Arts Council of England funded Wire Sculpture Project based on the Out of the Ordinary Exhibition

During the months of September to end of November, 2015, an Arts Council funded arts project, using National Lottery monies, was arranged to take place at Oasis Academy Media City in Salford.  The idea was that the pupils would be working towards an Arts Award Bronze qualification, which is roughly equivalent to a G.C.S.E. grade C-D.

The project was intended initially for year 10 pupils, although several year 9 pupils also took part.  The pupils followed a twice weekly course over two weeks in five disciplines: sculpture with wire, painting techniques, drawing cartoon characters, textiles with felt, and jewelry.

Each of the selected pupils, together with their art teacher and community liaison officer, visited the Out of the Ordinary exhibition at Salford Museum and Art Gallery, where they gathered leaflets and postcards and took photographs of the paintings and drawings by Colin Rodney Burrows.  There was also some biogrraphical information in two display cabinets to which the pupils also had access for research.

Wire Workshop with Lorna Fellas

Lorna Fellas is a former Art and Design tutor at the University of Salford.  Lorna is a multi-discipline artist, with an interest in glass, lighting design, ceramics, together with painting and drawing.  She has been in several group exhibitions recently, and delivers workshops in wire sculpture and other disciplines.  

http://www.lornafellas.com/

Following their visit to the Colin Burrows' exhibition at the Salford Museum and Art Gallery, the pupils began drawing from ordinary objects which the tutor, Lorna Fellas, had brought into school. The pupils began constructing 2D wire sculptures from their initial drawings, and, in the second week they set to work on 3D sculptures.

                                                                                              

The final pieces were mounted and displayed in the Langworthy Gallery in Salford Museum and Art Gallery, alongside the Out of the Ordinary exhibition and also in Eccles Community Art Gallery,Greater Manchester..

Out of the Ordinary Exhibition - Colin Rodney Burrows' Paintings - Aftermath

The Out of the Ordinary Exhibition was taken down on 2nd November, 2015.

It was the end of an era for our family.  Colin Rodney Burrows (b. 1945) had passed away in April, 2002 and I had wanted to do something in his memory for a very long time.  This exhibition, when it finally happened, fulfilled all that I had hoped for.

Over the span of the exhibition, from 18th July until 1 November, the exhibition had many visitors.  There were over sixty at the preview, mainly friends, family and members of our various art clubs.  The then Director of Salford Museum and Art Gallery had arrived towards the end of the afternoon, very  apologetically, saying that he had been waiting for his car to be returned so that he could travel from Liverpool to attend.

 
 "Gravy Jug",  acrylic paint on cotton duck

"Hot Water Bottle Stopper", acrylic paint on cotton duck

"Sir Anthony Blunt, former Keeper of 

Queen Elizabeth II's Paintings", 

 "Soldiers", water colours on paper

One of Colin's best friends, a former student of the Slade School of Art, Jackson, he used to call him,  arrived on the dot from the South of England, and he was visibly overwhelmed by the wonderful display of Colin's paintings and cartoons, some of which he had never seen before, as the friends had lost touch for several years.  Jackson, who owns the Chapel Gallery and Book Shop in Saxmundham, Suffolk, was kind enough to lend the exhibition two early paintings, which Colin had either sold or given to him.  One was a large, rather abstract self-portrait in their flat at Highgate in London, and we were able to show a black and white photograph of Colin painting this, in a display cabinet.  The other borrowed painting was an early still life of many of the objects which had been important to Colin when he was a student at the Slade.                                                                            

The items consisted of pipes, medicines and other personal items, painted in a naive style.  This still life  is a really beautiful

painting which I am loathe to return, but I have no choice, unfortunately, as Jackson loves it too.  I had never actually seen these paintings before, but I had seen slides of them.

Cover of the Catalogue for the "Out of the Ordinary" Exhibition, July - November, 2015

Something rather peculiar caught my eye one day, as I turned on my personal computer to view some photographs of Colin's works.  There were a couple of black and white photographs which I didn't recognize, but, on closer inspection, I realized one of them was of me, eating a meal at our kitchen table in the mid -1970s, just before our first child was born.  The other photograph was of a girl in our living room.  I then realized it was one of my friends from Secretarial College.  On researching further, I found numerous photographs sent to me by Jackson, that he had taken during several of his visits to our house in Higher Blackley in Manchester.  What was interesting was that some of them showed Colin's set-ups for several of his paintings, for instance, of the Trousers and Shoes.   Colin had dressed the bottom half of a tailor's shop dummy in black tights, a pair of let-down trousers and a pair of shoes from that period and stood it on a wash stand in front of a picture window.  Many months later, when he had nearly finished the painting, our neighbour inquired whether Colin had finished painting the ceiling. 

As a growing family, we had to live around the set-ups of Colin's on-going painting, and I didn't realize it was that unusual.  I just took it for granted.  Visitors and tradespeople were visibly shocked when they stepped into the cramped room, with this strange activity going on by the window.

I am very indebted to Jackson for loaning the exhibition the two paintings and for all the photographs he sent to me prior to the exhibition.

