Miró, Calder, Giacometti, Braque: Aimé Maeght and his artists

BSL and Lipspeaking Gallery Tour

The Royal Academy presents an exhibition demonstrating the achievement of the famous Galerie Maeght. Featuring works by Miró, Calder, Giacometti and Braque, this exhibition reflects the freshness, optimism and inventiveness of the art that took post-war Paris by storm. The gallery opened in Paris in 1945 and was to become one of the most influential and creative galleries of the twentieth century. The artists it showed expressed a bold new spirit in art which exploded in France after the dark years of the war.

This exhibition will present Aimé Maeght’s outstanding contributions to art in the mid-twentieth century – as an art dealer, exhibition maker and publisher – and will focus on the major artists he exhibited. The exhibition contains more than 140 paintings, sculptures, ceramics, prints and artists’ books by Miró, Calder, Giacometti and Braque, as well as works by Bonnard and Matisse, from the extensive collection of the Fondation Maeght in Saint Paul de Vence.

When: Friday 10 October 6-7pm. Please arrive at 5.45pm.

Where: In the Sackler Wing of Galleries, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD (Click here for directions)

Artist Lucianna Whittaker presents this tour. BSL interpretation and lipspeaking support will be provided. Radio receivers with loops for personal amplification are available to borrow on request.

£3 including entry to exhibition.
Tour and exhibition entry is free to Friends of the Royal Academy.

For information or to book, please contact the Access Officer:
Tel/text 020 7300 5732
Email access @ royalacademy.org.uk
Fax booking form to 020 7300 8013
Royal Academy

Exclusion

We checked out the Juan Muñoz exhibition at the Tate Modern, spread out over 14 rooms.

In room 10 there was a particularly striking sculpture called Many Times. 100 Chinese people were gathered in small groups, all deep in conversation and grinning at something. The viewer is excluded from the conversations and the groups as we don’t know what they are whispering about or what they are grinning at. This was a very meaningful exhibit as this is just what it feels like to be deaf. Invisible and excluded. Not knowing what other people are talking about. So it all becomes rather sinister and you start to feel uneasy.

Many Times, 1999 (detail) Private collection © The Estate of Juan Munoz

I’m really glad I’ve got a Hearing Dog to make me ‘visible’ to hearing people and feel included. It’s so easy for a deaf person to get lost within humanity and to say nothing, and become a nonentity.

FOL’s verdict :

Tate multimedia guide with BSL

(Photo: Tate)

At this month’s Tate tour, we were introduced to the multimedia device which has BSL functionality, with subtitles and BSL signing available on the guide’s screen. The signing was done by various people, some of them my friends, it was so nice to see ‘real’ signing and not the impersonal signing provided by a professional. The subtitles were accurate and timely, and easy to read – a factor people often overlook. Each clip showed people explaining how they felt about each piece of art, bringing art to life. The guide is accompanied by a numbered list of the artworks included, correlating with the listed clips on the guide. This means we now don’t have to wait for a BSL guided tour to take place, we can go in and browse at our own convenience. It means I don’t have to tag along the end of a tour and tire myself out trying to lip read the tour guide, and I can improve my BSL at the same time.

The talk this month was on surrealism and I was really pleased with this as this is an area I had never understood or particularly liked (because, basically, I didn’t understand it!). The signer’s introduction explained the foundations and meanings of surrealism, before going on to comment on a number of paintings and taking comments from the audience. There was a person giving a voice-over, well actually he was providing this for the signer which was unfortunate, as this meant he was facing the signer and not the audience. I had a friend there who doesn’t sign, and she had to come to the front and face the audience, so she could see the speaker’s face. So really, this event could be more accessible for deaf-without-BSL. Then we had a super duper open bar. My friend and I were the last ones to be kicked out by security. Oops.

Tate Britain : JMW Turner

We went to see the ‘Hockney on Turner watercolours’ exhibition at Tate Britain. This was a rare opportunity to see some of his most spectacular works, 150 of his beautiful watercolours, or so the blurb said.

The following areas are fitted with a hearing loop:

* Auditorium
* Manton Studio
* Information Desks
* In addition, hearing loops are available on most gallery tours.

We cheekily tagged on to the end of a gallery tour (I could lip read the curator) then wandered off to explore the ground floor and Turner’s works. Tate Britain specifially say they welcome Hearing Dogs but I didn’t bring mine today, as I know he hates art galleries – all that attention going to the wrong place!

