Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting online discussion from the British Museum looking at how Stonehenge has inspired artists in the past and now. Chaired by David Dawson of Salisbury Museum the event brought together another curator, Harriet Still from Wessex Museums and two contemporary artists, Rose Ferraby and Jeremy Deller to discuss how the monument has provided inspiration. The discussion got philosophical at times. Still mainly talked about Thomas Hardy and Tess of the D’Urbervilles including how he was an amateur archaeologist and had a standing stone in his garden. She also looked at how the stone circle has appeared in other literature and 19th century painting including Turner. Ferraby is interested in how archaeologists see and imagine the world and how this can be represented in museums. She had been commissioned by the British Museum to produce a piece on Seahenge for the current exhibition and she talked us through her creative process for this. I was interested to hear her mention Piper...

Excellent online lecture from the British Museum introducing their current exhibition on Stonehenge. The curator of the show, Neil Wilkin, guided us clearly through the thinking behind it and the reasons for picking particular objects and for the layout. He took each section of the show and talked about what it covered and highlighted some of the pieces. I’d already been to the show twice when I listened to this talk and yet I learnt a lot and want to go again! I’d not realised that each section had an object from Stonehenge itself as the focus then used other works to put it into context. I’d also now noticed that all the stone axes in an early section were made from stone from the northern Alps and brought to Britain despite Britain having suitable stone probably because of its emotional resonance. If you can’t get to the show watch this, it’s available on YouTube, as it gives a good flavour of the show and you get a real sense of the curators enthusiasm for the subject. ...

Awesome exhibition at the British Museum looking at Stonehenge and putting it into context. I went along to this suspecting it would be a bit dull and worthy but it was very engaging and I learned so much. In fact I’ve been back again for a second visit and I may well go again! The show has six stages to lead you roughly through the chronology of over 2000 years of pre-history, from working with nature and the pre-agricultural people though to quite sophisticated trading by sea. Each section was anchored by a piece from Stonehenge itself. It was full of complex stories and ideas from an era I had expected to find quite simplistic. The exhibits are stunning and at times you almost can’t believe what you are looking at. There was some amazing gold work including a wonderful shoulder cape found in Wales. Most moving were people’s burial goods and I was fascinated by an archer who had travelled from Switzerland only to be buried at Stonehenge. I was amazed at a wooden walkway which h...