Director's Blog - Perdita Hunt
Thursday 2 September
The green lustre of the green ceramic tiles on the front gables of Watts Gallery are glowing in the September sunshine. Hidden behind brown paint for many years, the rich colour brings back a glimpse of the splendour of the original Watts Gallery when it was opened by G F Watts on what appeared to be a cold Good Friday, 1 April 1904. I am delighted that despite the scaffolding being up for over a year, the wisteria has survived the battering and the climbing rose has tried to soften the appearance of the poles by intertwining its flowers across the porch scaffold.
Restoration and renovation is romping ahead. The Richard Jefferies Gallery ( formerly the Sunken Gallery - and it was sinking beneath the rain and snow) is beginning to offer a new experience, of light, space and opportunity. The Exhibitions Gallery, formerly the apprentice potter's games room, now looks fit for purpose to receive the loan of Watts's masterpieces from the Tate. The new Showcase Gallery suddenly is assuming a character of its own with its new rooflight design. This is where we will show an exhibition of Hope for the opening of the Gallery in the spring.
I have been again encouraged and warmed by the support that has poured in for our extreme fundraising efforts of swimming the Solent. Thank you so much. We are hoping for good weather this weekend, and with a fair wind, it would be so wonderful if the achievements could help us to close the gap on the Hope emergency appeal which still stands at £75,000 shortfall.
Tuesday 3 August 2010
A daily visit to the Gallery site is not sufficient to keep on top of progress on the restoration! The picture store is now being built, the balcony in the Exhibitions Gallery is under construction, electrics are being completed in the office area, and the ceiling is being painted gold! The warm terracotta tiles of the Gallery roof glow in the August sunshine, and even the Wisteria has found strengths to sprout new growth as it recovers from its long period under scaffolding. All in all, the Watts Gallery Hope Project is, as of this moment, on time and on budget!
This autumn we face the prospect of moving back in to the Gallery, understanding the new systems in place, developing management procedures, checking the environment, training volunteers and staff, and bringing in the collection.This autumn we face the prospect of moving back in to the Gallery, understanding the new systems in place, developing management procedures, checking the environment, training volunteers and staff, and bringing in the collection.
We have been so grateful to all our donors, Friends and supporters for bringing us this far. It was delightful to hear from Timothy West and Prunella Scales, who visited the Gallery for a hard hat tour yesterday, that they were delighted to see the building unchanged yet restored with love. It is challenging to think that while the Gallery is closed we are so busy planning the private view of our artist in residence Sheila Wallis, a major event at Goldsmiths' in London to thank our benefactors and an exhibition being shown in November in London of work from the Big Issues' Project from women prisoners, young offenders and reformed drug users. Soon our Gallery without Walls programme will be infused in to a Gallery with walls, which will welcome you all and celebrate your generosity and patience.
Friday 9 July 2010
The echo of the last scaffolding bars crashing to the ground is a welcome sound as slowly we rediscover the Gallery beneath. For over a year, the gallery has been hidden under a Christo-style packaging lost from view. As the lovely slopes and colours of the warm terracotta tiles re-emerge some people have commented on how small the Gallery now seems. The most pleasing aspect is that the roof looks exactly same, but there are no broken tiles, there are many tiles which carry supporters' signatures underneath, there are new batons and new insulation and the whole effect shows that someone is taking care. Recently there have been detailed discussions about the colours for the Gallery and Blenheim House Construction, our new contractors, are showing the patience of a saint as they discover that choosing colours in a Gallery is as important as the pictures that hang within.
I am most grateful to a Friend of the Gallery David Lewis, and Lloyds British for generously offering to conserve the pugmill. This was the equipment which motored by a horse which, when off duty used to graze in the field behind the Gallery, compressed the clay to reduce the water. Once restored, it will be situated in the sculpture walk along the outside of Watts Gallery.
We had the pleasure of a visit from the National Trust architecture panel yesterday and their response to walking the boundaries of the whole of Watts village, including a visit to the De Morgan kiln and the Watts memorial, was this is not only an artist's village, it is a place which talk about art, a way of life and an industry.
I continue to feel humbled by the support that the Gallery is receiving in this exciting journey to re-opening. The Surrey Advertiser has provided a fantastic platform for a major promotion of the Friends and we are now just 160 Friends away from our target to unlock a major donation from an anonymous angel. Thank you to all Friends, donors and benefactors for continuing your support.
Monday 21 June 2010
Watts Gallery restoration is beginning to really manifest itself. The scaffolding at last is coming down! The roof looks just the same, but behind the old tiles there are new battens and improved insulation. We have been doing a great deal on choosing colours and trying to replicate the silver gold of the original roof and the red of the tynecastle wall paper. We were delighted that Jeremy Hunt joined us for topping out ceremony on 21 May when we put the last pane of glass in place on the lantern on top of the Isabel Goldsmith Patino Gallery. Isabel Goldsmith came down last week to inspect progress on her Gallery and the Blenheim House Construction, our contractors, were curious to meet the person who has given the name to the Gallery. Another of the Galleries is being named the Richard Jefferies Gallery and I am delighted that Jane Turner, Editor of the Compton News, is keeping Richard Jefferies in close touch with progress. Our challenge is to bring him down for the re-opening. I have been heartened to see some regrowth on the wisteria outside the loggia of the Gallery and when taking hard hat tours yesterday it was wonderful to hear the acclaim of the new paneled roof of the sculpture Gallery.
So far the project is on time and on budget. We could not have got this far without the magnificent support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, the people of Compton and our friends and donors. Thank you for making the Hope project possible and for your patience in awaiting what I hope will be a wonderful outcome.
