THE HEPWORTH WAKEFIELD / MEDIA KIT

Transcription

1 THE HEPWORTH WAKEFIELD / MEDIA KIT The Hepworth Wakefield Gallery Walk Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF1 5AW +44 (0)

2 CONTENTS Contents 2 Introduction 3 The Collection 4-5 Collection Displays 2013/ Exhibition Programme 2013/ Outdoor Works 13 Learning The Building & Awards 16 The Architecture Wakefield Regeneration Trustees & Executive Staff Biographies Funding Partnerships MEDIA CONTACTS: Hollie Latham, Head of Communications and Marketing +44 (0) (0) hollielatham@hepworthwakefield.org Naomi Roberts, Media Officer +44 (0) (0) naomiroberts@hepworthwakefield.org Twitter: Facebook: Visit our online media centre for high res images and latest press releases 2

3 INTRODUCTION The Hepworth Wakefield is at the heart of Wakefield s regeneration. Designed by the internationally acclaimed practice, David Chipperfield Architects, it measures 5,000 square metres and is the UK s largest purpose-built gallery since The Hayward in London was built in The Hepworth Wakefield takes its name from the internationally acclaimed sculptor, Barbara Hepworth, who was born in Wakefield in It showcases Wakefield s nationally important collection, which includes major works by Barbara Hepworth and her contemporary Henry Moore, born nearby in Castleford in The Wakefield Permanent Art Collection also holds key works by other leading British artists including Ben Nicholson, Jacob Epstein, Ivon Hitchens, Graham Sutherland, John Piper, Paul Nash, Patrick Heron, L.S. Lowry and Lucie Rie. The displays are enhanced by loans from the collections of Tate, the Arts Council, the British Council and private lenders. The gallery has 650 square metres of temporary exhibition space, making The Hepworth Wakefield one of largest contemporary art spaces outside London, described by The Times as one of the world s Top 50 art galleries. Equipped with state-of-the-art learning spaces and a flexible auditorium, The Hepworth Wakefield offers an expansive programme of learning projects for all ages. This includes regular talks, lectures, performances, meetings and screenings, along with a welcoming café bar and a shop located on the ground floor. The Hepworth Wakefield is a major cultural asset for Yorkshire, enhancing the region s reputation as one of the world s leading centres for the exhibition and appreciation of sculpture. The 35 million development of The Hepworth Wakefield site is at the heart of Wakefield s regeneration. It acts is as a catalyst for tourism and has attracted in excess of 350 million inward investment into the historically important Waterfront area of the city, with its listed mills and warehouses. The on-going development in Wakefield city centre includes a new retail projects Trinity Walk and a new market hall designed by David Adjaye. The 140 million transformation of Wakefield Merchant Gate has created a new business quarter for Wakefield and an 8m development of Wakefield Westgate train station is underway. The Hepworth Wakefield is funded by Wakefield Council and Arts Council England with additional funding from a number of charitable trusts and private individuals. OPENING TIMES Tuesday Sunday 10am 5pm, closed Mondays (except Bank holiday and school holiday Mondays) Late night opening - third Thursday of every month, 10am 9pm. Admission to the gallery is free. 3

4 THE COLLECTION THE WAKEFIELD COLLECTION Wakefield s art collection consists of over 5,000 works. At the core of the collection is a significant group of works by modern British artists including Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, who were both born in the Wakefield District. Established in 1934, the original Wakefield Art Gallery adopted an ambitious collecting policy with a core aim of nurturing an understanding of contemporary art. Works by the leading artists of the time, who have now become synonymous with shaping Modern British art, were acquired for the collection. They include Hepworth s Mother and Child, 1934, and Moore s Reclining Figure, 1936, representing an important period in the history of British art during which many artists such as Ivon Hitchens, Paul Nash and John Piper began to experiment with abstraction. Other leading British artists are also represented in the collection, including: David Bomberg, Roger Fry, Harold Gilman, Duncan Grant, Ben Nicholson, Patrick Heron, Lucie Rie and William Scott. THE HEPWORTH FAMILY GIFT The Hepworth Family Gift is a remarkable collection that is central to the gallery s permanent collection. It consists of 44 of Hepworth s surviving working models for her bronze sculptures, the majority of which were made in plaster. The Gift also includes a group of works by Hepworth s artist friends, including paintings by John Wells and Breon O Casey, and ceramics by Janet Leach. The collection reflects the variety of ways in which Hepworth used plaster and aluminium as part of her working process. She preferred to make prototypes on the same scale as the finished sculptures and would have worked directly on the majority of these models. The centrepiece of the Gift is the aluminium prototype for Winged Figure, 1961, the sculpture commissioned by John Lewis for their flagship store on Oxford Street. At nearly six metres high, this is the only working model to survive for the monumental commissions Hepworth received in later life. This generous gift was made by the Hepworth Family through the Art Fund and was one of the key reasons for building a new gallery for Wakefield, connecting Hepworth s name with the city in which she was born and grew up. The Hepworth Estate has worked throughout with David Chipperfield Architects on the design of the two purpose-built gallery spaces devoted to The Hepworth Family Gift. 4

