First opening of exhibition at the Cowhouse

To coincide with the Moseley in Bloom Open Gardens weekend, I displayed my first five copper plate prints and accompanying lino cut texts based on Moseley stories. Despite the dreadful weather we had an estimated 130+ visitors and lots of interest.

People have started to leave stories in the pigeon holes and we had our first object donated - an old horse bridle which had been hanging in a garage for many years.

 I had a table set up outside to allow people the chance to try some block printing.

'Significant Features' Private View

My mirror was displayed leaning against the wall which resulted in some interesting reflections during the afternoon as the sun came through the skylights.

Final day of preparation for 'Significant Features'

The floor has been cleaned and sealed and looks fantastic - well worth having to wait a day for it to be done.

Next the projection booth arrives which Matt has prefabricated and is assembled on site.

Cheryl works on the floor plan earlier in the day. Ross makes last minute adjustments to the lights.

Installing 'Significant Features' at Bournville

Over the last few days we have been preparing the gallery space for the exhibition. A large number of boards needed to be removed from the walls and floor. The walls had to be filled and then painted.

 Matt, who is fabricating the exhibition furniture, as made two tables to display books, screens for photographs and a projection booth.

Ross and I have agreed on a lay out which he is drawing up ready for a floor plan to be printed as an exhibition guide.

Cow House installation

On Saturday I collected the keys to the Cow House and was able to make a start on installing my exhibition. I had a good deal of clearing to do and had to make sure that all the gardening equipment was still accessible. I decided for the time being to use the pin boards as they are and fixed the prints with bulldog clips pinned to the boards. I may cover these at a later date when I have access to more space.

There are five copper plate prints with lino cut text prints to accompany each one. I may reprint some of the plates at a later date. As this is the first opportunity I have had to see all the prints displayed together, I may need to adjust some of the colours to ensure they all work together.

The Local History Group Committee decided not to let me use any of their archive objects at this stage - citing lack of room as their reason. Hopefully they will allow me to use a few things in later exhibitions to help me promote the archives and encourage visitors to donate more.

I have displayed a few of my own collection of memorabilia with labels to help give a better impression of how I want the exhibit to look. I included one of the copper plates.

I have also included my 'portable museum' that I made in the first term. I know the Local History group really liked it and were disappointed when I originally said I wasn't going to use it. So I have displayed it to see what response I get.

Another look at the Cow House

On Sunday I went to the Dovecote to meet up with Helen from the Moseley Society, to try and finalise times and other details for the 28th June. I took some more photos of the interior of the Cow House. I am hoping to get access next Saturday, when I will need to clear away as much as I can and start to sort out how I am going to hang the prints.