Thursday 3 June 2010
Milestones in a project like the Hope project are genuinely welcome. After so much disappointment through the delay caused by the contractor going in to administration, to have reached a real milestone with our current contractors, Blenheim House Construction, is a turning point. Who better to celebrate this moment than the new Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt MP. Jeremy Hunt has been immensely supportive of Watts Gallery and has personal associations with the Gallery and Compton.
I have never seen such energy as the Secretary of State hammered in the frond of yew taken from the yews planted by Mary Watts along the path to the Watts Chapel in Compton Cemetery to the topmost part of the lantern, which has been recreated to look like the original lantern on the main Gallery roof when it was built by Mary Watts in 1906. This Gallery will be named the Isabel Goldsmith Patino Gallery in honour of our lead patron Isabel Goldsmith. The Gallery will house the masterpieces of the Watts Collection and I for one feel more than excited to see works such as Sower of the Systems, Paolo and Francesca, After the Deluge and the wonderful sculpture of Clytie.
As well as this important visit, we were lucky enough to be hosted for an evening to raise funds for our Hope Emergency Appeal by Chris and Teresa Satterthwaite at their beautiful home Tuesley Manor. Over 120 people attended an evening where we sought to engage the support of the community of Surrey with the renaissance of Compton as a cradle for the Arts & Crafts movement in the South East. Many who attended the evening were once again surprised by the importance of Watts Gallery on the national, if not international scene, and I am most grateful to so many who pledged there and then to support the restoration of one of Europe's most beautiful small galleries - indeed a national gallery in the heart of a village. We could not have come this far without everyone's generosity and we are so nearly there in completing the funds necessary to re-open Watts Gallery next Spring.
Friday 30 April 2010
This week has furthered my appreciation and understanding of Mary Watts. Some Trustees, the Curator and I visited Aldourie, the home of Mary Watts in Scotland on the banks of Loch Ness. The property has been lovingly restored under the inspired entrepreneur Roger Tempest, who kindly invited us to visit to explore future ways of promoting Mary Watts's artistic legacy. Our former Assistant Curator, Julia Dudkiewicz is providing curatorial advice on the collection which includes some lovely paintings by Mary Watts as well as some works by G F Watts. It was fascinating to discover that Mary Watts brought up clay from Compton, by train, boat and horse and cart, for her pottery guild in Dores to work on similar pots to those being produced in Compton. Once again one could see the commitment of Mary Watts to her ideal of providing training in traditional crafts to revive the heritage of the area and offer an improved living to the unemployed.
Returning to Compton and seeing the roof of the Sculpture Gallery being revealed from the scaffolding, was a wonderful welcome. The warm red terracotta tiles (reminiscent of the red sandstone of Inverness) is a heart warming site. The picture slot has also been lovingly repaired bringing back some of the character and charm of the building.
We continue to be so grateful to all those who have had faith in our efforts to save the Gallery, and stayed with us through thick and thin. Today, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Monday 12 April 2010
One of the greatest learning points gained from leading the Hope restoration project at Watts Gallery is the importance of volunteers – people who dedicate their time, wisdom, advice, energy, experience and encouragement to ensuring that we continue to strive towards our goal. There have been so many occasions when faced by some new unexpected challenge, a volunteer –who may be helping as a steward, a curatorial assistant, an intern, an education assistant, a researcher – says something inspiring about why they wish to see Watts Gallery restored, and re-opened to a large public of visitors, students, school children and art enthusiasts. On many occasions too, when the difficulty of finding the money or the people to overcome another obstacle is suddenly answered by an email, a telephone call or a visit by someone who is moved by the Watts Story, proud of the Watts legacy or riveted by Victorian art, who is offering their time, help or skills.
Dr Desna and Ken Miller with Jonathan Shaw, Minister for the South East and Jane Chambers, Director for Arts & Business South East.
I am delighted to say that two such people, who have provided the backbone of support to the Gallery since 2004, were provided with an opportunity to be acknowledged on a bigger platform on 19 March. Arts and Business hosted a Cultural Champions celebration at Chatham Historic Dockyard to recognize the support provided by selected individuals to arts organizations and museums. Watts Gallery put forward Dr Desna Greenhow, who has provided support of writing books, researching Watts, digitizing The Rob Dickins Collection, transcribing Mary Watts’s diaries, preparing exhibition material and contributing chapters to a book about Compton. Ken Miller, the second champion, has provided the most vital support to the Trustees and Director since 2004. As an international businessman and trained accountant, Ken has given strategic advice on the managing the Gallery’s finances, supported improved investment strategies as well as taken money to the bank! His wisdom and calm manner, let alone his forensic knowledge and love of Compton, have brought some much benefit to us all.
We were delighted that both Desna and Ken could at last be recognised by more people and Watts Gallery was especially honoured as Desna was the only champion to be invited to say a few words about her organization. She spoke movingly and brilliantly about the Gallery and its draw on volunteer support.
Thank you to both Desna and Ken and to all whom you both represent in keeping the Gallery afloat and facing forward to reach its destination of re-opening in 2011.
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Monday 22 March 2010
The noise of digging and hammering, the level of dust and dirt, and the number of white vans are all indicators that restoration work on Watts Gallery is now moving forward apace. There are men working in almost every space which gives a heart warming feeling that we just might meet our deadline of completion by the end of the year.
