Our adventure . It began in Hastings in 2018. Foreword In March - PDF document

Our adventure ….

It began in Hastings in 2018….

Foreword In March 2018, East Sussex based Creative Force received a confirmed grant of £32,700 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to deliver its project Exploring Marianne North. Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, the project aimed to raise a much greater awareness of the inspirational Victorian explorer, artist and botanist, Marianne North who was born and lived for much of her early life in Hastings. Working with a number of partners across the town, the project developed a series of creative events for people of all ages to get to know more about this extraordinary woman, her adventures and her exquisite works.

The Adventure The project undertook a week - long intensive artist ’ s residency with Sheridan Quigley who, working with volunteer Mary Dawson, worked with every child in the Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, which sits next door to Marianne ’ s birthplace and within the original grounds of her home. A fine gallery of pictures, inspired by Marianne ’ s life and works, was created and displayed by the children at their school. At their Great Exhibition event on 25 th May, the children and their parents were joined by Amber Rudd, MP, the Mayor of Hastings, Councillor Nigel Sinden and the Deputy Mayor, Councillor James Bacon. Marianne North herself even made an appearance! A series of presentations ‘ Introducing Marianne North ’ took place during May from which a group of 10 women from East Sussex was recruited to research and discover more about Marianne. Their research, deliciously illustrated by her paintings, was compiled into a booklet, ‘ Travelling with Marianne North ’ , to give readers a taste of her experiences. The free booklet was published during September 2018 and distributed throughout Hastings. The Hastings Local History Group designed a pop up exhibition that follows Marianne ’ s life using her rich and beautiful art works and quotes from her ‘ Recollections ’. The exhibition ran from September 2018 to March 2019. Bohemia Walled Garden Heritage Open Day The Heritage Open Day transported the garden into Victorian times and into the fascinating life of Marianne North with talks, musical entertainment, story - telling and Victorian toys. Discovering Marianne North Thursday 20 th September Hastings Museum and Art Gallery The Making of a Flower Painter We were delighted that Christine Blakemore, the Great, Great Niece of Marianne North, joined us for the day to tell us about Marianne ’ s earlier years as a child and young woman, including her travels with her father to The Levant. Peppered with touches of detail that reflect Marianne ’ s personality, Christine ’ s talk brought the Marianne North story to life. Marianne North and the Restoration of her Gallery at Kew Gardens Assisted by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Royal Botanic Gardens embarked on a programme to conserve and restore the Marianne North Gallery to its original Victorian splendour. Jonathan Farley ACR, Senior Conservator at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew talked about Marianne North's travels, her construction of the gallery, RBG Kew's restoration and the odd things he discovered along the way. Chile: In the footsteps of Darwin and Marianne North Horticulturalists Penny Hammond & Sue Minter, both formerly of RBG Kew, travelled together to Chile in 2008 to see, growing in their natural habitat, the many Chilean species we grow in our gardens. Whilst there they found themselves following the travels of Marianne North. Their talk linked the pictures painted by Marianne with recent views and close ups of the plants seen, revealing how observant she was as a painter. Finally …… We went back to Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School during the Autumn term, 2018, to deliver an After School Club with 15, year 5 and 6 children. They learned how to research about Marianne North, how to paint with oils, took a trip to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to see Marianne ’ s Work for themselves and produced a short film about their findings. This is available on the Marianne North website from June 2019. In 2019, our two very different exhibitions will also appear at the Museum in the Park in Stroud, close to Alderley, where Marianne lived for the final years of her life. To see the resources we have created, visit our website: www.mariannenorth.uk Facebook https://www.facebook.com/exploringmariannenorth/ Twitter: @MarianneNorth30

Marianne North week at Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School May 2018….

 On Friday 25th May 2018, following a week's work in school with artist Sheridan Quigley, an exhibition of the children's work was shown in the school hall.  The work was hung in the same manner as Marianne North's work in her gallery. The children also displayed their sketchbooks which will be used to show their progress every year when the school will hold an annual Marianne North week.  This was further enhanced by the display of books about Marianne North along with flowers and plants that had been used by the children as inspiration for their work and learning about Marianne North. Guests included parents of the children, local MP Amber Rudd, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Hastings, representatives from the local council and the Jerwood Gallery, residents from Marianne House and the children themselves.  We also had a guest from The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Kew has been generous with its support for the project and continues to be so.  The guests and children were charmed by a visit from ‘ Marianne North ’ who opened the event by cutting a red ribbon.  Teachers' comments from the week included: “ Having every pupil ’ s work included in the exhibition felt very special … Having an artist come in to work with pupils was brilliant! ” – Year 6 Teacher “ Having art books especially for Marianne North Week was great! It was good to make it all cross - curricular – children enjoyed having a specific country to focus on. The children learnt great skills during the artist sessions. ” – Year 4 Teacher

The The Sto Story o ry of a f an Advent n Adventurer as urer as to told to ld to c children ldren a at t Sacred Sacred H Hea eart Cat rt Catholi olic Primary Sc Primary Schoo ool, Hasting l, Hastings Around 150 years ago, when the world was a very different place, there was a lady who loved flowers. She loved flowers and plants and trees and grasses, anything that grew. She lived in a big house with a lovely garden and even had greenhouses to grow special plants in. One day the lady went to visit Kew Gardens in London where there was a magnificent greenhouse. It was so hot and muggy inside, it was just like a tropical rainforest. It was full of wonderful plants from around the world. Big exotic flowers of bright colours, small delicate flowers and strange looking flowers of all different shapes, sizes and colours. She loved this greenhouse and all of the different plants in it so much that she visited it whenever she could. The lady also loved to paint. She particularly loved to paint pictures of the flowers and plants that she enjoyed so very much. She also loved to travel, although of course travelling was very different in those days. There were no aeroplanes and no cars, just wagons, carriages, horses and, of course, legs. There were some trains but not many yet. Carriages pulled by big engines with steam puffing out of the funnel. One day the lady decided that she wanted to go on an adventure. Not a little adventure. OH NO! A great big amazing adventure to explore the world and find as many plants and animals as she possibly could. She wanted to see the huge redwood trees in America. She wanted to see banana trees and pineapples, koalas and long slimy snakes. She wanted to see plants that lured insects into their chambers and then went… snap! Closed shut and ate them. And most of all she wanted to paint them and share them with people back in England so that they would also be able to see the wonderful things that grew in different parts of the world. So she packed up her bags and off she went……..