Tiny Lives
April 26th will see a return for me to the Great North Museum for the Tait Walker Art Exhibition. It’s in support of the Tiny Lives Fund.
It will a trip down memory lane for me as I used to work part time at the Great North Museum 1983-1984. Back then it was called the Hancock Museum. I was part of the design team which worked on the various displays. The main project that we worked on was the backdrop to Abel’s Ark. This was a large wooden ark which contained the heads of various big game animals which Abel Chapman and killed.
Abel Chapman was a local businessman and skilled artist who had a passion for hunting and natural history. He had amassed a significant collection of animals which he left in his will to the Hancock Museum when he died in 1929. For many years these heads had been shown in rather traditional glass display cases. However it was decided back in the early 1980’s to have the heads sticking out of the portholes of the newly built Abel’s Ark. That way, visiting children would naturally assume that the rest of the animal was inside the ark.
Jungle Book
I spent several weeks coming up with a design for the mural which was a jungle book scene. I painted with emulsion paints. As part of my research I even went to the cinema to see a showing of Walt Disney’s Jungle Book. Not long after the contract finished to paint the mural, I decided to go full time as a self employed artist. The rest, as they say, is history.
The next item of text is taken from the flier produced by Tait Walker to promote the event:
Tait Walker
On Thursday 26th April, Tait Walker are holding an exhibition of work from around twenty local artists and photographers at The Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle. Tickets are £10, which includes nibbles and a welcome drink at 7pm. Throughout the evening, there will be the chance to buy the paintings and photographs, as well as a silent auction and raffle being held. The caricaturist, John Coward, will also be available to draw you a personal memento of the evening!
The event is part of the Tait Walker 75 Years fundraising calendar, where we are aiming to raise £75,000 for local charities. All proceeds from the night, including a percentage of picture sales, will go to Tiny Lives. A charity for special care babies based at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.
Tickets can be purchased by calling Claire Blake on 0191 285 0321. If you aren’t able to make the event, but would like to make a donation, we have set up a Just Giving page at http://www.justgiving.com/TWArt-in-April
Other charities that are close to my heart include Junction 42 which you can read about here.