More goodbyes to Animalism

You've seen the dismantling of Don McCullin -- now say adieu to Animalism.

The absolute highlight of the four-month exhibition for me was the beautifully-lit wall of ape photographs from James Mollison's 'James and Other Apes' series. Exhibition Organizers Sharon Scarmazzo and Ruth Haycock were in action to check the prints and package them back up into their very fetching crates.

Scraping the Don McCullin exhibition captions off the walls was painstaking stuff: Animalism has given the Exhibition Organisers some much more fun things to do. First, peeling off the big events banner outside Gallery One...

... second, running their hands all over the plush loveliness of the furry title lettering.

All this took place earlier in the week. Since then, I've tiptoed back into the galleries to have a peek at the building of the new Joanna Quinn and Neeta Madahar exhibitions -- and it's a real thrill watching them both take shape. I'll take you behind the scenes from Monday.

Your chance to take part in one of our exhibitions

South Downs Way, West Sussex, 8th October 2007. Simon Roberts

We're doing something special for one of our 2010 exhibitions -- and we want you to help us make it happen.

In March next year, we'll be opening a new exhibition based around the work of British photographer Simon Roberts. Simon has travelled up and down the country, photographing the English at leisure for his series We English -- covered a few weeks ago in an article in the Guardian's Weekend magazine.

Our Simon Roberts: We English exhibition will be featuring many of those photographs -- but the Museum is also commissioning him to come to Bradford and produce a brand new work.

This is where you come in. Simon is looking for suggestions about events to photograph. As Simon himself tells us, the events can be "anything from Sunday league football and religious festivals to family traditions and bizarre rituals; from the ordinary and everyday, to the unique and extra-ordinary." But they must be outdoors, in the Bradford District, and taking place between now and January 2010.

We've set up a special Simon Roberts online form so you can tell us about the interesting, funny, strange or spectacular Bradford events you think would make a great photograph. You can also see the suggestions as they come in -- ideas so far include fell races and floodlit canoe sessions.

Goodbye Don McCullin, goodbye Animalism

You would not believe how fast the exhibitions get dismantled. First thing Monday morning and barely awake, I stumbled bleary-eyed into Gallery Two -- and found an army of Museum staff already frantically swarming the Don McCullin: In England exhibition, carting off the framed photographs and removing captions.



One of the less thrilling jobs is peeling text off the walls. For Don McCullin: In England, we used vinyl stencils, which work much the same way as an old Letraset sheet. To remove them, you take Content Developer Anna Ward (pictured below), hand her a simple paint scraper, and watch the magic happen.



Meanwhile, Martyn Lenton and Colin Harding -- who I'm more used to seeing quietly going about their studious curatorial business -- rolled up their sleeves and revved up the electric drill for unscrewing the photographs from the walls. It's a hypnotically quick business -- and no sooner are the pictures free, they're grabbed by the Collections team and wheeled off for de-framing and condition checking.





Before long -- and it really was no more than an hour or so from start to finish -- all that's left is a hauntingly empty Gallery Two. And our poor friends still dutifully scraping letters of the alphabet off the walls.





I haven't forgotten Animalism, which Exhibition Organizers Sharon Scarmazzo and Ruth Haycock were dismantling at the same time -- that's coming tomorrow. In the meantime, take a look at the brand new banners for the two exhibitions that'll be filling the galleries by October.

The making of an exhibition: part four

Back to the upcoming Drawings That Move: The Art Of Joanna Quinn for a new instalment in our Making Of An Exhibition series.

This video, shot by our camera-wielding Media Developer Emma Shaw, lets you in on our condition checking process. It basically involves poring over the various drawings, sketches and animation cels we'll be exhibiting, and recording any imperfections -- but I'll stop there and let Exhibition Organiser Martyn Lenton explain things much more expertly in the video itself. You also get a sneak glimpse at some of the Joanna Quinn-related gems we'll have on display in October.

Behind the scenes with Neeta Madahar

We're three weeks away from our Neeta Madahar exhibition opening on 16 Oct, so here's a peek behind the scenes at the making of the portrait series we'll be exhibiting -- 'Flora'.

Flora is a series of carefully and painstakingly arranged portraits, picturing Neeta's female friends alongside plants and flowers. We'll have several new Flora pictures on display in the exhibition -- and in the video above, Jen Anyan, the stylist for the series, travels around the studio with a camcorder to give us an intimate look at the hard work that goes into each shoot.

Don't forget that this Sunday is your last chance to catch the current exhibitions, Animalism and Don McCullin: In England -- because on Monday, we start dismantling them piece by piece. I'll be there with the camera, make no mistake.