INTERVIEW: Hepworth Wakefield turns 10
I speak to Director Simon Wallis about his 10 years leading the art gallery
Today's edition is presented with Museum Bookstore
Happy hump day, and welcome to the 11 new subscribers since Friday’s newsletter.
I’m back with another of my interview editions and today it’s a cracker. The Hepworth Wakefield is one of the UK’s most successful new art galleries and it turned 10 years old this summer. To celebrate, I’ve interviewed its Director Simon Wallis who has not only steered the institution from the very beginning, but he’s been on my wish list for an interview for a while. I’m delighted to be able to bring it to you! And after such a long tenure, I couldn’t resist a cheeky question about what his next moves might be.
A quick thanks here to today’s newsletter sponsor Museum Bookstore. This newsletter relies on sponsors to keep it going and keep it free so I thank them for supporting this independent publication. I recommend you click the button below to browse their excellent online store. If you’d like to sponsor a future edition - either as a brand, institution or even an individual - then just reply to this email to ask for more details.
Now let’s get reading!
Maxwell
Do you love museum books? As you’re reading this, I’m guessing you do! So visit Museum Bookstore, an online shop specialising in exhibition catalogues from museums across the globe. It has literally thousands, and is a go-to place for museum book lovers as unlike most online bookstores, they handpick their books to only feature the cream of the crop. You’ll find publications from small independent art publishers and famous museums such as the Met, the National Gallery and the Louvre.
barometer
What’s heating up and cooling down in the world of museums, art and galleries this week:
going up
After the success of contemporary art galleries in the coastal towns of Hastings and Margate, as well as the recent opening of the Folkestone Triennial 2021, now Bournemouth is getting in on the act of art-by-the-seaside as this weekend it opened a vast new gallery inside a former department store. Soon sculpture will be just as part of a trip to the beach as sun, sea and sand.
going down
Is it curtains for artists and photographers on Instagram? The social media app was the go-to for creatives to share their work but recently it’s announced it’s “no longer a photo-sharing app,” instead pivoting towards TikTok-style videos and shopping. It’s fair to say artists are seeing red, and are threatening to leave in droves (if only there was an alternative).
curated
My curated list of what’s new to see, do, watch, read and more.
NEW INSTALLATION
Nation's Favourite Paintings at Trafalgar Square
The National Gallery has brought some of its masterpieces out into the open. Well, replicas of them anyway. Visitors can explore 20 full-sized copies of iconic works including those by Van Gough and JMW Turner. The pop-up exhibition is accompanied by Sketch on the Square, a programme of free, daily alfresco art activities. Until 2 September
NEW SERIES
Fake or Fortune?
The brilliant art detective series is back. In a new episode tonight, Fiona Bruce and art expert Philip Mould investigate if Time of War by the famous Victorian artist Edwin Landseer actually survived a devastating 1928 flood that wrecked the Tate’s archives, despite Tate’s claims it was destroyed. Fascinating stuff. Watch on BBC One at 21:00 BST tonight or catch up on the series so far on BBC iPlayer.
NEW INSTALLATION
Museum of the Moon
Measuring seven metres in diameter, this stunning moon installation by artist Luke Jerram has been travelling the UK for ages and its next stop is Kensington Town Square in West London. It features actual detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface fused with moonlight and a surround sound composition. And it’s free. Until 15 August
interview
It’s been a whole ten years since The Hepworth Wakefield (THW) opened. In May 2011, the David Chipperfield-designed gallery welcomed visitors for the very first time, kickstarting a decade of renaissance in the Yorkshire town and demonstrating that major contemporary art galleries can thrive outside of the UK capital. It was named after Barbara Hepworth who was born and brought up in Wakefield, and it’s continually presented major exhibitions of international art in its short life. Just six years after opening, it was awarded Art Fund Museum of the Year 2017, the world’s biggest museum prize.
A major highlight of their 10th anniversary is an exhibition on Barbara Hepworth. But they’ve also announced a series of creative commercial collaborations with artists and designers with all profits helping to support the gallery’s future work. After 18 months of covid-disruption, this income will be hugely valuable. The first to be announced is a fashion collection by JW Anderson (who exhibited at the venue in 2017) featuring exclusive items such as a unisex t-shirt (which I’ve definitely got my eye), a tote bag and pair of earrings.
To mark this important birthday, I’ve spoken to Simon Wallis OBE, Director of The Hepworth Wakefield, to find out more about this exciting collaboration, and to hear about the ups and downs of the past ten years.
***
Happy 10th birthday! How have you been celebrating?
Thank you! The main focus of this year is our major Barbara Hepworth exhibition. Hepworth was born and grew up in Wakefield and The Hepworth Wakefield was created in part because of an important gift to the city from Hepworth's family. This gift comprises 44 full-scale sculpture prototypes, her workbench and tools, archive material, as well as drawings and prints by the artist. Our major exhibition explores and celebrates her work and was the obvious choice for our birthday year. As part of this project, we invited artists Tacita Dean and Veronica Ryan to create interventions in the exhibition that engage with Hepworth’s work as an enduring source of inspiration. We have also brought together, for the first time in 70 years, Hepworth’s first major public commissions, made for the Festival of Britain. They look superb in our new Tom Stuart-Smith designed garden.
Tell me about your collaboration with JW Anderson?
Our 10th anniversary is the perfect opportunity to revisit successful past partnerships. In 2017 we worked with Jonathan Anderson on a major exhibition that brought together works of art from our collection with key fashion and design pieces to explore expressions of the human form. It included an installation of a forest of oversized jumpers designed by Jonathan. The fashion edit we have released with JW Anderson this summer refers directly to this installation, as well as Hepworth’s work. The process of choosing the imagery and sourcing suppliers was very collaborative – it needed to be in order to maintain the authenticity of both brands. There is such an interesting creative dialogue and synergy between what Jonathan does as a designer and the programme of The Hepworth. Jonathan’s exhibition at the gallery showed fascinating crossovers between art, design and fashion and that momentum continues. The boundaries between creative disciplines are now so blurred and that’s an inspiring situation of cross-pollination to experience and consider.
