Activities | Art Alive!
Art Alive!
John Brett
Monday 31 May & Sunday 13 June
12.30 pm, 2.30 pm & 4 pm
Meet the artist John Brett live at the Barber! Well-known for his detailed landscapes, Brett worked alongside the famous Pre-Raphaelite painters and was friends with renowned names such as Dante Gabrielle Rossetti and John Everett Millais. In this fun, entertaining performance for all ages, Brett will be talking about his life and work, and introducing you to his other great interests - portraiture and photography - in our current exhibition Objects of Affection: Pre-Raphaelite Portraits by John Brett.
Admission to Art Alive! is free, but performances are popular, so arrive in good time to be sure of somewhere to sit! Image intended for illustration purposes only.
Past Art Alives
Matthew Boulton
Saturday, 21 November 2009
12.30pm, 2pm and 3.30pm
Meet great Birmingham industrialist Matthew Boulton, who comes to life in this special performance celebrating the current Coin Gallery exhibition. Hear about his partnership with inventor James Watt and learn about the famous Soho Mint, which produced millions of coins and sent them all over the world.
Admission to Art Alive! is free, but performances are popular, so arrive in good time to be sure of somewhere to sit!
ArtsFest 2009
Saturday 12 September
1pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm
Sunday 13 September
2pm, 3pm and 4pm
Join us for this year’s ArtsfestJoin us at Birmingham’s Council House as the classic tale of one of our most treasured paintings is brought to life by Susanna Willetts of award-winning storytellers Annamation. Tancred and Erminia, by 17th-century artist Nicolas Poussin, shows the gallant warrior Tancred lying wounded after slaying the giant Argantes. The Saracen princess Erminia, who loves Tancred, cuts off her hair in order to bind his wounds. Find out what happens next — and who knows? You may be asked to join in!
Council House, City Centre
Tales of Alexander the Great
Saturday 20 October 2007
12.30pm, 2pm and 3.30pm
See the wonderful treasures in the Barber’s two special exhibitions of coins Encounters and The Currency of Femininity, and listen to Annamation tell the story of Alexander the Great and his mermaid sister.
Saturday 17 November 2007
12.30pm, 2pm and 3.30pm
Evaristo Baschenis
Look carefully at Still-life with Musical Instruments, by seventeenth-century painter Evaristo Baschenis, and you will see that there is a broken string on the violin, and dust on the lute. In this performance, which celebrates the great works of art in the current exhibition Exceptional Beauty and Outstanding Merit, Baschenis comes to life to explain the hidden meaning behind the painting. He will also tell you about his life as a musician and a priest and will be happy to answer your questions.
Saturdays 10 and 17 March 2007
Jan Steen
Meet artist and innkeeper Jan Steen (1625/6–79), who comes to life in the Barber galleries to explain his famous painting The Effects of Intemperance. Jan Steen often included animals in his paintings, and birds were frequently depicted as a sign of drunkenness! In these special performances, held in the exhibition gallery, you will have a chance to ask him questions and find out about his work and his times.
Saturdays 11 and 18 November 2006
The Two Claudes
Meet two of the Barber’s great artists, who’ll BOTH be coming to life in this special Art Alive! performance timed to coincide with the display, Classicism: Art Above Life. Claude Lorrain has dreams of being a great pastry chef, but when he meets the eccentric Italian teacher, Signor Tassi, he realizes that he is far better at painting than baking! He learns the rules of landscape and perspective and decides to paint the perfect landscape. Then through some strange magical happenings, Claude Lorrain bumps into Claude Monet, who has come back in time to compare his Impressionist landscapes with Claude Lorrain’s. Come and decide which you think is better.
Saturdays 18 and 25 February 2006
2 pm and 3.30 pm
J C Dahl
Just who are the characters in the Barber Institute’s magical painting Mother and Child by the Sea? Come and find out as the greatest Norwegian landscape artist of the nineteenth century, Johan Christian Dahl, ‘comes to life’. He will explain his own landscapes and his fascination with painting moonlight, and will talk about his life and loves. You will be invited to ask him questions too, in this fun performance for families.
Saturday 14 May 2005
11 am & 5 pm
Art and Coins in the
Time of the Crusades
Step back in time and make a mint by stamping your own Crusader coins to take home and keep! Come and hear all about the exciting 11th-century First Crusade – a magnet for knights and armies of all religions. War was an expensive business, so moneyers were always needed to strike coins for the crusaders along the way. Under the watchful eye and skilful hand of moneyer Master Godfrey, you can practise your money-making skills, and learn more about the design and value of coins in the 12th-century market of Jerusalem. In the main galleries, Eurydice Georganteli will be delighted to show you exquisite objects of medieval religious and secular art from the Barber Institute collections.
Saturday
16 & 23 April 2005
2 pm & 3.30 pm · Main Galleries
Miss La La from the Cirque Fernando
Hear the circus tales of sensational acrobat Miss La La, star performer at Paris’s Cirque Fernando and subject of Edgar Degas’s famous painting. What did she think of Degas and his spectacular picture of her, and how did she manage to be hoisted up into the rafters of the circus building by her teeth? This is a treat for all family members, so roll up, roll up! Come and enjoy the show!