Overall, we were quite disappointed. Turner’s oils are quite dark, I guess this was the style of his times, but I couldn’t for the life of me see why he is lauded as such a great artist. Sure, he can paint. But so can thousands of others. His watercolours were certainly brighter, more colourful and more pleasing than his dark oils, and I can see how he could have influenced the art of his times through the use of colour and light. A rather creepy part of the exhibition was a plaster cast of the 75 year-old Turner’s face, with his mouth fallen in and sunken eye sockets. The Colour and Line exhibition showed how Turner revolutionised watercolour and print through interactive displays and experiments showing his techniques. This exhibition was very useful in that it showed his influence upon the art world and drilled down to the nitty gritty rather then just showing the end results.

Perhaps this is his true legacy, that he changed art for the better.

FOL verdict :

Calling deaf and disabled artists in the South East

There are exciting networking events for deaf and disabled artists (cross artform practice) and those working in the arts and creative industries – particularly hoping to attract interest from those working or living in the South East.

There are three exciting networking events for deaf and disabled artists and those working in the arts & creative industries.

A fantastic opportunity to:

• meet with other deaf and disabled artists
• hear from invited guest presenters
• take part in a creative workshop or peer critique
• find out what is happening in your local area
• share ideas and experiences

DADA (Disability Arts Development Agency) produce a Living Newsletter. Living Newsletters are coming to:

Oxford
Monday 1st October, 10am – 3.30pm
Pegasus Theatre, 64-65 Magdalen Road, Oxford OX4 1RE

Milton Keynes
Monday 8th October 10am – 4pm
Milton Keynes Gallery, 900 Midsummer Blvd, Milton Keynes MK9 3QA

Southampton
Monday 15th October 10am – 4pm
Southampton Art Gallery & Civic Centre Southampton SO14 7L

Programme
Confirmed guest artists appearing at different LN events: Sign Dance Collective, Anjali Dance Company, Lynn Weddle, Caroline Cardus, Tessa Lockton, Sophie Woolley, David Dixon, Esther Appleyard

These events are free and open to all deaf and disabled artists and those working in the arts and creative industries in each area

Access
All venues are wheelchair accessible. BSL interpreters will be available and additional access support. Please let us know if you intend to come to LN Oxford, Milton Keynes or Southampton and let us know any specific access requirements.

Booking
For Full programme details and booking contact Dada-South, PO Box 136, Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 9AD Tel:Fax: 01580 714642 Email: suzanne@dada-south.org website: http://www.dada-south.org.uk

Living Newsletter is created in partnership by:

Dada-South, the regional Disability Arts Development Agency, working to provide opportunities for Deaf and Disabled artists in the South East.

The University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester, which was formed on 1 August 2005 through the uniting of two leading specialist art and design institutions: Kent Institute of Art and Design and The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College.

DADA welcome support from:

Arts Council England SE
University College for the Creative Arts
Pegasus Theatre
Milton Keynes Gallery
Southampton City Council
Inter-action MK

Tate Britain, Friday 7 September 2007 : silent films

Late at Tate Britain – Image and Sound 18.00 – 22.00

Iconic British silent films will be shown with live music, dominating the enormous central gallery, and Steve Beresford, Scanner and David Toop perform together for one night only. An ideal event for deaf and hard of hearing people as you can enjoy the films!

Late at Tate Britain is a free event on the first Friday of every month with an eclectic mix of events and a bar in the gallery.

Artprojx Hi Fi presents

An artist film compilation featuring:

Alice Anderson – Alice Anderson’s Journal 2004-2005
David Blandy – The White and Black Minstrel Show
Dexter Dalwood – 1800
Ravi Deepres – Eden
Rineke Dijkstra – Annemiek
Nathalie Djurberg – Florentin
Haris Epaminonda – Light, Tarahi II, Tarahi IIII, Tarahi V
Pamela Golden – Love & Hysteria
Jesper Just – It Will All End In Tears
Idris Khan – A Memory… After Bach’s Cello Suites
Joshua Mosely – Beyrouth
Michael Nyman – Moscow 11.19.31
Terry Smith – Overture
Emily Wardill – Basking in what feels like ‘an ocean of grace’, I soon
realise that I’m not looking at it, but rather that I AM it, recognising
myself
ZATORSKI & ZATORSKI – The Dance

Films selected by David Gryn – Artprojx