I am immensely grateful to my team that despite a further extension of our Gallery without Walls programme we have managed to produce a stunning range of events, talks, visits and even a Chapel symposium, a Fairy Fair, a Victorian Tea Party hosted by Penelope Keith and a visit by Sir Peter Blake. If you have not yet received the events calendar for March – September, I strongly advise you to join the Friends of Watts Gallery at £20 a year so that you can be the first to enjoy such a rich and diverse fayre and be one of the first to visit the restored Gallery.
On the subject of fayre, during a visit to the Gallery last weekend I was very touched to see more of our volunteers working on cleaning chairs, purchased from a closing down pub, which are being recycled for the Tea Shop at Watts Gallery which will be open next month. The volunteers at Watts Gallery are very special people and not only do they tackle chairs, they have also spent two Saturdays cutting down 20 feet high laurel in the woodland opposite the Gallery, opening up the site to sunshine and majestic and historic woodland landscape.
This ongoing support is truly heart warming and demonstrates the remarkable passion that Watts Gallery generates in the heart of so many. Thank you for such tenacious, determined and encouraging efforts.
A further gesture of generosity has been evidenced in the number of people who generously sponsored my half marathon effort at Fleet yesterday. It was hugely motivating to have received over £1000 for the Hope Emergency Appeal. I finished in the best snail pace yet – 2.41hrs! Thank you.
Tuesday 23 February 2010
This feltlike a day that would never come. At last, we have succeeded in novating the contract from R J Barwick Construction Services Ltd to Blenheim House Construction. On Monday 22 February work recommenced on site – and not a moment too soon. The scaffolding has now be re-secured, but the heavy rain and snow have taken their toll. We shall be so pleased to see work continued on saving this hidden gem of a building for future visitors and students to enjoy. It would not have been possible to arrive at this point without the help, influence, advocacy and support of so many people. In particular the Heritage Lottery Fund who has continued to provide guidance and advice, our local MP Anne Milton and neighbouring MP Jeremy Hunt, our Trustees, Appeal Committee and Collections Committee and many generous donors.
At last, the sound of work in progress is resonating in Compton and the Hope Project can continue its urgent task. Thank you for your patience and continued, undimmed hope!
Thursday 28 January 2010
A week is a long time in the Hope project. During the week I learned that the wood used for the roof of the Gallery, being over a hundred years old and therefore slow grown, will be more resistant to the rain than if the wood was recently purchased and fast grown. This gives us some comfort as the collapse of the scaffolding has resulted, unfortunately, in some water ingress which means that we need to let the wood dry out before commencing the insulation and retiling.
In the past week I have also learned of the challenge to match the render which has turned a subtle shade of yellow grey. One of the important discoveries was that using the local sand greatly improves the colour match!
It was heartening to be reminded of the powerful symbolism of Watts's iconic portrait of Hope by the story appearing in the Mail on Sunday regarding the painting's influence on Barack Obama. A print of Hope, made in the print studio created by Mary Watts to the rear of the Gallery, hangs in my office, and I cling to its message at darker moments!
It has been immensely encouraging to continue to receive such heartening messages of support from people who have written to support our efforts to raise funds to cover these unforeseen costs as a result of our building going into administration. I quote from one recent letter: "There are all too few small galleries such as the Watts but these small local galleries can provide such a vital and important role in local life, with such wide-reaching consequences; something the Watts Gallery does extremely well with their learning and outreach programmes. It is in all our interests to nurture these out-of-town cultural oases which desperately need more help but with that help are capable of benefiting so many'"
We are so grateful to everyone for their continuing support and generosity and I hope desperately that I can reward all of our Friends, volunteers', donors and investors' patience by announcing that the Hope project has recommenced in the near future.
Friday 22 January 2010
The Watts Gallery Hope Project has been like a roller coaster. At one moment one is taken to great heights of joy as another donor makes a pledge to help us meet the unforeseen costs incurred as a result of R J Barwick Construction Services, our contractor, going into administration. On the other, one is taken to great depths when the Estate Manager informs me that part of the scaffolding has collapsed and there is serious water ingress to the roof of the Gallery. This further development on site is proof again of the urgency to secure a new contractor to continue the restoration. We are now in the hands of the Administrator, and subject to their agreement, we can novate the contract to our preferred contractor and recommence work.
Just yesterday I was fortunate enough to receive an unexpected donation of £5,000 from a local Trust. Such gifts make the day considerably better, and as we go in to a series of meetings with Trustees scrutinizing deficit budgets for the current year, such acts of support are genuinely appreciated.
Thank you to all our donors, friends and volunteers for staying with us through this rather bleak moment to ensure that, phoenix like, the Gallery rises again – to resume its title as one of the most beautiful small Galleries in Europe.
Friday 15 January 2010
2010 has been an important milestone for the Hope project in two ways. It marks the year when the Gallery reopens and the year when we have secured 2010 Friends. I am still hoping that we will achieve both aims! We were delighted that just before Christmas we could celebrate securing 1000 Friends, and now it is our task and all those who wish to support our efforts to save one of Europe's most beautiful small galleries, to join us as Friends to reach our 2010 target. This challenge is greatly helped by the offer of a kind 'angel' who matches the first time subscription for each new Friend. Therefore, your £20 annual subscription delivers nearly £100 for the Gallery!
On the subject of snow, there has been some concern about the weight of the snow on the scaffolding roof, but so far the structure has withheld the worst of the downfall. Good progress is being made to secure a contractor and with a fair wind, support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, agreement by the Administrator of Barwicks and the Bondsman, work should restart on site in February. During this difficult time, I remain immensely grateful for the support we have received from over 200 people who have written to support Watts Gallery's efforts to secure funds to complete the restoration.
The volunteers at Watts Gallery, who number over 150, have continued to be inspiring in their commitment and positive energy and today we are being interviewed for a possible award for Volunteering. Let's hope that their efforts can achieve this wider recognition.
