Colchester & Ipswich Museums invites members of the subject specialist networks British Art Network and NatSCA – along with other interested museum professionals, academics, researchers, artists and beyond – to attend this seminar series on the connections between Art, Science and Nature to take place between January – March 2020. The series is funded by and forms part of the programme of the British Art Network, jointly led by Tate and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.

All events are free and include lunch and refreshments. Spaces are limited, booking essential. Delegates are welcome to register for one or more of the four seminars. Separate registration options are available for BAN members, NatSCA members and non-members.

A limited fund for travel support is available for members of the British Art Network and will be administered on a first-come, first-served basis. Further details provided in registration form.

Registration is now open for all seminars.

Registration for Seminar 2(Drawing on Life) closes Monday 20 January, 11:00.

The Foundation of Art and Science

16 January 2020, 10:30 - 16:00 | Ipswich Museum

The first seminar in the Art Science Nature series will explore the early foundations of Ipswich Museum and how key scientists and artists contributed to its creation. It will provide an opportunity to begin discussions on how art, science and nature play an integral part in museum collections. The day will also include a chance to look at the natural history displays in Ipswich Museum and artworks from the stores.

• Emma Roodhouse, Collections and Learning Curator (Art), Colchester and Ipswich Museums: The Ipswich Museum Founders in Science and Art

• Kate Riddington, Collections and Learning Curator (Natural Science), Colchester and Ipswich Museums: Secret Suffolk Scientists

• Francesca Vanke, Senior Curator and Keeper of Fine and Decorative Art, Norfolk Museums Service: The Wonder of Birds: An Inter-disciplinary Collaboration

• Donna Young, Curator of Herbarium, National Museums Liverpool : Where Art and Science Meet: Object Lessons

• Bergit Arends, Curator and Researcher, University of Bristol & Sarah Wade, Research Manager, Science Museum: Decolonise! Ecologise! Contemporary Artists’ Strategies to Intervene in Natural History Museum Collection Displays

• Julia McKinlay, Artist and PhD Researcher, Leeds Beckett University: Feeling the Underside: Encounters with a Xenophora Snail Specimen

• Pandora Syperek, Art Historian: Hope in the Archive: Indexing the Natural History Museum’s Ecologies of Display

Drawing on Life: Natural History Illustration

24 January 2020, 10:30 – 16:00 | Ipswich Art Gallery

Many museums have artworks that depict the natural world, plant and animal life. The seminar will focus on different approaches to the research, display and interpretation of these collections. There will be a chance to hear from contemporary botanical artists, curators and researchers, as well as to visit Art Forms in Nature, a new exhibition at Ipswich Art Gallery that brings together historical natural history illustration, photography and contemporary drawing.

• Gillian Barlow, Florilegium Society Archive Manager, Chelsea Physic Garden: The Chelsea Physic Garden Collection

• Guy William Eves, Artist: An Insight into Creating Botanical Art

• Kate Heard, Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, Royal Collection Trust: ‘A Peculiar Art of Representing’: The Animals in Alexander Marshal’s Florilegium

• Ian Beavis, Research Curator, The Amelia: Botanical Drawings as Biological Records: The Victorian Fungus Paintings of Richard Deakin

• Tannis Davidson, Curator, Grant Museum of Zoology: Beyond Beauty: The Science behind Natural History Models

• Hellen Pethers, Researcher Services Librarian, Natural History Museum & Ann Data, Library Staff Member, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: The Use of Wax Models as Teaching Aids in the Insect Gallery at the Natural History Museum, London in the early Twentieth Century

The Art of Taxidermy

24 February 2020, 10:30 – 16:00 | Firstsite, Colchester

Taxidermy collections have always provided inspiration for artists to draw from and be creative with. We are now experiencing a moment of growing interest in the contemporary interpretation of taxidermy collections by curators, academics and artists. This seminar will give an overview of the history of Colchester and Ipswich’s taxidermy collections, with a chance to view specimens. There will be the opportunity to hear from two professional taxidermists: Jazmine Miles Long and Hannah Debnam of Hannah’s Creatures will give an insight into this career. The seminar will take place at Firstsite, an international art gallery and creative space for Colchester.

A number of spaces are available for individuals who are not currently members of the British Art Network or NatSCA to attend this seminar. Please chose the 'non-member' option on the registration page.

• Sophie Stevens, Collections and Learning Curator (Natural Sciences), Colchester and Ipswich Museums: (Not) a Case of Mistaken Identity: Buntings Reunited

• Karen Banton, Assistant Collections and Learning Curator (Natural Sciences), Colchester and Ipswich Museums: Still Life, in Taxidermy

• Pat Morris, Biologist: Walter Potter’s Curious World of Taxidermy

• Sam Shaw, Teaching Fellow in Nineteenth-Century Art, University of Leicester: Teaching Unnatural Histories: Animal Studies and Art History in Higher Education

• Hannah Debnam, Taxidermist, Hannah’s Creatures: Working as a Contemporary Taxidermist

• Jazmine Miles Long, Taxidermist: A Tribute to Taxidermy

Ecology of Art

24 March 2020, 10:30 - 15:30 | Flatford Mill

How have artists observed and worked within the landscape? What can their images reveal about our changing ecology? This seminar will bring together talks from contemporary artists, curators and ecologists, and will take place in the heart of Constable Country, at Flatford in the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). There will be the opportunity to explore the iconic locations of John Constable’s artworks.

Walking shoes recommended for optional walk. Seminar spaces and facilities accessible. Option of organised transportation from Manningtree Station.

• Simon Carter, Artist: Painting in Constable Country

• Calvin Winner, Head of Collections, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts: Man of Stones: Creating the Region’s Largest Sculpture Park

• Jevan Watkins Jones, Artist: Ground Things: Gardening, Art and Compost

• Agnes Villette, PhD Candidate, Winchester School of Arts: Alien of the Species: An Art/Science Project

• Frédéric Ogée, Professor of British Literature and Art History, Université de Paris: Turner, English Landscape and the Anthropo(s)cenic