Exciting freelance job opportunity at The New Art Gallery Walsall!

The New Art Gallery Walsall is looking for a marketing professional to work with its staff on an exciting year-long project for young people, Young Damien – Audiences Black Country.

The New Art Gallery Walsall is gearing up to present a year-long exhibition of key works by acclaimed artist Damien Hirst, as part of ARTIST ROOMS On Tour (6 October 2012 – 26 October 2013). This ground-breaking, new display will see Damien’s sculptures, paintings and prints presented within the gallery’s Garman Ryan Galleries. The display will be accompanied by a series of inspired satellite exhibitions, events and activities through the course of the year.

The gallery would like to use the Damien Hirst ARTIST ROOMS exhibition to deepen its engagement with young people and to begin to empower them in the development of the gallery’s wider programme.

The successful candidate will be expected to:
• Undertake online and face to face consultation with young people in order to identify the drivers, motivations and barriers from engaging with visual arts galleries.
• Recruit, manage and maintain a group of young people who will curate a series of events that will target their peers.
• Maintain and manage the Young Damien – Audiences Black Country project.
• Oversee and lead on young people’s events.
• Work in partnership with an artist.
• Compile necessary reports and lead on project evaluation.
• Oversee the online, digital and social media aspects of the project.

This is a 20-day post over 12 months, until March 2013. The overall fee is £4,000.00.

If you are interested in the above freelance contract post, please email your CV and a covering letter outlining your qualities, skills and suitability for the post to Ioannis Ioannou, Audience Development Curator ioannoui@walsall.gov.uk. If you have any queries re any of the above please call Ioannis on 01922 654404.

Deadline for applications is 9am, Wednesday 18 April 2012.

Spreading the word about Walsall is down to a fine art!

Poets and musicians are showcasing their work on the world stage – courtesy of a website dedicated to Vincent Van Gogh – while raising awareness of the Walsall Mayor’s charity appeal.

The connection has been made through The New Art Gallery Walsall, which is home to one of the artist’s work in the Garman Ryan Collection, and the Mayor’s Poet Laureate Ian Henery.

Solicitor Ian, who is Poet Laureate for the Mayor’s term, was inspired to write three poems after catching sight of Van Gogh’s “Sorrow” in The New Art Gallery Walsall.

“I was wandering around the gallery one lunchtime and felt the overwhelming power of the artwork speaking to me, so went off to the coffee bar and drafted out the three poems which came into my head. I was looking for a picture of “Sorrow” to attach to the poems, went on to the Van Gogh Gallery website to search for one and noticed it “current location unknown” for this artwork. I emailed them, told them it was in Walsall and how it had inspired me to write three poems. They asked to see them, described them as “very beautiful” and wanted to see more of my work. I sent them a fourth poem inspired by another of Van Gogh`s paintings “A Symphony in Blue” and that poem is on their website as well. At the time I didn’t realise their gallery was in St Louis but the internet is universal. No matter where people are in the world – whether it be an apartment overlooking Sydney Harbour, or an office in Willenhall – they can now read about the creativity of Walsall people and the charitable endeavours of our Mayor and give generously.”

The website carries a photograph of Walsall’s Mayor and Mayoress and full details of the Mayor’s Appeal.

“Walsall is on the world stage and I think we should boast about our borough and its talented residents whenever we have the chance,” added father-of-four Ian, who lives in Aldridge.

Sonya Sawall from the Van Gogh Gallery said: “The Van Gogh Gallery is always looking for ways to expose the world of Vincent Van Gogh to new audiences so we are pleased to be able to share Ian’s Van Gogh-inspired poetry with the world. We are one of the world’s most visited artist websites. We are pleased to be able to host Walsall and the Mayor as part of our World Mission!”

Ian’s poetry will join the music of Wolverhampton City Council road officer Tim Philpott and lawyer Stephen Plant, on the website. Stephen’s claim to fame is that Robbie Williams asked him to play guitar on his hit Angels after leaving Take That. Ian was also commissioned by the University of Wolverhampton to write poetry on the 2012 Olympics and his work will be performed at both of its campuses later this year. Ian’s commission is going to the Mayor’s Appeal.

The Mayor of Walsall, Councillor Garry Perry said: “What an amazing story. I agree with Ian, we should boast about our borough and if all those mouse clicks add up to more money for my charities then that’s an added bonus.”