Wednesday 16 December 2009
As Christmas draws near I am reminded of the activity a year ago when we were finalising our plans for restoration with R J Barwick. Sadly, a year on, the Gallery looks a little forlorn, lying covered in plastic sheeting in the frosty morning, awaiting the care and industry of our next appointed contractor. The good news is that we should be able to announce their appointment in the New Year and subject to funds, work will commence as soon as possible. I am so very grateful to all of you who have provided such support through this difficult and challenging autumn. It is particularly heartening to read the letters which are flooding in to strengthen our submission to the Heritage Lottery Fund. Particularly moving was a letter from Street Level Art Group, a group of homeless people and reformed drug users, with whom we have been working. They write "several of us have been able to return to employment or go on to further education as a result of our collaboration with Watts Gallery".
Last week I was invited to give a reading at the Christmas Carol Concert presented by the Michael Varah Memorial Fund at St Stephens Walbrook, where Chad Varah founded the Samaritans. The Michael Varah Memorial Fund is supporting Watts Gallery's artist in residence scheme at HMP Send. The piece chosen for the reading was from the St John Gospel "In the beginning was the word.." which was the inspiration for Mary Watts's cemetery Chapel in Compton. It has been exciting this week to come closer to the words and therefore the meaning of this extraordinary building enabled by the scaffolding.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our volunteers, neighbours, Friends, donors and benefactors who have been such a fount of support and hope and without whom this project would not have been possible.
Thursday 12 November 2009
Still the silence on the Gallery building site is eerie. Since the contractors R J Barwick construction services went in to administration on 28 August, we have been negotiating with the administrator to novate the contract. We are now in discussion with two contractors one whom we hope will start on site in the early part of next year. In the meantime, we are facing the agony of counting the cost of this delay in restoration. I am intensely grateful to Trusts and Foundation who are considering requests for support. In the meantime we are taking forward our plans for re-opening - conserving pictures, taking the collection on tour to Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate, delivering our Art for All learning and outreach programme and raising the profile of Watts. The evening for Patrons and Benefactors held at Watts's home Limnerslease, was memorable with music being reintroduced to Watts's Studio Gallery where the violinist Joachim played, and a visit round his privately owned recently restored home. All the guests commented on the fact that it brought to life the Watts era, when in the heart of Compton G F Watts and Mary Watts would have been entertaining such esteemed guests as Tennyson, Rodin and Val Prinsep. Once again, our gratitude goes to our volunteers, donors and Friends who continue to support us through this challenging period in the Gallery's history. We must together continue to say "The utmost for the highest!"
Thursday 29 October 2009
The month of September and October have been focused on securing a new contractor to complete the restoration work on the Gallery. Given that R J Barwick has gone in to administration, we have been working with the administrator in an effort to novate the contract to a new contractor. This week we interviewed three contractors, two of whom were local, to review their proposals. We are aiming to have chosen our new contractor by Christmas and commence work as soon as possible. While taking visitors round the Gallery on a hard hat tour, the silence on the site is eerie and frustrating, although the birds have returned with a vengeance.
The good news is that the building has been further secured by additional scaffolding and cover and security has been increased. So the work so far achieved is protected. We continue to welcome visitors in to the Information Point and we thank all of you – friends and donors, who have written to share your support for this new challenge on the Hope Project. We still hope to open by the end of 2010, but if we fail it will be because we want to ensure that we leave a Gallery which is carefully protected and open to all for another hundred years. As Watts’s iconic image of Hope portrays, despite all adversity, hope prevails. The restored Gallery will look ‘fabulous’ as one visitor commented looking at the recently revealed green tile picture rail which has re-emerged from the paint covering which has disguised the richness of the ceramic colour for over thirty years. Thank you for your patience, your support is more needed than ever.
Thursday 24 September 2009
We are all feeling gutted by the unwanted development of the contractor for the Hope Project, R J Barwick, going in to administration. Friday 28 August was a black day. However, in the spirit of the Hope Project we are holding on to the good news that the work undertaken has been of a good standard, that there is considerable support for the project from our neighbours, friends and donors, and that the Gallery will reopen in 2010. The frustration is that, with the support of so many, we had just assembled the funds to commence restoration, we are now facing rising costs through extending the timetable, hire of scaffolding and security, and professional fees. It is a moment when we need the support of our donors, friends and supporters more than ever. During the passed few weeks we have been making ever effort to bring the project back on track, talking with the administrator, the bondsman, Heritage Lottery Fund, potential contractors, donors, etc.
A bright moment in the past few weeks was news that the very generous Garfield Weston Foundation has made a pledge to support our efforts to secure Watts’s Great Studio for public benefit and scholarship in perpetuity. This was a huge encouragement at this early stage in our campaign.
I am also encouraged by the success of our Gallery without Walls programme, showing our work at Guildford Cathedral, and in two exhibitions at Compton Verney and the Fitzwilliam. The Watts Collection and the Watts message is still being enjoyed by many.
My thanks to all of you who have sent through messages of support and every new Friends’ membership, or signed tile, or donation eases our pain. As they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get going!
Monday 10 August 2009
Restoration at Watts Gallery has taken a new turn this last week. With a large machine, which looked like those which drill for oil, we have been digging holes in the ground, four to be precise, of over 100 metres. These are the bore holes for the Ground Source heat pump. We are very grateful to Low Carbon Buildings Programme for the support Out of these deep holes now emerge two pipes a blue one for cool air and a red one for hot air! Tiling of the Gallery roof is proceeding well and we have installed new terracotta tiles on the sculpture gallery roof, which after a bit of weathering will take on the hue of the other tiles already replaced. I now know all there is to know about soffits and bonnets! There was a new discovery recently on the subject of dirty render. The way to create render to match the render used for the chimney stacks was discovered by mixing sand from the site. This clearly was how it was done one hundred years ago.
