Room Enabler’.

Room Enablers primarily provide a friendly face to all the Coffin Works’ visitors. They give every visitor a warm welcome to each room, answer any questions and provide as much - or as little!

- information about that particular room as the visitor wants to know. This is a role that allows volunteers to slowly build up their knowledge room by room, to engage with visitors and to inspire them to learn. Being a Room Enabler is also an excellent gateway into Tour Guiding, providing a chance to build your knowledge and confidence before jumping straight in to guiding. The Coffin Works’ volunteers are a friendly, passionate and engaging bunch.

The Coffin Works welcomes anyone and everyone who wants to give volunteering a go and are happily flexible around your own schedules and commitments. They are currently recruiting Room Enablers, so if you have a passion for Birmingham and its history, for meeting new people and for being part of a brilliant team then do get in touch by emailing volunteers@coffinworks.org.

The Coffin Works hopes to welcome you soon, either as a visitor or as a new member of the team! n

By Claire McGibbon, Volunteer & Operations Co-ordinator, Coffin Works SPRING 2022 • issue 68

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BIRMINGHAM MUSEUMS For events which need to be pre-booked, bookings can be made by calling 0121 348 8263 or via the website – www.birminghammuseums.org.uk (unless alternative details are given).

Trinity Road, Aston, Birmingham, B6 6JD See birminghammuseums.org.uk for up-to-date opening times and prices. Free entry for Friends. Charges apply to non-members.

Discover the splendour of a grand Jacobean mansion.

PALAVER Party Takeover!

23 February 2022, 12noon, 1pm and 2pm Adult: £9, Child: £5, Concession: £7 Join this celebration of LGBTQ+ History Month to explore Aston Hall as you have never seen it before! This will be a FABULOUS party for kids (and their grown-ups too!). Join your host Fatt Butcher and a spectacular line-up of drag and cabaret performers as you travel through the historic rooms of Aston Hall for the most exciting family party Aston has ever seen.

PALAVER Party is a space where everyone is free to be whoever they want to be! Get ready for music, stories, performances, DIY costume-making, party games, and a fabulous rainbow disco in the Long Gallery for all the family.

Suitable for ages 3-8 (and fabulous for grown-ups too). Bring the little ones, stick on a sequin or ten, and get ready for a half term party like no other.

PALAVER Party Takeover! Relaxed 23 February 2022, 11am - 11.45am Adult: £9, Child: £5, Concession: £7 This is a relaxed version of the PALAVER Party performance for neurodivergent children and those with physical access needs.

‘Beauty and the Beast’ Storytelling Tour 24 February 2022, 11.15am, 1pm and 2.45pm Adult: £9, Child: £5, Concession: £7 Swoosh! Join this interactive telling of the traditional story of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ at Aston Hall. Smell the spices traded by Beauty’s merchant father, help search for the Prince in Beauty’s dreams, and find out why roses are so important to ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Before you go, have a peek in Beauty’s enchanted mirror – a perfect opportunity for you to take a photograph of your little one, or yourself to remember your visit.

Blakesley Road, Yardley, Birmingham, B25 8RN See birminghammuseums.org.uk for up-to-date opening times and prices Free entry for Friends. Charges apply to non-members.

Explore Blakesley 20 February 2022, Tour times: 12pm, 12.30pm, 1pm, 1.30pm, 2pm, 2.30pm, 3pm Adult: £7, Concession: £5, Child: £3 Visit Blakesley Hall, a fine Tudor house and beautiful gardens built

Below: PALAVER Party Takeover

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WHAT’S ON

Above: Blakesley Hall in 1590 by Richard Smalbroke, a member of one of Birmingham’s leading merchant families. There are timed tours throughout the day so pre-book to ensure you don’t miss out.

Car Boot Sale 20 March 2022, 9am - 2pm £5 per car pitch Book your pitch for the Blakesley Hall Car Boot Sale to sell your unwanted items or visit to pick up a bargain from one of the sellers.

