Ferens Art Gallery (Hull)

Ferens art Gallery is the main art gallery in Hull, (Kingston-upon-Hull), it has the most resources, the biggest collection, and the best funding. You will see as part of the permanent collection, works by such luminaries as Frans Hals, Antonio Canaletto, Frederick Leighton, Percy Whyndam Lewis, Stanley Spencer ( I like), Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, David Hockney, Peter Blake, Bridget Riley, Helen Chadwick, and others, not bad for a provincial ...
...own judgements. I think the Ferens has done well to break down this stuffy atmosphere over recent years, and has tried to bring in and involve the local community, with projects, and club type activities. There is a children’s gallery for example. The children’s gallery was launched at the Ferens in 2000 by Michael Underwood, BBC children’s tv presenter ( I’ve never heard of him) and was created with a grant from the Heritage lottery fund. Its aimed ... more

Ferens art Gallery is the main art gallery in Hull, (Kingston-upon-Hull), it has the most resources, the biggest collection, and the best funding. You will see as part of the permanent collection, works by such luminaries as Frans Hals, Antonio Canaletto, Frederick Leighton, Percy Whyndam Lewis, Stanley Spencer ( I like), Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, David Hockney, Peter Blake, Bridget Riley, Helen Chadwick, and others, not bad for a provincial gallery, in a largely culture starved northern city. If you are looking for an oasis of culture in what is a rather rough and uncivilised northern city you can hide out here for a couple of hours. I think Hulls old boy, Phillip Larkin was a bit unkind when he referred to the people of Hull as ‘a cut price crowd, urban yet simple’ and Hull as the ‘back of beyond’, but maybe he meant it in an affectionate way. There is some culture here you just have to look for it. The gallery won the Museum of the year award for best museum of Fine and Applied art in 1993.

The building is a bit of a mausoleum and in the neo classical style, like many local municipal buildings. It was built in 1926 and opened in 1927. Don’t let this austere exterior put you off, inside the atmosphere is vibrant and welcoming, though I often find that depends on the exhibitions being displayed inside. I think a lot of people are put off going into their local art gallery because so many of them are built in this most unwelcoming neoclassical style. They were built in a time when the attitude toward art was that it should be displayed and revered put on a pedestal and worshipped, at least by the people who built the galleries, an educational and edifying experience. This is valid to a point, but art is about much more than that, it is about communication, and interaction with the artist, we do not want to be told what to think or feel anymore, we want to share the experience with the artist, experience why they felt and make our own judgements. I think the Ferens has done well to break down this stuffy atmosphere over recent years, and has tried to bring in and involve the local community, with projects, and club type activities. There is a children’s gallery for example. The children’s gallery was launched at the Ferens in 2000 by Michael Underwood, BBC children’s tv presenter ( I’ve never heard of him) and was created with a grant from the Heritage lottery fund. Its aimed at children aged 6-10 for use as part of school or family visits. It’s a good idea especially if you have a family whose ages span several generations, there is something for everybody. There is also provision for children with special educational needs. My advice is take a chance, go through the doors and be prepared to be influenced by what you see, if not here your own local municipal art gallery.

I have been visiting Ferens over the years, on and off for about twenty years, through various stages of my art education and just out of interest, to see what is going on in the local art scene. It is always nice to go an see pictures you have become familiar with over the years, and to go back and always find them there just where they were twenty years ago. I went in only yesterday, and they still have the same Stanley Spencers hanging in the same place, when I first saw them all those years ago, when I first got interested in painting. Continuity is a nice thing sometimes, some places just never seem to change. It has almost become like an old friend, we all have places where we go that we feel familiar with and that evoke certain memories, I think that Ferens is one of those places for me. That is not to say that the Ferens is set in stone, there are always new and contemporary exhibitions going on, every month there is a turn over in the main galleries (other than the permanent collection), where you can see noteworthy contemporary artists exhibiting their work.
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There is a local artists exhibition every year , the winter exhibition, which I try to attend if possible, which is a good place for up and coming local talent to display their work. The quality varies as you would expect, taking into account the wide ranging catchment area of the entrants. there are some graduates, some local professionals , and some local amateurs, I think it is fascinating to have such a ranging collection of local work, sometimes you find some one who is completely untrained out stripping the so called professionals, whose work is often stilted , formalised, and over worked, often a nieve or untrained artist will have a spontaneity of response which has been drummed out of the seasoned professionals over years of art training, this is something I always enjoy, and look forward to with the winter exhibition, the hope that you will find some undiscovered talent exhibiting on a shoe string budget, waiting to be discovered. The unlikely candidates are always the most interesting in my opinion. This is often where the life is. There is always a huge spread of subject matter in the winter exhibition, everything from still life to portraits, to landscapes, and an almost equally innumerable ways of working. You get portraits that people have been working on for six months, that people have been working on in their spare time after work, of a loved one, and they finally decide to give it up to the public, and the more confident graduates are using the exhibition to launch their careers with their more sophisticated and cerebral works. It is a real melting pot of creativity, which contrasts and complements so well with the permanent exhibition hung in the adjoining galleries with their rather lofty status and reverential tone. There are exhibitions like this all over the country, I just happen to know this one particularly well because it is local. It would be worth checking out your own local municipal gallery to see what they have to offer. These exhibitions are usually in the winter when people have nothing better to do than stay in doors out of the cold with their paint brushes.