We continue to be so grateful to all those who have so generously supported the restoration. Last week I gave a hard hat tour to a donor from the United States and the eminent artist Alexander Creswell. This week we gave a hard hat tour to the Trustees of the De Morgan Foundation and to a major donor. Each week progress is being made and we would like to thank all of you who have made it possible.
Saturday 11 July 09
During this past week there have been five hard hat tours of the Gallery. We have hosted visits from the staff of the Florence Academy of Art with whom we hope to co-host a summer school next year in Compton, the Trustees of the George John and Sheilah Livanos Trust, our patrons, our Trustee and lead patron, Isabel Goldsmith and the Heritage Lottery Fund monitor. On each visit, it is exciting to see the changes – more insulation on the roof, the return of the tiles on the Sculpture Gallery roof, which looks magnificent and untouched, new drains dug, new ventilations shafts created, and the orchard car park, to the rear of the building, which is now taking shape. The chimney for the kiln has been erected beside the Education studio, bringing back to the Watts Gallery Estate the ceramic heritage of its past.
I was most honoured to be invited to the unveiling of work carried out by Year 7 pupils at George Abbot School in Guildford inspired by the Watts Chapel in Compton. Taking the theme of The Tree of Life, following their visit to the chapel, the pupils created felt and decorated the felt with images. Their work has now been replicated on weather proof boards which are on show on the hoardings at the Watts Gallery Estate. Our Head of Learning Helen Hienkens Lewis, with the help of partners such a George Abbot, MLA and Surrey Museums Consultative Committee, and the Peter Harrison Foundation, has really achieved our vision of a Gallery without Walls, during this restoration period. We continue to be so grateful to all our donors, benefactors, friends, volunteers and the local community for supporting the Hope Project. We must not lose hope as we travel towards our goal of a restored Gallery, a national gem, a place which will be enjoyed for another hundred years to come.
In one sense it seems that we are creating more holes in the Gallery building, while in other areas we are creating new spaces. To improve the ventilation and environmental controls for the Isabel Goldsmith Patino Gallery we have had to cut four incisions along the base of the outside wall to allow for ventilation. We have also dug deep trenches in the floor to bring in the environmental controls. Outside the Gallery at the back we are rapidly constructing a new building alongside the Education Studio to house the plant as well as a lobby, toilets, kiln and wet room for education activities. Perhaps the most dramatic change has been the removal of the laurel hedge along the back lane, which we are now naming Pottery Lane, which has revealed the imposing and majestic form of the Gallery and its impact on the rest of the Watts Gallery Estate. So many people have said to me in the past that they have visited Watts Gallery Estate and never found the Gallery – now it is there for all to see. At last, we are beginning to grasp Watts’s and Mary Watts’s ambition to offer art for all in a rural setting to provide an enlightening and enjoyable experience for all who visit and engage with the collection.
Once again, my thanks must go to all those generous donors and funders who have made this possible. I was most honoured to be able to take a Trustee and the Administrator of the Garfield Weston Foundation right up to the top of the roof to see progress on building the replaced lantern and to enjoy the extraordinary roofscape. In this way, we can show our generous supporters the dramatic effect their gifts have enabled. Thank you to them and to you all.
Friday 29 May 2009
This week marked a further milestone in the restoration of Watts Gallery as we broke through the wall from the Livanos Gallery (the first Gallery) in to the new Showcase Gallery (formerly the Apprentice Potters’ washroom). Staff and volunteers watched with ringing ears as the thick solid concrete wall was tackled by two men from Barwick Construction. The opening of this door suddenly creates a new vista for the Gallery which can be enjoyed from the Graham Robertson Gallery, through the Long Gallery, through the Livanos Gallery, right through to the wall of the Showcase Gallery. The Curator has some exciting plans as to which painting will draw the eye from one end of the Gallery to the other. I am hoping that our Friends, donors, supporters and visitors will relish the new discoveries of the restored Gallery as well as enjoying the more familiar aspects which they treasure. As we progress I continue to appreciate the faith and hope of the many donors and supporters who have made this urgent and much needed work possible.
Another moving occasion last week was the launch of the Tree of Life at Loseley Fields Primary School. Helen Hienkens-Lewis, Head of Learning at Watts Gallery, so generously supported by the Peter Harrison Foundation and the Heritage Lottery Fund, has been recreating the community project of the Watts Cemetery Chapel, by working with a group of young children in creating a Tree of Life, inspired by Mary Watts’s Tree of Life in the chapel. As we unveiled the Tree outside the school, with its ceramic leaves designed by children, staff, volunteers and Watts Gallery folk, it was moving to think that some of the children taking part in this project were probably the great grandchildren of those 70 people who worked with Mary Watts in creating the Cemetery Chapel over 100 years ago. We are lucky to be able to draw from the longlasting vision of our founders in taking the Watts idea of Art for All in to the future for the benefit of future generations.
