Pauline Burbidge Exhibition at The Bowes Museum

Honesty Skyline by Pauline Burbidge

As I mentioned in an earlier blogpost, I had a lovely weekend in the north of England at the end of November.  The highlight (in art terms at least!) was visiting the Pauline Burbidge exhibition at The Bowes Museum on its opening day.

Detail of Horizons of Puglia by Pauline Burbidge

I don’t think I have ever been to an exhibition where the visitors all spent so long looking at the artwork.  Apparently, the normal time a museum visitor spends looking an artwork can be measured in seconds.  All of the visitors I saw spent several minutes carefully absorbing each artwork on show.

Samples of Pauline Burbidge's mark-making on fabric

This exhibition is of Pauline’s most recent work.  Having moved to working in simple monotone, she now is adding a striking band of colour to her work through the use of cyanotype printing.  Her subject matter continues to be that of the nature which surrounds her.  She doesn’t make work of a recognisable place, more to give you a sense of place.  I felt as if I was out in a field, totally surrounded by tall grasses; the wild countryside and high at the top of my vision was a brilliant blue sky.  This was pleasurable viewing, especially given how awful the reality of the weather was outside – I had no desire to spend time in the real landscape that day – Pauline’s created one was much more congenial!

Samples of Pauline Burbidge's cyanotypes

To make the visit more encompassing for the viewer, there were two videos: one of Pauline’s awesome inspirational photos; the other of her at work in her studio.  The visit was also accompanied by specially composed, haunting music.  There were  her tools, sketchbooks and samples on view – all the things makers want to know about her working processes.

A selection of Pauline Burbidge's tools and equipment

It was my first visit to The Bowes Museum and all of us (R and the kids included) really enjoyed it.  There was a great kids trail and activities for them to do and we all wished we had had the time to sample the cafe. 

Starscape by Pauline Burbidge, with added reflections!

Pauline’s exhibition was in the Fashion and Textile Gallery, which was worth a visit in itself.  Tantalisingly, to accompany her exhibition, there is a display of quilts in the Glass Cube.  They were all overlapped, so you couldn’t see them properly, but apparently if you go as part of a group, you can arrange to gain better access.

Honesty and Fern by Pauline Burbidge

I’ve written articles about the exhibition for Popular Patchwork and The Quilter, with proper, high quality press images.  So you will need to read them if you want to see those photos and to read about my thoughts on the exhibition in depth.  These are just some snaps I took on the day.

The antique quilts on display at The Bowes Museum

The exhibition is on at The Bowes Museum until April, when it transfers to the Ruthin Craft Centre.

I would really recommend a visit.  If you are unable to go, there is a lovely catalogue which accompanies the exhibition, which is available directly from the museum shop website for £9.99.  If Santa is being generous, some of Pauline's quilts are also for sale there!

Family outing to the Hepworth, Wakefield

Barbara Hepworth

As the kids had a few days off school so the teachers could be trained, we headed south for the weekend to visit family.  This, amazingly, fitted in well with some great exhibitions, and for once, it was a coincidence rather than careful scheming on my part.

Cool Moon by Barbara Hepworth

I’ll be writing more about the Bowes Museum and the Pauline Burbidge exhibition later, which were both fab.  They were our first stop on Saturday morning.  After lunch, the youngest and I had a lovely afternoon at the Knitting & Stitching Show in Harrogate.  She enjoyed the exhibitions and shopped with great determination, given a very limited budget!  And yes, I bought some bits too.

Barbara Hepworth.  My photo doesn't do justice to the beautiful, intense blue colour

Sunday, we had an entire family outing to the Hepworth, in Wakefield. We all really enjoyed it from the oldest to the youngest as well as us in-between.  The building was amazing and had lovely vistas out over the seriously fast flowing river – we were glad to be inside as the weather outside was foul! 

View from the Hepworth

The Gallery has a mixture of Barbara Hepworth sculpture and contemporary art.  It also gives an insight into Hepworth’s working methods, including her tools, some technical drawings and lots of maquettes.  There were some drawers which displayed some of her personal inspirations and I was thrilled to discover a Cycladic figure amongst them – can’t go anywhere without seeing them! 

Barbara Hepworth's Cycladic figure

The cafe was rather good and there was a fantastic, free family activity pack.  If you are there without kids, I suggest you pretend you have some with you as it was a well thought-out guide to looking at and interpreting the work in a personal manner.

Hepworth - the building framed some of the work beautifully

As you can guess, I found it all very inspiring.  It was worth the hideous drive back through torrential rain and driving snow.  I was desperate to do some sketching, but my sketchbook (and camera) got stolen by the younger members of our group as they were either inspired or bored and looking to entertain themselves while the adults enjoyed the art.  These are the sketches by the oldest, who is 13 

and the youngest who is 8.  

The middle one spent his time photographing, especially making panoramas.  This was his favourite - he liked the dark and light in it.

Our next family outing to museums will be an exciting trip to London.  Any recommendations for family friendly museums?

Barbara Hepworth - Olympus