Story Category: Legacy

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Another year and another publication for the ‘Writing at the Museum’ course run by Creative Future.

This is the forth pamphlet in the series, showing how Brighton Museum & Art Gallery continues to inspire our writers, and how every object (or painting) has its story. This publication contains a selection of work from the two courses held during 2016-2017. Writers featured in earlier Museum Tales publications are seen here again, along with new writers such as Luc(e) Raesmith, Kathleen Weigelt, Maxine Toff, Niall Drennan, James Kerr and Paul Tschinder. Participants were inspired by paintings, furniture, African fashion, punk outfits, and the many eclectic pieces in the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery collections.

Luc(e), inspired by the flower paintings in the permanent collection, writes on modern-day consumerism in his ‘Haikus for a High Street.’

Niall, in his poem ‘War, Claudia’, makes a strong emotional point about war.

Kathleen’s piece ‘Beep, Beep’ tackles female genital mutilation through a poem about a glamorous African woman.

This is a strong, and at times political, emotional and entertaining collection of writing, reflecting the divisive and diverse times we live in. As always, we greatly enjoyed reading this publication’s submissions, just as much as the participants loved writing them. We hope you will enjoy reading them and will see museum artefacts in a new life as a result – and, who knows, they may even inspire you to write.

Read them all online here,

Celia Goth – Dress Code

James Kerr – Bouquet

Jasmine Sharif – Portrait of Mrs  Betsey Chatfield

Kathleen Weigelt – Beep, Beep

Luc Raesmith – Haikus for a High Street

Maxine Toff – The Angel

Miriam Beza – Punk

Moray Sanders – The Nymph

Niall Drennan – War Claudia

Paul Tschinder – African Mannequin

Tony Spiers – Pot Oiseau

Vicky Darling – The Rebellious Octogenarian

Dominique De-Light, Director, Creative Future

Creative Future is a charity that provides training, mentoring and national showcasing opportunities, including the Creative Future Literary Awards and the Tight Modern to talented people who lack opportunities due to mental health issues, disability, health, identity or social circumstance. For more information see www.creativefuture.org.uk

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

War, Claudia

War,

Claudia,

What is it good for?

Well, absolutely everything really:

the economy, science, social progress

and poetry, and then there’s engineering and

unemployment, and did I

mention, poetry?

So, chlorine or whisky?

A toast to the host,

nowhere to be seen

an officer, a gentleman,

what say you, old bean?

And down in the trenches

there’s little to do

So ve all take a Mustard

gas break, at precisely

–             10.22

Ya?

Niall Drennan

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Beep, Beep

She glides down the catwalk

Confident in her African beauty.

Her dress an African sunset,

Swirls of purple, pink, orange and blue

Catch the light, shimmer in the photographer’s glare.

She wears her chains with ease

They don’t shackle her,

She’s reclaimed them in silk.

These feet, encased in jewel encrusted shoes,

Used to walk barefooted on her way to school.

Dust staining her toes saffron.

On Saturday she’d go market with her mother

Buy green plantain, glossy yellow peppers,

Brown dried fish. The fragrance of cinnamon,

Sage, clove and cardamom intoxicated her.

Women wore their weekend best,

Colours as dazzling as the

Vegetables and spices they were buying.

She never forgets where she came from

She’s more than a clothes horse for a nation.

She’ll keep on telling of the day when

Her mother took her to the woman’s house.

Of the lightless interior and the stench of

Disinfectant and blood.  How her mother

And grandmother held her down on the green mat

While the woman cut.  She will keep on telling

How, on her seventh birthday, she became a woman.

Kathleen Weigelt

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Bouquet

My dictionary curtly defines the word ‘bouquet’ as a ‘bunch of flowers!’

Yet, over the years I’ve seen people channel their artistic tendencies into the creation of colourful, balanced and delightful floral displays. Those dedicated souls who arrange the flowers in churches, for example, surely must consider their efforts as considerably more than the mere tending of bunches of flowers. Their displays are comprised of the gatherings of numerous individual blooms which, tenderly and strategically placed in vases, reveal the wonder of nature and the botanical ingenuity of mankind.

As a member of the Creative Writing group at Brighton Museum I was spoiled for choice of inspirational objects, and privileged to work in a treasure trove of artefacts, each with the power to ignite a writer’s imagination. For today’s exercise, I went to ‘The Flower Painting Room’ to select from its array of framed paintings one with personally appealed, and then to write about it. I wandered around and gazed intently at what appeared to be a collection of still life portraits of many-hued flowers, in water-filled containers, centrally placed on the tops of wooden tables.

