On 10/12/2011 12:08, Jane Partridge wrote:
I managed to get to the Lost in Lace exhibition on Thursday. There is
still some building work going on in the Museum and Art Gallery, which
if you go in by the main entrance is between the Bridge Gallery and
the stairs down to the Gas Hall, and a lot of the lifts between floors
are out of action because of this work.
I first looked at the lace in the Bridge Gallery - this is a
relatively small selection of lace from the large lace collection I
know Birmingham museum has in store, but includes examples from
different regions and centuries, and some tools of the trade. One case
shows a pillow with work in progress, the attached bobbins being bone
Midlands - though many pairs are missing, so it doesn't give quite a
true picture. There is some lovely point de gaze on display, Honiton,
Branscombe, Beds, etc; as well as the "black lace" (Chantilly) that
forms the basis for one of the exhibits in the Gas Hall.
Going through and down to the Gas Hall, you are met with quite a
different view of lace, that makes you wonder if the definition of
lace needs to be changed to "holes surrounded by... ????". A large
black lace curtain and pelmet effect surrounds two columns - and looks
very realistic, until you get close up and realise that it is not made
of threads at all. There is a hanging of crystals on intertwined
"threads" in the centre - like a chandelier - and a room setting of
black steel cords intertwined like a web filling the space in front of
three huge long white dresses - there is a video display next to this
showing the (speeded up) process of the exhibit being installed -
really fascinating to watch. The "black lace" caught several of us out
- without reading the description panel, you go into a "room" where
there is a film showing of the lace shown under an electron
microscope, with background noise of a silkworm eating its way through
mulberry leaves... we all expected the moth to appear on the screen
having chomped its way through the fibres!
There are some large installations that look, at a distance, like
lace, and some that show "holes surrounded by ....." which are perhaps
not quite lace-like, but if you can think outside the box (ie don't go
into the Gas Hall expecting to see lace made from threads, you won't)
it is quite a stunning display.
The Museum tearoom's afternoon offer of cake and tea/coffee for the
price of the cake was too good to miss (cheaper than probably anywhere
else in the city centre!) and provided a chance to sit down.
Wondering through other galleries, I spotted other textiles on
display, including some lace in unexpected places - Birmingham Museum
has *never* had a policy of displaying textiles. As a child, I can
remember two dresses being displayed in a glass case between the
gallery where the permanent exhibition of glass resides (Birmingham
has a fine collection of glass, including some of Edward Burne-Jones'
stained glass windows) and the tea room, but that was it as far as
textiles went. When we had Sheila Shreeve, a curator who was
cataloguing the lace collection, to talk at our lace day in 1993 Mom
commented that she didn't know Birmingham had any lace - she had lived
in the city since her birth in 1922 and had been a frequent visitor to
the museum. It seemed the museum directors over the years decided that
no-one was interested in textiles... and so they were kept in store.
About the only other textiles I can remember in the Gas Hall were when
there was a Chinese exhibition which included a silk loom (with
demonstrations) and demonstrations of Chinese embroidery - but that
was a travelling exhibition, not permanent.
So, if you get the chance of coming to Birmingham between now and
February 19th, do make the effort to go and see the exhibition - this
will show them that textiles are important, and people are interested!
I didn't buy the exhibition catalogue - I need the £25 it would have
cost to pay for other things at this time of year... and there is
currently the Birmingham-Frankfurt Christmas Craft Market in the city
centre with lots of tempting stalls to buy Christmas presents from...
(I now have a small glass locomotive!).
I did wonder if we should arrange and have a lace-in at the museum
whilst the exhibition is on! (There is a monthly knitting group that
meets in the tea room at the museum, so the idea is not quite as far
fetched as it seems...)
It sounds really interesting, Jane. I will be coming down to see the
exhibition some time in the new year, tho I'm not sure exactly when.
I'd be happy to combine this with a lace-in - you know me, I'll make
lace anywhere, on a train, in a museum ....... Let me know if it's
going to happen.
Lesley
just below the snow-line in Marple, Cheshire, UK
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