5 THE COLLECTION THE GOTT COLLECTION An important attraction for visitors is the Gott Collection, gifted to the City s art collection in 1930 and rarely seen prior to the opening of The Hepworth Wakefield. Through funding by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation this unique resource of 1,200 works on paper, including maps, topographical drawings and watercolours, depicting over 200 Yorkshire towns and villages and famous Yorkshire landmarks will be made publicly accessible via a digital database in Collectively they show how Yorkshire has long been a place of artistic inspiration. Located opposite The Hepworth Wakefield, the Chantry Chapel is a major city landmark that can be viewed from the gallery. It proved to be a popular subject for a number of 18th and 19th century artists and was depicted by J.M.W Turner in In addition, the collection includes a group of work by regional artists such as John Buckler ( ), John Coney ( ), Rev. Thomas Kilby ( ) and Louisa Fennell ( ) that provide a comprehensive visual history of the development of Wakefield and the surrounding area. NATIONAL COLLECTIONS ON LOAN The permanent collection displays are supplemented by loans from the national collections of the Arts Council, the British Council and Tate. These works will relate some of the key moments in 20th century British and European art, and a regular changing programme of displays. 5

6 COLLECTION DISPLAYS 2013/14 Until 15 September 2013 WORKS FROM YORK ART GALLERY: THE MILNER-WHITE COLLECTION During the refurbishment of York Art Gallery, The Hepworth Wakefield will showcase works from the gallery s Milner-White collection, including exceptional paintings by British artists Stanley Spencer, Walter Sickert, Gwen John and John Piper amongst others. Eric Milner-White ( ), was Dean of York from 1941 until his death, and gave a total of 35 paintings to York Art Gallery between 1948 and He is best known for his gift of studio pottery to the collection but this display will highlight the significance of this group of superb early Modern British paintings. Until 3 November 2013: POST-WAR BRITISH SCULPTURE AND PAINTING Running alongside the permanent displays of work by Barbara Hepworth the new collection exhibitions focus on Post-War painting and sculpture. Featuring work by Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Graham Sutherland, Eduardo Paolozzi and Reg Butler it explores representations of the body. At the heart of the display is the destabilisation of the body and the contrast between the representation of mass and flesh in painting and the stripping down and opening out of the figure in sculpture. Drawing on the Wakefield Art Collection the displays are augmented by key loans from the national collections at Tate, the Arts Council and private lenders. Until 3 November 2013 JAMES TISSOT: PAINTING THE VICTORIAN WOMAN Featuring Tissot s On the Thames, a much-loved painting in Wakefield s Collection, with loans from Tate, Museums Sheffield as well as the National Coal Mining Museum of England, this display looks at the representation of women in Victorian England through two contrasting sets of images: the fashionable women of James Tissot s society paintings and photographs of female workers in northern coalfields. Although they portray opposite ends of the Victorian social spectrum, these images are connected in interesting ways and highlight some of the tensions present in late Victorian society. French-born Tissot was an extremely successful painter of modern life who came to London in 1871 to capitalise on the lucrative patronage of Victorian industrialists. His paintings were targeted at a market that valued highly idealised images of women and femininity. A vivid contrast is the image of the pit-brow lass, women who would have worked in the mines of the Lancashire coal-fields where Kaye Knowles, the original owner of On the Thames, made his wealth. 6

7 Until 1 November 2014 BARBARA HEPWORTH: GRAPHIC WORKS AND SCULPTURE The Hepworth Wakefield now holds the entire set of graphic works on paper by Barbara Hepworth in the Wakefield Permanent Art Collection, thanks to the Hepworth Family Gift made through the Art Fund and recent acquisitions made with the support of the Friends of Wakefield Museums and Art Galleries. Hepworth made a number of print portfolios between 1969 and 1971 using screenprint and lithograph techniques. She explained how she used these processes to work on ideas which would eventually translate into sculpture, achieving an abstract sense of space, form and texture through the use of transparent smooth layers and bold mark-making. Two sets of lithographs were produced with the Curwen Press, London. Many of these works, including a series called The Aegean Suite, 1971, developed Hepworth s fascination with Greece and make links between geometric forms and sites associated with ancient Greek culture. Opposing Forms, 1970, was produced by the artist's gallery Marlborough Fine Art, London. Many of these works deal with more celestial subject matter and include abstract representations of the sun and moon, the movement of the tides and passing of the seasons. Approximately 20 graphic works will be shown at one time and the display will change throughout the exhibition period in order to show the entire body of work. Related sculptures by Hepworth from this period are on display alongside the prints. HENRY MOORE: LATE LARGE FORMS 15 November 2013 February 2014 In contrast to the intimate display of Hepworth s Two Forms in Gallery 2, these powerful large scale works by Henry Moore will allow visitors to experience the work of Moore with greater interactivity and clarity, walking around and amongst the works, experiencing their heft and mass as well as their contrasting scale and patina with greater intensity. BARBARA HEPWORTH: TWO FORMS 15 November 2013 May 2014 Barbara Hepworth s Mother and Child of 1934 (Wakefield Permanent Art Collection) is the impetus for this new collection display. A subject matter Hepworth frequently returned to, many of her mother and child sculptures have not survived. This collection display draws together the surviving works around this theme to address the development of abstraction in Hepworth s early maternal carvings. Although seemingly different at first glance, Hepworth s sculpture Two Forms sees the artist adopt a more formal approach to this subject matter, with the separation of the sculpture into two distinct but conjoined forms. The extraordinary Two Forms continues this iteration of the abstracted body and would be crucial to this dimension of the curatorial thematic. Additionally, it is hoped that further research in Tate Archives in collaboration with The Hepworth Estate, will enable the inclusion of archival material relating to the lost works in this collection display. 7

