After a scenic trip on the Great Western, as soon as we landed in Torquay installation of the Agatha Christie exhibition began. I hear the show is popular with visitors, which gives me a warm glow.
Agatha Christie: Destination Unknown
Sat 11 Sept 2021 to Sun 28 Nov 2021
Torre Abbey
The King's Drive
Torquay TQ2 5JE
www.torre-abbey.org.uk/whats-on/agatha-christie-destination-unknown/
(post by Tanya)
Only a few days to go until we install the new Agatha show. Curator Alice Graham and I have been working on it intensively since spring, so it’s great to see the work coming to fruition.
The show takes a fresh angle on her life and centres around the work she did with her husband: archaeologist Max Mallowan. Many times I’ve laughed aloud while designing - it’s her wonderful tales and quotes, you see... it seems Agatha is world famous for good reason! The star objects are original transcripts of her poetry, which are a revelation.
In a lovely full circle moment, I was already an admirer of hubby Mallowan. Since childhood I’ve visited the British Museum to gaze at the Assyrian reliefs he excavated. This led me to studying archaeology at UCL, where he was a professor in earlier days.
Right! Must be off to pack my tape measure, masking tape and toothbrush.
Agatha Christie: Destination Unknown
Sat 11 Sept 2021 to Sun 28 Nov 2021
Torre Abbey
The King's Drive
Torquay TQ2 5JE
www.torre-abbey.org.uk/whats-on/agatha-christie-destination-unknown/
(post by Tanya)
Over the last couple of years I’ve been working with the artist Donald Harding. In 2018 I worked with him to create an exhibition for his piece ‘The Marshes’ and more recently on his website. Donald is a bit of a polymath and describes himself as working in ‘video, text and sound’. Click the link below for more information.
‘The Marshes’ is a very moving piece centred around the horses on the Thamesmead Estate. The work really stayed with me as it uses a unique and haunting mix of fact and fiction. It showed most recently at the South Kiosk Gallery in Peckham. Keep your eye open for upcoming shows.
https://www.donaldharding.com/the-marshes
(post by Tanya)
Working with the Museum of London, I designed the 3D layout and 2D panels for the display cases in the expanded London Bridge station. On show are many fascinating objects excavated during the build. If you’re passing through the main concourse, it’s well worth slowing down to take a look.
I find this kind of work so satisfying. Why? Not only do I relish the design process, I get a genuine kick out of working with historical content. For instance, take the caption below about a goose’s wing bone. A few centuries ago, someone living close to the Thames by London Bridge selected a particular bone to carve into a writing instrument which, in its smallness is something to ponder on; but what’s more, is that it survived and is now on display for the thousands passing through the station every day. To me that’s poetry. You have to wonder what it was they intended to write. A few lines to a loved one maybe? Or maybe a letter of complaint? Perhaps a drawing, or a simple list of figures? Which leads me to think about the practicality of such a pen. I’ve found that even without splitting the nib a reed pen works really well, although I’ve only tried bamboo. Which makes me wonder what kind of mark bone would make ... every project creates a wide net of ideas.
(post by Tanya)
The Museum of London asked me to help them reinstate a wall of objects in their War, Plague & Fire gallery after using them in a temporary show.
So, what does it take to get this done? Step one is the curator chooses the objects and writes the captions. Then, both the objects and the wall are carefully measured. This info is handed to me, and I start to design the captions and panels while simultaneously creating drawings to scale. Then, between my clients and I, we go through several proofs where we work out the best arrangement, taking into account practical issues such as load-bearing, lighting and legibility as well as making sure the historical narrative is engaging and seamless. Once that is agreed by all, the job is ready to install. I send off caption and panel artwork to the manufacturers who create them to spec e.g. 3mm thick board, printed in two colours. Back inside the museum, my scale drawings are handed to the install team who do the skillful work of mounting the objects so they’re both secure and displayed to maximum effect. Once that’s done the finished captions are installed and the gallery is ready for the public.
3D drawing to scale
(post by Tanya)
We've updated our website. Click on the pic that tickles you.
Looking back through my project log, I realise how much I do for Museum of London. This year alone, I've worked with them on 22 projects. I work across the board on marketing & PR materials, create templates and guidelines for the Learning team and I also have my hand in the permanent displays at both the London Wall and Docklands sites. Here's a sample ... I particularly love the challenge of creating these animated GIFs with their teeny, tiny file size.
(post by Tanya)
The third leg of Agatha Christie, a Life in Photographs is now underway at National Museum Cardiff.
After months behind the computer working on a show, it’s great to get out on site and see it come to life. Install needs some high speed elbow grease but with tight planning and good colleagues it’s a real pleasure. The first job is sorting and laying out panels, frames and objects. To give you an idea, we had around 65 graphic panels, 54 photos, 25 objects, 79 captions and one Kokoschka painting. Alice Graham (curator/project manager) and I did this initial work, laying out the frames first so the Artworks install team could start with the power drills. As the frames went up, Alice and I followed behind installing captions. The showcases were moved into a position that worked with the narrative and allowed good wheelchair access; then we filled them with the objects. We were given two days for install and I'm pleased to say we finished before home-time.
Many thanks to the in-house team at the museum: the conservation, mount-making and project management were exemplary.
Show runs until 3 September 2017.
For more on the show, see this previous entry:
chutneychorus.com/blog/agatha-christie-unfinished-portrait
(post by Tanya)
Agatha Christie: Unfinished Portrait is now showing at Bankside Gallery. It's a photography show of unseen images from Christie's own albums. I've had my fingers in every pie: the 3D design, 2D graphic design and marketing campaign are all my work. The Christie Archive Trust and Agatha Christie Ltd have been great clients - they are a close-knit, enthusiastic group and it's a privilege to work with them.
I've visited a few times and it's rewarding to see Christie fans so engaged with the content. Bingo! (That's an in-joke if you've seen the show).
The exhibition got an enthusiastic response from Kirsty Lang of BBC Radio 4's Front Row:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b066wfp2
Agatha Christie: Unfinished Portrait
Bankside Gallery (next to Tate Modern)
London SE1 9JH
Open daily 11am–6pm
Until 6 September 2015
Touring to Torre Abbey, Torquay for the International Agatha Christie Festival from 11 September.
(post by Tanya)