A Year in the Life....
A Year in the Life....
Christmas Greetings
A Year in the Life....
A Year in the Life....
Christmas Greetings
Life is never dull for the Friends of the Whitworth as we look for new ways to raise funds for our lovely Gallery and create opportunities for our members to enjoy art-and each other’s company!
Of course, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it, as the saying goes. Last year we added some practical workshops to our programme and, in 2018 if you wanted to learn Chinese Brush Painting, paint with water colours in the Art Garden or be introduced to patchwork, the Friends of the Whitworth was the place to be. Our Sunday Concerts, featuring students from the RNCM, also went from strength to strength. Not least, we have taken our usual Study Tour-this time to Kosovo and Montenegro- and enjoyed our spring and autumn tours in the UK, as well as many other shorter visits.
A second, short overseas trip, this one to Vienna, was a new feature in our Autumn programme, however. We had been tempted by the exhibition of the work of Breugel the Elder at the Kuntshistorisches Museum, described, in all the publicity, as a once in a life time experience-and so it proved. Despite the crowds which inevitably accompany these blockbuster exhibitions, we were able, thanks to our excellent guide, to get up close enough to each of the major works to study the incredible detail. If you want to share some of that experience visit the website put together for the exhibition at www.insidebreugel.net. Needless to say, while in Vienna, we managed to visit many other Galleries, enjoy the Christmas Markets and learn the difference between strudel and streusel!
Activities organised jointly with our Student Friends from the Art History Department at Manchester University-a link we intend to develop in the coming months-have been another new development. It’s good for us to hear new voices, and for young people to learn how important it is to become advocates of our art galleries. Our Look Club has also broken new ground, welcoming artist, Sarah Feinmann, to lead one of our sessions and to share her work with us. Then, in November, we ventured out of the Gallery to visit artists at work in their studios at Paradise Works in Salford. It was extremely cold-but we had a very warm welcome from Hilary Jack, Jez Dolan, Nina Chua, Claire Tindale and Katie McGuire, all of whom were very generous with their time and their willingness to discuss their practice with us.
Through all of this, our focus, of course, has been the raising of funds to support the Gallery. This year the Friends of the Whitworth sponsored three exhibitions in the Collections Centre, each of which gave opportunities for new groups to work with the Whitworth Collections: Apna, a South Asian women’s arts group based in Rossendale, the Whitworth Gallery’s own volunteers, and, not least, the children of Stanley Grove Primary Academy. Two new works have also been added to the Collections with the help of donations from the Friends: a work by one of Africa's most celebrated visual artists, Ivorian, Frédèric Bruly Bouabré, and Bending, one of the sculptures from the Coronation Series which we saw as part of the Raqs Media Collective Exhibition, Twilight Language. It now sits in the Park, in dialogue with the statue of Edward VII, and demonstrating that, although history cannot be undone, it can be re-thought. Knowing that this generation of Friends are adding to the legacy already established makes us very proud, and we hope that you will share that feeling, as it is your subscriptions and support which make all this possible.
With that happy thought, we wish you a very joyful Christmas and a happy New Year. We have lots of plans for 2019, so please visit our website soon to find out what we have in store.
Life is never dull for the Friends of the Whitworth as we look for new ways to raise funds for our lovely Gallery and create opportunities for our members to enjoy art-and each other’s company!
Of course, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it, as the saying goes. Last year we added some practical workshops to our programme and, in 2018 if you wanted to learn Chinese Brush Painting, paint with water colours in the Art Garden or be introduced to patchwork, the Friends of the Whitworth was the place to be. Our Sunday Concerts, featuring students from the RNCM, also went from strength to strength. Not least, we have taken our usual Study Tour-this time to Kosovo and Montenegro- and enjoyed our spring and autumn tours in the UK, as well as many other shorter visits.
A second, short overseas trip, this one to Vienna, was a new feature in our Autumn programme, however. We had been tempted by the exhibition of the work of Breugel the Elder at the Kuntshistorisches Museum, described, in all the publicity, as a once in a life time experience-and so it proved. Despite the crowds which inevitably accompany these blockbuster exhibitions, we were able, thanks to our excellent guide, to get up close enough to each of the major works to study the incredible detail. If you want to share some of that experience visit the website put together for the exhibition at www.insidebreugel.net. Needless to say, while in Vienna, we managed to visit many other Galleries, enjoy the Christmas Markets and learn the difference between strudel and streusel!
Activities organised jointly with our Student Friends from the Art History Department at Manchester University-a link we intend to develop in the coming months-have been another new development. It’s good for us to hear new voices, and for young people to learn how important it is to become advocates of our art galleries. Our Look Club has also broken new ground, welcoming artist, Sarah Feinmann, to lead one of our sessions and to share her work with us. Then, in November, we ventured out of the Gallery to visit artists at work in their studios at Paradise Works in Salford. It was extremely cold-but we had a very warm welcome from Hilary Jack, Jez Dolan, Nina Chua, Claire Tindale and Katie McGuire, all of whom were very generous with their time and their willingness to discuss their practice with us.
Through all of this, our focus, of course, has been the raising of funds to support the Gallery. This year the Friends of the Whitworth sponsored three exhibitions in the Collections Centre, each of which gave opportunities for new groups to work with the Whitworth Collections: Apna, a South Asian women’s arts group based in Rossendale, the Whitworth Gallery’s own volunteers, and, not least, the children of Stanley Grove Primary Academy. Two new works have also been added to the Collections with the help of donations from the Friends: a work by one of Africa's most celebrated visual artists, Ivorian, Frédèric Bruly Bouabré, and Bending, one of the sculptures from the Coronation Series which we saw as part of the Raqs Media Collective Exhibition, Twilight Language. It now sits in the Park, in dialogue with the statue of Edward VII, and demonstrating that, although history cannot be undone, it can be re-thought. Knowing that this generation of Friends are adding to the legacy already established makes us very proud, and we hope that you will share that feeling, as it is your subscriptions and support which make all this possible.
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