The Curator

With an eye for the dramatic Jan discovers and interprets stories from lost and unloved collections.  Bringing local history alive by mixing contemporary artists with historical paintings and museum objects to create fresh and original bespoke exhibitions with a human touch on a small budget.

Recent exhibitions include:

Landscape Revisited

Scarborough Art Gallery 2011: inviting photographer Joe Cornish and contemporary artist Kane Cunningham to revisit and re-interpret the collection of Landscape paintings at Scarborough Museums Trust.  The ever-changing landscape of the East Coast is placed in the picture as Kane Cunningham’s Knipe Point Studio hovers on the edge of the cliff whilst Joe pushes the boundaries of his own practice in landscape photography.

Storm Force

Scarborough Art Gallery 2010: mixing contemporary art by Len Tabner, traditional and contemporary Fishermen’s ganseys from local museum collections and incorporating the work of textile artist Dr Annie Shaw.  A spotlight on local history enabled the restoration of a triptych of paintings of the great storm of 1880 by Robert Earnest Roe with help from the Pilgrim Trust.

Storm force Mini ganseys by Annie Shaw photo credit Tony Bartholomew

Name to a Face

Scarborough Art Gallery 2009: an exhibition discovering the portraits in the attic store at Scarborough Museums Trust and the local stories that linked them to the East Coast.  The exhibition walls were beautifully and wittily illustrated by local artist Sarah J Venus.

Drawing on The Dramatic:

Scarborough Art Gallery 2009 showcasing work from BA Costume, Graphics and Fine Art students at Yorkshire Coast College in combination with historic costume form the Trust’s collection, stage costume, costume design and featuring live ‘dramatic’ drawing sessions in the gallery.

East Coast Open:

Scarborough Art Gallery 2009 and 2011. Creating an ‘Open’ exhibition with a difference by unifying the talent of amateur and professional with works from the Trust’s collection in themed rooms enabled by a combination of guest curators.