One luxury they have added since I was a lad is the fancy coffee bar, La Loggia, mon-sat 10.30-4.30, a welcome addition actually as there is nothing worse these days than a gallery where you can not even get a tea or coffee. They also have a reasonable extensive range of light meals and snacks, I have never actually been in, only once for a coffee I think, but its quite trendy, fitted out with stripped pine and designery furnishings. I’m sure the local arty cognoscenti hang out there nursing a cup of coffee for two hours, putting the artistic world to rights, but don’t let that put you off.

The current exhibition which is on until 18th April, is Colour Feel, by Sally Greaves Lord. I’m not a particular fan of textiles, but I was stunned by the quality of this exhibition. I have never seen textiles like this before, she really is an original artist. Sally Greaves Lord was formerly the creative director for the Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake and has an international reputation. I am not really familiar with either of these artists, as textiles is not really my field, but the work is stunning. There is a collection of hand painted silk banners and framed painted textiles created since the artist moved to Yorkshire in 1991. There are some special pieces for the exhibition and some pieces from the artists own collection. Mainly the works are like traditional Japanese banners hanging vertically about 80cm wide x 3m tall. They are painted silk banners composed of abstract designs. Its not really my field but I mentioned it because it is an example of the contemporary exhibitions that the Ferens get.

When the gallery was extended in 1991 there was the addition of a live art space, a venue for live and performance based arts.

Forthcoming events:
W.Barns-Graham: Painting as celebration. 17 June-27 June

A key figure since the 1940s within the group of artists associated with st.Ives, Barns-Graham continues to produce paintings and prints with characteristic freshness an excitement. Barns -Graham draws inspiration from her love of landscape and the natural world as well as her everyday experiences. She says her work as an artist is an ‘expression of joy and a celebration of life’. An inventive and challenging artist, her career has spannned over sixty years. The exhibition explores her work over the last ten to fifteen years and also includes some earlier works.

John Trigg: Painting and Sculptures of 97-04. 24 April-13 June

John Trigg was born on the Lincolnshire coast and now lives and works in Penzance, Cornwall. The theme of ancestry and personal and family memories is important to his work. In Triggs paintings and sculptures past and present memories exist side by side and shapes suggestive of whales and vessels recall his own proximity to the sea and sea faring roots. This exhibition brings together a new body of work created since the artists move to Cornwall and will include a spectacular figure astride a vast boat like structure, which will be exhibited in the Ferens Centre Court.

Drift Works: Will Maclean. 24 April-1August

Will Maclean has become one of the most respected artists of his generation in Scotland. Maclean is best known for his work that refers to the mythologies of the sea and the relics of our culture. In Drift Works, Maclean continues to explore his fascination with museums and the presentation of objects. His magical and mysterious art has a modern edge as he incorporates new technologies and materials, juxtaposing paintings, sculptures and box constructions with sound and digital animation. The exhibition includes a major new work ’Cod Requiem’ a haunting video piece which explores the dire plight of the North Sea Fishermen.

If you are impressed enough with the organisation you can become a ‘friend of Ferens’ like with many of the big galleries these days. For an annual fee you will be an official member of the gallery and receive several perks such as the news letter, there are also meetings, lectures, guided visits and social events. The aims of the organisation are to promote the appreciate and enjoyment of art. They also provide pictures, sculptures, and other works of art for the permanent collection. They also raise money to support special projects at the gallery and to improve the facilities for families and children.

Disabled access is available via a ramp or steps and an electronic door. All ground floor displays are on a single level. First floor galleries can be reached by a stairs or lift. The Ferens has two toilets that are accessible for visitors using wheelchairs. One with baby changing facilities. Guide dogs are welcome at the Ferens.
Bringing you right up to date you can visit the Ferens art gallery in virtual reality though I could not get the site to work I think I’m just a computer durrbrain, try it and see. www.hullcc.gov.co.uk/navigating/hull. The main site is Ferens Art Gallery, Queen Victorias Square, Kingston Upon Hull, HU1 3RA. www.hullcc.gov.uk/museums.
 

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