The Exhibitions Team from the Gallery designed and installed the displays.  I was asked my opinion on their suggestions beforehand, and was very happy indeed with the result.  The Artists and Illustrators magazine chose this exhibition as one of the best in the North of England to visit for both September and October, 2015, so we were all very pleased and proud.

The Exhibition wascommended in the "Best Exhibitions" in the North of England for both September and October, 2015 in the "Artists' and Illustrators'" magazine.

  "Washing Up Tubs", acrylic paint on cotton duck

"China Flowers", acrylic paint on cotton duck      

Exhibition "Out of the Ordinary", paintings by Colin Rodney Burrows, in summer, 2015 at Salford Museum and Art Gallery also with works by Lorna Fellas, Sean Caherty,

    Fiona Moate, Jo Carlon and Gerard Highland

Colin Rodney Burrows' "Out of the Ordinary" Posthumous Exhibition Ends 1st November, 2015

The exhibition at Salford Museum and Art Gallery, in Greater Manchester, UK, of Colin Rodney Burrows' Paintings of Ordinary Objects, together with his Family Portraits, Cartoons and Ephemera comes to an end this Sunday, 1st November, 2015.

This follows a summer of activities based on the theme of Ordinary Objects, including a course of six family workshops held in Salford Museum's School Room during the Creative Sundays slot. Children of all ages and their parents created objects made from pipe cleaners, illustrated giant postcards and made small postcards to take home, modeled seaside objects in air-hardening clay, drew funny spaceships based on ordinary objects decorated cut-out shoe cards and, finally, painted self-portraits on canvas.

 Within the Langworthy Gallery a space dedicated to the young was constructed and an outline of a house with empty rooms is now filled with drawings of household object which have been coloured in by the visitors.  On another wall is a space for original drawings of objects by the more adventurous child artists.

The widow and son of the artist, Colin Burrows, were present in the Exhibition space twice a week for eight weeks, drawing and painting objects which had been discovered by the Exhibitions Officer and her team.  Paintings by Robert James Burrows are now on show in the Langworthy Gallery alongside his father's work,as are paintings and sculpture by Jo Carlon, Lorna Fellas, Gerard Highland, Fiona Moate and Sean Caherty.

Continuing on from the theme of Ordinary Objects is a course which is running at the moment for twelve pupils from Oasis Academy, MediaCity UK,  This is an Arts Award Bronze course which is funded by the Arts Council England using National Lottery monies.

The schoolchildren are aged between 13 and 15 and are taking part in workshops using wire, paint, fabric, pen and ink/digital media, together with a variety of other 3D materials.  Work by Oasis Academy pupils is on display in the Langworthy Gallery and also in Eccles Community Art Gallery at present.  As more art work by the pupils is produced further displays will be on view at Oasis AcademyMediaCity UK, Eccles Community Art Gallery and the West One Foyer in Eccles.

 

"Out of the Ordinary" a new Exhibition of Colin Rodney Burrows' Paintings at Salford Museum and Art Gallery until 1 November, 2015

Colin Rodney Burrows lived and worked in Salford for most of his career as a lecturer at the University of Salford's Art & Design department. Shortly after joining the University Colin had a solo exhibition here at the gallery, so 40 years later it is fitting to have a posthumous exhibition.

The main theme of this exhibition is Colin's fascination with the ordinary and his attempt to elevate it in importance with his paintings and photography, by focusing on various elements such as increasing the scale, using everyday objects as the prime subject of a painting, incorporating household objects into a family portrait and, on occasion, being playful with the titles.

Shown alongside written memories of Colin, there will be artwork by ex-colleagues, former students and his son, Robert. This exhibition celebrates seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary with plenty of opportunities to have a go for all ages.

To complement the exhibition, Colin's widow and son, who are both artists in their own right, will be in the gallery every Tuesday and Friday throughout August and September doing painting and drawing demonstrations, with a chance to have a go at drawing yourself! View the event via our what's on for further information and dates.

'Out of the Ordinary' will be showing in the Langworthy Gallery at Salford Museum & Art Gallery from Saturday 18 July to Sunday 1 November 2015. 

Contact for further information, images, quotes etc:

Kellie Brown, Marketing Officer, 0161 778 0819, kellie.brown@scll.co.uk(link sends e-mail)
Amy Goodwin, Exhibitions Officer, 0161 778 0883, amy.goodwin@scll.co.uk(link sends e-mail)

Notes for the editor:

Salford Community Leisure provides sport, leisure and cultural services in the city. We manage a wide variety of facilities and activities across the eight neighbourhood areas within the city, including sport and leisure facilities, community centres, libraries, community use high schools, museums and the Music and Performing Arts Service.

Salford Museum and Art Gallery presents an exciting programme of permanent displays and changing contemporary exhibitions together with a range of events and activities guaranteed to inspire.

Ordsall Hall - Salford's Grade 1 listed Tudor manor house - was first recorded in 1177. Since then, it has been home to medieval gentry, Tudor nobility, Catholics loyal to the crown, butchers, farmers, an Earl, priests, scout troops, mill workers, cows and several ghosts!

Today, it is an engaging heritage site open to visitors 5 days a week throughout the year. Surrounded by landscaped grounds, it boasts hands on exhibitions, immersive rooms settings and a small cafe.