These images of hacked down flowering plants connected me to the memory of a most sensitive, nature loving soul I once knew. So closely attuned to the feelings of all living things in her environment that she said she felt their pain when heedlessly abused by humans. She even claimed that she could hear flowers screaming when cut and gathered for people’s frivolous, ornamental and inessential purposes. With that in mind, I turned away from the walls hung with almost copycat variations on a definite theme; the isolated, carefully bunched flowers in crystal vases.

Of their own volition, my eyes focused on the brightness of a piece of abstract art that hung in a corner close to the exit. It appeared to be illuminated by sunlight or spotlights or, perhaps, by the fiercely burning spirit of its artistic creator. The painting gave me the impression, not so much of a floral bouquet, but more, much more, that of a garden full of growing flowers and plants. It was as if I was looking out through a circular window onto a distant complex of paths, shrubs and flowerbeds. It conveyed the sense that I could even smell the bouquet; actually inhale the bounty of life-giving earth. This arresting abstraction, ‘Sappho,’ was challengingly brought to life by the English artist, Gillian Ayres, CBE, RA, born 1930.

If I take away one lasting memory from this Creative Writing at the Museum experience, it will be the internal glow of her outstandingly defiant and awe inspiring piece of an original painter’s art!

James Kerr

Inspiration: Gillian Ayres’ ‘Sappho’

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

The Angel

Sent out to browse in the museum, I wandered into the Arctic Room. Not one I was familiar with. The print by Shuvinai Ashoona called ‘Angel in Town’ fascinated me. It shows an angel in a typical white robe, bare feet, I can’t remember if her wings were showing, I think they were.

She is hovering above a modern town, not all the houses have orange tiled roofs. It could be Portslade. The information next to the print says that this is a contemporary Inuit settlement. The buildings stand on blocks to keep them out of the snow and to prevent them sinking into the soil when the snow thaws. I look carefully but there is no igloo in sight.

What would the angel say if she landed in my town? Would she knock on doors to introduce herself or would she wait and see if anyone noticed her hovering. I hope she wasn’t cold, there wasn’t any snow in the picture but it gave no indication what the weather was like and she wasn’t very warmly dressed, not even wearing sandals.

I don’t know why I was assuming she was a female angel, not being very familiar with angels I just took a guess. Then I wondered how she would address us. Supposing it was me she found, would she say “Hallo Darling? Hallo Madam? Hallo Maxine?”

The only angels I could remember didn’t address the people they were visiting; they usually came straight out with their message “I come to bring you tidings of great joy”, that sort of thing.

Perhaps she would ask if there was anything she could do for me? I’m not sure what I would say. Would she be like a fairy and offer me a wish? Two wishes? Three wishes?

Would I be altruistic and ask for world peace or something more important that is preying on my mind? Could she arrange an accident to kill off Trump but in such a way his supporters would not keep a good memory of him and realise what a perfect idiot he was? That might tax her skills; but I think there would be general cheering all round.

I have just started a collection of cartoons about Trump which I display on a cork board in the lavatory. I have labelled it ROGUES GALLERY. There is only one cartoon there at the moment but I feel confident there will be many more. It gives me a tiny bit of satisfaction to have him in my own lavatory. It is the privileged power of the observer, a phrase used by another member of our group which seems apt.

Maxine Toff

Inspiration: Shuvinai Ashoona’s ‘Angel in Town’

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

The Nymph

They’ve asked me to take the part of the nymph in the forthcoming production of “The Nymph and the Prince,” written by Hermione Threadgold, and last performed on a London stage in 1920. It brought the house down then and, in fact, closed the theatre because the actress who played the Nymph removed most of the flowers on the garland which covered her top half; it was a sensation and the sale in opera glasses went through the roof. She left some strategically placed blossoms but nonetheless it was a sensation and the headlines in the papers read “Blooming Naughty Nymph.”

Well, frankly I’m worried. This production takes place in our village hall.

Moray Sanders

Inspiration: Ethel Gabain’s painting ‘The Nymph’

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

African Mannequin

I am light I am dark

I am the midday sun of the Sahara

I am the lion in the grass of the Savannah

I am life I am joy

I can be girl I can be boy

I am the zebra on the hoof

I am here to reclaim your youth

I am fire I am water

I’m your son and your daughter

I am the hunt but not the kill

I can shock and I can thrill

I am the you you wish to be

Look in the mirror–

It is always I you see

Paul Tschinder

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Pot Oiseau

Shall I sing my song now. Does it sound of soft liquid purlings.

Could this be the beginning. Where was everything. Was it just a void, a nowhere, an absence. Did you see a shapeless form appear. Was it a fog. A nebula. Was it myself that condensed out of this cloud.

