Kids in Museums volunteer Mar Dixon was pleasantly surprised when she went to visit an exhibition on textiles at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery…
I recently visited the Lost in Lace exhibition at the Birmingham Art Gallery. Although I’m not a textile fan I had heard nothing but good about these exhibitions, so I decided to see for myself. I was not disappointed.
There is a small taster exhibition in the main art gallery by the Round Room. There used to be access to the other section of the gallery but they are currently under going major refurbishments so this access has been cut off.
When you walk into the main exhibition, you’re immediately hit with the inverted Crystal Cathedral, which contains a quarter of a tonne of Swarovski crystal. The exhibition is set in a very glamorous room, which helps set the tone of the exhibition. At first, it looks like a very sparse exhibition until you actually start to look around. Before your eyes have time to soak in the chandelier, you start to gaze at the other items. First the ‘Flying carpet’ then the ‘breathing wall’. There are lots of exciting and interesting items, all with interesting descriptions.
The whole room has an amazing softness about it that makes you feel graceful. As you walk around, you’re greeted with little tables that hold the description of the larger items. They also have a very Kids in Museums feature: next to the tables, set on the lower edge, at a perfect height for kids, is an example of each object. I loved being able to touch the materials without having to touch the exhibition.
Lost in Lace is on at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery until February 2012.
January 29th, 2012 at 11:32 am
I took my 6 year old to the exhibition yesterday and was absolutley blown away, as was my daughter. We spent over an hour looking, touching, absorbing. Unexpected fun. She is still buzzing about it today.