The Drone Ensemble performance at The Great North Museum: Hancock as part of An Artistic Encounter

Many thanks to all who came to experience The Drone Ensemble play at The Great North Museum: Hancock as part of An Artistic Encounter.

Unfortunately I did not get the chance to see any of the other artworks properly as we were so busy setting up the instruments and warming up for the performance, but the whole evening seemed to go down very well with the audience. 





Showing such a great mix of artworks within the museum collection may introduce a new audience to The Great North Museum: Hancock. Likewise, those familiar with the museum may have been introduced to new artistic experiences. An Artistic Encounter may have stimulated regular visitors may to view the collection in new ways. Hopefully, this all bodes well for the possibility of more of these kind of events in the future.



Playing in these different contexts gives The Drone Ensemble a focus for each performance, and we adapt in a site-specific manner and according to the conditions and themes of each event. I find this an exciting way to work and it helps us progress and vary our performances.

Wildlife Discotheque at the Great North Museum:Hancock

Tyneside Sounds Society and Devon based community radio station Soundart Radio teamed up to present the Wildlife Discotheque at the Great North Museum:Hancock



The Wildlife Discotheque was billed as "a sonic extravaganza and unique listening experience that will guide you through the esoteric and lost world of vinyl wildlife recordings and spoken word albums."

Devon based Soundart Radio founder Chris Booth and DJs Nathan Carter and Tony Whitehead developed The Wildlife Discotheque.




"Wildlife Discotheque plots the course of the often neglected and overlooked history of nature sound recording and the pioneers who spent hours in the field with cumbersome gear and an ear for sound and song. Names such as Ludwig Koch, Eric Simms and the Woodland Bird BBC Series, Victor C Lewisand his Bird Sounds in Close Up. John Burton and David Tombs - British Wild Birds in Stereo, Sture Palmer and Jeffery Boswelland the seminal Field Guide to the Birds of the British Isles. Alongside these, many lesser know names and releases; Ray Goodwin’s - A Gloucestershire Wildlife Tapestry, the delicate sounds of British Wild Mammal and Amphibians and not to forget……Johnny Morris and Animal Magic."




Tony Whitehead, Soundart Radio “Not knowing if there was an audience for such an eclectic, and obscure mix of sounds we were pleasantly surprised when our first night attracted a crowd, an appreciative bunch who filled the room, sat, chatted, drank local ale and cider, listened and had a good time. I didn’t notice dancing, but we did have a couple of requests. We’re really excited to be taking this on the road and Great North Museum will be a fantastic venue for it!"


Author, Sunday Times and Guardian Columnist Tom Cox“Properly Psychedelic!”



Listen to the first Wildlife Discotheque here

Having attended one of the other Tyneside Sounds Society events I was keen to be introduced to a new sonic experience and hear some unusual field recording. Although it was advertised as a family friendly event, I was expecting the audience to consist of others interested in sound and field recording. It was great to see lots of children attending and participating in the craft activities that were provided for them, but I felt that this conflicted with my ability to fully appreciate the sound aspect of the event as the subtleties of the recordings were lost due to the excited children who were running around enjoying the event. Unfortunately, I felt that by making the event family friendly, it actually compromised a major aspect of the event. I would have rather it have been concentrated just on children, or focus more on the sound part and allow those who want to listen to be able to! Another frustration of mine was that I didn't know what I was listening (or trying to listen) to. It would have been good to have a description of what the recording was, or a brief introduction to each piece before it was played.

In theory I think this kind of event is an excellent idea, but I hope that the organisers would consider their target audience and adjust the nature of the event appropriately.

Newcastle University Undergraduate Fine Art Degree Show - Preview Friday 2nd June, 6-9pm

I'm looking forward to attending the preview of the Newcastle University Undergraduate Fine Art Degree Show tonight.



"The Newcastle University Fine Art BA Degree Show brings together the work of over fifty young artists at the culmination of four-year study on the BA in Fine Art. The exhibition displays a diverse set of practices and media including painting, new media, film, video, sculpture, photography, print, sound, performance and installation.



The Newcastle Show will take place in the Fine Art Department of Newcastle University and nearby in the Great North Museum: Hancock from Saturday 3rd June to Saturday 17th June with a Preview from 6pm on Friday 2nd June.



The exhibition will then transfer to London where it will be exhibited in the Hoxton Arches from the Wednesday 22ND June to Monday 26th June with a Preview from 7pm on Friday 23rd June."



