New artwork revealed at Snibston!

The new artwork has been developed by four Midlands-based visual artists and will be on show at Leicestershire County Council’s Snibston Discovery Museum in Coalville from Sunday 15th May – Sunday 22nd May 2011.

The work is part of the Transform project which is an innovative arts initiative, supported by the Arts Council England and is at the heart of Snibston’s regeneration programme. This programme focuses on improving public engagement with the heritage and collections associated with this unique site. The three schemes focus on the nationally-important colliery buildings, the country park and the main gallery inside the museum.

Through a series of commissions by Transform, the site and its collections are the creative inspiration for works produced by visual artists. The first four commissioned artists will be exhibiting their work to the public for one week from Sunday 15th May, which also coincides with Snibston’s annual Transport Festival.

From light and sound illuminations and projected imagery, through to exciting new walks for visitors, these works offer a new way of looking at Snibston, its environs and local communities.

Launched in August of last year, the first artists commissioned by the project, Geoff Broadway, Jo Dacombe, Paul Conneally and Brendan Jackson, collaborated with local people to produce work inspired by the history and heritage of Leicestershire and of the museum. Details of the artists and their themes for the project are as follows:

Geoff Broadway, Birmingham based visual artist, has produced fascinating work by exploring light, sound and projected imagery within Snibston and around Coalville. He has combined oral history, video portraits, images and historical material for his immersive projection piece by working with local people and businesses in Coalville.

Jo Dacombe is a visual artist from Leicester who has worked with local families to set up three walks which explore Snibston and the routes to and around it. She has recorded responses, ideas, imaginative stories, memories and histories from the walks and created maps which mix fact, fiction, emotion and imagination. Jo’s work will be displayed in the form of three movable light boxes which will hold the illustrative maps for the walks.

Paul Conneally from Loughborough is an artist, poet and musician. He has explored the cultural connections with the romantic poets such as Wordsworth, around Coleorton Hall and revealed a forgotten ‘cultural’ past with connections to national collections and figures.

Brendan Jackson is a Wolverhampton/Poland based artist who uses narrative, photography and web design to shape and share images and text. He has worked with staff at Snibston to identify themes and stories that can be used for display including on the internet and through print. He has also been involved in creating a sequence of projections and illuminations.

You can follow the progress of the artists and future commissions on Snibston’s Facebook page and the website at www.snibston.com/transform

David Sprason, Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults and Communities said:
"This project is developing a new opportunity for local people to engage with the arts and offers new ways of enjoying Snibston, its collections and local heritage for the 100,000 visitors that come to the museum every year. The true nature of Leicestershire’s community spirit, history, places and people has inspired this new collection of work. I urge everyone to come along and see this exhibition from 15 – 22 May 2010."

Leicestershire County Council’s Snibston Discovery Museum in Coalville attracts around 100,000 visitors a year and hosts some of Leicestershire’s biggest events including those at the heart of the community such as its Miners’ Gala, Transport Festival and fabulous Fireworks Spectacular. The museum is also home to the largest Fashion Gallery outside London and also has an extensive gallery dedicated to transport and engineering. A new underground colliery experience has also been created at Snibston enabling visitors to discover more about working underground.

Transform is in the process now of commissioning a second group of artists to undertake two further commissions before the end of 2011. Details of these new commissions will be announced in early June 2011.

These works have attracted interest from artists around the UK whose skills range from textiles and fashion to digital trails, the use of new technologies in museums as a means to engage our audiences more deeply in our collections.

We are still recruiting local arts ambassadors to assist with the arts commissions and to learn more about the processes of making new work in this exciting environment.