Monday 11 May 2009
It is interesting how often the work of the Director comes down to discussing the issue of drains. When I started in this job, I was told that drains were one of the biggest problems. They were and indeed the smell of leaking drains reminded me each day of the urgency of addressing the problem. It was of such relief and comfort that the Pilgrim Trust stepped in to fund a new Klargester to handle the drains for the Gallery before we were shut down for breaking every environmental health law. With the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and all the kind donors who have supported the Hope Project, we are at last able to tackle drainage across the whole Watts Gallery Estate. A cess pit here, a soak away there, will all now be channelled in to a major Klargester until such time as we have persuaded Guildford Borough Council to extend main drainage on from the Rectory to reach us occupants of Down Lane! If I feel really stressed, I know that I can watch the video made of the drains showing the damage from roots and the cracks and leaks – so far, I have not been driven to this point. The previous Curator used to interview his Assistant Curator’s by asking them as the first question “Do you know how to rod the drains?”. Happily, as we are about to appoint a new Curatorial Fellow, this will now not have to be part of the interview process. Proper drainage on site, is one of the many great legacies that everyone’s kind donations and support of the Hope Project will leave to future generations! Thank you
Friday 1 May 2009
Work on the Gallery is progressing well. The concrete floor has now been laid in the lower gallery and the sculpture gallery, and the electrics are going in to the Curator’s and Assistant Curator’s House. One bat was found under the tiles on the roof, a pipistrelle, but has been safely removed and let free in the wild. The good news is that there is no, or very limited, dry rot in the floor tiles so we can reuse the majority of wooden blocks in the main Gallery.
This week we saw the fruit of the Big Issues project, art created by women prisoners from HMP Send, young offenders and reformed drug users. Belgravia Gallery in Albemarle Street kindly leant their Gallery to show this work which had been inspired by the Watts collection. It was an evening, honoured by Gillian Wolfe and Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, where Watts’s belief of Art for All was really exemplified. Although easy to say, there was real evidence of art changing lives.
I remain as always grateful to all our donors who enable the work on the building and the work in the community to continue. Particularly I would like to mention KPMG Foundation, the Peter Harrison Foundation, the Fenton Arts Trust and the Michael Varah Memorial Fund. Their contribution to the Big Issues project has enabled art to be a catalyst in the development of self worth among a large number of individuals. Thank you.
Thursday 12 March 2009
As the scaffolding work on the Gallery roof is nearly completed, it is like saying goodbye to the building while it disappears under wraps for a good few months. The good news is that we are on schedule for meeting the bat roosting period. In the strip out of the Gallery we have had some fascinating glimpses of the original colour of the tynecastle wallpaper which has now been carefully rolled up by Allyson McDermott and her crew of conservators, so that it can be restored. The original galleries of 1904 look magnificent without the stud walls, creating almost cathedral like space. The fact that Watts Gallery is built on folkestone sand is now blatently obvious as we remove the floor in the sunken gallery, the lower gallery and the sculpture gallery. Each of these Galleries now look like a glorified sandpit.
Last week we organized our first public hard hat tours and one of the first to visit was our MP Anne Milton. When she had looked round, her comment was “and you are getting all of that for £10m?”. The extent of the work is staggering. The good news is that our Friends and volunteers who joined the hard hat tours were excited by what they saw, not, as we had feared, shocked by the state of the building.
The glass house, erected by former curator Wilfrid Blunt, has been taken down piece by piece and the Gallery has given it to the owners of Limnerslease.
There has been a great deal of discussion about the future of the Tea Shop and I would like to assure everyone that the plan is to continue providing a Tea Shop on the Watts Gallery Estate. If anyone has any views they wish to share or thoughts about the future I would be delighted to hear from them.
As we see, every day, the progress on the restoration work, every day I feel grateful for all those who have enabled us to save the Gallery.
Monday 2 March 2009
There has been a burst of events for Watts Gallery recently. The Watts Lecture given by Dr Alison Smith was attended by over 150 people on 25 February at Charterhouse. In her fascinating review of Watts’s legacy and the pros and cons of bequests, Alison Smith talked about Watts in terms of the Darwin theory of adaptation. Watts and his legacy seem to adapt to posterity and can offer a different facet and insight at different times. Above all, Watts survives!
The two-day Watts symposium held at the Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul’s on 26 and 27 February attracted eminent speakers including Professor Sir Christopher Frayling who talked about art and religion. During these events, work has progressed on site. The scaffolding is going up and this week a plastic covering will be put in place to cover the whole building. In the stripping out of the building we have uncovered an enormous enamel, handsome bath, formerly used by Wilfrid Blunt (a previous Curator) and prior to that was probably originally used by the apprentice potters. We have also discovered some original tynecastle wallpaper in pristine condition which has provided an excellent insight in to the colour of the original.
Today we undertook the painful task of cutting down the wisteria which adorns the outside of the Gallery. We are seeking to preserve what we can of this extraordinary creeper and for this momentous event we had present the landscape experts, our gardener, our site foreman and the tree surgeon. Together, I hope, we have given the wisteria its best chance of survival! Only time will tell.
Thursday 5 February 2009
A foot of snow is a very strong reminder of the urgency of the need to restore Watts Gallery. The previous curator, Richard Jefferies, always used to say: "one more heavy fall of snow and the roof will come off!”. Fortunately, this has not yet happened.
Last week, I gave Trustees a full tour of the site and they were amazed by the new majesty and authority of the Gallery building, which, since the clearance of trees, now dominates the site. I believe that this is as it should be, since Watts and Mary Watts wanted people to visit the Gallery to explore the challenge and transformational impact of their art. The contractor Barwick have set up their portacabins on site, and work has started removing the wooden parquet floor, piece by piece, for drying out, de-worming and for reinstallation. The dampness is extraordinary.
One of the team discovered the workbench in the Carpenter’s shop on site, one of the many different rooms within the Gallery buildings, and he was thrilled to see a piece of wood which gave such a strong history. This was probably where many of the doors on site had been made and where the carpenter worked for the estate.