8 PARALLEL OF ART AND LIFE 15 November 2013 May 2015 This collection display continues our exploration of developments in twentieth century British art. It traces an alternative history to our current post war British Art displays, based around the British Pavilion at the 1952 Venice Biennial, taking as its conceptual starting point the 1953 ICA exhibition, The Parallel of Art and Life. Conceived through collaboration between artists (Eduardo Paolozzi and Nigel Henderson) and architects (Reyner Banham and Peter and Alison Smithson), the exhibition juxtaposed a series of seemingly disparate images and emphasized the importance of photography, mass reproduced imagery, architecture and design to an avant-garde art practice. The Hepworth Wakefield s exhibition will focus on this shift in influence, highlighting the multiple sources selected for The Parallel of Art and Life that point to wider artistic field of vision and a shift in arthistorical precedent. Art could now integrate the visual imagery of everyday life; the photograph, the x-ray, the microscopic image and the natural world. Alongside this was an acknowledgement of other non- Western sources: the inclusion of primitive objects, and reproductions of works by European artists who drew on sources such as the art of people with mental illnesses, non-western art forms and Outsider artists. The Hepworth s exhibition in its widest form will include works by William Turnbull, Eduardo Paolozzi, Nigel Henderson and John McHale but it is our ambition to also display works by significant American and European artists who are poorly represented in UK collections, such as Jackson Pollock, Jean Dubuffet, Alfredo Burri and Alberto Giacometti. 8

9 EXHIBITION PROGRAMME 2013/14 The Hepworth Wakefield builds on this artistic legacy with a regularly changing and ambitious exhibition programme of historic, modern and contemporary art. 25 May 29 September 2013 WILLIAM SCOTT February 2013 marks the centenary of the birth of William Scott ( ). Across a career spanning six decades, Scott produced an extraordinary body of work that has secured his reputation as one of the leading British painters of his generation. Exhibiting in America and Europe from the early 1950s, Scott is renowned for his powerful handling of paint in his exploration of still life, landscape and nude, and of the unstable boundaries between them. This will be the first major showing of the artist in the UK for over 20 years, with works drawn from major collections across the UK and Ireland. In addition to mark the achievements of this internationally acclaimed modern painter, the William Scott Estate have produced a catalogue raisonné of the artist s paintings and a new book on William Scott by Sarah Whitfield will be published by Tate to mark the centenary and exhibition. This will be followed by a catalogue of the exhibition produced in collaboration with the William Scott Foundation, encapsulating the tour, in its final manifestation in Belfast. Touring exhibition in partnership with Tate St Ives and Ulster Museum 25 May 29 September 2013 HAROON MIRZA This summer, Northern Art Prize 2011 winner Haroon Mirza will be returning to the North of England to present an exhibition of new work at The Hepworth Wakefield in West Yorkshire. Mirza s exhibition will feature an audio composition and physical light installation through which the artist will accentuate what usually goes unheard and unseen. The first gallery space will feature bright auras of light that will illuminate a display featuring key works from The Hepworth Wakefield's collection. Operating in sequence the light will form a visual composition accentuating the formal properties of the sculptures and paintings, and the ways in which they are displayed. The adjacent gallery space will host a transmission of Mirza s aural composition to become a listening room where visitors can hear the composition that combines the usually unheard sounds of electricity (generated by the adjacent visual light composition) with the River Calder's weir, which flows past the gallery and is usually audibly insulated by the building. Within the gallery space a sculptural, hand-crafted antennae will transmit the sound from the weir outside, while silent light works embedded into three walls engage with directly with the physical structure of the gallery. One wall of the gallery is a sculptural installation of tessellated foam, a visual and practical device whose pattern echoes the repeating composition of transmission and interference. The visual and the acoustic are reintegrated in the space of the exhibition immersing the spectator in a sensory experience that is at odds with the atmosphere of the other gallery spaces in the building where silent or hushed visual contemplation of works of art tends to predominate. 9

10 A project involving Emley Moor Mast is currently in development in which Mirza will animate this iconic West Yorkshire landmark with light and sound. August November 2013 (dates tbc) ROGER HIORNS: YOUTH The Hepworth Wakefield is recently announced a significant new development as we celebrate our second birthday. The launch of a new contemporary art space has transformed the ground floor of Caddies Wainwright Mill, a former textiles mill on the River Calder. The mill is adjacent to the gallery and will add 600sq metres of exhibition and event space and will be free to enter. The inaugural exhibition is internationally acclaimed and Turner Prize nominated artist, Roger Hiorns who will exhibit his entire body of Youth works for the first time in the UK, including new and site specific works commissioned by The Hepworth Wakefield. Born in 1975 in Birmingham, Hiorns studied at Goldsmiths College, and in the wake of Damien Hirst, he is one of the few artists of his generation to ask big questions about mortality, belief and meaning. The exhibition is specifically planned to coincide with the Arts Council Collection and Yorkshire Sculpture Park s ambitious display of Untitled (Seizure) by Roger Hiorns further strengthening the on-going collaborative work with Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle partners, affirming Yorkshire as an international centre for sculpture. 12 October February 2014 DANA SCHUTZ The much anticipated first UK solo exhibition for Schutz opens at in Wakefield this autumn. A significant proportion of new paintings and drawings will feature in the display of approximately 20 canvases that build on the highly personal and memorable painterly explorations she has created as one of the most significant, young contemporary artists in America today. Renowned for her characteristically vibrantly coloured figurative paintings and tactile brushwork, Schutz creates imaginary worlds to explore hypothetical and absurd situations. Applying her often dark and deadpan humour, Schutz explores the peculiarity of the human condition, describing scenes of hopelessness, loss of control, anti-social activity, human capability and incapability through her distinctive and vibrant brushwork. Schutz has described herself as a painter of adjectives and adverbs. Her work is a comic take on painting that is more akin to an unfortunate photographic snapshot than painting tradition. Schutz uses her medium to embellish the horror of embarrassment, exaggerating a moment of inopportune affliction or paying tribute to the everyday or insignificant moments. This exhibition will tour to Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, Germany, 14 February 20 April 2014 and Kunsthalle Tübingen, Germany, 2 September 2 November

