Our Eastlake’s Plymouth: A Family Adventure Through Time walking tour was a hit with every who took part! Here is a articel from the local paper, Plymouth Herald.
Recently was the culmination of what myself and Laura Hughes had been preparing for the last few months: our art bite. Though I’d partaken in one last year also, it was still somewhat nerve-racking gathering everyone together and taking them up to the gallery space. This was especially due to the fact that the talk was sold out and I was delivering it on my own! However the audience were wonderful, and attentive enough even to crack a smile whenever I made an Eastlake-related joke! The whole thing has been such an interesting experience, and sad to say, will probably be my last of the sort at Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery due to this being my final year at Plymouth University. I will definitely be sad to leave, the Young Explainers programme has been one of the most stimulating and thought-provoking experiences throughout my time in Plymouth. The facts you discover whilst researching are one of my favourite things about constructing art bites, however, a year or so after my first one, I am also finding the delivery of the speech itself to be fun too! I am eagerly awaiting the next ones in the series on Eastlake, I think it’s opportunities like this which allow you to really interact with the artworks and exhibition experience and everyone should go find this out for themselves by attending at least one!
Elizabeth Hill
My Art Bite – Eastlake and Napoleon is this Wednesday – (Wednesday 31st October) 1pm – 1.30 pm at Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery. I am beginning to get very nervous but I am looking forward to it very much!
Hope you can make it,
Victoria Smith
All ‘Art Bites’ talks/tours are free but require a ticket. These can be collected in person from the Museum’s Welcome Desk or you can call us on 01752 304774 and we will post or put a ticket aside for you. Any unreserved tickets will be available on the day although we cannot guarantee that any will remain! All ‘Art Bites’ start at 1pm and last for up to 30 minutes. For the enjoyment of all attendees we would be very grateful if you could turn up in plenty of time. You can use your ticket to get a 20% discount in our café once the ‘Art Bite’ is over.
‘A little snippet from the Eastlake Family Adventure in Time walking tour rehearsal. The event takes place on Saturday 3rd November from 11am at the Museum. Places are free, but booking at the Museum front desk is essential, hurry only a few places left!’
Greetings everyone,
Over the last few months, the team and I have been busy with our heads in old books and snazzy online databases uncovering lots of interesting titbits for our Eastlake events. Along the way I have learnt so much about a city I called home for three years yet barely knew anything about it.
While we are all guilty of ignoring the Turner’s in our back garden while looking for Van Gogh’s elsewhere, this trait is more apparent in Plymouth than most other British cities. For centuries Plymouth was an epicentre of trade, travel, society and culture, and yet it has been largely underrated since Hitler’s bombs removed most of its beautiful historic façade. But even during Eastlake’s lifetime his home city dramatically altered as it transformed itself from an ancient dockland to a modern nineteenth century metropolis.
At the beginning of the 1800s Plymouth’s old town had a population of 19,000 by 1851 this figure had more than doubled. There was a serious shortage of housing with the average number of ten people living under one roof. These cramped conditions meant epidemics were rife, with two cholera outbreaks in 1832 and 1849, killing almost 3,000 citizens.
Smuggling was also widespread and at the beginning of the 19th Century it was reported that each year more brandy and rum was smuggled into Devon than was imported legally into London. Sailors discharged in Plymouth following the Napoleonic Wars were signed up by the smuggling gangs and customs workers (who’s wages were solely dependent on custom charges they placed on ships) were more likely to take profitable bribes than turn in those involved illegal trade.
Around 1832 the effects of the industrial revolution finally begun to show and the streets were now lit by gas and regular horse drawn buses begin running. The biggest change however came in 1848 when the railway finally reached Plymouth and by the end of the century four public parks, a public library, aquarium and museum had been opened.
Thanks to this rich and diverse history, Plymouth has borne several famous sons and daughters, many of whom have been re-linked to the city and honoured accordingly; reminding people how important the city has been to British and world history. However, within the art world, many of the city’s home grown artists have been remembered as locals that left to earn success elsewhere, if associated to their home city at all. Art historians have overlooked Plymouth’s role in producing such prominent artistic figures and the school that discovered them.
Now it is Eastlake’s turn to be acknowledged through the events hosted by the Museum this autumn. But before you come see what he achieved, take the time out to go and experience the city where it all begun and the locations that inspired his dream to become an artist. I for one found the experience very rewarding and want to thank the Museum and Young Explainers for the fantastic opportunity to investigate such a remarkable city.
