[T]he Great Exhibition of the North 2018 is to be the largest event in England of the year and opens on June 22 hosted by Newcastle and Gateshead.
Two special objects from Tullie House Museums collection have been chosen to be displayed as part of the exhibition.
The exhibition tells the story of the north of England through its innovations, artists, designers and businesses.
Item one is an impressive painting by Keith Tyson, Nature Painting. One of a major series, Nature Painting explores how making art can communicate the complex nature of the world. The forms and colours of the painting have been created by pouring paints and chemicals onto aluminium, showing Tyson’s interest in the random nature of our universe.
This piece uses innovative techniques to create a random result; pouring specially mixed paints and chemicals, at different angles and temperatures onto aluminium. Through this, Tyson explores the world – and universe – around us. Nature Painting alludes to such features as geology and cosmology, whilst also evoking the history of landscape painting in the region, in particular the rise of Romanticism in the late 18th century in the Lake District.
Tyson is one of the foremost living Cumbrian artists and winner of the 2002 Turner Prize. He was born in Ulverston in Cumbria and studied at Carlisle College of Art.
The second item to be chosen is J. D. Carr’s Waistcoat. Brown velvet double-breasted waistcoat overprinted with ears of wheat and tiny slogans. It belonged to Jonathan Dodgson Carr, the founder of Carr’s of Carlisle. He wore it at a celebratory tea he gave for workers at Carr’s factory after the repeal of the Corn Laws.
This waistcoat belonged to businessman Jonathan Dodgson Carr. He founded Carr’s of Carlisle 1831, which, through Carr’s innovations, became the largest baking business in the country. It had prominent customers, such as the navy, and received the first royal charter for a biscuit-maker 1841.
For the past 200 years, the company has had a profound effect on local life, providing employment, leadership, and a deep sense of community. This has been highlighted by a current project to collect oral histories of retired female workers from the factory, now owned by McVities.
For more information on Great Exhibition of the North please visit: https://getnorth2018.com/