11 12 October January 2014 WILLIAM DARBYSHIRE AND THE W.A. ISMAY COLLECTION This fascinating project brings together one of Britain s most exciting contemporary artists, Matthew Darbyshire, with one of the most significant collections of post-war studio pottery, the W.A. Ismay Collection. William Albert Ismay ( ) was born, raised and lived in Wakefield and collected studio ceramics from 1955 onwards, with over 3,600 pots by more than 500 makers. The collection, bequeathed to York Art Gallery, is extraordinary both in its breadth but also as a compelling insight into the compulsive and systematic protocols of a collector who was also a librarian. The collection includes beautiful examples by some of the most renowned makers of studio pottery such as Hans Coper and Shoji Hamada and works by local Yorkshire potters including Barbara Cass and Joan Hotchin alongside pots by lesser known ceramicists. The magnitude of the collection covered almost all the surfaces of Ismay s small terraced house. There was a deeply social aspect to Ismay's collecting: although a solitary man who devoted his life and income to pots, he developed close ties and decades-long relationships with the artists he supported. He often purchased from potters at the beginning of their career hoping to foster and support their development. These emotional attachments combined with his systematic approach to collecting resulted in a non-hierarchical approach whereby, and rather unusually, Ismay made no distinction between the more valuable ceramics from well-known makers such as Bernard Leach and Lucie Rie and pots that had little or no commercial value. For this unique display, Darbyshire will re-contextualize the Ismay collection by creating an installation which physically supports the pots whilst situating them in a domestic environment. Using the architectural footprint of Ismay s house and examples of the collector s domestic furniture, Darbyshire will raise questions around issues of taste, fashion and value in relation to the choices we are offered and that we make when selecting aesthetic objects today in particular, the objects we choose to co-habit with.' The exhibition has been developed in collaboration with York Art Gallery who will generously lend 635 pots from W.A. Ismay Collection. This quantity is based on a selection system devised by leading scholar in the field of ceramics, Helen Walsh (Curator, York Art Gallery). In order to represent Ismay's collection strategies the works have been selected on both merit and proportional representation in the collection. Matthew Darbyshire will also be making a new outdoor installation in The Hepworth Wakefield s gallery garden, to open in July/August FOLKERT DE JONG AND THE ROYAL ARMOURIES COLLECTION 14 February 1 June 2014 Dutch artist Folkert de Jong is working in collaboration with the Royal Armouries in Leeds to develop an exhibition that re-presents historically significant objects from British history. De Jong's work typically employs lurid colours and accessible, workable materials such as polystyrene, latex and insulation foam to create figurative, life-size tableau. 11

12 PHILIP-LORCA DICORCIA 14 February 1 June 2014 The Hepworth Wakefield will present the first and most comprehensive retrospective on the oeuvre of US photographer Philip-Lorca dicorcia within Britain. Born in 1951, dicorcia is one of the most important and influential contemporary photographers. His images oscillate between everyday environments to arrangements that are staged to the smallest detail. One of the key topics that dicorcia addresses is the issue of whether reality can be represented and this is one of the continuous threads linking his photographs, most of which he creates as a series. In Hustlers ( ) dicorcia took photographs of male prostitutes in minutely staged settings, whilst for his arguably most famous series, Heads ( ), he captured a second of the everyday life of passers-by on the street in New York, who were oblivious to him. Alongside the series Streetwork ( ), Lucky 13 (2004) and A Storybook Life ( ), the exhibition will also feature works from his new and ongoing East of Eden project. This exhibition is a touring partnership with Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt and DePont, Tilburg. 12

13 OUTDOOR WORKS HEATHER & IVAN MORISON: The Black Cloud Until June 2013 Heather and Ivan Morison created a site-specific work titled The Black Cloud in the grounds of the gallery to mark the opening of The Hepworth Wakefield. Taking the form of an outdoor shelter, the work provides a multipurpose space where visitors are encouraged to gather, relax, entertain and enjoy the waterfront location. To mark the first anniversary of the gallery opening The Black Cloud will be reanimated through natural mosses, plants and grasses which will grow on and around its wooden structure. The Black Cloud was originally commissioned by Situations at the University of the West of England for Victoria Park, Bristol in JAMES PYMAN: Upper Mill Until July 2013 This site-specific work takes the form of a wrap covering the early 19th century Grade II-listed watermill situated opposite to The Hepworth Wakefield in the gallery garden. Pyman has made a series of meticulously hand-drawn illustrations which capture and record the walls and features of the watermill. These drawings have now been reproduced to life-size scale and printed onto a building wrap which covers the building. This process enlarges the pencil marks, tones, dots and scratches of the original drawings and converts them to the marks, blemishes and textures of the bricks and plaster, creating a three-dimensional drawing set within the riverside landscape. DES HUGHES April 2014 Artist Des Hughes (born 1970) will be working with The Hepworth Wakefield and the West Yorkshire archives to make new outdoor works in response to the formative years of Henry Moore spent in Castleford and Yorkshire. Moore s Draped Reclining Figure, 1979, given to Castleford for public display in the civic centre but recently removed due to threat of vandalism, will be used as a point of departure for Hughes to continue his dialogue with the legacy of British Modernism, alongside ideas of making, permanency and commodity. 13