The Mayor’s Charity Appeal is for The Creating Chances Trust, The Swing and PROUD (Parents Relatives and Others Understanding Down’s Syndrome).

For more information and to donate money please go to:

http://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/ian-henery-poetry.html

Thoughts from an Art Student

So I was pretty excited when New Art Gallery Walsall got back to me about doing a voluntary placement, so that I could get a feel of what it’s like working within a gallery. I have fond memories of coming to this gallery when I was a lot younger – I love how it is so welcoming and non-elitist. I think more galleries should try and get kids through the door and excited about art. It’s also a really nice building to work in – I vaguely remember my brother, who’s an Architect, coming and having a tour around to see the interesting building and learn more about it. I’m only on my 2nd day here at the gallery, and I’m enjoying it so far. The team have been really welcoming and given me some interesting things to do. I had already seen all of the current exhibitions in the gallery, bar one, about a month ago, but the staff encouraged me to go and have another look around which was nice.

At the moment in the gallery my favourite exhibition is ‘There is a Place…’ on floor 3. The exhibition brings together artists that are interested in psychic connectivity to landscape; depicting generic and urban spaces that evoke personal and collective memories. I am currently halfway through a degree in Fine Art and my studio practice also deals with the idea of ‘collective memory’, so I was really pleased when I saw that the gallery was running an exhibition on just that. Before this I had struggled to find a range of artists that were dealing with the same concepts as me, so it really helped my uni work out. The thing I like about the idea of shared memory is that it tries to relate to everyone; the aim being that everyone who sees the work has a personal reaction and it triggers their own memories – they can interact with it. I particularly like the work of Laura Oldfield Ford and George Shaw which is in the exhibition. The urban spaces they depict feel all too familiar, as if you’ve been there before.

Zarina Bhimji’s latest film ‘Yellow Patch’ has it’s world premiere here at New Art Gallery Walsall! It’s also being shown simultaneously at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. I managed to get down into the gallery space to watch it earlier. The sound in the piece is particularly striking. Reading more about it I realise that the film’s starting point was to do with the trade and migration routes across the Indian Ocean. The final product becomes very detached from this, it is more to do with poetic imagery than any historical facts. The film shows great craftmanship and has a sensitive handling to light and sound. To me the film was about abandonment and neglect. There were no living things in sight (with the exception of a spider and a couple of stray dogs). The film focused on empty and abandoned interiors, and lonely-looking landscapes. I recommend anyone to come and watch the film; I felt it was a bit of escapism from city life.

Epstein’s Rima: ‘A Travesty of Nature’ is also being shown at the gallery, which include Jacob Epstein’s initial drawings for the sculpture he made that was erected in Hyde Park.  Rima is the half-wild ‘mysterious woodland girl’ that was a character in one of the books by popular writer William Henry Hudson, and the sculpture of Rima was commissioned for a memorial after Hudson’s death. When the piece was unveiled there was public outrage; Rima was supposed to be the physical and spiritual embodiment of beauty, but instead the sculpture showed a crudely carved figure of a distorted nude girl. The amount of controversy it caused is surprising. Looking at the drawings in the gallery it’s hard to see what all the fuss was about. Maybe it’s because nowadays we see heaps of increasingly controversial art, so this is nothing in comparison. The sculpture was revealed in 1925 which is why I find it so hard to see why it caused so much controversy. Duchamp had already created his ‘Fountain’ piece by this point, where he just presented a urinal turned on it’s side. You’d think that’d create more outrage than a crudely carved sculpture! See for yourself whether you agree that Jacob Epstein ’sold his soul to the devil’ – Morning Post 28/11/1925, when he created this sculpture.

Currently showing on the top floor is ‘Blue skies, nothing but blue skies…’, which shows several pieces of work that are concerned with the power of the sky. It’s appropriately put on the top floor, where light beams in from the large windows and you feel like you’re high in the sky. Looking out the windows at the great view and the sky all around makes the gallery windows themselves fit in with the artworks.

So, there’s a brief summary of all the temporary exhibitions that are currently on show at the gallery. What I really like about The New Art Gallery Walsall is that there is something for everyone. I really believe that anyone can come here and find something that they like.

Kiri Smart, Work Experience Student