I've had the pleasure of working with some of the students in various capacities over the last two years, and I am excited to see how their work has developed.



For more information about the artists involved, visit

http://fineart.ncl.ac.uk/ba2017/

Newcastle Fine Art Degree Show 2016 - preview on Friday 3rd June

It's that time of year; the atmosphere around the university is tense. There is silence in the library as students revise for their exams. Meanwhile, in the Fine Art department the studios are buzzing. It is hanging week for the final year undergraduates. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd years cleared out of their spaces last week and the 4th years moved into their allocated degree show exhibition spaces. Over the past week, floors and walls have been painted, digital equipment PAT tested, students names have been pasted in vinyl outside their exhibition spaces, and of course, artwork has been created, positioned, repositioned and perfected.

Today, (Friday 3rd June 2016) is the opening of Newcastle University’s Fine Art BA Hons Degree Show. The exhibition runs until 17th June. This year the exhibition will span 2 buildings, the Newcastle University Fine Art Department and the Hancock Museum. The show will then go to London, to the Copeland Gallery, Peckham, with a preview in the evening of Thursday 23rd June. The exhibition closes on 26th June.

I am really impressed with the way the students have organised themselves. I've seen a fair amount of the work in progress,  but have deliberately tried not to nosey into the spaces this week as I want to keep the surprise until opening night. 

"As the culmination of four years work, the exhibition promises huge variation, featuring artwork across painting, printmaking, sculpture, performance, moving image and sound. Each artist has spent valued time exploring different avenues of artistic expression, arriving at this final exhibition with the ability to investigate and reflect upon their subject matter with skill and intent, producing resolute pieces of work."

To find out more information about the exhibitions, the artists and their works please visit their comprehensive website:

http://fineart.ncl.ac.uk/ba2016/

Interpreting the Hancock Museum collection through dance

Yesterday I spent the day participating in Icon Dance’s workshop at the Great North Museum, Hancock.

It was billed as "a fun and creative exploration of the Great North Museum’s Ancient Greek Collection", and certainly delivered this.

Jilly, Karen, Helen and Niki

There were three other ladies taking part, all of whom were lovely and had very interesting backgrounds. Niki has recently completed a PhD at Newcastle University and was researching the Social history of festivals in rural communities. She is just about to start a position as a Research Associate at the University. Prior to this career path, Niki was a visual artist. Jilly is a friend of Niki's and they are bee keeping partners. Jilly is a dance enthusiast. Karen completed her Archeology Masters course in 2015, and her aim is to work in museums. We made a really good team.

After briefly meeting choreographer Martin Joyce, dancers Alex and Emma, and the Creative Learning Producer, Laura, we spent the morning doing various exercises with Laura.

She took us to the Ancient Greek Collection and we viewed the specific vessel that would be the main focus of our dance.

One of the first group activities was for one of us to stand in the middle of a circle and make a pose. Then one of the other participants had to make three changes to the pose that they thought would make. We repeated this so everyone got a turn at making the changes and being in the middle.

Another exercise was to work in pairs, and mirror each others actions. We were not allowed to speak to the each other to say who was leading, and so had to watch closely. At times it was very difficult to work out who was leading and who was following.

Thinking about the vessel in the collection, we had to think of words to describe how it looked, felt, tasted and smelled. We then devised short dance routines that in relation to these words.

Evidence of me dancing!

After lunch we met Andrew Parkin, the Keeper of Archaeology, who gave us a short introduction to the Greek Gallery/Collection, and spoke in detail about the history and purpose of the vessel we had been examining. It was a vessel for mixing wine and water and was used in symposiums that were meetings for men only, and involved lots of drinking and treating each other brutally; often fighting and causing harm to each other. Following the stories of it's history, my opinion of the object and what it referenced was changed drastically.

We then went back to the dance room to discuss words that summed up the vessel, and then, in pairs, developed a sequence consisting of 3 static poses and transitions between them. Throughout the sequence we had to maintain some form of physical connection to each other.

The dancers and choreographer then joined us, and they watched what we had developed and we watched what they had developed. They had devised a dance routine working its through the room, and had included references to the entire Ancient Greek collection. They had left a short part of the dance for us to choreograph, so we pooled our ideas together from the whole day, and provided instructions for them.

 

The day ended with the dancers doing the full dance to the members of the public.

 

The whole day was a totally unique experience and it made me appreciate the collection in a way I would otherwise have not been able to.


Thank you ladies!