Light refreshments will be available from the Herb Garden Café throughout the day.

Tudor Women Guided Tour 6 March 2022, Tours at 11am and 2pm Adult: £8, Concession: £6, Child: £4 Learn about Tudor Women on our specialist guided tour of Blakesley Hall to mark International Women’s Day. The tour will end with a Tudor inspired craft activity.

75-80 Vyse Street, Hockley, Birmingham, B18 6HA Free entry for Friends. Tour charges apply to non-members.

Kids Jewellery Workshop 22 February 2022, 10am - 12noon and 1pm-3pm

£15 per child Have a go at making your own piece of jewellery with the help of the Museum’s friendly learning team in this special children’s jewellery workshop activity. Design and create either a bracelet or pendant, learn and use real jewellers’ techniques like texturing metal, hammering, stamping and enamelling to make something unique and personal to take home with you.

Six Week Beginners Jewellery Course 22 February - 29 March 2022, 6.30pm - 9pm Tuesday evenings for 6 weeks £195 for the full course Make stunning pieces of jewellery at this beginner’s jewellery making course. During this six-week course, learn a variety of jewellery making techniques under the careful guidance of jeweller and teacher Vanessa Miller.

Jewellery Quarter Ghost Walk 26 February 2022, 6pm and 7.30pm £10 History, folklore and ghosts collide on a walking tour through Birmingham’s historic Jewellery Quarter. On this twilight tour, you’ll hear stories of overflowing graveyards, ancient Roman roads, mysterious grey ladies and Napoleonic soldiers. Also find out what links pear drops, lawn tennis and the 1966 World Cup final.

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Above: Museum of the Jewellery Quarter Museum of the Jewellery Quarter 30th Birthday 6 February 2022, 12noon, 1pm & 2pm Adult: £12, Concession: £10, Child: £6 The Museum of the Jewellery Quarter first opened its doors 30 years ago - in February 1992 - as the Jewellery Quarter discovery centre. To celebrate, visit for a special day of tours. Join guided tours of the perfectly preserved Smith & Pepper jewellery workshop, access our “Story of the Jewellery Quarter gallery” and enjoy a complimentary glass of sparkling wine during the tour to toast the occasion! The tearoom will also be open with birthday cake and hot drinks available to purchase.

Cole Bank Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, B13 0BD. See birminghammuseums.org.uk for up-to-date opening times and prices Free entry for Friends. Charges apply to non-members.

Explore Sarehole Mill 5 February 2022, 11am - 4pm Entry to this event is included in the price of admission.

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tour! Enjoy the sights and sounds of a traditional 18th Century water mill at your own pace, learn about the life of a miller and take part in hands on demonstrations. Also take some time to see the beautiful millpond and explore the new Woodland Realm.

There will also be Pizza in the courtyard, available from 12 – 3pm.

Pre-book your table to avoid disappointment.

Guided Tour of Sarehole Mill 11 February - 12 February 2022, Tours at 11.30am on Friday and 11.30am and 1.30pm on Saturday.

Entry to this event is included in the price of admission.

Explore Sarehole Mill with our experienced guides. Enjoy the sights and sounds of a traditional 18th Century Water Mill, learn about the life of a miller and the scenes that inspired writer J.R.R Tolkien.

Also take some time to see the beautiful millpond and explore the new Woodland Realm. Enjoy pizza in the courtyard available from 12 – 3pm, pre-book your table to avoid disappointment. Tours also take place on 18 & 19 February, 25 & 26 February, 4 March, 11 & 12 March, 18 & 19 March – please see the website for timings.

Origins of Middle-earth: J.R.R. Tolkien and Sarehole Guided walk 6 February, 20 February & 6 March 2022, 10am - 11am £10 A guided walk introducing the scenery that inspired J.R.R Tolkien when he lived near Sarehole Mill as a child. The tour begins at

the Mill and takes us to Moseley Bog, passing Tolkien’s childhood home. The route is around 2 miles in length, involves steps and a boardwalk that could be slippery when wet. Good walking shoes are recommended. Not accessible to wheelchairs or pushchairs unfortunately. Worked up an appetite? Book a table at the pizza in the courtyard for lunch following the walk! This event also takes place on 20th February, 6th March and 20th March.

