Anke: Royal Tunbridge Wells

The Spectator Exhibition

There is a new exhibition on at the Art Gallery to coincide with the the Olympics this summer. As the name suggests though, it's more about the spectators than the sport.

Tonight (Friday) was the launch night and it was also the prize-giving ceremony for the lucky winners of the competition that ran before the exhibition. Myself, Jamie and Jo from the Museum, and Glen from The Courier, all gathered together a few weeks ago to choose the lucky winner and amazingly we were unanimous. You can see their winning entry on the Wall of Fans gallery when you visit.

...including some by the great Martin Parr

I really encourage you to pay this exhibition a visit, there are some wonderful photographs on display, including some by the great Martin Parr. There are also some intriguing sports-related items donated by other museums and local residents for you to enjoy. If the kids get to restless whilst you look around there is also Wii Sports to play with.

When you stop by please take a few moments to read the intro boards scattered around because one of them is mine, and to encourage you to pop along I have reprinted a small fragment of my piece here below:

If there is one name in the world of photography that will polarise opinion more than any other, it’s Martin Parr.
Until a year or so ago the photographic pedant inside me really didn’t appreciate his images, I couldn’t see past the technical imperfections. But I was missing the point. It’s not until I really studied his work that I discovered that his primary objective is capturing moments; he is interested in people and the minutiae of their lives, and he always does it with a healthy dose of affectionate humour.
The images chosen for this exhibition are great examples of his work and perfectly embody what it’s like to be a spectator. Stand in front of these photographs for a few minutes and soak up the emotion emanating from the sports fans. Feel their passion, feel their pain.

All in all a really great exhibition that has obviously taken a lot of hard work to put together and is really well worth you all taking a half an hour out of your day to go along and visit. Let me know what you think when you do.

Click here to see some photographs from the opening night.

Community Curators

Finally, after almost two weeks of the flu, I can do things again. So, I decided that the first stop should be the art gallery to see the latest exhibition I had missed since it opened in March.

Community Curators sees three professional artists working alongside three local community groups to create lovely works of art. These environmentally-themed works have all been created in the past few months. I particularly liked the tree of birds. Go on, pop in on your way past at lunchtime, we should all be using our local gallery and museum more often.

In Camera: Snowdon

If you like photography, make a beeline for the Art Gallery from now until the 3rd of March.

The Art Gallery showcasing the work of Snowdon.

A Touring Exhibition from Pallant House Gallery has landed at the Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery and showcases one of Britains most well-known photographers, Lord Snowdon.

In 1965, his seminal book Private View was published, this exhibition displays some of those photographs which documented the contemporary British art scene showing how London now rivalled New York and Paris as an artistic capital of the world.

"Highly recommended."

We stood and stared long and hard at some of the really gorgeous prints and actually thought that the dates were wrong on some of them. You'll see what I mean when you visit but it really looks like they were shot yesterday, and not 1963.

The exhibition also includes rare alternative shots not previously published in the book and follows Snowdon's work in the year's since Private View was published. There are also some new photographs to showcase the new generation of British artists including Damien Hirst and Grayson Perry.

Highly recommended. Please also consider picking up the book on sale, "In Camera Snowdon" for £12.95 or drop some coins into the Donation Box, it all helps.

Town Hall Panel Meeting Update

Last night I attended my first Tunbridge Wells Town Panel meeting at the Town Hall. It was my first of any such kind of committee meeting at the Council so it was more of a listening and learning exercise than anything else.

There was lots of talk of what people wanted from future meetings, what ideas should be proposed in future, and who should help with what, and I shall go into more detail soon I promise. But, after sitting down this morning with a cup of coffee and reading the rather extensive paperwork I was handed I've noticed something within that I wish I had seen yesterday. It's just one throwaway line in a table headed "Town Centre Use Requirements" and it reads:

Museums and Art Galleries -
the current provision is sufficient

I'm sorry but the current provision is not sufficient. I cannot believe that of all the research done into what the public wants from the future of our town, every person quizzed was totally satisfied with our museum being the size it is and had no desire to see any improvement. Is the history of our town so unimportant that we are happy to have it the size it is?

A lot of talk has been that the future design of our town must somehow look to the past, well why don't we celebrate the past with improving our museum? How many of you would love to see all the exhibits stored underneath in the vaults out on display?

How many of you would love to see the museum take over the entire Civic Centre building with that grand entrance up the wide stairs pulling in every passing tourist. Think of the big rooms of the Town Hall filled with the wonderful exhibits. Imagine the room available for touring exhibitions. Imagine the space available for school parties to learn about our past. Imagine the gift shop and café that could generate income. Imagine it!

OK, breathe! Come on now Tunbridge Wells, would you really say no to having a museum to be proud of?

I shall write more about the Town Panel shortly, and in future you can always find all of the Town Panel materials by clicking "Town panel" in the categories column over on the right.

Artisan

One of my favourite times of the year in the life of our Art Gallery is the launching of the special Christmas exhibition where local artists sell their wares. Alas I missed the opening night but managed to pop along today to have a nose about.

I take many looks at the art.

Artisan, as it is called, is now sponsored by SO Tunbridge Wells Magazine, and is of typical high quality. Everything in the exhibition is for sale and prices range from £15 for hand-carved wooden earrings to £1,800 for intricate 3D paper-cuts, which have to been seen in the flesh to believe quite frankly. Stunning.

Graham Carter's work when you first walk in is really fabulous and I was extremely tempted, still am truth be told, but wanted one of everything and wished there were smaller versions to take away. Susila Bailey-Bond has worked for Tiffany & Co. and her work, the 3D paper-cuts that are the most expensive on sale, are really worth the trip there alone.

Rose Sanderson's bugs on books and Adele Scantlebury's (great name) british wildlife images are also extremely beautiful and if you are great fans of fauna, flora and fauna like we are then they would look very handsome on your walls.

Artisan runs until the 23rd of December so you no longer have any excuse not to find that totally unique gift for Christmas.