Museum to display rainbow pics by kids
A Stirling museum inspired by the rainbow pictures of local children is going to exhibit their images of hope in its first Twitter exhibition.
Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum, like all the nation’s museums has been forced to close due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Unable to allow visitors to come and see the art, the museum wanted to bring the art to its visitors now isolated at home.
Events and Exhibitions Officer, Dr Heather Carroll explains: “The Covid crisis has put many museums and galleries in a challenging position since so much of our engagement with the public is through physical visits, such as seeing our collection, viewing a new art exhibition, or attending an event. As the Smith’s Events and Exhibition Officer my responsibilities includes organising art exhibitions that display local artists’ work in our gallery space. However, with the closure of the Smith, this means we have to move our exhibitions from the physical gallery to a digital space.”
During the first week of lockdown the museum’s director Caroline Mathers suggested they host an online Twitter exhibition.
And Dr Carroll says she did not have to go beyond her own neighbourhood for inspiration.
She said: “On my daily dog walk through Torbrex, I couldn’t help but notice all the rainbows children had put in their windows.
“This was a source of joy for me especially as more and more rainbows would appear every day and each was so unique and creative.
“It essentially turned the neighbourhood into a colourful art gallery.”
Impressed by the colourful displays brightening her daily dog walks, it struck Dr Carroll that others would not be able to see the artwork she saw. Due to lockdown restrictions people can only exercise near their home. And similarly she could not see the artwork being displayed in other parts of Stirling.
And so the idea for The Rainbow Connection: Rainbows in Stirlingshire and Beyond was born. Dr Carroll realised if the Smith could feature the rainbows in an online exhibition then everyone could see them.
The Smith launched its appeal for submission on April 8 and Dr Carroll said they have already received some “beautiful rainbows” created from a range of materials - crayon, paper, mosaic, thread and chalk.
She said: “Anyone can submit a rainbow for our exhibition.
“They simply need to supply a photo and their name and either tweet us at @smithmuseum or email heather@thesmith.scot.
“As the corona virus affects more than just Stirling, the museum is accepting rainbows from anywhere as they say “we are all connected through this extraordinary event and the hope rainbows bring to us”.