When the financial climate looks so grim, I am even more grateful to the support of our donors and pledgers who are so generously continuing to honour their commitments. Recently we received the grant from the Wolfson Foundation and the Isabel Goldsmith Patino Foundation. This generosity is heartwarming in our efforts to save Watts Gallery for future generations.
Wednesday 14 January 2009
We are now hard at work on further fundraising for Watts Gallery. Last
week Watts Gallery submitted an application to Guildford Borough Council
to support the Community Arts Project which we are undertaking in the
Park Barn area of Guildford. Based on the successful pilot Let's Face
It community arts project held in Farncombe, we are now working with
youth groups, schools, churches, pensioners clubs, police and local
politicians in engaging up to 300 people working with this year's artist
in residence Nathalie Roset, on creating a work of public art. Today in
our offices at Watts's Great Studio we have trays of ceramic pebbles each one carrying a memory from the Meeting Point Pensioners' Group in Park Barn. Through our Gallery without Walls programme during
restoration we are committed to promoting Art for All and through
projects such as the Park Barn Community Arts Project, building up our
audiences for the re-opening of the Gallery in 2010.
Meantime our exhibitions in London continue to attract interest and we have placed all the media coverage including a recent article in the Guardian on the website. Click here to see it.
Monday 5 January 2009
Returning to a snow covered Gallery on 5 January with a burst water pipe and freezing temperatures was a sharp wake up call to the desperate need to save Watts Gallery now or never. Although I can watch developments at the Gallery from Mary Watts’s former ceramic workshop across the road in the warmth, there are plenty of reasons for visiting the bereft, cold Gallery. Today I met a representative from an international company which might generously support our lighting scheme for the Gallery. We also had a visit from an artist, specialising in traditional skills of drawing and painting, who might lead a workshop here in the summer.
Our challenges for 2009 are to keep our generous donors, pledgers and patrons on board to complete the restoration of Watts Gallery, to explore the possibility of securing Watts’s Great Studio as a centre for exploring Victorian art, social history and craft, and to prepare for the re-opening of the Gallery in 2010. During the year, our priority must be to maintain the magnificent support that the Gallery has achieved through a variety of tempting events including our exhibitions at the Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul’s, our Watts lecture on 25 February, the Watts Symposium on 26,27 February and the many other events that are on offer to our supporters and Friends. I look forward to seeing many of you over the forthcoming weeks and months. Thank you for your continuing interest and support.
Monday 15 December 2008
Today we met with our contractor, on site. It feels a little like handing over one’s child on the first day of school. I felt we needed to explain all the particular frailties and characteristics of the building to ensure that they were cherished and guarded! The site already looks ready for action. Metal fencing now protects the trees on site and the tree removal has revealed the urgent need of the building for restoration.
Visiting the Galleries with no paintings on the walls makes one consider the importance of the building as purpose built. It is a gallery to display art, it is not a building which has a purpose in its own right. Although a sad sight, I am excited to dream of the finished product of deep red walls, silver gold ceilings and improved day light and artificial light. We have received such positive feed back from the exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery where Watts’s work is at last properly lit, one can only hope that the return of the collection to the restored Gallery will be a joyous event.
Tuesday 9 December 2008
This last week has been busy with the launch of Watts in the City programme of exhibitions, events and publications. I am most grateful to Jeremy Hunt MP for supporting our launch at St Paul’s and to Debby Brice who hosted a celebratory reception at the Guildhall Art Gallery where we launched two publications: Postman’s Park by John Price and the reprint of G K Chesterton’s book on Watts kindly reproduced by Robert Dalrymple. As many people commented, the Watts in the City programme offers an opportunity to see Watts in a new light, quite literally, and to reappraise his work in a different setting. It was also a pleasure to feel the tremendous support from all those who have generously given to the Watts Gallery Hope Appeal and to renew our gratitude to them and hopefully their interest in the project. Returning to Watts Gallery, there has been a transformation of the site thanks to some hard work carried out by tree surgeons. Suddenly, the Gallery is holding sway over the whole site, rather than being concealed by years of overgrowth. Just today, we have, for the first time in over fifty years, rolled out Physical Energy to take up residence in its temporary accommodation. The model looked so majestic against the blue sky, and the event filled me with trepidation and excitement for the future of Watts Gallery.
Monday 24 November 2008
We saw the last picture removed from the Gallery last week - The Guelphs and Ghibelines - a moth flew up as we removed the huge canvas from the wall, perhaps a sign that we should bring renewed life back in to the Gallery. We said farewell to Echo, a Watts painting on loan to the Gallery from Tate. This was returning to Tate store. The building, built as the only purpose built art gallery for a single professional artist's collection, now deprived of paintings looks empty and sad. The two monumental sculptures of Tennyson and Physical Energy are the last to go as their stable is being prepared for their long hibernation during the restoration period. It will be a moment to behold when Physical Energy once again rolls out through the sculpture doors, the first time in over fifty years, to its new home. There is a bitter sweet feeling during this time, and a strong cherished hope that the Gallery will return to its former glory and all our visitors, friends, donors and neighbours will think this great Hope journey has been worth it. Singing carols with over 100 Friends on Thursday evening was a wonderful reminder of the support that the Gallery continues to enjoy.
