An MA Curation Practices student blogs about her research
Featured artwork by Vanessa Guy for Kirkstall Seen (2020) For my final project for my MA I have worked with three artists/creative writers to create Kirkstall Seen, a 16 page zine containing art and writing about the Kirkstall area of Leeds. The aim of the zine is to collect knowledge and ideas about Kirkstall. The... Continue Reading →
I'm in my second year of MA Curation Practices at Leeds Arts University, and about 3 weeks ago my uni asked me to answer some questions about myself and how I ended up on this course. You can read the interview here: https://www.leeds-art.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-courses/ma-curation-practices/current-students/current-students/helen-dryden/ What we hadn't realised at the time of interview was how much... Continue Reading →
This week I have been in the news a little bit about some of the curating I've been doing recently. Please see the links below for more information about the work I did volunteering with Leeds Museums and Galleries, making some First World War photos into short '3D' animations. https://news.leeds.gov.uk/historic-ww1-photos-brought-to-life-for-moving-museums-display/ https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/people/historic-ww1-photos-brought-life-moving-museums-display-leeds-1328333 There's also a story... Continue Reading →
INVITATION: Exhibition Opening (header image and all illustrations copyright Joe Bean) Destruction to Construction is an exhibition of sketches of the most recent Headingley Stadium redevelopment, all drawn on location by designer, illustrator and urban sketcher Joe Bean. The historic stadium in North West Leeds, Yorkshire, has evolved many times since its establishment in 1890.... Continue Reading →
I have been working as part of a group of community curators over the last few months, guided by curator Lucy Moore from Leeds Museums and Galleries. Together we have been updating the display in the World War One case at Leeds City Museum. The case had been untouched since it was first installed when... Continue Reading →
It’s the summer holidays and I’ve just returned from a bus(wo)man’s holiday with my family, visiting a number of museums and visitor attractions in the UK. In one week we visited The National Museum of Computing in Milton Keynes, Legoland Windsor, the Pitt Rivers Museum and Ashmolean in Oxford, and the snappily titled Warner Bros... Continue Reading →
Here's a link to a blog post I wrote for Leeds Museums and Galleries about some volunteer work I'm involved in, co-curating a WW1 display case at the City Museum. https://secretlivesofobjects.blog/2019/07/09/bringing-ww1-photographs-to-life-in-3d/?fbclid=IwAR0bJNzrq2UFlV4TBO4HtedZNAeHuFAW34d4p_hKH4RHZPKoe2VWDZugDDk I'm working within a group of volunteers being guided by curator Lucy Moore to refresh the objects in the display case in the 'Leeds... Continue Reading →
Above: A group of student curators, hard at work harvesting a fresh batch of culture from the cultural fields of Finland. (Actually, photo credit: Kulutusosuuskuntien Keskusliiton kokoelma D1974_33_10549B. Koululaisia maatöissä jatkosodan aikana. photographer unknown / kuvaaja tuntematon 1942 Finland / Suomi Finnish Museum of Photography / Suomen valokuvataiteen museo ). It’s the end of my first academic year studying... Continue Reading →
Recently I have been working on a photobook called Whatever I feel like I want to do, gosh! which contains photographs donated by 12 members of the public. The photos show themselves when they were younger, experimenting with new styles, trying out makeup, hair and fashion, and creating their own unique visual identity. the author,... Continue Reading →
Curator’s Talk about Gormley’s unrealised Brick Man. Yesterday I popped down to Leeds Art Gallery to hear the lunchtime talk from Curator of Sculpture, Dr Rebecca Wade, which was about the maquette for Antony Gormley’s proposed Brick Man sculpture. Brick Man was going to be a 120 foot high piece of public art for the... Continue Reading →
Rethinking Curating 