What’s Hot at Hat Works…. and an upcoming exhibition for 2013.

A selection of hats by Rockwife

In the Hat Works museum there is a set of cases for temporary displays of work by contemporary milliners. The most recent installation is work by Rebecca Thomas, AKA Rockwife.  The three cases have been transformed into a winter display with snowflake garlands and hats including a Nordic Hood and a Bridal headpiece.  I went to the Hat Works on Thursday to take photographs of each piece, to add to the record of the loan on MODES. 

In January 2013, a new temporary exhibition will be unveiled at the Hat Works, entitled “Redesigning Fashion”.  It covers themes such as the effect of World War II on the fashion industry, utility wear, and how the ‘make do and mend’ ethos is being employed by milliners in the present day, creating sustainable hats by reusing and recycling other materials.  Items on display will include objects from the Stockport museum collection, loans from The Gallery of Costume (Platt Hall, Manchester), and contemporary millinery by various designers including Little Shilpa, Rosie Totiah, and Bailey Tomlin.  The contemporary make do and mend hats have been arriving at the stores in the past couple of weeks, which have been unpacked, photographed, labelled, and added to MODES by Janny.  I did the same with the loan hats from The Gallery of Costume to MODES. Here are a few images of the hats you will see in the exhibition.

Stiffened felt hat, a loan from The Gallery of Costume; 1942-1943.

Camo hat by Little Shilpa

Museums Movember & Christmas cracking collection…

November is now the month of moustaches, due to the charity event Movember to raise awareness of prostate cancer, other male cancers and associated charities.  Museums were able to take part in this by using the hashtag #musmovember on Twitter, sharing images of muzzy-related objects in their collection, and donating to the cause at the same time. I shared a few objects that I found on MODES, which can be seen on my Twitter feed, and made a donation to one of my friends who was cultivating a ‘tache.  I thought I would also share some of the images here too.  A really fun task that raised awareness for the event but also allowing access to the more hairy items in various museum collections!

Bukta catalogue, 1979

Bukta catalogue, 1979

A Victorian moustache teacup… wonderful!

Now it is nearly upon us, I am sharing some Christmassy objects from the collection on Twitter.  I am aiming to do an item a day until I leave for the festivities but sometimes I forget with all the various things that are happening at the object stores (Lots of hats coming in for an upcoming Hat Works exhibition, RDing, HILing, accessioning, stores tidying etc. etc.)!

So here are some of the festive finds; I will share a festive object tomorrow, and Wednesday which is my last day before Xmas.

1930s Christmas Card

Christmas vinyl record from my year of birth (1987)!

1907 Christmas postcard

‘Christmas Designer Craft Show’ at Stockport Art Gallery

Stockport Art Gallery in the Winter sun

The Christmas Designer Craft Show has been running at Stockport Art Gallery for a few years.  Hosted in the ArtLink area, the craft show offers designer-maker products, from jewellery to cushions and cards to scarves; many gifts can be found! 

(L-R) Part of the ArtLink before; and in the midst of preparation for the craft show

This year I helped Bronwen, the Collections  Access Officer for the gallery, to prepare the ArtLink space for the craft show.  Jobs included painting, taking delivery of products, creating displays, labelling products, arranging the products, incorporating collection objects into the display… not forgetting decorating a huge christmas tree!

Jobs undertaken: (L-R, clockwise) Labelling; Katie unpacking tiles; Jo prepraring the jewellery cases; applying vinyl lettering; labelling

Here are some images from the craft show preparation to illustrate some of the work involved in transforming the space from an exhibitions area to a Christmassy treat!

Displays