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City Art Gallery

kazac
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5 out of 5
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2
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Editor Pick

There Is an Art to Making an Interesting Art Gallery

  • July 13, 2009
  • Rated 4 of 5 by duskmaiden from London, United Kingdom
Manchester City Art Gallery prides itself on being a very easy art gallery for people to access. It dates back from the nineteenth century and now has over 25000 items spanning several centuries. Over 2000 of these pieces can be on show at one time The collection is housed in a beautiful neo classical building with a very modern glass interior.
The art gallery is right in the city centre on the corner of Mosley Street and Princess Street. It is easily accessible as it is a couple of minutes walk from both the town hall and Piccadilly Gardens where all the public transport stops.
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Once I strode up the steps and entered the impressive building I arrived in an entrance hall. I feel there is a little confusion on where to go at first. There is an information desk to the side but I look round the entrance hall. There are wheelchairs so physical access is possible to those with mobility problems. There is also a demonstration of different audio tours including one for the visually impaired, a family tour and tours in Chinese and Bengali. Unfortunately all the hand sets had disappeared. There was no notice to say how much these tours were. .Once I got my bearings I went into the first gallery the Manchester Gallery .

This gallery is all about any art at all that is produced in or is about Manchester. This is not just paintings and drawings; it includes crafts films and photography. The gallery included different themes including The changing face of Piccadilly Gardens, made in Manchester, Pride and a section on Ancoatrs (an area just to the north of Manchester city centre where many of the cotton mills were located). The exhibition was a bit confusing as there were mirrors in place so it looked bigger than it actually was. Everything was well labeled and there was also a gallery guide in a folder if you wanted further information. There was information on community work in Manchester which I thought was good. The community project was a glass display that was very pretty and blended in well with the display of Manchester glass. There were some lovely portraits in the exhibition and there were the obligatory Lowerys. Lowery does not do much for me but I do like his picture of Piccadilly Gardens as I know the place and can relate to it. There were audio visuals to watch and benches were provided so you can sit down and watch them. One of the audio visuals was an episode of Andy Pandy as the film studies Cosgrove Pictures who made Andy Pandy and a lot of other children’s programs was based in Chorlton in South Manchester. Other things that stood out were record covers and T shirts making me think what exactly art is. One thing I liked about Manchester Art Gallery is that they encourage audience participation and feedback through comment boards. In the Manchester Gallery there is a wall of comments about Manchester including favourite places and favourite parts of the exhibition. It looks really good and is something different rather than a boring old visitor’s book. The good thing about this exhibition is that you can relate to a lot of the artifacts as it is Manchester themed. This is a great way to bring social inclusion as a picture of Piccadilly Gardens seems more relevant than a Constable landscape to some people,
Whilst I was on the ground floor I thought I would check out the shop and the restaurant. The shop seemed pretty good. It sold a good range of art inspired merchandise including books, postcards, prints and cards alongside activities for children’s
The cafe/restaurant t is expensive. There is a menu for children but I did not get to that. I was tempted to have a coffee but the prices of things before the coffee put me off. It was £5.95 for a bowl of soup and a sandwich and over 7 pound for a bowl of soup and a salad. A packet of Sensations crisps was about 85 p. The cakes looked good and very gooey but I hate to think what they cost so I went back to the entrance hall to climb the stairs to the next floor
The second floor is where most of the main galleries are. They are arranged either thematically or chronologically. I actually drifted a wee bit in these as there were too many paintings. I was impressed with the interpretation as they did have cards in different languages including Chinese, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, French, Japanese, Spanish and German. I did like some of the Victorian and pre Raphaelite galleries as I like very romantic paintings. I think I am quite conservative when it comes to art. I did like a more modern painting of a face that was textured and contoured and really worked. I found the modern art galleries harder as I find it quite hard to interpret. There was a green painting with red and blue dashes. It reminded me of a pool table there was also a weirdly shaped TV. This really confused me.
The Clore Interactive Gallery is the main attraction on the first floor. It is a gallery with children in mind and it is brilliant. When I was in this particular gallery there were no children just adults trying out the interactives and having great fun in the process. The aim of this gallery is to take a piece of art whether it is a painting, drawing or sculpture and then takes an aspect of it to demonstrate to children the meaning of the piece of art. This aspect might be movement, or colour. It really is a fantastic gallery. Some of the interactives are very simply but very effective. There is one based on a sculpture of a face that is made up of everyday objects. The activity is to make a similar sculpture with objects such as scourers, hot water brittles and paint brushes that have magnets fixed on them. It was great fun. Anointer great one is based around a painting of a chariot race. There is an interactive where you can take part in the race by tapping a spot which is sort of like a lap top moue and the little chariot moves. These interactives really bring the artwork to life and are moré enjoyable for kids and adults alike than just looking at a paining. Some of the interactives are more complex and use multimedia programs such as touch screens and sound. On of the most effective multi media interactives is one based on a painting of a girl reading a book. The theme is tranquility. You sit in a booth and watch the girl reading the book. The aim is to sit still but she moves and smiles, and scratches and does all sorts of things. If you smile or laugh the film finishes !

Once I had finished the second floor I decided to take a look at the third floor. T
The Craft and Design Gallery was interesting as it showed craft work as a form of art. It documented different areas of craft such as silverware, woodwork furniture design and pottery. My favourite part of this was an area where you could touch different textured pieces. This was ideal for visually impaired people.

I had an enjoyable few hours wandering round the art gallery especially in the Clore Gallery

From journal Visit Manchester

The City Art Gallery

  • March 14, 2004
  • Rated 5 of 5 by kazac from Manchester, United Kingdom
The Gallery was closed for years being refurbished. It's beloved by people in the city and many of us pop in on a regular basis to see the new exhibitions or old favourites.

Notice how crowded it gets at lunchtime.

The website has information on up-and-coming exhibitions and children's activities. I particularly like spending time in the room of Lowrie and Vilette paintings and trying to work out where they were sitting when they drew the scene.

Another plus for the museum is that it's round the coener from Chinatown so you can break off for a quick Dim Sum meal and then return if you don't fancy having a quick meal at the cafe which always feels really bright despite how cold and grey it is outside.

From journal Pub Culture in Manchester

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