14 LEARNING The Hepworth Wakefield is located in one of the 70 most disadvantaged areas in England, and over one quarter of the surrounding district s population live in areas that are amongst the most deprived nationally (The Index of Multiple Deprivation 2010). The Hepworth Wakefield is providing the people of the region, including hard-to-reach groups, with access to inspiring, world-class art, while creating a home for Wakefield s significant art collection. As an important resource for the area, we are helping to reinvigorate civic pride and inspire young people to broaden their horizons and achieve their potential. REMOVING BARRIERS THROUGH ART: OUR LEARNING PROGRAMME Education and lifelong learning are at the heart of The Hepworth Wakefield s mission. Our Learning Studios located prominently next to the gallery s entrance present new opportunities to engage and inspire the area s children, young people, families and a range of under-represented audiences. Our Learning Team is developing meaningful connections with new audiences far beyond traditional gallery-goers, including at-risk youth and those with additional physical and learning needs. They are also forging strong links with the area s community groups, schools, disability groups, universities and youth workers, to develop programmes that meet the needs of a diverse range of people. FORMAL LEARNING During our first year, the Learning Team has established a core programme of artist-led workshops and a suite of resources that are available for self-directed visits. The programme is led by a team of 15 practitioners with professional practice in sculpture, installation, textiles, printmaking, drawing, drama, creative writing, music and painting. It has been devised to cover Early Years, Primary, Secondary, Post-16 and Higher Education, with tailored workshops and resources for each stage. OUTREACH The Hepworth Wakefield has worked with disadvantaged families and pupils from three schools in target deprived areas to draw inspiration from the natural landscape and express ideas through visual arts. The programme of activity targeted Neighbourhood Priority Areas (NPA) schools as they are less likely to visit and to encourage parents from NPA areas to visit as a family at weekends and holidays. In October 2011 The Hepworth Wakefield began the Out and About Project, working to support parents, children and teachers to visit the gallery and be inspired by the Yorkshire landscape following in the footsteps of the artists on display at the gallery such as Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and contemporary artists such as Clare Woods. Places visited included Brimham Rocks and Nostell Priory, National Trust, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and The Hepworth Wakefield. The pilot project was supported by the Ernest Cook Trust and Arriva Travel. 14

15 YOUNG PEOPLE Our youth programme supports a regular youth panel who meet twice monthly to plan and market events designed by young people, for young people. As THW Youth Panel progresses, the group will occupy a space in the Learning Studios, to host their own gatherings and initiate programmes and marketing for their peers. The gallery s youth work also targets partner organisations who work with vulnerable young people and our aim is to integrate referrals through tailored activities into mainstream programming and onto the youth panel diversifying the group and their reach. LIFE LONG LEARNING AND ACCESS We have a strong lifelong learning programme that engages adults in workshops that explore painting, sculpture, photography, print making and drawing. These are always oversubscribed and we are now looking into longer courses and partnerships with other organisations. Our access programme is about to launch with verbal description tours led by staff and artists, workshops developed for adults with additional needs and a handling collection developed by our artists that gives an artistic response to works from the collection rather than simple replicas. FAMILIES Our family programme has been extremely successful attracting thousands of parents and children to weekend and family activities. Each weekend families can join in a free drop-in activity led by an artist and respond to the temporary exhibitions on display. The Hepworth Wakefield also offers bookable workshops in which families can work with an artist for a set period of time. The Art Pods are filled with activities that take place in the gallery spaces, respond to and work directly with collection displays and exhibitions. Explorer back packs help families become detectives for the day and explore the gallery spaces and displays using a spy trail and kit. A paper trail is also available for the collections displays, to support drop-in family visitors. PUBLIC PROGRAMME The gallery has devised a public programme to present new ways to engage and inspire audiences, especially those who may not be currently engaged with contemporary or historic art. The programme supports the use of the gallery as a welcoming social space through interesting, relevant and accessible events that range from family-friendly events, thematic tours and interdisciplinary performances that include other art forms such as: poetry, music and drama. The Hepworth Wakefield aims to provide a year-round programme of free of events, providing a suitable access point to key audiences through monthly late-night events and the bi-monthly Wakefield Artwalks, a city-wide event involving local arts organisations that enables a more experimental approach to programming. 15

