Thursday Late | Art and Identity
5 - 8.30pm
Half Price Admission: £7.50 / £8.50 with Gift Aid
[ Late )
We’re open until 8.30pm one Thursday a month (apart from our changeover months of May and November), when you can take in our collection and exhibitions after hours. Enjoy talks and studio workshops, as well as free tours and drop in creative activities, plus live music in the courtyard from June to September. Pallant Café will be open serving a selection of food & drink and you can browse the Bookshop’s fabulous art books, prints and gifts.
September sees us explore how artists present their identity to the world. Enjoy an exclusive talk (separately ticketed) with photographer Johnnie Shand Kydd and art critic Louisa Buck who will explore the creative energy and personal dynamics of the Young British Artists (YBAs) in the 1990s. Discover how the photographs captured reflect not only friendships and collaborations, but also how art and life were often one and the same for the YBAs. The conversation will also explore Shand Kydd’s more recent photography projects in Naples and Suffolk, expanding on his continued interest in place, people and community.
There will also be a curator’s tour connected to the exhibition Rana Begum Curates: Opposing Forms, live music in the courtyard, life drawing with award winning artist Wendy Barratt and a studio drink and draw workshop.
This month we are also delighted to be joined by students from the University of Chichester providing musical entertainment as a creative response to Seeing Each Other. Musical Theatre Music students have been inspired by portraits in the exhibition and will be performing selected songs in response to the art. See below for more details of their performance, starting at 7.30pm
Our Thursday Late event will follow this schedule:
5-6pm Library Show and Tell
5.45 – 7.45pm Live music in the courtyard – Willow Avenue
6-7pm Talk: Behind the Lens: Johnnie Shand Kydd in conversation with Louisa Buck (tickets sold separately)
6.30- 8pm Drink and Draw Studio workshop (tickets sold separately)
6-8pm Drop-in Life Drawing with Wendy Barratt
7.30 – 8.15pm Art and Identity – Performances from University of Chichester Musical Theatre Music students
7.30-8pm Guided tour of Rana Begum Curates: Opposing Forms exhibition with curator Miriam O’Connor-Perks
Admission to the gallery and exhibitions is free if you purchase a ticket for a talk or studio workshop, otherwise admission is half price.
Performance – University of Chichester Musical Theatre Music 7.30 – 8.15pm
Our concert was created in response to Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists. We have paired artworks from the exhibition with songs that share a similar mood, story or feeling. Some give a voice to muses and sitters, imagining the lives behind the portraits. Others turn the spotlight on artists who are usually behind the easel, showing them as subjects themselves.
As we explored the exhibition, we found surprising and moving connections between these paintings and songs from musical theatre. Lucian Freud’s Girl in a Striped Nightshirt explores the relationship between an artist and their muse, much like Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George. Chantal Joffe and Ishbel Myerscough’s self-portraits inspired us to explore their friendship and collaboration through I Will Never Leave You from Side Show. Henri Gaudier-Brzeska’s The Dancer captures movement through stillness, which reminded us of the vibrancy of Life of the Party and of the muse herself, who was known to dance on tables.
Bringing these songs and paintings together creates something new, where music adds a voice to the images and the art deepens the meaning of the songs.
Half price gallery admission tickets for the September Late event are required to attend this performance.
This event is part of our series of Thursday Lates.
Other dates for your diaries:
28 August: Film and Music Night
23 October: Portraits of Artists
For our late events admission to exhibitions is free if you purchase a ticket for a talk, film screening or studio workshop, otherwise admission is half price.
