This week’s blog has been written by Jill Iredale, our Curator of Fine Arts. It’s the second in a series focusing on the up-coming Hockney Gallery at Cartwright Hall. She writes:
By the time you read this the new walls will have gone in for the David Hockney Gallery at Cartwright Hall. It is one of a series of nerve-wracking events that has to happen, and in the correct order so that the doors can open on 7 July in time for David’s 80th birthday and our Happy Birthday Hockney event on 9 July. So no room for delay and, no matter how much measuring and double-checking takes place, I expect I will be holding my breath for each and every one of them!
Next will be the decorating: do those colours look good?? It is so hard to tell when you look at a small sample patch and then try to imagine it on a 20 metre long wall. Then the art works start being installed, but there are still so many things that haven’t been finished yet! I have realised that no matter how far in advance you start on a project that everyone has their own internal time clock that makes them all burst into action at exactly the same time. So no matter what your schedule was – trying to stick to it is like trying to steer a juggernaut on a different course.
One unfinished thing that I am really looking forward to is ‘the film’. We are working with filmmaker Bruno Wolheim to edit a short film of previously unseen footage that we can show in the gallery. Bruno was granted incredible access to Hockney over a three year period while he was living in Bridlington and producing a major body of work based on the changing seasons in the early-to-mid-2000s.
We were very fortunate to be granted permission by David to do this and I really hope our visitors enjoy the results. My idea is that our gallery should not just be an exhibition of artworks but that it should give our visitors a peek into what the person who made them is like. I want people to be able to feel like they are sat in a room with David having a chat. Whether we achieve this remains to be seen! But I feel our film is in safe hands with Bruno and Tom. Whatever they produce will be special and just for us, so I for one can’t wait to see the finished result!
If you would like to make a contribution to the David Hockney Gallery at Cartwright Hall there is still time to make a donation via the front page of the website or by phone 01274 431215 (Mon-Wed).