Millennium Point, Curzon Street, Birmingham, B4 7XG Open daily 10am – 5pm Half price entry for Friends. Charges apply to non-members.

Thinktank offers an extraordinary, fun-packed day out for all the family. From steam engines to a talking robot, this exciting museum is home to thousands of fascinating objects, and over 200 hands-on displays on science and technology.

This includes a state-of-the-art digital Planetarium, and an interactive outdoor Science Garden, a gallery dedicated to the iconic Spitfire as well as a number of natural history displays. MiniBrum, a major new mini city space where children are in charge. Open now, MiniBrum is an exciting, interactive child-sized world which been created in collaboration with schools, families and community groups.

With an ever-changing programme of demonstrations, workshops and events, there is always something new to discover.

Planetarium Lates: Particle/Wave 17 February 2022, 7pm - 8.15pm £10 Particle/Wave is an exploration of art and science showcased

under the spectacular dome of the planetarium. Poets, musicians, sound and video artists – alongside renowned scientists – have collaborated to present a creative glimpse of the incredible story of gravitational waves.

Smethwick Engine Steaming Day 23 February & 13 April 2022, 12.30pm - 1pm Entry to this event is included in the price of admission One of the jewels in Thinktank’s collection is the Smethwick Engine, the oldest working steam engine in the world. Designed by the firm of Boulton & Watt and installed almost 240 years ago on the Birmingham-Wolverhampton canal in 1779, it was the first engine in the world to use both the expansive force of steam and a vacuum at the same time.

The Smethwick Engine has recently undergone an extensive restoration project. Come and see the power of the engine firsthand at 12:30pm.

Planetarium Lates: Equinox 360 Pink Floyd Tribute 17 March 2022, 7pm - 9.30pm £17 This is a Pink Floyd tribute like no other. Performed live, entirely by one man, one instrument and projected in 360 degrees which immerses you into the sights and sounds of one of the biggest selling and acclaimed acts on the planet.

Equinox will take you on an emotional and inspiring journey into the heart and themes of the band’s iconic albums and songs. This unparalleled performance will take you to the Darkside of the dome and leave you Comfortably Numb!

For all events visit www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/whats-on for further information and to book

Below: Sarehole Mill

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in the area THE BARBER INSTITUTE

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TS. www.barber.org.uk Miss Clara and the Celebrity Beast in Art, 1500 – 1860 Until 27 February 2022. Praised by Rachel Cooke in the Observer as ‘just about perfect’, this five-star rated exhibition tells the story of the animal behind one of the Barber’s best-loved masterpieces, a bronze sculpture entitled ‘A Rhinoceros, called Miss Clara’.

Imported into Europe from India by a Dutch sea captain in 1741, ‘Miss Clara’ was toured around Europe in a carriage pulled by eight horses, visiting more than 60 cities - from Amsterdam to Venice, Paris to Prague, and Vienna to London, where she eventually died in 1759. Achieving considerable celebrity wherever she went, she was viewed by kings and courtiers - and indeed anyone who could afford to pay the entrance fee, and inspired paintings and prints, sculpture, ceramics, clocks – and even a hairstyle. This unique exhibition throws the spotlight onto the art and merchandise inspired by her, and by other celebrity animals, including elephants Hanno, Hansken and Jumbo, and Obaysch, who in the 1850s became the first hippopotamus seen in Europe since Roman times.

