In brief | Latest news, moves and projects from across the sector

Added Silk Ribbon Weaving to the list of endangered crafts

The Heritage Crafts Association (HCA), the national heritage crafts charity, has declared silk ribbon weaving an endangered craft. The skill is one of 17 crafts at risk of being phased out in the UK. There are five silk ribbon weavers in the UK, two of whom are employed at the Whitchurch Silk Mill, a working museum in Hampshire. Other crafts that are threatened with extinction include forging arrows and making necklaces and straw hats.

The Red List of Crafts at Risk was created by the Heritage Crafts Association in 2017 to raise awareness of the disappearance of traditional crafts in the UK. This is the first time the list has been updated since 2021. Since the publication of the 2021 edition, it has been known that one craft, the manufacture of hand-blown flat glass, is extinct in the UK.

“The effects of the energy crisis, inflation, Covid-19 and Brexit have hit everyone hard, not least the craftsmen who have our most basic manual skills,” says Mary Lewis, who led the research on behalf of the HCA.

“We know that heritage craft skills work like an ecosystem; Losing one part can destroy other parts of the system. If we allow vulnerable crafts to disappear, we greatly reduce the opportunities for future generations to create their own sustainable and fulfilling livelihoods and to tackle future challenges.”

In recent years, the recently retired head weaver at the Whitchurch Silk Mill has passed on her skills to two would-be weavers, Shannon Bye and Olivia Goldsmith, who are now employed full-time at the mill. However, the HCA says the historical capabilities that ensure the mill’s continued existence remain at serious risk.

Contemporary Collecting Network launches

A new professional network for contemporary collecting was created.

The aim of the network is to recognize the increasing importance of contemporary collecting as an interdisciplinary field. It will help professionals, researchers and students interested in the practice of contemporary collecting to share work and research in the field by providing a network for critical thinking, discussion and resource sharing. The aim is to become a space of learning and problem solving, as well as a safe space for discussion of challenges in this area.

The goals of the network are:

• Offer one seminar or workshop per year
• Support ad hoc, casual and informal networking and social conversations year-round
• Occasionally create publications
• Create a resource database of literature, reports and case studies relevant to membership
• Maintain a jiscmail
• Collaborate with other disciplines to consider the importance of contemporary collecting within them and to promote the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary collecting
• Help educate communities and non-specialist museum professionals about contemporary collecting.

Contact the network at [email protected].

Herbert art show breaks visitor record thanks to “dippy effect”

A contemporary art exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry has become one of the busiest in the gallery’s history thanks to the ‘dippy effect’.

Tens of thousands of visitors have flocked to see “Divided Selves,” which explores ideas of identity, community, nation and conflict, since Dippy, a life-size replica of a dinosaur, arrived at the gallery in February on long-term loan from the Natural History Museum is .

The exhibition begins its second phase this week with two new visual installations and a temporary exhibition at Coventry Cathedral, due to be unveiled on 10 June. The exhibition, which ends on September 24th, features works from the British Council Collection and the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum Collection – its curator Hammad Nasar introduces distinguished artists from diverse backgrounds working in a variety of media, including Turner Prize Winner.

The Dippy exhibit is credited with encouraging the institution’s record frequency. “It’s really exciting,” Nasar said. “We have seen people of all ages enter the gallery with a purpose in mind and leave the gallery with a window into other worlds and perspectives.

“The range of shared and overlooked viewpoints that the exhibition covers is vast, but it is actually a very accessible experience that the casual viewer obviously finds very rewarding.

“By coming to Dippy, people, whatever their interest, discipline or background, are acting on their natural curiosity about a world that goes far beyond themselves, and Divided Selves is an extension of that.”

British company oversees renovation of Bayeux Tapestry Museum

Architectural firm RSHP has been named the unanimous winner of a project management competition to lead the refurbishment of the Bayeux Carpet Museum in Bayeux, Northern France. The British architect is currently negotiating the award of the contract with the city of Bayeux. The 1000-year-old tapestry depicting the Norman conquest of England has been in its current location since 1983.

The objectives of the redevelopment include optimizing the conditions of preservation and presentation of the Bayeux Tapestry, enriching the visitor experience while improving reception conditions, and overseeing the urban integration of the museum and its contemporary extension. The opening of the new museum is planned for 2027-2028.

RSHP has completed major architectural projects including the expansion of the British Museum, the European Court of Human Rights and the Louvre Liévin Conservation Centre.

Coventry’s City Center Cultural Gateway receives planning permission

Planning permission has been granted to convert the former IKEA building in Coventry into a collections center and cultural centre. Known as the City Center Cultural Gateway (CCCG), the building will be repurposed to provide a new home for nationally recognized collections and provide space for new research facilities. The project, led by Coventry City Council, will be implemented in three phases.

In phase one, part of the building will be converted into a collections center of national importance where CV Life, Arts Council England, Arts Council Collection and the British Council will house their collections.

Works will start at the end of 2023 and the opening of the center is planned for 2025.

Chatham Historic Dockyard acquires paintings by Billy Childish

The Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust has acquired ten paintings by Billy Childish for its permanent collection. In 2011, Childish became artist-in-residence at the site where he currently rents a studio.

Since 1977, Childish has released more than 150 independent LPs, published five novels and more than 45 volumes of poetry, but his main occupation is painting. He has had solo exhibitions internationally, including in New York, London, Seoul and Berlin, and was included in British Art Show 5.

The series of paintings acquired by the foundation, entitled “Rope Puller”, takes up themes of seafaring and the history of the shipyard – no doubt inspired in part by Childish’s own experiences as a shipyard apprentice in 1976 and the fact that his studio is located in the historic rope works 1780, where ropes are still made today.

The paintings can be viewed on the Foundation’s Collections Online portal.