ACOMSDave

Community Journalist

Ulster Museum

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Ulster MuseumUlster MuseumUlster Museum - Outside Sculpture

 

Dear Sir or Madam

I was an avid user of the museum before the lock-down, and in particular, the art galleries, and have really enjoyed the exhibitions over the last three years since my return from Spain, where I had been living for a year.

I was wondering though if it would be feasible to plan ahead and have some exhibitions to cover the areas of:

  • Chinese paintings – maybe something to rival the ‘Masterpieces of Chinese Painting: 700-1900 put on at the V&A
  • An exhibition of Henri Matisse and some of his contemporaries
  • An exhibition of Leonora Carrington’s work,
  • Willy Conor’s work based around the book Conor’s Attic, published by Ormeau Books

It is difficult to suggest areas which might be explored, as I have no idea what the current breadth of paintings and other artistic artefacts are held by the museum and its contemporary institutions which you could borrow from.

I am also very conscious of the terrible burden that the COVID 19 virus both in terms of finances and staffing, has had on institutions like yourselves.

I look forward to hearing from you in due time.

 

Yours faithfully

Dave

 

Reply:

 

Today I received a lovely reply from the Ulster Museum.

 

…

Dear Mr McFarlane

Thank you for your interest and enquiry about future exhibitions. I have copied a number of colleagues into this reply so that your ideas and suggestions can be brought to their attention. If you would like to know more about the art collection at the Ulster Museum you can explore the Art UK website. Unfortunately as I am working remotely I can’t send you a link to this site on this email however I will try to send it separately.

With best wishes

Anne

 

…

 

What made this very satisfactory is that I made my first visit to the museum since ‘lock-down’.  It was a surreal experience in that I had to book my visit first online, then on arrival, I had to queue to have my ticket validated and have the route explained as everything is one-way.

Obviously the standing exhibits have not changed, and whilst I did stop at one or two, I moved quickly on to see the art exhibitions which are always my main interest points.

 

In the main gallery, there is an exhibit of Ursula Burke ‘A False Dawn’ which is on display carried over from lock-down.  Ursula’s work explores abuses of power in the social and political realms of the West (National Museums NI) The main room consists of busts and other individual pieces on separate stands. For me, it was interesting to look at the pieces and in particular the faces of what was white males and compare against that of the one black man’s head – the difference in the facial expression does stop you in your tracks and make you think.

There was another wonderful exhibition on art which had been produced before the realm of posters, postcards, television etc as a means of educating people about exotic places.  Two striking pieces are those of Susanna Drury (fl.1733 – 1770) which she had painted of the Giant’s Causeway.  It is even more poignant as the museum has pointed out that little is know about her.

 

East Prospect of the Giant's Causeway (c.1739)

National Museums NI
East Prospect of the Giant’s Causeway (c.1739)
There was another exhibit and also the main standing one – but you need to visit and look for yourself.

 

 

2017 – Royal Ulster Academy of Arts Exhibition

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The RUA (Royal Ulster Academy of Arts) 136 Annual Exhibition took place last year in the Ulster Museum, Belfast.   The exhibition was on the 5th floor of the museum (one floor up from the Game of Thrones (GOT) tapestry) and the consisted of works by 266 artists, 169 of whom had been selected from countries, including Germany, Poland, USA< France, Italy, Finland and Denmark.

A backdrop to the RUA’s exhibition was the display of Poppies: Weeping Window sculpture by artist Paul Cumins and designer Tom Piper.  The original installation ‘Blood Swept Lands and Sea of Red’ was originally at HM Tower of London in 2014.  This installation was to reflect, as with all 14-18 NOW projects,  aims to prompt a new, nationwide dialogue around the legacy of the First World War.

 

 

Whilst there is no direct link between the two events, the sculpture of poppies certainly made for an interesting talking point for many visitors, whether this is outside, in the refreshment area, the shop or the other areas of the museum.