The First Dictators: Politics, Propaganda and the Collapse of the Roman Republic Until 26 June 2022. ‘The First Dictators’ explores how coins were used for propaganda purposes during the dying days of the Roman Republic in the first century BCE. Taking a deep-dive into the images on the currency, the exhibition features super-enlarged diagrams to explore how depictions of real and mythological characters, animals and objects were used for political ends. Three important flash points – the dictatorship of Sulla; the First Triumvirate and the dictatorship of Caesar; and the Second Triumvirate and the dictatorship of Octavian, which finally shifted the Republic into the Empire – are the focus of the exhibition. However, it also considers how several commonlyused images – and even the personalities of several of the Roman dictators themselves – were adopted and exploited by more recent states and politicians on their own coins and medals. The exhibition also includes an overview of the development of Roman bronze, base metal and silver coins from their earliest appearance until 105 BCE, and explains how coins were made.

Masterpieces on Loan Until 20 March & 3 April 2022. Three spectacular and very different paintings are on display at the Barber for the first time in a series of swaps with other top UK galleries. ‘Mares and Foals in a River Landscape’ by the eminent English animal painter George Stubbs (1724 – 1806) portrays a group of glossy racehorses in a lyrical evocation of the English countryside, while ‘The Capella Nuova outside the Porta di Chiara’ is a gem-like small study from a series of views of Naples painted in about 1782 by Thomas Jones (1742 – 1803), only really appreciated since the early 20th century for his plein-air views. Both have been lent in exchange for Barber paintings borrowed for Tate Britain’s exhibition, ‘Hogarth and Europe’, and are on display until 20 March. Also on display is ‘Portrait of Rosamund 24

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Sargent, née Chambers’, 1749, by prolific Scottish portraitist Allan Ramsay (1713-84). This sumptuous painting is on loan to the Barber in exchange for Rossetti’s tour de force, ‘The Blue Bower’, which has just returned to the Barber following its loan to the exhibition ‘Rossetti’s Portraits’ at the Holburne Museum, Bath. It is on display until 3 April.

Highlights from Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery Until 2024. A trio of internationally significant masterpieces have been lent by Birmingham Museums Trust to the Barber for a twoyear period – where they now hang among the Barber’s own worldclass collection. The iconic Pre-Raphaelite masterpiece ‘The Last of England’, painted in 1855 by Ford Madox Brown, the monumental ‘Erminia and the Shepherd’, painted around 1620 by leading Bolognese painter Guercino and ‘The Man of Sorrows’, a tiny panel by the Flemish painter Petrus Christus from around 1450, have been lent to the Barber while Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is closed.

Beyond Representation: Re-defining Perception in the 20th Century Until 22 May 2022. International artists of the 20th century constructed new perceptions of the world during a time of intense and turbulent change – from huge technological and scientific advancements, to political revolutions and two world wars. These seismic shifts, coinciding with the rise in popularity of photography, CONTINUED OVER THE PAGE

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The Barber Institute - Miss Clara and the Celebrity Beast in Art, 1500 - 1860 called into question the purpose of art, while the invention of the X-ray and renewed interest in the concept of a fourth dimension opened up new possibilities for portraying the world. Artists began to move beyond, or reject outright, traditional illusionistic representation as no longer sufficient for expressing the modern experience, sparking experiments in form, space and perspective.

This display features drawings prints and sculpture from the Barber collection by pioneering artists of the period as diverse as Christopher Nevinson, Kurt Schwitters, Max Beckman, Max Ernst, Naum Gabo and Tess Jaray.

The Founding of the Barber Institute 11 February - 12 June 2022. This year, the Barber celebrates the 90th anniversary of its foundation - an arts centre ahead of its time.

This display of photographs and archive material explores the story behind establishment of this unique ‘…Institute for the study and encouragement of Art and Music’– by Lady Barber, and the building of Birmingham’s finest Art Deco building - now Grade-1 listed.

BIRMINGHAM BACH CHOIR www.birmingham.bachchoir.com For Those We Loved Saturday 2 April, 7pm at St Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham.

