NEWS AND EVENTS
We are pleased to be mentioned in the article 'What can contemporary artists bring to your historical exhibition by Rebecca Hardy Wombell. Focusing on the importance and relevance of Contemporary art within Collection and Heritage sites. You can read it: Here
Exhibition: The Collection
Bummock: Tennyson Research Centre is the result of a long-term artistic research project by artists Danica Maier, Andrew Bracey and Sarah Bennett focusing on the Tennyson Research Centre (TRC), Lincoln, holding what is considered to be the most significant collection in the world relating to the nineteenth century poet, Alfred Tennyson. This exhibition shows new works by each artist, alongside the objects and stories selected from the archive that inspired them. Though the archive houses a wealth of information and materials on the Lincolnshire-born poet, alongside this is intriguing content concerning his wider family, which has been central to the research and development of new work by all three artists.
Closing Event and Book Launch: 5pm-7pm Saturday 20 February, 2022
The Collection and Usher Gallery, Danes Terrace, Lincoln, LN3 1LP
Exhibition dates: 8 January – 20 February 2022
Thursday - Monday: 10am - 4pm
Events and Workshops
Tickets for all events and workshops are available online at www.thecollectionmuseum.com
Please note, places are limited and pre-booking will be necessary.
Gallery Tours
2–3pm, 8th January, Exhibition Gallery, with Danica, Andrew and Sarah
2–3pm, 5th February, Exhibition Gallery, with Art Historian, Tennyson and Victorian society expert and Lecturer Jim Cheshire, Danica, and Andrew
Informal artist-led gallery tours where you can find out more about the artists’ work, the ideas behind the exhibition and the selection of objects from the Tennyson Research Centre.
The artists will be joined in conversation by Jim Cheshire, Art Historian and Lecturer at the University of Lincoln, on the 5th February.
Reading by Danica Maier
2–3pm, 15th January, Exhibition Gallery, The Collection Museum
Her Words, My Voice is a live reading of quotes taken from Joanna Colenbrander’s biography, A Portrait of Fryn: Biography of F. Tennyson Jesse. Taking you from Fryn’s early years through until after her death, together these quotes give insight into Tennyson’s great niece, Fryn, as well as an impression of the artist. Some quotes are direct connections or similarities between them, others are merely thoughts that touched Danica or to which she relates.
Sound in the Gallery Workshop with Ross Oliver
2–3:30pm, 22nd January, Education Suite, The Collection Museum
Sound artist Ross Oliver will deliver a workshop that draws influence from Tennyson’s poem Voyage of Maeldune. The poem is rich in themes of listening and hearing, particularly within verses referring to the “Silent Isle” and the “Isle of Shouting”. During the workshop participants will be exploring the narratives of both verses and the extreme states of hearing that they both depict using sound recording and listening exercises. Workshop suitable for all ages and abilities.
Re-versed Poems Workshop with Kate Buckley
2–3.30pm, 12th February, Education Suite, The Collection Museum
The workshop will invite participants to engage directly with Tennyson’s poetry, rearranging a selection of his poems to generate their own. Using the ‘cut-up technique’, introduced by the Dadaists of the 1920s and popularized by writers of the Beat generation, participants will create new poetry from Tennyson’s words. The ‘re-versed’ poems will be assembled to form a new and unique text-based artwork made by the participants, which will form part of an online gallery following the workshop. Workshop suitable for all ages and abilities.
Bummock: Tennyson Research Centre Symposium
10am–4pm, 19th February, Auditorium
Speakers: Dr. Sarah Bennett, Sue Breakell, Andrew Bracey, Dr. Jim Cheshire, Jenny Gleadell, Danica Maier, Dr. Sian Vaughan
This symposium will explore and expand upon issues arising from the residency and exhibition, Bummock: Tennyson Research Centre. The speakers’ presentations will include an overview of the Tennyson Research Centre held in the Lincolnshire County Archives, connections between Tennyson, his family and the artworks, importance of the personal within the archive and its materiality, discussion about the sense of ‘place’ of the archive and these implications, an unpacking of the artists research and work within the TRC. There will be plenty of opportunity for questions and discussion at the end of the presentations. The symposium will be followed by a celebratory book launch of the publication arising from the project.