16 THE BUILDING & AWARDS The Hepworth Wakefield designed by David Chipperfield Architects is situated in the conservation area at the headland of the River Calder. The gallery building is formed from a conglomeration of 10 individually sized trapezoidal blocks that respond to the scale and rooflines of the surrounding historical, industrial buildings. With water on two sides and visibility from all directions, the building has no front or back elevation. The galleries are all located on the upper floor and are characterised by a wealth of natural light from the ceiling lights slots and windows, ideal for the display of sculpture. The ground floor contains rooms which perform primarily front-of-house functions to offer a performance space, learning studios, public facilities, as well as a shop, café bar and reception. Also situated on this level are the administration, back of house areas and an archive. The art collection is also stored on this level. RIVERSIDE PLAY AREA The riverside play area in the gallery garden creates an inclusive and fun, play opportunity for children of various ages and abilities. The bespoke design features a rock stack, wooden play ship, an aerial cableway and with play towers, slides, bridges and climbing nets. The play area is part of the Three Area s Project into Change4Life, funded by NHS Wakefield District and Wakefield Council, as well as allocated funds via the Governments Playbuilder Capital Programme. AWARDS & NOMINATIONS Art Fund Prize 2013 RIBA Stirling Prize 2012 White Rose Awards 2012 Art Fund Prize 2012 RICS Pro Yorkshire Awards South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2012 Wakefield Civic Society Design Awards 2012 Finalist, Museum of the Year Award & Clore Learning Prize Shortlisted for the Stirling Prize for architecture Arts and Culture Award Finalist, Museum of the Year Award Commercial, Tourism & Leisure, Design & Innovation Nominated in the visual art category (David Chipperfield) Best New Building The Civic Trust National Panel Special Award 2012 The Wallpaper* Design Awards 2012 The British Design Awards 2011 Condé Nast Traveller Award 2011 Best New Public Building Best Architectural Achievement Innovation and Design Award (culture) 16

17 THE ARCHITECTURE THE SITE The Hepworth Wakefield sits on a promontory on the River Calder, within a conservation area just outside Wakefield city centre. The surrounding features range from a motorway filter that joins the road into Wakefield, to historic Victorian warehouses and a medieval chapel. The site has views of the river and its industrial heritage, the city and its cathedral and, in the distance, the Pennines. The River Calder wraps closely around the site so that part of the building sits directly in the water, with a weir rushing onto its north side. The river does occasionally flood, and the building has become part of local flood defences. In the early 18th century, stretches of the Calder were deepened or diverted and a series of locks were introduced to make a waterway navigable by sea-going barges. The Calder and Hebble Navigation, the local section of the river, passes not far from the south side of The Hepworth Wakefield site. As the site has for many years been inaccessible, the building will play an important role in opening up the historic waterside area to the public. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Calder and Hebble Navigation was one of the great network of canals that allowed goods to be transported nationally and on an industrial scale. At the time, Wakefield was an important crossroads and adjacent to The Hepworth Wakefield are several handsome waterside warehouse buildings which are currently undergoing regeneration. Close to the site, a 14th century bridge spans the River Calder. Beside the bridge is an iconic local landmark: the medieval Chantry Chapel of St Mary the Virgin. It was once one of four chantry chapels in Wakefield but is now one of just four surviving chantry chapels in the whole of England. The chapel was rebuilt by George Gilbert Scott in APPROACH TO THE HEPWORTH WAKEFIELD In planning The Hepworth Wakefield, a priority was to create a strong link with the city centre. Rather than orient the building towards the road or the north-facing weir, David Chipperfield Architects designed a footbridge to lead the public from the main road into the southwest-facing entrance area of the gallery. This is the warmer side of the building, where visitors to the gallery and its café will readily spill out onto the river frontage. BUILDING FORM The concept of a building made up of several distinct volumes emerged in very early sketches. The Hepworth Wakefield comprises ten discrete but connected trapezoidal blocks of similar height which respond to the scale and rooflines of the surrounding warehouses. Visible from all directions, the building has many facets and no obvious front or back elevation. Each form is unique and there are few right-angled corners. Free of services on the roof, the exterior is treated as a unified sculptural form with a smooth surface accentuating the varied roof angles of the blocks. The support walls of each of the ten volumes extend to the top of the building. The internal spaces follow the exterior forms on both floors (although some spaces are subdivided on the ground floor). All windows are flush with the façade so that there are no recesses interrupting the lines of the building and 17

18 in the galleries (which are all on the first floor) all windows start at floor level. ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION Initially planned as a more conventional pre-cast concrete structure with a clad façade, a load bearing façade of pigmented in-situ cast concrete proved both the most beautiful and a more cost effective option. To keep the site free of water during construction, the river and weir had to be held back with sheet piling. Multiple piles were sunk across the site and around the building perimeter. The shuttering and casting of the specially pigmented concrete that formed the walls of the building was then carried out in situ. The load-bearing facade walls were cast using an innovative technique which is new to the UK, fulfilling the architect s vision for a very clear, monolithic form, integrated with its setting. Built to stand partly in the water facing the weir, and to defend against flood, the perimeter walls are thick and strongly reinforced. Steel trusses support the roof. MATERIALS The in-situ concrete required a perfect surface, to articulate the facets of the blocks. This was achieved by casting the perimeter walls in self-compacting concrete (SCC). This high-spec concrete is difficult to work with, but when used successfully delivers a very smooth finish. The concrete is mixed with pigment to create a subtle mid-grey colour that was named Hepworth Brown by the contractors. The roof is pre-cast concrete with a smooth screed in the same shade. On the ground floor, in the public areas, the lower part of the walls is panelled with a dark grey-pigmented MDF. The primary floor finish is pale grey polished screed. The internal gallery walls are of a robust and easily maintained dry-lining. The doors are polyester powdercoated, with flush frames. INTERIOR The building includes two floors of galleries and ancillary function spaces and a basement which houses essential plant. The ground floor facilities are elevated above water level. BASEMENT The basement houses the building s services. GROUND FLOOR The ground floor contains a reception area, a shop, a café, a performance space and generous learning studios, as well as offices and back-of-house areas including an archive, a store and a loading bay. The public areas enjoy views out of the building, and there is welcoming terrace space outside the main reception and café areas. A top lit staircase at the centre of the building leads visitors up to the galleries on the upper floor. GALLERIES The museum s ten galleries, all on the upper floor, vary in size and character according to their function. Six galleries have been designed for permanent collections, which range from large scale sculptures and plasters by Barbara Hepworth to the very light sensitive works on paper in Wakefield s art collection. There are four further galleries for temporary exhibitions. 18