Conductor: Paul Spicer, Organist: Martyn Rawles, Baritone: Ed Ballard, Trumpeter: Matthew Hampton. A concert to remember of beautiful music by Vaughan Williams, Holst, Parry and Spicer (Premiere). Tickets from £14; students £6. Available online: www. birmingham.bachchoir.com or from THSH Box Office.

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Lux Aeterna: A Summer Concert of British music and Bach!

Saturday 25 June at St Paul’s, Jewellery Quarter and Saturday 2 July at Malvern Priory, Malvern. Conductor: Paul Spicer, Organist: Martyn Rawles. Including music by Bach, Britten, Finzi, Gibbons, Joubert and MacMillan. Tickets & details online: www.birmingham.bachchoir.com.

HERBERT ART GALLERY & MUSEUM Jordan Well, Coventry, CV1 5QP. theherbert.org Daniel Lismore - Be Yourself; Everyone Else is Already Taken 18th February - 26th June 2022. Coventry City of Culture Trust and the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum are delighted to present ‘Be Yourself; Everyone Else Is Already Taken’ by the Coventry born artist, designer and activist Daniel Lismore. This exhibition in his hometown is the first time that his work has gone on display in the UK. The exhibition features a major installation ‘An Army of My Life’, which takes inspiration from the Terracotta Army, and features 50 3D sculptures, each of which are modelled on the artist and including a cast of his face, manifestations of Lismore’s life living as sculpture.

The life-size (6’4”) sculptures are fashioned in Lismore’s elaborate and extravagant ensembles, expressions of body adornment and conceptual thinking. They combine haute couture with items from his personal collection of nearly 7,000 unique curiosities, including charity-shop finds, yards of vintage fabrics and found objects.

The exhibition will examine social, historical and cultural themes CONTINUED OVER THE PAGE

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IN THE AREA

Daniel Lismore - Be Yourself; Everyone Else is Already Taken - The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum central to Lismore’s work and life living as sculpture. He has been a noted advocate of sustainable fashion, which sits at the heart of his artistic practice, a design philosophy that espouses creative re-use, upcycling of materials and reduction of impact on the environment.

His relationships with creative communities around the world also inform his work and activism. Lismore has been called ‘England’s most eccentric dresser’ by Vogue, exhibited around the world, and has designed costumes for the English National Opera. He was Creative Director of luxury label Sorapol where he dressed Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey, Naomi Campbell, Cara Delevingne, Adam Ant and Boy George amongst others. Many of the pieces designed for his celebrity clientele will be on display in Coventry. A specially made publication for the UK premiere of the exhibition, and Coventry UK City of Culture, will explore, excavate and celebrate Daniel’s unique journey from being raised in Coventry through to international fame. This will feature previously unseen private archive & materials including photos, found objects, ephemera, artworks & sketchbooks, personal materials documenting his journey from schooldays through adolescence - a tapestry of his journey from childhood to his true self living as sculpture.

‘Be Yourself; Everyone Else Is Already Taken’ was first presented in 2016, co-curated by Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) Atlanta USA and exhibited at SCAD FASH: Museum of Fashion and Film. Since its original presentation, the exhibition has been presented in Basel Miami 2016, Iceland 2018, Naples 2019 and Poland in November 2019. For this homecoming exhibition, many of the work will be enhanced and expanded, with previously unseen works on display.

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IKON 1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham, B1 2HS. www.ikon-gallery.org Carlo Crivelli - Shadows on the Sky 23 February - 29 May 2022. In October 2019 Ikon won the inaugural £150,000 Ampersand Foundation Award, which will enable the gallery to realise its dream of staging an exhibition of works by the 15th century Italian Renaissance artist Carlo Crivelli. It will include a number of works from European collections, including some never lent before. Jonathan Watkins, Ikon Director: ‘An exhibition of work by the 15th century painter Carlo Crivelli is not only a dream come true for Ikon, but also something that I have always really wanted to do. Since being an undergraduate I have been fascinated by Crivelli, at once very ‘traditional’ in a northern Italian style but pointing towards a postmodern art historical future unlike any other pre-modern artist. Arguably, Carlo Crivelli was as radical as Magritte.’. For more information see page 17.

