In 2011 I researched agricultural farming tools with
Somerset Heritage Centre in Taunton as part of Somerset Art Weeks. What
transpired was a most wonderful, resourceful experience as I had the
opportunity to see ‘behind the scenes’ of the Heritage Centre’s storage
facility and access some of the artefacts kept there from public sight.
Warehouse rooms filled with wall-lined tools, boxes of treasures, taxidermy,
clothing, a carriage and bull’s head all amongst the things to discover and be
inspired by in addition to the knowledge and story-telling from the generously knowledgeable local curators
of the collection.
The work I made as a result was much more concerned with the museum itself, and museum modes of presentation & archiving than that of the actual objects themselves. I still speculate whether this was a missed opportunity on my part (not to have focused on the objects). However there was something fascinating about the processes and decisions used in order to protect, restore and catalogue these items which felt a more intriguing line of enquiry to pursue at the time.
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| Tools at The Somerset Heritage Centre (2011) |
As you might imagine therefore I had a particularly vested interest
in seeing the new exhibition of local artist’s responses to this same
collection currently on show at the Museum of Somerset...
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| Natalie Parsley (Detail) Kaye's Tool Kaleidoscope, 2011 |
Featuring the work of Jenny Graham (who also brought the exhibiting artists together), Richard Tomlinson, Chris
Dunseath, Jacy Wall, Laura Aish and Ralph Hoyte; the exhibition is pleasingly
curated so as to look and utilise the experience of ‘the storage’ facility of
Somerset Heritage. From the coded letters to signify different storage rooms on
the walls, metal shelving and racking to place artefacts on, brown storage cardboard
boxes; to clip-boarded ‘title’ lists printed on graph paper. There is a lot of ‘stuff’
in this exhibition and it is fortunate enough to have many of the artefacts the
artists ‘used’ or took inspiration from on display alongside the work. The
overall ‘feel’ of the exhibition is a good one, busy but not cluttered and does well at recreating that
sense of discovery, wonder and unashamed nosiness that I certainly took away from my time
at Somerset Heritage.
Richard Tomlinson’s work particularly does this brilliantly;
to the right of the room stacked cardboard boxes with viewing holes which
reveal hidden photographic anaglyphs inside. The images taken from safe’s, cogs
and gears from mechanised objects found in storage. Peaking-in on them in this way recreates that same sense of curiosity
and child-like delight from opening presents. Similarly Chris Dunseath’s vessels
made from bronze and papier-mâché have hidden constellations and universes
inside their shadowy interiors, again work that beckons one to look closer and
discover more. These objects also directly relate to Bronze Age axe heads
and more of Chris’ sculptures found in the cabinet behind. The objects patina mimicking
the corroded ancient greens found on bronze/copper artefacts. Chris is one of
the few artists who blurs the line between the museum piece and the art object
so that sometimes one isn’t quite sure which is which.
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| Richard Tomlinson in 'New Dimensions' |
A revolving postcard display unit featuring hundreds of
curated postcards from Somerset and ‘days of old’ make some entertaining
reading and act as inspiration for a sound piece featuring the poems by
declamatory poet Ralph Hoyte. It’s good to see a more word-based practice in
the show and makes great, often amusing discussion points for many conversations and
questions into the origins and people behind the postcards.
The flaw in this exhibition is that the museum objects tend
to outshine most of the artwork. There is an amazing case of butterflies, pressed
flowers, a safe, a film camera, tins, old sowing paraphernalia and a split Ash
tree as part of some ancient cure for a hernia...! Very often the artefacts are
almost intimidating in their effortless intrigue and charm that it feels
somewhat futile as an artist to even contemplate competing with it! This is
certainly how I felt and perhaps now think I was fortunate not to have the
artefacts displayed alongside the work –it then became purely about my interpretation
of them. I appreciate how challenging it is to both; select an object, from a
source of thousands of things and then find a concept or response to that
object which is both relevant and communicates with its source without being
too close to it! I also criticise my own work of having conveyed some of the
pleasures of depicting and ‘capturing the artefacts I selected but not really
having as much dialogue into their unique histories and factors that made them individual.
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| Chris Dunseath (foreground) in 'New Dimensions' |
Hence with the New Dimensions exhibition, there are a few
similar opportunities where the work feels unresolved or unimaginative. Jacy
Wall’s touchy feely cases of material and hands holding ribbons and thread feel
a little lost and contrived compared to her skilfully executed prints (I think they're about challenging the inability of touching the artefacts in museums, but it still feels a little unresolved or too obvious) and Jenny Graham’s commercial
butterfly prints similarly leave little to the imagination. Jenny's Victorian style Wunderkammers are better and feature well collated and wonderful objects,
but being a big fan of Cabinets of Curiosities I have to be honest and say I've seen other artists (Duncan Cameron) do, in my opinion, better versions that also offer something 'new' rather than just being a collection of objects. I think my expectations were high but the work could have said more or something different in my view.
What is important overall from this exhibition is the
commitment to what is hopefully an ongoing dialogue between the Museum of
Somerset and artists. New Dimensions has achieved in revealing new aspects of
the Heritage Centre’s collection that go relatively unseen and presented them
in a visual way rather than purely historical or ‘museum’ way. I believe this
opens up the collection and allows for new discovery that curators within
Museums should note; sometimes a well chronicled, researched and informed
museum exhibition doesn’t appeal to all audiences in the same way as the excitement of a bustling,
disorganised antiques or flea market (I honestly think I have learnt more
about history from these types of places). The latter is more visual and more inquisitive, promoting independent
dialogue based on a genuine curiosity and interaction with objects that I think
traditional museum curatorial practices should experiment more with. The
testament from this exhibition is a simple but highly important one; let more
artists work with museum collections!
The Exhibition is
FREE and I urge you all to go see it whilst you can. It is on until April 16th
2016.
All text and photos copyright Natalie Parsley
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