W A Ismay at the Hepworth Wakefield

I'm more excited than an excited thing. Loving the video they have just posted, the DUST in his house - just like mine  

Details here http://www.hepworthwakefield.org/whatson/coming-soon-matthew-darbyshire-and-the-w.a.-ismay-collection/

Have been thinking of making the trip to see what will be a significant part of Bill's collection but am a little put off by how it seems to have been arranged by one of these young "artists". I imagine I will come though, as Bill did travel down to London for the Private Views of a number of my early exhibitions so being several decades younger than he was then, I have no excuse.

I was also interested to see that there is also an exhibition of work by former Turner Prize nominee, Roger Hiorns, on there as well at the moment. I know that many people who like the kind of work that Roger does would think that collecting pots is laughable. What they don't realise is that Roger has also bought a number of studio pots from me.

looks like an interesting exhibition ,but I still find it strange that the collector becomes as famous or more so than the collected .

Visited this yesterday. Great gallery.

This installation is an important landmark for studio pottery IMO.

big ed wrote:looks like an interesting exhibition ,but I still find it strange that the collector becomes as famous or more so than the collected .

Something to do with the whole being worth more than the sum of the parts and it took someone with vision to put the "whole" together.

beedragon wrote:

big ed wrote:looks like an interesting exhibition ,but I still find it strange that the collector becomes as famous or more so than the collected .

Something to do with the whole being worth more than the sum of the parts and it took someone with vision to put the "whole" together.

Really? ..sounds a bit star trek to me .

beedragon wrote:

big ed wrote:looks like an interesting exhibition ,but I still find it strange that the collector becomes as famous or more so than the collected .

Something to do with the whole being worth more than the sum of the parts and it took someone with vision to put the "whole" together.

Are you referring to Matthew Darbyshire or Bill Ismay?

Potters made the pots, Ismay collected them, Darbyshire put them together as an art installation.

What does it all mean? Confused...

As I posted elsewhere (Facebook) - ignore the installation crap (we are all acutely aware of just how bonkers pot collectors are I suspect), just admire the collection. And if SP would like to record an audio guide when he visits I, for one, will be very grateful

Just back from the trip "up north" and loved the gallery and contents, except for the garish paintings by some American woman. I suppose anywhere that has Henry Moores and Barbara Hepworths is going to get an A+ from me and that's without considering the real purpose of the trip.

Purely by chance going today to see the installation containing just a few (700 ish) of Bill's pots had an extra bonus, as Tony Hill, who used to travel down to London and elsewhere with Bill, was there as a volunteer, so it was good to see him and talk about old times.

I imagine some purists might object to the pots being mixed up with numerous "white goods" in a space that matched the floor area of his terraced house, especially as Bill never had most of those white goods in his place. However, I enjoyed it and spent more time looking than if they had been displayed neatly on shelves. I also think that it made people who might not look at pots on shelves actually look. On the downside the installation looked very much like my idea of the most wonderful outside pitch at a large Antiques Fair so the pots weren't perhaps shown at their best.

The series of short films of potters and curators talking about Bill and his collection was also very enjoyable and really reinforced the importance of collectors. If people like Bill, Milner-White and some of you on here didn't collect them studio potters in Britain would really have no reason to be.

Fab news sp. I had already decided to make my pilgrimage tomorrow so pleased to hear it will be worth it. Just checking on the gallery website and there's a nice publication by Helen Walsh about Bill which can be printed off for free. Is photography allowed?

skipposal wrote:Fab news sp. I had already decided to make my pilgrimage tomorrow so pleased to hear it will be worth it. Just checking on the gallery website and there's a nice publication by Helen Walsh about Bill which can be printed off for free. Is photography allowed?

You are able to photograph the pot installation, which I didn't and the Barbara Hepworths, which I did. I think elsewhere as well but check with the staff if in doubt.

There is a line around the pot installation that you mustn't cross though. However, there are five of Bill's pots near where the film is being shown that you can pick up.

Well, I went and was a little underwhelmed. Collection, incredible of course, but the installation did it no favours. Thoroughly enjoyed the short films about him though. Here is a link to an album of photos WA Ismay web album. And yes, I also bought a pot - by Nottingham-based potter Alan Birchall - seemed rude not to.

I was underwhelmed by Alan Birchall's pots, who I met while looking at the installation (he told me that he had bought a new batch along). Why oh why did you not buy one of Isabel Denyer's beakers they were ten times better than anything he had made?

I know you buy what you like but I thought that her work was far superior................. so really a plug for her.

Ha ha - I already have a very nice piece by her SP and I really liked Alan's glazes. Each to their own eh?

On a positive note his pots were better and cheaper than Edmund de Waal's are.

I'm not sure that's really a recommendation  

Possibly not but I've just realised that Alan is one of my connections on Linkedin so when he asked to connect I must have thought that his work was worthy.

skipposal wrote:Well, I went and was a little underwhelmed. Collection, incredible of course, but the installation did it no favours. Thoroughly enjoyed the short films about him though. Here is a link to an album of photos WA Ismay web album. And yes, I also bought a pot - by Nottingham-based potter Alan Birchall - seemed rude not to.

Thanks for the Pics Karen , some really great pots there ,amongst what is a shambles , shame they were not shown in the best light  

A room of Barbara Hepworths, that are better arranged than Bill's pots.

I know I am probably in the minority ,but I'm not a great fan of the Hepworth Or Moore pieces , they leave me a bit cold at times , there were a few pieces I saw in Spain that were in a good outdoor setting and had wethered a bit so that helped but on the whole just not to my taste , the Hepworth garden in St Ives does nothing for me , forms like these have been done for eons and are not beyond the reach of the majority imo .

don't lump Hepworth and Moore in the same boat Ed. I've spent ages staring at Hepworths wondering what I might change , and I have to say they seem perfect ,its difficult to do well and noone else has managed to follow on IMO; I fact the legacy of that period is unfortunate with anyone doing a smooth shape with a hole calling it art.

sorry that last post was a bit pretentious its just a game I play to try and understand what I like about a piece of art

Sorry about lumping the two together , just seems to happen that way with those two , I have looked at many of their pieces and came to the conclusion it just didn't appeal to me , pleasant enough I suppose but cold and empty , lacking in a personal touch sort of way , I always imagine the moore pieces as being concieved by drawing circles and endles figures of eight on a piece of paper , handing them over to a builder and saying , "here make that please " oh and make it big , the Hepworth museum was much the same for me I felt cheated somehow , all the hype that surrounds that period seems more like a clique to me (homage to Mondrian ) Jeez Mondrian was a failed artist who got lucky coming up with the lines gimmick ,if not for the influence of the works by Jacob Epstein Then I doubt we would have heard much of the later two IMO.