Each week that we are closed to the public due to Covid-19, the Stanley Picker Gallery and our partner venue Dorich House Museum are sending out weekly newsletters highlighting previous projects, collection items and activity suggestions to keep you inspired and creative at home. Sign up to receive the newsletters via our homepage.
With the clocks recently going forward marking the arrival of Spring, the theme for this week’s newsletter is bird-spotting from home. There’s plenty you can see through your window, or perhaps in your garden or local park, but we’re also interested in the birds you might be able to find in the design and decoration of your home and clothing.
Turner Prize-nominated Nicole Wermer‘s Stanley Picker Fellowship Project culminated in the exhibition The London Shape in 2014, from which one of our favourite works features a ceramic serving bowl in the shape of a pink flamingo (above).
Wermers’ Abwaschskulpturen (Dishwashing Sculptures) are arrangements of antique porcelain, common earthenware and metallic kitchen utensils placed inside modified dishwasher baskets to create formal compositions that fit precisely on top of white plinths. The choice of these often bizarre combinations are based both on visual criteria and the practical possibilities of stacking, whilst the final works can be read as references to the history of still life in painting. Find out more about the artist and the exhibition here.
Artists, architects, designers and craftspeople have represented birds in their work for centuries, and bird motifs can be found in many different materials, wallpapers and patterned fabrics in our homes, as well as on our clothing. Record your observations by sending us some snaps or a sketch of the birds that live in and around your home. Above is an example by Rachel Doherty, Participation Coordinator at Stanley Picker Gallery.
Share your results on social media by tagging us on Instagram @stanleypicker or Twitter @pickergallery or by sending us your images to stanleypickergallery@kingston.ac.uk to show us your work.
To learn more about birds and bird song, browse BBC Radio 4’s Tweet of the Day and the British Library’s archive of bird songs, or join in with RSPB’s Breakfast Birdwatch.