The Bradford School of Art Club joined their counterparts from the University of Huddersfield for a fascinating Masterclass in curating at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP). After a brief introduction by YSP’s Sarah Coulson and Natalie Walton and Natalie Rudd from the Arts Council Collection (ACC), the young people were asked to explore the [Re]construct exhibition in YSP’s Chapel gallery, and to think about all the roles and processes involved in setting up an exhibition.
They then moved on to the Longside Gallery, where the groups viewed another exhibition, Kaleidoscope: Colour and Sequence in 1960s British Art, and were given a behind-the-scenes tour with Natalie Rudd, senior curator of the ACC, who talked about care of collections, storage, conservation and transport.
After lunch, Club members had the opportunity to ask lots of questions of Natalie Rudd, Natalie Walton, Helen Pheby and Kathryn Welford, then put what they had learned that morning into practice in their final curating task: working in teams to lay out an exhibition and plan co-ordinating events and marketing. It was an imaginative and lively session with lots of debate that finished with impressive Dragon’s Den-style presentations.