Alice Martin, Art Intern, Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum

Initially the idea of curating and hanging my first professional exhibition seemed quite daunting but I soon realised that it was a fantastic opportunity to enhance my skills. I have truly enjoyed the experience of preparing the Vital Art exhibition and the responsibility that comes with it. It is difficult to realise how much work actually goes in to an exhibition until you actively become involved yourself. With the guidance of the collections manager we had to first dismantle the previous exhibition and store the work away carefully. I then began to lay out all of the new work in order to curate the show. I soon discovered that this can be a tricky yet rewarding task as it can be challenging to find work which compliments one another, when the work is so vast. After this we then had to space out and measure the art work so when it came to hanging the show it would not be such a mammoth task. This definitely made it easier when visualising how the work would look on the wall.  The key thing I have certainly learnt is that when curating a show you rarely stick with your first choice of layout, as you are constantly re-evaluating what works well and what does not. Sometimes you just have to take a step back. However all the challenges were definitely worth it as once the exhibition was complete I felt a real sense of accomplishment.  This will all be of benefit when I have to undertake my own degree show next year.

http://www.smithartgalleryandmuseum.co.uk/exhibition/the-vital-art/

Stirling Photographers

Today’s story centres on a photograph of the road which is now Ochil View in Menstrie. It is one of about 450 plate glass negatives, which came without any information from the estate of the late Henry Robb (1933 – 2016). Fortunately, the donation coincided with the internship of Nele Thorrez, a photography graduate from Poelkapelle, Belgium, who for the past few weeks has digitised the plates and researched the background history, working for the Stirling Smith.

The photographs were taken by Thomas W J Leishman (1885 – 1965) of Park Terrace. Although Leishman was not a photographer by profession, he had an obvious talent.

Nele has uploaded the images to FaceBook and Pinterest and asked for help in identifying the locations. May people commented on the Ochil View photo before the identification was successfully made.

The cottage on the right has a marriage stone door lintel inscribed RM EM and the date 1709, but all of the old housing has been demolished and the road tarmacadamed.

The Smith is reliant on public help and the talents of many young Europeans studying the collections. Next Tuesday, 31 May at 12 noon, Nele Thorrez and Zita Barbaczi from Hungary will both give a talk on their work at the Smith.

The Stirling Smith is very proud of all our interns and volunteers, past and present who have made such a positive impact on the Stirling Smith and its staff.

On Monday 10th August 2015 we welcomed Christina Flöehr for a 4 week internship. The experience will support her Applied Museology/Museum Studies (Bachelor of Arts) at Leipzig University.

Christina is one of several international volunteers/interns who support the Smith. She joins Alice Maraner from Italy, Matilde Marcaux, Belgium and Zita Babarczi, Hungary.

In addition to the outstanding support from our own UK volunteers. The opportunity to see the collections explored from an alternative European viewpoint helps us develop methods of communicating the emotional connections of our objects.

For our volunteers and interns?

The same opportunity is available allowing a unique insight into Scottish culture

In fact Christina provided such a valuable insight as she worked on the Smith’s new exhibition in Gallery 1 – A Stirling 100.  An exhibition created by Stirling University.

Christina and Mathilde both worked to mount the exhibition boards. Christina then chose relevant objects from the museum’s World War I collections, for the display cases.

There is a great opportunity to build connections and collaborate with a diverse range of cultural, heritage and educational institutions across Europe.

James gives us an insight into the Smith’s own Bannockburn exhibition on the Art in Scotland TV webchannel.