Britta Marakatt-Labba - Under the Vast Sky 23 February - 29 May 2022. Ikon presents the first UK exhibition by renowned Sámi (Swedish) artist Britta Marakatt-Labba. The exhibition strikes a balance between iconic embroidered pieces and more recent and new works, including epic panoramas chronicling the history, culture and cosmology of the Sámi, the indigenous population of the northernmost parts of Scandinavia. These will be combined with works inspired by the vernacular, the domestic, the intimacy of daily CONTINUED OVER THE PAGE

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IN THE AREA life; works engaging in the contested and urgent issues of our time – climate catastrophe, contemporary terrorism linked to Nazism, and more. The exhibition is co-curated by Jan-Erik Lundström, a curator, critic and historian of contemporary art, and former director of the Sámi Center for Contemporary Art, Karasjok, Norway.

MIDLANDS ARTS CENTRE - MAC Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH. macbirmingham.co.uk Maryam Wahid: Zaibunnisa 5 February – 18 April 2022. This is Maryam Wahid’s first major photographic exhibition in her home city of Birmingham.

Zaibunnisa, meaning ‘the beauty of women’ refers to Wahid’s mother’s birth name prior to emigrating from Pakistan to the UK in 1982 for an arranged marriage. The photographs tell the story of Wahid and her mother’s journey to Lahore in 2019, Wahid’s firstever trip to Pakistan and her mother’s first visit in twenty years.

Epiphania Visuals: When Speech is Forced Down, Art Must Speak 5 February – 3 April 2022. This group exhibition presents the work of artists and activists from Bangladesh. Themes explore gender identities including asexuality, gender and sexual diversity, and queer experiences through art, film, painting, and craft.

Little Earthquake: Nevertheless, We Persisted 5 February – 3 April 2022. Inspired by and featuring cards, letters and messages of support sent to Anderton Park School, Sparkhill from across the globe during the 2019 protests around LGBTQIA+ inclusive teaching. This exhibition showcases the gentle, eloquent force of the handwritten note as a powerful form of activism.

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Wolverhampton Art Gallery Lichfield St, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV1 1DU. www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk British Art Show 9 Hayward Gallery Touring’s ‘British Art Show 9’ will be on display at Wolverhampton Art Gallery until 10 April 2022. The show launched in Aberdeen in Summer 2021 and Wolverhampton will be the first city in England to host ‘BAS9’, before it tours to Manchester and finally to Plymouth. ‘British Art Show’ is the largest touring exhibition of contemporary art in the UK, giving people in cities across the country the opportunity to engage with work by the most exciting artists in Britain. Audiences in Wolverhampton will be able to experience the exhibition, which will take place across two main venues: Wolverhampton Art Gallery and the University of Wolverhampton’s School of Art. Following Wolverhampton, the exhibition will tour to Manchester and Plymouth. The ‘British Art Show’ is widely recognised as a significant marker of recent developments in contemporary art in Britain, and ‘British Art Show 9’ will be no exception. A huge range of works by over 40 artists will be presented, engaging with many of the most urgent issues of our times, including the environmental crisis, identity and belonging, conflict resolution and healing. The exhibition is curated by internationally respected curators Irene Aristizábal and Hammad Nasar and is produced by Hayward Gallery Touring, in collaboration with curators at each of the host cities. Hosting ‘British Art Show 9’ represents a huge milestone in the cultural life of Wolverhampton.

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FEATURE

BIRMINGHAM

HOME OF THE PEN MAKERS Birmingham’s unique Pen Museum reveals a rare glimpse into the city’s hidden history of pen making and its global influence.

Once known as ‘the city of a thousand trades’, Birmingham was home to around 129 pen factories during the 19th century, producing an estimated three quarters of the world’s pens. This mass production and export made pens accessible to the masses and helped literacy skills around the world.

