The Barber Institute of Fine Arts’ Post

✨ EXHIBITION NOW OPEN ✨ Ready to embark on a sensory journey through Victorian art? We’re thrilled to welcome you to ‘Scent & the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites’ – open today! This show brings together iconic masterpieces from major UK collections and cutting-edge technology, bringing paintings to life through scent 🌸 👃 Visit us today and immerse yourself in the art! Don’t forget to tag us in your photos! 📸 Be sure to check out the fascinating programme of accompanying talks and events on our website - https://lnkd.in/ewdm6QCX 📅 Open Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 5pm. 💜 Free entry, always. [Image description: Installation view of the exhibition showing an introductory panel on a light green wall, with an entryway leading through to a larger space with artworks hanging on the walls.]

👏 Hear directly from curator Dr Christina Bradstreet in the opening talk of ‘Scent and the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites’. Christina will offer unparalleled insight into the development of this innovative exhibition, through her extensive research and exciting partnerships with Artphilia and Puig, in an introductory talk. 🎨 Arts Educator and Curator Jon Sleigh will then chair a panel discussion with Christina and Professor Jonathan Reinarz, Director of The History of Medicine Unit and Dr Rebecca Mitchell, Professor in Victorian Literature and Culture who will share their varied perspectives on artworks from the show. 📅 Friday 25 October, 5 – 7pm 🔗 Free, booking essential – https://lnkd.in/eiazAV52 Don’t miss this chance to hear more about this ground-breaking show, the first in the UK to use AirParfum technology.

Have you seen ‘The Hidden Lives of Plants’ yet?🌼 Curated in collaboration with our fantastic 2024 cohort of MA History of Art and Curating students (pictured) the show brings together stunning examples of botanical illustrations from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Uncovering the stories behind the plants, the exhibition explores themes of medicine, colonialism, collecting practices and gender roles – among others! Want to learn more? Four of the student curators have written essays delving deeper into these topics: 🥀Understanding Cultural Differences through the Opium Poppy by Chieh-Yu Kung 🌷The Hidden Use of Tulips by Zhuoran Zhuang 🖼️Imperial Legacies of Botanical Illustration and Specimen Collecting by Elizabeth Pardoe 🍃Lady Barber's Garden in the Wider Context of Victorian Flower-mania by Ilenia Favaretto Read the essays: https://lnkd.in/enmsginr 📅The Hidden Lives of Plants runs until 10 November 2024. Free entry. [Image description: A group of students gathered for a photo in front of the print bay which hosts 'The Hidden Lives of Plants' exhibition - alongside their Professor, Dr Michaela Giebelhausen and the Deputy Director of the Barber Institute Robert Wenley.] 📷Tegen Kimbley

📢 Autumn event programme announced! Summer might be over, but we have a jam-packed autumn full of fascinating activities for all ages –starting this week: 👶Barber Baby – join us for live music in the galleries with Musical Picnic – perfect for under 4s and their grown-ups 🎨Barber Family – fun, sensory artist-led workshops for children from 4 to 10 years and their grown-ups 💬Lunchtime Talks – a host of insightful 30-minute talks from academics, curators and experts, providing unique takes on the exhibitions and artworks on display ✨Barber Lates – come along to our after-hours opening of the galleries with film, music, crafts and refreshments 🎓Student events – a chance for University of Birmingham students to unwind and tap into their creativity 👉 And so much more... See the full programme: https://lnkd.in/ewdm6QCX 📷 Tegan Kimbley [IDs: 1. Two children playing and laughing on a beanbag. 2. A group of young adults talking in the Barber foyer. 3. Two parents with their young child at a craft table.]

