Textile Fragments

Hi All, and especially to 'Sally Tatters' - many thanks for the comment btw, it's good to know that someone is reading our museum blog...(and sorry for the delay in reply posting...I was stuck in Belgium....)

The blog entry on Fragments and History (see entry on 22nd March), has generated some interest and Sally has left some thought provoking comments - (I've cut and pasted it here in the hope of generating a debate on this important topic...rather than hiding it away in the comments list at the bottom of the 22nd March entry...hope that's OK Sally?....)

Anyway, Sally comments -
"Are you getting obsessed with form over function? As a lover of textiles I actually go looking for them in museums in order to study them as individual pieces, rather than to 'place them in the middle of a narrative'. The 'old textile displays' have served me well in the past. How would you see a change of display improving that experience for me?"

I don't know if this is about form over function...I suppose I was interested in how museums have changed over the past 10 years and what challenges there are for interpretation and 'use' for some kinds of objects in the museum (or fragments of objects...that's moot point I suppose..when is an object a 'fragment'?...aren't all objects 'fragments' of social life?....). I'm genuinely interested in this, as I say, because we (Leeds Uni) have been working on a project that addresses this very 'problem' - (and I take your point about the textile fragments being useful and interesting for you..that is obviously important - but it does draw attention to the notion that the meanings assigned to objects are just as much a part of the ways in which they have been collected (and used) before they enter the museum....).
I suppose my real point was in relation to the propensity (at present) for museum interpretation/exhibition designers to create 'narratives' for their displays...(this, I think is part of a much broader cultural phemonemon I think....you just need to watch the News to recognise that all news reports seem to be 'stories'(I'm thinking of the way that they are visually structured in particular)...everything seems to be a 'story' these days (I'm painting with a broad brush here I know...). And my question was (is), what does the museum do with these 'fragments' of textiles given this need to create 'stories'?.... Do we have 'stories' of collecting (a bit 'old hat' by now I think...(there's my first costume pun)...Do we have 'stories' of design?..Do we have 'stories' of cultural exchange?..etc etc etc...but all of these have been done before.....So what do we do (if we need to do anything of course) with these fragments?
The question becomes (is) important given the push by government/funding bodies to make culture an 'instrument' (i.e. to ensure it is put to use) and the requirement that objects in museums should 'speak' and be relevant beyond their 'conventional' audiences....

What do you think?

BTW....Sally Tatters own blog is fab...here's a link (I've also linked it from our 'Favourite Blogs' list)
http://textilehunter.blogspot.com/

Mark

Architectural Objects

Alan Davie at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery

Thanks to everyone who turned up at our recent opening night for 'Alan Davie' on 16 March 2010.

There were several familiar faces from Museum Studies on the evening, including our most wonderful work placement student, Nell Crook. Thanks Nell for helping us get the show up! I'm sure those who came to the event will agree that though the artist couldn't be there himself, his work was most inspiring...and certainly colourful!

Not sure what everyone thinks of the work, or the display itself? We did a 'snapshot' exhibition, as there wasn't a particular group of works Alan wanted us to focus on. As we're not a big space, we can't do a serious overview, so it was just a collection of highlights from his post-war career beginnings in 1948 to today. To augment this brief vision of his career, I've included some ephemera in a case: poetry he wrote to his father while serving in WWII and couldn't paint, jewellery he made in the late 40s-ea.50s when he had temporarily turned away from painting, his pilot's logbook from his gliding exploits in the 1960s and his recent rough sketches - to show the constant automatic drawing that informs his painting. We also have some experimental jazz recordings by Alan playing in the Gallery. Alan's had such a prolific career, and done so much in his life, it was really hard to represent it in such a small space! Does it work for you? Criticisms and thoughts are always encouraged...

Happy Easter all!

Layla