Birmingham’s Pen Museum is the only museum in the United Kingdom devoted to the history of the steel pen making industry. The Pen Museum explains how Birmingham became the centre of the world pen trade, and looks at the influence of Birmingham’s many entrepreneurs such as Joseph Gillott, C. Brandauer & Co, William Mitchell and Josiah Mason, who was instrumental in the establishment of the institution which became Birmingham University.

A trip to the Pen Museum will reveal this fascinating history in the atmospheric surroundings of a former pen factory, which sits on the site of a cottage where the famous American author Washington Irving lived and wrote ‘Rip van Winkle’.

The Museum is located in the Argent Centre, a former pen factory built for William E. Wiley, gold pen makers, in 1863. Visitors can immerse themselves in its atmospheric surroundings with authentic machines and tools, imagine what it might have been like to work in the pen trade and hear the story of the tough lives of its 8,000 workers, around 75% of whom were women.

The pen trade was one of the main employers of women in Birmingham, offering much needed work to help support the family. Known as ‘piece work’, women and girls were paid per piece produced. They were expected to produce their ‘lot’, which was up to 28,000 pen nibs a day, which for a 50-hour week earned them approximately 12 shillings, the equivalent of 55p in today’s money. There were many unwritten rules such as no talking, drinking, or eating whilst working. Sometimes rules were made to be broken, such as a very ‘Brummie’ sandwich, known as a ‘piece’ 32

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of bread and lard, which a worker would bring in hidden in an apron hoping not to get caught.

The Pen Museum has activities for all the family including demonstrations, displays, writing with quills, using typewriters, viewing historic film footage and a chance to try out your calligraphy skills and learn about the art of graphology. With the help of the Museums’ dedicated and skilled volunteers, visitors can ‘have a go’ at pressing a pen nib to take home as a memento.

Andy Munro, Chair of the Pen Museum says: ‘Birmingham was the centre of the world’s pen production in the mid to late 19th century, which had a significant impact on improving literacy on a global basis. It has been estimated that the city produced approximately three quarters of the world’s pens in the mid to late 19th century.

But it is more than a museum. It’s also a place of discovery and inspiration through our displays, activities and events. Our aim is to engage and inspire visitors, provide outreach in terms of history, deliver writing skills workshops with a new focus on digitising part of our collection and archive to increase public engagement and accessibility to as wide an audience as possible. The museum is a charitable association, and we totally depend on our dedicated, experienced team of volunteers and the generosity of donors and supporters. Our wonderful visitors also provide regular income to help keep this part of Birmingham’s important heritage alive.’ n

By Carmel Girling, Trustee, Pen Museum The Pen Museum is in The Argent Centre, 60 Frederick Street, Birmingham, B1 3HS. It is a short distance from the city centre and is accessible by Metro and Public Transport, by car, walking or cycling. Pre-booking is essential: penmuseum.org.uk/visit/. Please visit the website for more information (https://penmuseum.org. uk), email: enquiries@penmuseum.org.uk or telephone: 0121 236 9834. For the safety and comfort of visitors, staff and volunteers, numbers will be limited in line with COVID 19 Guidelines.

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QUIZ

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FRIENDS´ QUIZ

By Jim wells

1. Which artistic movement is BMAG’s collection most famous for?

2. Which Gallery is this?

3. Who was the architect of the original Gallery? a. Yeoville Thomason b. John Henry Chamberlain c. William H. Ward

8. Whose sculpture has been a long-term central feature of the Round Room? a. Henry Moore b. Barbara Hepworth c. Jacob Epstein

4. As you walk up the entrance stairs whose wall painting faces you as you make the ascent?

9. This is a portrait of Mumtaz Mahal and was one of the artefacts which the Friends Committee agreed to buy at their first meeting in 1931. Which famous monument was built in India in remembrance of her?

