One of the most thrilling elements of studying at MA level is that you have a wider appreciation and awareness of access to a wider talk and seminar programme at the University. My University, The University of Manchester, programmes a year long series of cross departmental lectures, talks and masterclasses which I have strove to attend as many as I possibly can manage manage during my short MA year.
The Centre for Muselogy hosted a spring seminar last night delievered by Dr Sam Lackey curator at Hepworth Wakefield. The title of Dr Lackey’s seminar ‘The Hepworth Comes Home’ was elaborated on further at the start of her seminar. Lackey spoke of the seemingly ‘shaky conceptual ground’ that the link between Wakefield and Barbara Hepworth exists on. Detailing Hepworth’s early life in Wakefield, Lackey intertwined Wakefield’s council’s identification of developing the water front of the town as early as the 1930’s. The original Wakefield gallery situated in a house in Wakefield town and was inaccessible to many with mobility issues and frankly unsuitable to display art. (Having stood in the car park of the closed gallery recently, I safely would have arrived at this conclusion without insider information.)
The offer of over 40 original Barbara Hepworth plaster sculptures by the Hepworth Estate to Wakefield in 1996 contained one major condition – that the plasters must be exhibited in a venue worthy of international museum standard. Having mapped the slow burning early threads of the Hepworth Gallery, Lackey pinpoints this moment as the catalyst for the project. It wasn’t until 2003 that David Chipperfield Architects were appointed, winning the tender hands down with a unique and engaged design that responded to Hepworth’s work. Chipperfield himself spent time visiting the collection in Wakefield to before his firm submitted its bid.
Lackey spoke of how the magnificent new building acted as leverage in attracting new funders and stakeholders and emphasied the critical role that these backers played in finally realising it. Interestingly, until Director Simon Wallis took up his position, the original curatorial plan was to showcase the Wakefield collection throughout the galleries. Wallis immediately scrapped this plan and started to develop a new curatorial strategy. Lackey hightlighted the tranistional period between old (the council led gallery) and the new team noting the loss of the knowledge of the original Wakefield Art Gallery curator, who possessed an intimate knowledge of the collection and the local audience. Lackey did acknowledge that the original curator has been very generous in helping the new team adapt to the collection and sharing their knowledge. Each gallery of the Hepworth was discussed in terms of curatorial decision making. I found it interesting that Lackey noted the negative critical reaction to the museum curated display of the Hepworth plasters. This gallery is the one area the curatorial team that they weren’t involved in decision making. One of the key aims of the gallery is to present Hepworth’s work in a new light, creating new insights and offering fresh perspectives compared to existing Hepworth museums such as St.Ives and research.
Lackey spoke honestly about the joys and difficulties of working in the newly opened gallery, with her statement that the Hepworth is appearing to simultaneously develop two audiences with differing requirements and visions for the gallery. This was illustrated by the advice that Lackey and her colleagues received that the it was critically vital that the Hepworth needed to be centred around the temporary exhibition programme as opposed to the Hepworth collection, something that some stakeholders are keen to see permanently. The fact that visitor numbers are 300k over original projections could be read as proof that this was the correct approach. Lackey’s seminar was an interesting and fascinatingly generous insight into the workings of (arguably) England’s most high profile art gallery opening of the last few years.
