Education and Events

Past Events

Movement, Journey, Deep, Transient
6^th and 7^th November

Performances at 12 noon and 2pm (approx 20 minutes long)

The project was funded by Arts Council England and Warwick District Council.

Movement, Journey, Deep, Transient was a collaborative performance devised between the maker/artist Vannetta Seecharran and dancer Junior Cunningham.

The piece was inspired by Vannetta’s frightening childhood memories of crossing a bridge made from ropes and wooden planks in her home country of Guyana in South America. The installation piece exaggerated the emotions one might experience on different points of a journey. The mysterious depths of the sea were evoked through sound, the movement of fabric and Junior Cunningham’s physical relationship with his environment. Junior realised Vannetta’s keen eye for detail and craftsmanship, bringing to life the momentum, balance and natural rhythms behind the images that previously existed only in Vannetta’s memory.

Junior Cunningham joined the North School of Contemporary Dance (Leeds) in 1999 and graduated in 2002 with a BPA (hons) degree in contemporary dance. He has toured with NSCD at the Gross Brittien festival in Dortmund, Germany and worked in Switzerland and Paris before joining Motionhouse Dance Theatre in Autumn 2002.

Vannetta Seecharran studied jewellery at the Parsons School of Design in New York. Since moving to Britain from New York in 1998 her sculptural jewellery has been exhibited in major exhibitions of contemporary craft and her work can be found in the collections of Preston Museum, the museum of decorative arts in Montreal and at the Art Gallery at the Royal Pump Rooms.

Supported by Arts Council England, West Midlands and Motionhouse Dance Theatre.

60% Water and the Body
An interdisciplinary day-conference
Saturday, 15^th January 2005 9.30am – 4pm

The Assembly Rooms, Royal Pump Rooms, Leamington Spa

On Saturday, 15^th January the University of Warwick and the Art Gallery & Museum ran a one day conference at the Royal Pump Rooms on the theme of water and the body. Some of the country's leading artists and historians of art and medicine discussed man’s complex relationship to and uses of water. Papers included Anthea Callen's on the symbolism of water in 19th century painting, Alastair Durie's lively account of hydropathy in Britain from 1840-1914 and the artist Shelley Sacks paper on her project The Thought Bank which examines the capacity of water to carry non-material information. One of the conference organisers Alison Plumridge said:

"The issues raised provoked a stimulating and wide ranging debate between delegates and speakers on the nature of water. Whilst several papers focussed on the life enhancing qualities of water, including its use in healing, several acknowledged the fearsome power of water. Recent events in the Indian Ocean remind us of the devastation water can wreak on life and the environment and the conference was mindful of these tragic events."

The conference was organised in partnership with the Centre for the History of Medicine at the University of Warwick and was part funded by The Wellcome Trust and the Arts Council of England. For further information www.warwick.ac.uk/go/waterbody

Tour of the Royal Pump Rooms for Warwick University History of Medicine MA Students November 2003

For the second year running The Art Gallery & Museum were able to work with the Centre for the History of Medicine at Warwick University to show MA students around the Royal Pump Rooms.

The morning began with a tour of the historic assembly rooms and medical corridor. After looking around the Galleries and restored Turkish bath room the students were able to look at items from the medical collection that are usually kept in store. This included traction and hot pack equipment, photographs and records.

Genius Students Move into Waters

Gifted students "took the waters" in a taste test and made sparkling presentations at the Royal Pump Rooms on 14^th February 2004.

One of the gifted students samples the spa water outside the Royal Pump Rooms

Twenty students aged 12-16 the National Academy of Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY), based at the University of Warwick researched the health giving properties of water as well as the dangers associated with water .

In the morning of the one-day course students visited the Leamington Spa Pump Rooms, 'took the waters', and discussed why the spa became such a popular form of treatment during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Followed by an afternoon session in which they focussed on the negative aspects of water.

Dr Hilary Marland, from the Centre for the History of Medicine at the University of Warwick, said:

"Up to the 19^th century water was in short supply, dirty and unhealthy. Washing was considered highly risky and indulged in only very occasionally. Water supplies, especially in growing urban communities, were filthy. The students will explore water from a medicinal viewpoint and the idea that the consumption of large quantities of water as beneficial is of very recent origin. However, one exception to this was the spa."

The students used their investigative skills to explore how the reforms of doctors and government, and water engineering projects, finally made water safe.

Professor Deborah Eyre, from NAGTY at the University of Warwick, said:

"Gifted students are often very creative at dealing with complex issues, and the history and medical science of water is a stimulating topic. Pupils with high potential need to have the opportunity to become high-achievers, and gifts need to be brought out through access to challenging opportunities. Outreach events add to their school curriculum and give the students a real challenge, that is different from the learning experience they get on a day-to-day basis. They are encouraged to tackle problems they may never have previously been encouraged to think about."