Isabel Dibden-Wright’s Sashiko Workshop on 18 April at the Whitworth was the perfect introduction to such a beautiful craft. Firstly, we were familiarised with the traditional practice of Sashiko and were given the opportunity to view vintage and modern examples of the intricate designs used throughout Japan, such as its use in clothing and noren (cloth room dividers). There were many designs that we could use as a template and I personally went with a floral theme, choosing a chrysanthemum (fan) and a Sakura pattern! The basic Sashiko technique was very easy to pick up, no matter your sewin ..read more

The furniture of the dining room was as important as the extravagant collections that were presented alongside it. The dining table and chairs provided the space for a luxurious dining experience for the family and their guests. During the late Georgian (1760-1830) and the regency period (1800-1830), the personal tastes of King George IV had a major influence on the furniture makers of the day, which often looked to the classical forms of ancient Greek and Roman furniture for inspiration. The mahogany dining table is an example of the pedestal style. The table is large for the period, seating ..read more

Portrait of Georgiana Maria, Lady Leicester by William Owen (1769-1825) The early nineteenth century saw a period of social reforms throughout England, especially in the changing attitude toward women and gender norms of the time. Domestic portraits of women are the visual manifestations of England’s beliefs about the ideal society Lady as the less-acknowledged but equally desirable counterparts. Despite the sexual conservativity of that contemporary English society, traditions in the sexualisation and objectification of the female body were observed in the household portraits of both genteel ..read more

When we think of calligraphy our thoughts probably go to the East, to China and Iran in particular. I was fascinated by these art forms and wanted to delve into this material more closely. As someone trained in early modern Dutch art, I wondered whether something similar was going on in early modern Europe, and specifically in the Low Countries. And that indeed turned out to be the case. Dutch calligraphy flourished between c. 1590-1650 – and over this period, at least 25 expert calligraphers have been documented and over 50 sophisticated printed manuals devoted to calligraphy have survived.[1 ..read more

A report on the Tabley House Collection (Knutsford, Cheshire) by Poppy Redfern, Beatrice Carpenter and Eleanor Wood. The Tabley House is a remarkable and fascinating Country House affiliated to The University of Manchester. Each section below spotlights parts of its rich collection, which we have researched during our internship at the Country House since October 2021. Tabley House Collection Artworks: Anthony Devis’ Paintings of Tabley House The Tabley House owns Anthony Devis’ set of five landscape paintings, all of which depict the House in its Palladian glory. This impressive building was ..read more

The exhibition Protest! at Manchester Art Gallery (2 December 2021 – 10 April 2022) is a powerful retrospective of the work of Derek Jarman (1942–1994), a radical figure in British culture and major influence in queer history. Protest! maps a journey through Jarman’s career and work. The selection ebbs and flows, encompassing large-scale, traditional oil canvasses as well as more informal and intimate photographs of his exploration of gender under the guise of radical drag pseudonym ‘Miss Crepe Suzette’. We are encouraged to enter and explore Jarman’s world through his passions, his life and m ..read more

Report on the December 2021 Lecture ‘Covid 19 and the Useful Museum by Dr Dani Child, Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University and Dr Harry Weeks, Lecturer at Newcastle University. Beginning the lecture on how the UK museums and other gallery institutions adapted to the pandemic, Dr. Dani Child and Dr. Harry Weeks primarily focused on the museum’s turn (the BM or Museums in general?) towards utility through extended community outreach. Moreover, they concentrated and explored methodically key question underpinning museums’ reaction to the pandemic: why and how institutions expanded their ..read more

Report on ‘Making art accessible to all: ‘Arte Útil’, a platform for conversation’ Lecture by Alistair Hudson, Director of Whitworth Gallery and Manchester Art Gallery, Honorary Professor of Useful Art, University of Manchester. On 18th November 2021, as part of our Research Seminar series, Alistair Hudson spoke about Whitworth Gallery’s decision to create a permanent public space within the gallery for people to gather and discuss social matters: an office of ‘Arte Útil’. Originally introduced in 2013 by Cuban artist Tania Bruguera, the concept of Arte Útil (literally: useful art) advocates f ..read more

Report on the November 2021 Lecture ‘Museums as Spaces of Social Care’ by Nuala Morse, Lecturer in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. For many, to talk of a ‘new normal’, either in the museum sector, or society at large, is almost now at the point of cliché. But it is undeniable that the COVID pandemic has irrevocably shifted the longstanding practices of every institution within the UK. And this is something that is particularly evident in the community outreach programmes of museums. Such changes were a key focus of the lecture given by Nuala Morse. Her recent book, Museums as a ..read more

In the recent Forensic Architecture (FA) exhibition ‘Cloud Studies’ at The Whitworth Gallery (2 July–17 October 2021), the FA team pose the question: ‘If toxic air is a monument to slavery, how do we take it down?’. The multidisciplinary research group FA conducted a recent investigation, commissioned by the Whitworth and the 2021 Manchester International Festival, in order to study environmental racism along an 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi river in Louisiana (United States), situated between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Known as the ‘petrochemical corridor’, the area contains two t ..read more