Symposium booking here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/symposium-bummock-tennyson-research-centre-tickets-205650715827
THE HUB: EXHIBITION
A National Centre for Craft and Design, Sleaford
Sarah Bennett, Andrew Bracey and Danica Maier have spent the last four years rummaging, exploring and making as part of a residency at the Tennyson Research Centre in Lincoln. The bummock is the large part of an iceberg hidden beneath the surface of the sea. The project focuses on the unseen or lesser-known parts of the archive (i.e. the ‘bummock’) as catalysts for the creation of new artworks. Housed within the Tennyson Research Centre is a wealth of information and material about Alfred Tennyson, alongside intriguing content concerning his wider family who became the motivating focus for the artists.
Three large works were originally shown as temporary public artworks on banners on the Ridges & Furrows heritage trail in the village of Waddington in 2019. These are shown in the gallery, alongside new artworks and vitrine displays that give insight into the working processes of each of the artists. Further artworks and the archival objects from the Tennyson Research Centre will be shown at The Collection Museum, Lincoln from the 8th January – 20th February 2022.
Private View: 24th Sept 5-8pm
The Hub, Navigation Wharf, Carre Street
Sleaford, NG34 7TW
Exhibition dates: 11 September - 31 October, 2021.
Mon to Sat: 10am - 5pm, Sun: 10am - 4pm
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Andrew Bracey and Danica Maier's journal article in TEXTILE: Cloth and Culture on the project Bummock: The Lace Archive, which has just been made available online prior to print next year.
As authors we have access to 50 free ecopies we can share with you. If you are interested please follow the below link which I believe it works on a ‘first come first serve bases’. We’d also love to hear any comments or feedback you have of the article and project.
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/XW9SXZWUHYYIKKJMBAJN/full?target=10.1080/14759756.2020.1831895
Abstract
This article focuses on the research of three artistic researchers working within the Lace Archive at Nottingham Trent University. The discussion will centre around an artist residency, which utilized the Lace Archive as the starting point for the development of new artwork that was exhibited at Backlit Gallery, Nottingham and subsequent tour. Focus and discussion fall on the development of a new working methodology called the “controlled rummage.” The article highlights the “Bummock ethos” that utilizes the strengths within the act of seeking the unknown from a starting point of “not knowing.” Also examined is what has been learnt from the project within the Lace Archive toward establishing the framework and methodology for the wider project, Bummock: New Artistic Responses to Unseen Parts of the Archive.
Kathrine Townsend has published a review of the Lace Archive Symnpoiusm in the Textile Journal of Cloth & Culture as part of a special edition focusing on Lace: Missing Persons and Hidden Heritages in European Lace Making, Volume 18, 2020.
Abstract
“Reflections on Bummock” explored and expanded upon issues arising from the residency and exhibition, Bummock: The Lace Archive, held at Backlit Gallery, Nottingham, in 2018. The symposium reflected on the work of three artists, Andrew Bracey, Danica Maier, and Lucy Renton, and how they spent two-and-a-half years researching the Lace Archive held at Nottingham Trent University to catalyze the creation of new artworks. “Bummock,” which refers to the large part of an iceberg hidden beneath the surface of the sea, was adopted by the artists as a heuristic device to explore unseen or undervalued parts of archives to generate new readings, knowledge, and responses. Discussions included the artists’ development of a “controlled rummaging” methodology to select items, and how the exhibited outcomes illustrated “the flipping of the bummock” to reveal the underside of the archive. The resulting artworks were idiosyncratic, referencing historical lace objects through traces of supplementary documentation, as opposed to replicating the more seductive, esthetic characteristics of the textile. Invited speakers Amanda Briggs-Goode, Deborah Dean, Sian Vaughan, and Pennina Barnett contributed alternative insights to working with the materials (and politics) of archives, based on their experiences as, respectively, a custodian, curator, historian, and writer.
Keywords: lace, textile, lace archive, heuristic research, artistic response
You can find access to the full article: here
Constance Howard Gallery: Exhibition
Waddington Art Walk
1pm -3pm 27 July 2019
A free artist-led walk along the Ridges & Furrows Waddington Trail, celebrating three new large-scale temporary artworks by Sarah Bennett, Andrew Bracey and Danica Maier, presenting early outcomes from an artist residency within the Tennyson Research Centre in Lincoln.