Returning to the RUA exhibition, for myself, I did not find any of the items on display stood out as exceptional.  They were obviously all of a high calibre, selected for their excellence by the panels, however, I did go back to the exhibition three times and from my visits I came away with these artists as someone to relook at:

 

Crossing - RUA Exhibition

Crossing

Kevin - RUA Exhibition

Kevin

As I said I did go back to the exhibition a number of times and was drawn over that time by a few pieces which seem to hold an affinity for me.  They stopped me, made me think and reflect, and after all that is what art in any shape or form should do – I look forward to this years exhibition, and again will be asking what would I like on my wall, what could and would I talk about but wouldn’t have on my wall?

Struggle for LGBT rights remembered in Westminster banner

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Paula Stevens-Hoare with Ruth Hunt. the CEO of Stonewall (all images: ParliOUT, Paula Stevens-Hoare, UK Parliament)

Paula Stevens-Hoare with Ruth Hunt. the CEO of Stonewall (all images: ParliOUT, Paula Stevens-Hoare, UK Parliament)


Reprinted from Pink News –
11th February 2015, 5:47 PM

 
An exhibition of banners celebrating 800 years of constitutional history, which features one about LGBT rights, has been unveiled at Westminster Hall.
Paula Stevens-Hoare has launched her banner at a talk hosted by ParliOUT, commemorating the struggle for LGBT rights in the time of significant legislation.
“My hope for the banner is that it poses as many questions as it answers.” said artist Paula Stevens-Hoare.
Her 1967 Sexual Offences Act banner was created to remember the struggle of the fight for rights but also celebrate the progress made since early legislation. It will be on display in Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament until November.
Paula, who was born in the same year homosexuality was decriminalised, particularly wanted to promote the achievements for LGBT rights made by wome. The banner features April Ashley, one of the first people to undergo gender reassignment surgery in the ’60s and Ruth Hunt, the CEO of Stonewall.
The banner also features silhouettes of little-known activists, the three women who abseiled onto the Floor of the House of Lords in protest against Section 28- legislation that stated that homosexuality must not be ‘promoted’ as an acceptable lifestyle. Paula was particularly fascinated by these women because nobody is still quite sure who they were.
She told PinkNews: “I’m a bloody feminist. Women’s achievements for LGBT rights aren’t as well documented because women generally aren’t as well documented.
“I suppose whilst I acknowledge that homosexuality for men was criminalised it was more pertinent to them to get the law changed, I recognised there were probably women involved in those campaigners but they probably weren’t in positions of authority or power and weren’t able to make those changes. I particularly wanted to add women to make that gender balance a little bit better.”
The banner features a ribbon connecting the very beginning of the movement to the struggles it faces today. The knots in the ribbon represent the times when the struggle for LGBT rights was very tough, such as Oscar Wilde’s arrest and sentencing and the fight to repeal Section 28.
Paula told Pink News that she hoped the banner would do exactly what Section 28 didn’t want LGBT people to do- promote equal rights.
“I love that it does that. I hope that school kids, anybody and everybody, but especially school kids, will ask questions passing the banner and think about what’s been achieved and what’s still left to achieve. That they will have the confidence to come out if they feel they want to and have the support and help of friends, allies and teachers.”
Ruth Hunt, CEO of Stonewall, told PinkNews that the fight for LGBT rights is not over and the next big change has to be transgender rights.
“The bigger change is how we can inspire LGBT people to get involved in politics in its widest sense and be interested and concern about legislation across the piece.”
Ruth said that the piece is important to remind us of the vitality of remembering our history: “It’s really important that we remember where we’ve come from. It’s our DNA as a movement, if we forget where we’ve come from we can’t safeguard our future.
For Paula Stevens-Hoare, remembering the struggle is personal: “I think seeing how things have changed within my life time gives me great hope for what’s coming next.”
‘The Beginnings of that Freedome’ banners exhibition is on now until November.