Should more museums be embracing commercial partnerships like this?
I think each museum has to do commercially what is right for them, their audiences and their brand, but income from our retail and artist editions business is increasingly a very important income stream for us, with all profits supporting our work as a charity. Nurturing creative working relationships with artists and designers who think highly of our work is so crucial and rewarding. Carefully considered commercial partnerships will have to fill the financial void as public investment will likely become ever tighter and scarcer. All of us are now finding imaginative new ways to make good the significant losses we suffered during lockdown. So many people got in touch about the power of creativity during this period of isolation, and museums and art galleries are in a great position to build on that growing public engagement.
What have been the challenges of the past decade?
Our main challenge is being a relevant and useful resource for our local communities, while attracting audiences from all over the country and overseas by ensuring national and international significance. The Hepworth Wakefield was built out of the centre of Wakefield, partially in the river bed of the River Calder. There is currently little else to visit or do immediately by the gallery, so there isn’t ever any passing footfall that we can rely on: every visitor has to be enticed to visit in advance of coming. This is why we developed our popular fairs and markets programme, which can draw in 10,000 people over a weekend, and why we fundraised £2m to transform our outdoor site into an inspiring garden designed by Tom Stuart-Smith. We also found a developer for the huge 19th-century mill complex that shares our site and is currently being transformed to create Tileyard North, a vibrant destination for creative and collaborative partnerships in music, film, TV, design, new media and all facets of the commercial creative sector. As an inclusive, creative hub in Wakefield it will be hugely positive in terms of establishing new business relationships and networks, creating new job opportunities and empowering people in the region. These initiatives significantly increase visitor dwell time on site and attract broader and more diverse audiences. In order to be a viable business, we need visitors to spend time and money on site. We are known for the quality and significance of our ambitious exhibitions, but also increasingly for growing an important collection of modern and contemporary art all through philanthropy. This variety and ambition is what ensures the regular high footfall we need to thrive.
How has the gallery transformed Wakefield since 2011, and vice-versa?
As well as helping encourage and enable Tileyard North next year, the gallery has definitely provided greater confidence, national visibility and increased civic pride. We won the prestigious Art Fund Museum of the Year prize in 2017, which was wonderful recognition for our work. One of the most transformative aspects of what we do is through our extensive learning programme with local schools and families. We’ve empowered and nurtured creativity in a new generation of young people who use art as a powerful force in their everyday lives. Wakefield was a huge influence on the development of Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore with its unique mix of urban and rural experiences. We actively build on that legacy and unique sense of place in our programme so we reflect what’s special about Wakefield whilst ensuring it has an outward facing dialogue with the best contemporary art and design. Past and present are successfully bound together to create new thinking and opportunities in our region.
Wakefield is bidding to be named UK City of Culture in 2025. Why should it win?
Wakefield District is where both Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore were born and brought up, so we have a very important artistic heritage. We have an incredible range of cultural destinations from Nostell Priory - a unique National Trust property - to the National Coal Mining Museum for England, as well as a burgeoning artistic community with the Art House providing affordable artist studios. Wakefield is the only place outside of London that has two Museum of the Year winners with the ever-inspirational Yorkshire Sculpture Park and ourselves. And yet Wakefield continues to suffer stubborn, deep-rooted socio-economic deprivation, being one of the places that has been most adversely affected by the long-standing policy of austerity. We look with expectation and hope to a true and proven ‘levelling-up’ occurring with new significant government investment in our region. City of Culture provides a wonderful opportunity to raise the profile of all these wonderful resources that have thrived here to work together and inspire pride, ambition and a new creative vision for the district. We need to unlock with investment the great potential that is already here.
How do you think THW will change in the next ten years? And what does it need to do better?
The Hepworth will further cement its reputation as a proven successful and valued example of the power of culture-led urban regeneration. The art collection and its growth and use will become ever more important to our work. It provides a lasting legacy alongside the changing temporary exhibitions: it’s a vital permanent resource for now and for future generations. I see many more exciting collaborations as creative industries take root here, just as Tile Yard North are doing. We’ll play an ever-increasing part in education in the region, putting people of all ages in touch with their creativity and the power of their imaginations. We have a strong culture of continuous improvement at the gallery so we try to do everything better as an organisation that thrives on learning, adapting and creating new opportunities. We learn so much from the artists we work with, our collection, our trustees, stakeholders and our diverse audience. We always have to be the best conversational partners possible. There is always room for improvement, and we thrive because we recognise that.
You’ve steered THW since it opened in 2011. Do you have your eye on taking the reins of a national museum one day?
I consider The Hepworth – as do very many other people! - to be locally, nationally and internationally significant and see the inspiring opportunities we help create every day. The greatest predictor of success in the future is success in the present – and we have that in abundance at The Hepworth. I’m so proud of my team of brilliant and committed colleagues who make it all happen. My attention is firmly on realising all the potential we have here: Wakefield is poised for some really exciting changes that we’ll be at the heart of. Once the opportunities and engaging challenges stop I’ll work elsewhere, but only if I can be part of creating things from scratch in the way we’ve been able to do here in Wakefield. I’d never want to do something less ambitious, challenging or exciting.
Shop the JW Anderson x The Hepworth Wakefield collection here. Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life runs until 27 Feb 2022
Want to sponsor a future edition, just like Museum Bookstore? Just reply to this email to ask me for more details including the rates.