The walk will last approximately 3 hours, including readings, comfort breaks and an optional family workshop.
The walk is part of NK Walking Festival Saturday 13 July – Saturday 27 July 2019.
For more information and to book please refer to the Countryside section of the Hill Holt Wood website, artsNK or email walkingfestival@hillholtwood.co.uk
PUBLICATION
BUMMOCK: THE LACE ARCHIVE
You can order a copy of the publication from Cornerhouse Publishing: order.
This publication is the result of an artists’ research residency that used unseen parts of the Lace Archive in Nottingham as catalysts for the creation of new artworks.
Andrew Bracey, Danica Maier and Lucy Renton spent two and half years rummaging, exploring and making.
Critical texts by Pennina Barnett, Fiona Curran, Janis Jefferies, Sian Vaughan, alongside interviews with the artists involved, unpack the findings.
This is part of a larger research project ‘Bummock: New Artistic Responses to Unseen parts of the Archive’. Like the Bummock – the largest part of the iceberg that remains hidden under water – archives often contain far more than is ever accessed. Bummock gives a platform for these stored and yet to be appreciated parts, and is developing alternative methods for researchers to access archives.
This is the first of a series of publications that will collate the findings and artworks from residencies in different archives.
This publication accompanies the exhibition at Backlit Gallery, Nottingham, 26 Jan- 18 Feb 2018 and Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge, 24 Jan – 16 Feb 2019.
Ruskin Gallery: Exhibition
Bummock: The Lace Archive tours to the Ruskin Gallery in Anglia Ruskin University Cambridge. The work is recontextualized including new installations created by Danica Maier and Lucy Renton. With newly developed sound work by Danica Maier with Composer Martin Scheuregger.
Opening event with Book Launch: 31 January 2019 from 5-7pm with live events at 5:15pm and 6pm.
BACKLIT GALLERY: EXHIBITION
Archives as catalysts for the creation of new artworks. Three artists, Andrew Bracey, Danica Maier and Lucy Renton have spent the last two and half years rummaging, exploring and making. The artworks created will be shown alongside the archival material that was used as the starting point for the artists’ research.
Private View: 26th Jan 6-9pm
Backlit Gallery, Alfred House, Ashley St,
Nottingham NG3 1JG
Opening Event: 26 January, 2018. 6-9pm
Exhibition dates: 27 January – 18 February 2018.
Fri, Sat, Sun noon – 5pm
BACKLIT GALLERY: SYMPOSIUM
Booking: Eventbrite link
This symposium will explore and expand upon issues arising from the research project and residency within the Lace Archive by three artists Andrew Bracey, Danica Maier and Lucy Renton. The symposium will also focus on, an overview of the Lace Archive held at Nottingham Trent University, it’s history and content; a history of contemporary artists working with Nottingham lace; artists working in and accessing archives and collections; hidden stories of collections, through two cases studies and an artist round table discussion of working with the Lace Archive. At the end of the symposium the delegates will have an opportunity for a special preview of the exhibition with informal discussion with the artists involved and food and drink.
Speakers include: Pennina Barnett, Andrew Bracey, Dr. Amanda Briggs-Goode, Deborah Dean, Danica Maier, Lucy Renton, Dr. Sian Vaughan
BACKLIT GALLERY: EVENTS
Private View
Friday 26 January, 2018, 6pm – 9pm, free
Join the artists for a drink and special preview of the exhibition, Bummock: The Lace Archive.
Sound Transcription Workshop
Saturday 3rd February, 3:30pm, free
Join Danica Maier and Dr. Martin Scheuregger as they continue to test, play and experiment with transcribing the lace technical drawings into scores for sound works. This will be a playful drop in session for all ages.
Artists’ Tour
Saturday 10th February, 3pm - 4pm, free
Andrew Bracey and Danica Maier will discuss themes of the project and give an insight into the working processes resulting from researching in the Lace Archive to creating their artwork.
Attention/Detail - Children’s workshop
Sunday 18th February 1-4pm, free
This hands-on workshop will play with scale and reproduction, where participants will create drawings that will then be enlarged to bigger than life to create a overlapping mural. Targeted at children from ages 5-80 this will be a playful drop in session for children and parents.
Backlit Gallery, Alfred House, Ashley St,
Nottingham NG3 1JG