5. Who was the first keeper of the Museum and Gallery? a. James Bisset b. J.T. Bunce c. Whitworth Wallis

10. This painting by William Logsdail in Birmingham’s collection is of which famous square?

6. Which suffragette was involved in a protest at the Gallery? a. Catherine Osler b. Bertha Ryland c. Gladice Keevil

BMAG has an online shop from which some of the above illustrations can be purchased as framed prints. Why not celebrate BMAG’s reopening with a beautiful print!

7. This painting, by Birmingham artist David Cox, is of which part of Birmingham?

Photos by Birmingham Museums Trust

1. Pre-Raphaelites 2. Industrial Gallery 3. Yeoville Thomason 4. J.E. Southall 5. Whitworth Wallis 6. Bertha Ryland 7. Horsefair 8. Jacob Epstein 9. Taj Mahal 10. St Mark’s Venice

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CROSSWORD 1

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FRIENDS´ crossword

By Derek Street

This crossword’s theme is leaders ACROSS 1. This Monarch was a merry old soul and a smoker. (4) 3. She was “not amused”. (8) 8. Advice to a rabbit in a song. (3) 9. With 19 down. The headpiece of male formal dress. (3) 10. Don’t do this to the applecart. (5) 12. Leading comedian. The Wise one of a pair. (5) 13. Currently a leading party north of the border. (3) 14. In days gone by the main places of rest, food and drink for weary travellers. (3) 15. Famed and distinguished Birmingham civic leader and national politician active late nineteenth, early twentieth century. (11) 19. Bees do it. (3) 20. On top of the world; and all the way round it. (3) 21. Nationalist leader and first prime minister of independent India, 1947. (5) 23. On top of the building; and often inside it. (5) 24. The number 1 card that outranks the King. (3) 25. Strong native wood commonly used in building, furniture and sporting equipment. (3) 26. Perhaps the best known of the leading twentieth century physicists. (8) 27. A modern English version of Roman “Caesar” for a form of address to Emperors. (4)

DOWN 1. 39th United States President. (8) 2. He temporarily displaced the former Tsar in the name of St Petersburg. (5) 4. Mythological. A small mischievous devil. (3) 5. The United States President who disputes his recent departure. (5) 6. Leading Italian opera composer. (7) 7. Traditionally a small rural river. More recently an electronic feed of audio or visual information. (6) 11. Twenty cwt. Think back to coalmen. (3) 13. Ancient weapon. When linked to “head” it describes a combat force designed to lead a break into enemy territory. (5) 16. The town from which the Pied Piper led first the rats and then the children. (7) 17. Leading medical journal. (6) 18. Middle name of evangelist known for his 1963 speech “I have a dream”. (6) 19. See 9 across. (3) 20. A possession of use or monetary value. (5) 22. School leaders. (5) 24. One of our members who lives in France perhaps? (3)

ANSWERS: ACROSS: 1. Cole 3. Victoria 8. Run 9. Top 10. Upset 12. Ernie 13. SNP 14. Inn 15. Chamberlain 19. Hum 20. Air 21. Nehru 23. Tiles 20. Ace 25.

Ash 26. Einstein 27. Tsar ANSWERS DOWN: 1. Carter 2. Lenin 4. Imp 5. Trump 6. Rossini 7. Stream 11. Ton 13. Spear 16. Hamelin 17. Lancet 18. Luther 19.

Hat 20. Asset 22. Heads 24. Ami

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A Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition organised in collaboration with galleries in Wolverhampton, Aberdeen, Plymouth and Manchester.

Aberdeen 10.07.2021 - 10.10.2021 Wolverhampton 22.01.2022 - 10.04.2022 Manchester 13.05.2022 - 04.09.2022

Wolverhampton Art Gallery & University of Wolverhampton School of Art 22.01.2022 – 10.04.2022

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Patrick Goddard, Animal Antics (still), 2021. Produced by FLAMIN + Film and Video Umbrella, with support from Hayward Gallery Touring and E-WERK, Frieberg © the artist. Courtesy the artist and Seventeen, London

Plymouth 08.10.2022 - 23.12.2022