19 SPACES Following the external form of the building, with ceilings that run parallel to the slanting roofs, the galleries are not conventional rectangular volumes. With variations in size, orientation and ceiling pitch, each gallery has a unique atmosphere and the capacity to draw the eye onto works of art in an unusual way. Even the largest spaces succeed in being intimate, the smallest in feeling generous. DAYLIGHT The main source of daylight in each gallery is from a light slot that runs across the full width of the ceiling at one end of the space. The angle of the roof, which varies from block to block, has been calculated so that each light slot should admit and diffuse light in the best possible way, to provide even illumination and complement the artificial lighting system. Louvres allow light to be completely blocked out if necessary. VIEWS In 7 of the 10 galleries, in addition to a roof-light, there is a window scaled according to orientation and the importance of the view. The galleries are not hermetic spaces but have a sympathetic connection to the world that surrounds them. They also link Barbara Hepworth s sculpture to the landscape in which she grew up. In addition, the windows also provide views into the gallery, particularly at night when spaces are illuminated. THERMAL CONTROL Air conditioning is secreted behind the gallery walls. Air comes into the galleries via a continuous 30mm gap at the base of walls. SUMMARY Competition: 2003 Gross floor area: 5,232m2 Facilities: 10 gallery spaces Learning Studios Auditorium (125 people) Archive Café Bar Shop Outdoor terrace and gardens Footbridge over the River Calder CREDITS Client: Wakefield Council Architect: David Chipperfield Architects Principal: David Chipperfield Director: Oliver Ulmer Project architect: Nick Hill, Kelvin Jones, Demian Erbar Project team 19

20 Julie Bauer, Yael Brosilovski, Katrin Bruenjes, Jesús Donaire, Corina Ebeling, John Puttick, Claudia Faust, Jason Good, David Gutman, Victoria Jessen-Pike, Ilona Klockenbusch, Daniel Koo, Laurent Masmonteil, Hau Ming Tse, Stephen Molloy, Hiroshi Nagata, Anna Naumann, Sabine Piechotta, Dean Pike, Billy Prendergast, Declan Scullion, Pierre Swanepoel, Korinna Thielen, Steffi Wedde, Jose Bergua Landscape architect Gross Max: Bridget Baines, Ross Ballard Structural and services engineer Ramboll UK Ltd: Anthony Armitage, Aunirbaan Bagchi, Michael Bartyzel, Peter Chaplin, Gilles Clement, Chris Dunn, Thomas Hallam, Lee Hargreaves, James Hay, Andrew Keelin, Andrzey Krawecki, Des Mairs, Tony McManus, John O Donoghue, Christian Riesner, Anton Sawicki, Mark Tanner, Robert Vint, Stephen Wilson, Mark Whitby, Simon Woods, Philip Butler, Tim Butler, Panayioutis Themisto Kleous, John O Donoghue, Chun- Hung Ou Lighting consultant Arup: Florence Lam, Andrew McNeil, Andy Sedgwick Theatre consultant Charcoalblue Ltd Acoustic consultant Paul Gillieron Acoustic Design: Paul Gillieron Fire consultant Safe Consulting Ltd: Nigel Hiorns Security consultant Arup: Ian Braithwaite Access consultant Jane Toplis Associates: Jane Toplis Bridge engineer Ramboll UK Ltd: Chris Dunn, Des Mairs, Stephen Wilson Project management Turner & Townsend: Rachel Brookes, Dewi Davies, Michael Diaz, Peter Goodrick, Michael Lumb, Howard Metcalf, Andrew Roach-Bowler, James Shaw, Mike Sweet, Justina Turner, Ben Small Quantity surveyor Turner & Townsend: Joe Bailey, Mike Connolly, Mark Matthews, Holly Pincock, Christopher Scoffield, Matthew Twigger, Thomas Aindow, Daniel Hughes Main contractor Laing O Rourke Northern Limited: Duncan Beaumont, DanDoherty, Terry Hughes, Andy Pickmere Graphics APFEL: Kirsty Carter, Emma Thomas Fit out contractors Realm Projects: David Woods, Graeme Blakey, David Renshaw, Justin Whittle Exhibition contractor Wood Mitchell, Museums Technik 20