Empowering research is at the heart of what we do. 📚 We’ve commissioned three new essays looking deeper into Claudette Johnson’s artwork – read them online now. Dr Gregory Salter considers Johnson’s depictions of young Black men and explores what they say about masculinity. 👉 https://lnkd.in/e7BSMZT5 Dr Rita Gayle suggests that Johnson embodies a Black British aesthetic of the 20th and 21st centuries. 👉https://lnkd.in/e7KzuNNv Dr Deniz Sözen looks at the connections between Johnson’s work and the wider context of the Barber and our collection. 👉https://lnkd.in/egBMCeba 💙 'Claudette Johnson: Darker Than Blue' runs until 15 September 📷 Simon Hadley

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Did you catch us in the press? Our next major exhibition, ‘Scent and the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites’ is the talk of the town, after a full feature in The Guardian / The Observer Magazine, artnet and The Telegraph 🗞️The Observer: https://lnkd.in/gA9NTJUy 🗞️Artnet: https://lnkd.in/epPAVvT2 🗞️The Telegraph: https://lnkd.in/em2S89jF 📅 The exciting new show will open on 11 October and has already captured the press’s imagination - as it will provide the unique opportunity to smell the scents from two key paintings. This multi-sensory approach is based on the research of Dr Christina Bradstreet, the curator and author of Scented Visions: Smell in Art, 1850-1914, who notes that “19th-century depictions of scent have been ‘right under our noses’, despite the absence of attention to smell within art-historical scholarship”. 🌈The (optional) scent experience will bring to life ‘The Blind Girl’ by John Everett Millais and ‘A Saint of the Eastern Church’ by Simeon Solomon, and has been developed in collaboration with storytelling art curators Artphilia and Puig’s AirParfum olfactory technology. [IDs: 1. A clipping of a Guardian article, with the title "Want to smell the pre-Raphaelites? UK gallery to use scent alongside paintings" with an artwork of an alter boy below. 2. A clipping of a Guardian article with the introduction "An exhibition at Birmingham's Barber Institute brings an extra dimension to the art by creating the aromas of the English countryside and a Russian church". 3.A clipping of an artnet article with the title "A show of Pre-Raphaelite Masterpieces Invites You to Smell Them, Too" and subheading "Like the Pre-Raphaelites, the show hopes to evoke a sensual experience" with an artwork below.] #PreRaphaelite #Millais #Exhibition

Barber Takeover | Stuart Hall Archive Project – Conjunctures 📅 Friday 6 September, 12noon – 5pm 📌 Free, Drop-in Professor Patricia Noxolo and Dr Rita Gayle of the Stuart Hall Archive Project will be hosting a takeover day at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts to display, share and discuss their ongoing work for the project. The Stuart Hall Archive Project is a major multi-disciplinary research project at the University of Birmingham, that will expand public understanding and engagement with the work of the celebrated cultural theorist, Professor Stuart Hall. Come along and: 📽 Gain context and insight into Stuart Halls’ life and work through short films which will play on a loop in the Lecture Theatre 💬 Hear directly from the project organisers through an informal in-conversation in the Lecture Theatre (2 ­– 3pm) 📚 Discover more about the archive project at the information desk. ☕ Network and discuss ideas over free refreshments, including teas, coffees, and light nibbles courtesy of Sunrise Bakery.

We’re excited to welcome Tara Johnston-Comerford to the team as our new Head of Learning and Engagement (Family Leave Cover) 🙌 Tara joins us from United By 2022 where she led the Community Engagement Programme, supporting the legacy of the Commonwealth Games across the West Midlands. Tara has previously worked at some of the region's biggest arts organisations - including the Royal Shakespeare Company and Warwick Arts Centre. Some highlights have included: 🎨 Working on the annual Canley Parade with the community procession parading costumes and banners which they co-created with artists. 📚 Creating a new primary school offer in collaboration with Coventry schools, which included pupils' works being shown in the Mead Gallery. 💛 Designing the 'Making Space' with neurodivergent artist collective, Art Riot Tara’s a qualified teacher with a background in lecturing in West Midlands colleges, a School Governor and a recent alum of Clore Emerging Leaders programme. She’s also a proud lifelong Brummie and the owner of a sassy, 14-year-old Staffie called Meg.