Thursday 13 November 2008
Following the deluge of rain on Monday, the subject of drains in the new refurbishment scheme became a major topic in today's design team meeting. We are hoping to ensure that for the first time in a hundred years, for a site which is on the side of a hill, we will have addressed the issue of water and sewerage! I had not realized how important drains were in my job description! We have rediscovered some wonderful 60-year old toilets in the apprentice potter washrooms which we shall recycle in our new Education studio. Thinking of protecting heir looms, we shall be covering the small ceramic memorial commissioned by Wilfrid Blunt, to mark the passing of his cat, which lies in the garden! The test of the lighting in the Gallery on Monday was most productive and the difference between the present arrangement and the future lighting was astonishing. As you will find if you visit the Guildhall Art Gallery to see G F Watts, Victorian Visionary, highlights from the Watts Gallery Collection – in good lighting, one rediscovers Watts and marvels at his work. So there are some upsides to drains!
Monday 10 November 2008
Last week a small group of Watts Gallery supporters visited New York for the opening of the exhibition of Victorian Artists in Photographs, G F Watts and his world, selections from The Rob Dickins Collection at The Forbes Galleries, Fifth Avenue. As part of the visit we were invited to private collections of 19th-century art and Richard Ormond, chairman of the Watts Gallery Trust gave us an unforgettable tour of the 19th-century collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where Watts was the first living artist to be given a retrospective in 1884. It was exciting to be there at the time of the election, particularly as the word ‘hope’ was on everyone’s lips. The new President of the United States was inspired by Watts’s Hope and we are trying to see if we can link the President up with Hope which is the highlight of G F Watts, Victorian Visionary, Highlights from the Watts Gallery collection which has just opened at the Guildhall Art Gallery. As I write this, water has come in to my office and there is a pool in the corner. Next door the project manager is meeting with the contractor. Work cannot start soon enough on this failing and crumbling, but much loved building.
Tuesday 21 October 2008
As the American elections gather pace, it is interesting to see that Barack Obama was influenced and inspired by Watts! Hope, Watts’s iconic painting, inspired Reverend Wright to preach a sermon which draws from the imagery of Hope. This sermon gave rise to Barack Obama entitling his latest book The Audacity of Hope. We hope that perhaps during his next visit to London, Barack Obama might visit our exhibition G F Watts; Victorian Visionary opening at the Guildhall Art Gallery on 11 November to see one of the finest versions of Hope that has generously been leant to the exhibition by a private donor!
Monday 13 October 2008
Despite the Gallery being closed, last week felt as busy as ever. Work on packing the collection moved forward, and Oxford Exhibition Services who are helping us in our collection storage confirmed their approach and quotes for building a ‘stable’ for Physical Energy’. It is heartening to hear that the collection is still encountering new advocates as we received a visit from art therapists from the National Health Service who would like to work with the collection in some of their work with carers. The Watts Gallery Information Point opened on Saturday and it is exciting to feel the Watts Gallery Estate becoming ever more active in the service of Watts and Mary Watts’s vision of art for all. In the Information Point we are showing the Watts film and at last, our collection is now available on line. We have even been able to restore Watts’s wheelbarrow which was used by the pottery for display outside the Information Point. The week ended on Saturday with an invitation for me to speak at the annual conference of Rotarians from the District 1140. I addressed over 500 people in Bournemouth and hope that many of them will pay a visit to the Chapel, the Information point and to the Watts in the City programme of events. We still have a long way to go to secure 2010 Friends by 2010 but with support from all of our good Friends we will get there!
Monday 6 October 2008
This has been a week of mixed emotions. The Gallery Cooling event attended by over 100 friends, stewards, volunteers and neighbours was a poignant occasion. We circled the Gallery led by a piper, heard words written by Watts for a time-capsule buried when he founded the Gallery in 1904 and took stock of a momentous moment in the Gallery’s hundred year history. The end of the week saw real change as part of the team decamped from the Gallery to take up occupation of the original Pottery Office in the lower part of the Watts Gallery Estate. As I look at the business plate outside the office, I think about the business which Mary started with the Compton Potters’ Arts Guild established as a result of the success of the Cemetery Chapel in Compton. It was a remarkable enterprise - to put in place a business which lasted over fifty years. This Saturday we open the Information Point on the Estate which will provide a glimpse of the Gallery’s Compton Pottery collection and serve as a meeting point for walking tours of Compton. While we start to remove the pictures from the Gallery, I am delighted that we can offer our supporters access to the collection through our new website. We have completed a Watts film which we shall be showing in the Information Point. As one chapter closes, another opens as we prepare to take the collection to London for the Watts in the City season of events. Our strongest desire is that all our friends, volunteers, supporters and neighbours stay with us for the course of this momentous journey.
Monday 29 September 2008
Today is poignant – the first time in a hundred years that the Gallery is closed to the public. Last night, we shared a glass of champagne to mark the end of this important chapter in the Gallery’s history, with the last shift of volunteers: Peggy Kearns and Sue Graham, and the last visitors, Mr and Mrs Fletcher from Farnham. We were joined by Jane Turner, volunteer, Rachel Blackstone our 2010 Friends Campaign co-ordinator, Helen Heinkens Lewis, Head of Learning, and their families and Robert Napier, Trustee. As the late September sun cast longer shadows across the lawn, and the warmth of the day evaporated, I felt the burden of the task ahead – to restore Watts Gallery for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations. As Mark Bills, the Curator, and I shut the gate for the final time, as in many moments in this period of change to the Gallery, I looked back to the ambition, enterprise and innovation of the founders of the Gallery in 1904. Watts Gallery was modern and mould breaking – time has altered this impact. There will be change in restoring the Gallery and bringing it to a standard where we can borrow works from national collections. Together with the team and our architect, we will be making every effort to ensure that these changes are for the better and for the long term.
Perdita Hunt
Director of Watts Gallery
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