21 WAKEFIELD REGENERATION To date, The Hepworth Wakefield has welcomed over 850,000 visitors since it opened on 21 May 2011 and is at the heart of Wakefield s regeneration. The gallery has helped to secure significant private sector investment to restore the listed mills and warehouses in this important conservation area. The positive ripple effect is already being felt in the communities surrounding the gallery, with private sector investment in the district totalling up to 1 billion. Visiting cultural attractions is West Yorkshire s main appeal to visitors and The Hepworth Wakefield plays a vital role in increasing not only regional tourism, but also in attracting visitors from across the UK and internationally to Yorkshire. The gallery aimed to attract 150,000 visitors during its first year (a nationally benchmarked figure) and has more than trebled this expectation in its first year, bringing an estimated 10 million to the District s economy. Across Wakefield tourism contributes 323 million to the local economy and generates 9,000 jobs and across the Yorkshire and Humber region heritage tourism generates 2.1billion visitor expenditure a year. Collectively with West Yorkshire s sculpture institutions Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) at West Bretton and Henry Moore Institute (HMI), and Leeds Art Gallery in Leeds The Hepworth Wakefield is helping to create an exciting and unique cultural offer, confirming Yorkshire as a new world centre for sculpture. Recent major regeneration projects in Wakefield district include: 1. Waterfront Wakefield Derelict and inaccessible for many years, this 100m project will transform The River Calder Conservation Area with the creation of a mixed-use site to incorporate residential spaces, leisure facilities, modern office accommodation and the restoration of former mill and warehouse buildings, including the 18th century Navigation Warehouse. 2. Trinity Walk This city centre retail development opened on 6 May It includes a new market hall, designed by David Adjaye, a large shopping centre, cafés, restaurants, and a new multi-story car park. 3. Wakefield Merchant Gate A 140m development has created a new business quarter next to Wakefield Westgate station and offer direct connections to London and cross-country networks. The mixed-use site will include office blocks, 350 homes, shops and restaurants, public squares, a hotel and a new railway station. 21

22 Current major regeneration projects in Wakefield district include: 1. Wakefield Westgate Train Station Building work has recently commenced on the new 8.8m Wakefield Westgate train station, one of the first new rail station building on the East Coast Main Line in decades. Construction work on the project began earlier this year and the new station is due to open in November The new Westgate station building will include new shops, a footbridge and lifts linking the platforms, a new travel centre and a first class lounge and standard waiting area. 2. Wakefield Kirkgate Train Station Wakefield Council, Metro and partners Network Rail, Northern Rail, Grand Central, Railway Heritage Trust and Groundwork Wakefield are working together to bring much needed improvements to Wakefield Kirkgate rail station just a short walk from The Hepworth Wakefield. Works to restore the Grade II listed station building throughout 2013/early 2014 are due to commence within the next few months. The 4.6m scheme to transform the building driven by Groundwork Wakefield and multiple funding partners will see the building brought back to life. The restoration will transform the station building to provide an important gateway to the city by providing facilities for rail passengers, local communities and enterprises. Plans include units for new businesses, a café, a retail outlet with rail ticket sales, exhibition spaces, meeting rooms for community and local business and accommodation for Groundwork Wakefield. 22

23 TRUSTEES & EXECUTIVE STAFF The Hepworth Wakefield is a registered charity. The gallery s governance consists of an appointed board of Trustees and an operational senior management team. The Hepworth Wakefield Board of Trustees David Liddiment, Chair Cllr Peter Box CBE Dr Sophie Bowness Linda Harley John Holden Joanne Lake David Roberts Andrew Wallhead Tom Wilcox Michael Ziff Senior Management Team Simon Wallis, Director Frances Guy, Head of Collection & Exhibitions Hollie Latham, Head of Communications & Marketing Rod Taylor, Deputy Director Natalie Walton, Head of Learning 23

24 BIOGRAPHIES CLLR PETER BOX CBE, LEADER OF WAKEFIELD COUNCIL Councillor Box became Leader of Wakefield Council in August 1998, having been elected in He has led the transformation of Wakefield Council into a modern and efficient authority. The Council is now a 4 star Excellent authority and in 2006 was voted Britain s Best Small City for Business. In 2010 Peter was awarded a CBE for Services to Local Government. Councillor Box s political career has also seen him Chair the Employment & Economic Development Committee from Before retiring in 2005 Peter was a Probate and Trust lawyer. Peter was Chair of the Regional Assembly for Yorkshire and the Humber from 2002-until its abolition in 2009 and Chair of the English Regions Network from He is a former member of the Governments Northern Way Steering Group. He is a Chair of the LGA s Economic and Transport Board and a Leeds City Region Board Member. He also serves on the Young Person s Learning Agency. Having been raised in Castleford, Peter has a strong and passionate connection with the Wakefield district and is a Trustee for the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the National Coal Mining Museum, two of the area s most popular attractions. DAVID LIDDIMENT, CHAIR, THE HEPWORTH WAKEFIELD David Liddiment, ex-director of ITV Programmes, BBC Trustee and co-founder of Britain s biggest Independent producer, All3media was appointed Chair of The Hepworth Wakefield in August He was educated at Huddersfield New College and Liverpool University and became well known for his role as Executive Producer of Coronation Street, nurturing a new generation of TV dramatists including Paul Abbott, Kay Mellor and Russell T Davies. In 1997 David was appointed Director of Programmes at ITV, where he led the channel through a period of creative renewal and commercial success, launching shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, Pop Idol and Cold Feet. In 2006 David was appointed as one of the founding members of the BBC Trust and chairs the Trust s Audiences and Performance Committee, which monitors the performance of all of the BBC s public services. David is co-founder and non-executive director of the independent production company All3Media, now the largest independent production house in the UK. He is an associate of The Old Vic Theatre Company, having co-founded the company with Kevin Spacey in SIMON WALLIS, DIRECTOR, THE HEPWORTH WAKEFIELD Simon Wallis was appointed Director of The Hepworth Wakefield in July He was previously Director of Chisenhale Gallery in East London, Senior Exhibitions Organiser at the ICA, London; Curator at Tate Liverpool; and Curator at Kettle s Yard, University of Cambridge. He studied painting at Chelsea School of Art and subsequently at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA and gained an MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies at Manchester University. 24