What should I be. Something alive. A creature. Could I be a bird. Was I just the dream of a bird. A thought. A word. Was it ‘oiseau’ or ‘vogel’ or ‘uccello’. Do you remember how I tried to have feathers and dainty bones. And flutter and perch. Was it all hopeless.

Was it clay I scooped up then. Was I too young to shape myself alone. Where did I find hands. Were they Pablo’s hands. Were his fingers the fingers of children. Did you see me press my clay into his palms.Did I pinch myself with his touch. Was that me licking myself into shape with his Spanish skin. Did I tell you how I ached to be a bird but the clay wanted to be a pot. In the end was it a bird-jug we agreed to be.

Were Pablo’s brushes painted with slate blue and charcoal when I smeared myself against them. Did you like my zinc white plumage like stone. Are you amused by my human face. Was I baking in the kiln for long. Can I call myself terra cotta. Do I look a little like a snail to you. Or a post-horn.

Am I not a dove. Colombe. Paloma. Pijon. When you look at me do you see a work of art. Or a pitcher of cool water. Would you like me to pour you a glass.

Shall I sing my song now. Does it sound of soft liquid purlings.

Tony Spiers

Inspiration: Picasso’s ‘Pot Oiseau’

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

The Big Butterfly Count is a nationwide survey aimed at helping to assess the health of our environment.

It launched in 2010 and has rapidly become the largest survey of butterflies in the world! Brighton Museum needs your help to assess the health of the butterfly population in the Royal Pavilion Gardens which provides an urban retreat for many pollinators. We will then add your data to this nationwide survey.

The beautiful Royal Pavilion Gardens in full bloom

Butterflies taste with their feet!? More butterfly fun in MuseumLab

When you have counted the butterflies in the Gardens come up to Museum Lab in Brighton Museum and add your data to the count. MuseumLab will be packed out with fun activities celebrating all things butterfly. Learn how butterflies see, hear and taste the world around them. See butterflies from the Booth Museum of Natural History up close under the microscope, create butterfly artwork for our displays, take home seeds from the Royal Pavilion Gardens and much more!

A drawer of Butterflies from The Booth Museum. The Booth Museum houses over 400,000 moths and butterflies in its collection

Why save our Butterflies and Moths?

Butterflies and Moths not only bring so much beauty to our gardens and green spaces, they and their caterpillars also play an integral role in many different ecosystems. The adults pollinate countless plants and the caterpillars provide food for much loved vertebrate species including many birds and bats.

Six-spot Burnet moth, a beautiful day-flying moth which is found in Sussex

We can all play an important role in helping to keep up the butterfly and moth populations by not using pesticides. Also by planting natural features in our gardens and filling green spaces with nice nectar plants. These plants include many herbs we can use in the kitchen like marjoram, mint and thyme along with beautiful flowers like buddleia which will breathe life back into your garden.

Butterflies and moths are an essential part of our ecosystem. We can all help save these wonderful creatures by taking part in the Big Butterfly Count, but don’t take our word for it, take Sir David’s…

This event is free with Brighton Museum admission and will be held in the Museum Lab and in the Royal Pavilion Gardens on

Wednesday 2nd August: 2-5pm

For More information visit: http://www.bigbutterflycount.org/about

Grace Brindle, Collections Assistant

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

A short note from Janita Bagshawe, Head of Royal Pavilion & Museums, on our new Museum of Transology display, which opens in Brighton Museum tomorrow.

Our mission at the Royal Pavilion & Museums is to use our collections, buildings and knowledge to connect people to the past and help them understand the present in order to positively influence their future. The Museum of Transology at Brighton Museum is an inspiring example of the way that objects and personal stories can help us all better understand the present and positively influence the future.

Curator E-J Scott, by Sharon Kilgannon at Alonglines Photography

The Museum of Transology is a bold, brave and profound collection of objects and photographs that began with donations from Brighton’s vibrant trans community. Curated by E-J Scott, it is now the largest collection representing trans people in the world. This highly intimate exhibition challenges the idea that gender is fixed, binary and biologically determined, by exploring how the objects reflect the participants’ self-determined gender journeys.

First makeup by Katy Davies, courtesy of Fashion Space Gallery

From hormones to prosthetics and campaigning t-shirts to lipstick – what brings the objects to life are the personal stories of hope, despair, confidence and desire. Trans lives have often been hidden, ignored, misunderstood and forgotten.  At times challenging and provocative this exhibition gives voice to the reality of trans lives. It is a moving and emotional experience, and one that we are proud to share with our visitors.

Janita Bagshawe, Head of Royal Pavilion & Museums