Thank you for reading.
Laus
We have now recorded snip-its of two of our Art Bites as Mp3 downloads!
Hello!
The culmination of a summer’s research has almost finished. As the leader of the research team I have spent days glued to archive websites and hours sat in the record office, much to their delight, to help with research for the lectures that Susanna Avery-Quash delivered in the museum just a couple of weeks ago. Now there are only a few loose ends to be tied up so that the Plymouth Guild can publish our findings! Exciting stuff!
Conveniently, I am also local to Plymouth. I’m from a town called Plympton 15 minutes outside of the city centre. Little did I know before embarking on the Young Explainer’s project, Sir Charles Eastlake was raised and went to school in the quaint little village of St. Maurice. Subsequently, when Susanna Avery-Quash and two descendants of Lady Eastlake ( Margaret Bourne and Caroline Gibbons) visited, we went for a lovely little daytrip/ Eastlake trail! First on the list was St. Mary’s Church. We were met warmly by two members of the congregation. Susanna was like a child in a sweet shop when we found the following plaques, it was lovely to see her enthusiasm. I also could not believe that I had sat in that church on many occasions and not once did I realise the value of these plaques.
Plaque to commemorate the lives of George and Eliza Eastlake Plaque to commemorate Ellen Pierce (their daughter)
St. Mary’s Church was the Eastlake family’s local church. They would have walked down the hill from their residence ‘Hillside’ in St. Mary’s to attend the Sunday service. Unfortunately, we could not find the location of the grave in the grounds but we were kindly offered a hot cup of coffee and some biscuits to brighten our spirits after our feet got soggy from searching through the long grass looking for it and the chill from the inclement weather.
Once we were ready to head off again, our second trip was to the location of the Eastlake house. Unfortunately, the house was burnt down in an arson attack from some young plonker trying to keep themselves warm in the house. Nevertheless, we were able to walk around the grounds which is now the home to lovely residential flats for the elderly. The ladies were very happy to think that we may have been looking at the same trees Sir Charles Lock Eastlake used to look at when he was younger, and we even managed to get this lovely photo of Susanna under the plaque commemorating Sir Charles.
The last stop on the tour was the old Grammar School. As I drove through Fore Street, the ladies soaked up all the local charm of the area, with its cobbled streets and petite houses.
The Grammar School stood proudly in the sun as we heard the eerie noise of the local school children playing outside; it felt as though we had been transported back in time. The Grammar School was the local school of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Benjamin Haydon and The Eastlake children. Here is a little bit of background to the school that I found really interesting…
“The old Grammar School at the southern end of George Lane, is referred to by the Devon historian, W.G. Hoskins, who says, “Few schools in England can have such rich associations in the history of painting, but few towns in England can have been so unaware of their greatest son”. Joshua Reynolds, the son of Samuel Reynolds, a Headmaster of this School, was born in the old school house in 1723. The School was intended as a charitable school for boys of surrounding parishes but, such was its excellent reputation, the local gentry sent their sons too. John Parker of Saltram, who was to become the first Earl of Morley, used to walk daily to the School through Underwood. His grandmother, Lady Catherine Parker, gave Joshua Reynolds his first pencil. “
To end the tour we went into St. Maurice church (which can be seen in the photo, next to the Grammar school) and then for a walk around the village. It was a lovely day that I shall remember for a long time. So for now, I better get back to finalising the research! Watch this space!
Toodle pip!
CLICK HERE!! To see the pictures from our very first Art Bite!
Check out the exhibitions Mini-Site! CLICK HERE!!
Our very first public Art Bite, Eastlake’s Scholarly and Artistic Achievements, is today (Wednesday 10th October), 1-1.30 at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery.
All ‘Art Bites’ talks/tours are free but require a ticket. These can be collected in person from the Museum’s Welcome Desk or you can call us on 01752 304774 and we will post or put a ticket aside for you. Any unreserved tickets will be available on the day although we cannot guarantee that any will remain! All ‘Art Bites’ start at 1pm and last for up to 30 minutes. For the enjoyment of all attendees we would be very grateful if you could turn up in plenty of time. You can use your ticket to get a 20% discount in our café once the ‘Art Bite’ is over.
CLICK HERE! to see the pictures from the rehearsal of the Young Explainers Art Bites on the Wednesday 3rd October.
Young Explainers 2012 Unlocking Eastlake 