Appointments
The Natural History Museum has appointed the Director of the British Antarctic Survey, Professor Dame Jane Francis DCMG FRS to the Board of Trustees. Francis joins as the Royal Society Trustee, appointed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, commencing an initial four-year term on 1 February 2023. She is involved with international polar organisations, such as the Antarctic Treaty and European Polar Board, and on several advisory boards of national polar programmes.
The National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) has appointed Business Development Manager Kerry Rooney MBE to Belfast museum and visitor attraction HMS Caroline. Rooney brings over 20 years of experience in the arts, culture and heritage industry to the museum and will oversee the development of its programme of events. The museum has announced it will reopen on 1 April 2023, with weekend openings throughout March.
Openings
Ad Gefrin Anglo-Saxon Museum and Whisky Distillery has announced it will open to the public next month. The new museum focuses on the story of the 7th Century Anglo-Saxon Royal court of Northumbria through an immersive visitor experience.
Exhibitions
An exhibition exploring Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, from her early works through to her later abstract canvases, is to open Newcastle University’s Hatton Gallery’s 2023 exhibition programme. Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: Paths to Abstraction, draws from the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust collection and a number of loans, making over 70 works spanning five decades. Highlights include the celebrated ‘Glacier’ paintings, seen together for the first time since the 1950s – National Galleries of Scotland’s ‘Glacier Chasm’ and the London Borough of Camden’s ‘Ice Cavern’, both painted in 1951. Runs 11 February – 20 May 2023.
Brooklyn-based artist Leonardo Drew presents newly commissioned, site-specific work at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) this spring. The artist’s new work, Number 360 (2023), is constructed of plywood, either blackened or covered with textured coloured paint, which has been ripped apart and splintered to form the building blocks of a five meter ‘monolith’.
As part of its Innovation Platform exhibition highlighting technology that could benefit railways, the National Railway Museum in York has launched a new season focusing on Decarbonisation. Seven objects will be on display together until June 2023 showcasing technology that could make Britain’s railways greener and contribute to the rail industry becoming net zero ahead of the UK Government’s target of 2050.
In the Special Exhibitions Gallery at the Science and Industry Museum is Operation Ouch! Based on CBBC’s show of the same name, the exhibition will feature interactive experiences, objects from the Science Museum Group’s collection, and appearances from doctors, who will be on hand to guide audiences through. The exhibition is being developed by the Science and Industry Museum and produced in collaboration with BBC and 141 Productions, part of All3Media’s Objective Media Group. Opens 21 July 2023.
Artist Sarah Lucas will curate an exhibition at Firstsite, called ‘BIG WOMEN’. It will explore a variety of works from over twenty female artists, including sculpture, painting, film and fashion, each celebrating and reflecting on the role women play in the art world and how this role changes as women age .Runs from 11 February to 18 June 2023.
At IWM London, ‘Ukraine: Photographs from the Frontline’ presents photographs from photojournalist Anastasia Taylor-Lind. Made during her time in Ukraine between 2014 and June 2022, which document the reality of living amidst conflict.The exhibition will include Ukrainian language translations of the exhibition text and image captions. Runs 3 February 2023 – 8 May 2023.
An exhibition of rarely seen artworks, bringing together contemporary and historical pieces from across the Northwest Coast of North America, is set for the The Sainsbury Centre. Developed in consultation with Indigenous artists and community leaders from across the Northwest Coast, ‘Empowering Art: Indigenous Creativity and Activism from North America’s Northwest Coast’ runs 12 March – 10 July 2023.
Funding
A new Archaeology Gallery is to be created at Maidstone Museum after Maidstone Museums’ Foundation (MMF) was successful in raising the final £100,000 of its latest project.
Maidstone Museum secures funding for revamped Archaeology Gallery
Image: A photograph from IWM London’s exhibition, Ukraine Photographs from the Frontline (© Anastasia Taylor-Lind)
