Even more ways to donate to the Friends of the Harris!
It's now even easier to donate to the Friends of the Harris - just send a text from your mobile phone! Simply text HARR11 followed by the amount you wish to donate - either £3, £5 or £10 to 70070.
Puck by Richard Dadd
The Harris Museum & Art Gallery has recently been able to purchase Puck by Richard Dadd with he help of the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Art Fund, and a bequest and it is now on show in our newly refurbished Fine Art Galleries. The Friends of the Harris were very supportive of our campaign to acquire the painting and are paying to have it X-rayed by conservators at Lancashire Conservation Studios so that we can find out more about the painting and Dadd’s working methods. A Study Day for members of the Friends of the Harris and Art Fund members takes place on 21st September.
New Digital Work for the Harris’ Collection
The Friends of the Harris have provided £5000 to help the museum acquire the winning work from their recent exhibition of digital art, Current: An Experiment in Collecting Digital Art. The work, by Thompson & Craighead, The distance travelled through our solar system this year and all the barrels of oil remaining (2011) makes use of a live feed from the internet. The acquisition helps to cement the Harris’ position as one of very few galleries nationwide taking steps to reflect the current digital art movement within their collections.
The work consists of two wall based gallery projections that dynamically display the number of remaining oil barrels left in the world alongside the distance the earth has travelled this year. By juxtaposing something global (the statistic streams) against something local (a visit to a gallery and contemplation of an artwork), the piece allows a poetic connection to be made between the individual and the world at large.
It was selected by an expert panel, including Paul Hobson, Director, Contemporary Arts Society; Sarah Fisher, Chair of Axis and Chair of FACT; Gavin Delahunty, Head of Exhibitions and Displays, Tate Liverpool; Taylor Nuttall, Chief Executive, folly; and Alex Walker, Head of Arts & Heritage, Preston City Council.
You can find out more about the exhibition and the acquisition at www.current-experiment.org.uk
The Big Arts Give - Update
We are pleased to say that The Big Arts Give, which took place in December 2010, raised over £8500 for an acquisitions fund for the Harris Museum. We would like to thank everyone who made a donation, large or small. The Friends will now be contributing to the purchase of Puck, by Richard Dadd, also funded by The Art Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund, and of a digital work, The distance travelled through our solar system this year and all the barrels of oil remaining by Thomson & Craighead, the winners of Current: An Experiment in Collecting Digital Art.
We are now determined to build the acquisitions fund in the run up to Preston Guild 2012. If you would like to support our Acquisitions Fund, you can still make a donation, or even leave the Friends a legacy, through The Big Give website.
For more information, please contact
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
The Big Arts Give
We are delighted to announce that the Friends of the Harris Museum & Art Gallery have been successful in our bid to take part in The Big Arts Give, which takes place in from 6th – 10th December 2010. This unique event will provide supporters with the opportunity to have any donations they make to the Friends doubled when they make a contribution to the Friends' Guild Acquisitions Fund online at www.thebiggive.org.uk
The fund is being set up in order to celebrate Preston Guild 2012, and donations will only be doubled during The Big Arts Give Challenge week. Watch this space for more details nearer the time. Money raised will be used by the Harris Museum to help purchase studio ceramics, digital art and the Victorian fairy painting, Puck, by Richard Dadd.
The Big Give website also enables people to make a general donation to the Friends or even to leave a legacy. For more information telephone 01772 903619 or go to www.thebiggive.org.uk
Friends enjoy exclusive access to Horrockses Fashions author
Members of the Friends of the Harris enjoyed a unique opportunity to meet Dr Christine Boydell, the leading expert on the Horrockses Fashions brand, and author of the book Horrockses Fashions: Off the Peg Style in the ‘40s and ‘50s, prior to a sell out talk that she gave at the Museum on Monday 6th September 2010.
Staff at the Museum brought out a number of Horrockses Fashions dresses from the stores, including some new acquisitions, to enable members to get really close up to the fabrics and patterns. Chris was able to explain how the Horrockses Fashions brand offered the first ever opportunity for ordinary women to wear the type of fashion garments usually worn by celebrities and the wealthy, through their clever marketing activity and pricing policy that enabled women to ‘save up’ for their dress of choice.
Chris’ book is currently on sale in the Museum Shop to members at 10% discount. A limited number of signed copies are in stock.
Image: Dr Chris Boydell signs copies of her book for members of the Friends and Chair Greta Krypczyk-Oddy (right)
Friends of the Harris Museum and Art Gallery Registered Charity Number: 503726
