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Wessex Museums: #WickedWessex Objects on Tour

#Wicked Wessex objects on tour 2018-2019 – grim and gruesome to strange and shocking!

Our #WickedWessex item is now on view – with extra dressing appropriate to the season. Tread carefully as you pass through our Long Room gallery! (NB: no spiders were harmed in the creation of this exhibit)

‘Wicked Wessex’ is the theme of the latest objects tour by the Wessex Museums Partnership: Dorset County Museum, Poole Museum, The Salisbury Museum and Wiltshire Museum. Each Museum has selected an object which they believe best represents the chosen theme. Starting on Saturday 20 October, each object will be on display starting at their home museum, then after three months they will rotate around the others in turn until Oct 2019.

The Wessex Museums Partnership is a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO), funded by Arts Council England to deliver ‘Great art and culture for everyone’.

Left to right: Kristina Broughton, Wessex Museums Programme Manager; David Dawson, Director, Wiltshire Museum and Clare Titley, Director of Philanthropy and South West, Arts Council England

Arts Council England recognised the Wessex Museums partnership – comprising Wiltshire Museum, Poole Museum, Salisbury Museum and Dorset County Museum – as a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) in April 2018.

The partnership is working on a series of major events and exhibitions. Already underway is an artist-in-residence programme with Anne-Marie James who is creating artworks inspired by the museums. Her early works for the project include stunning paintings based on Wiltshire Museum’s Bush Barrow lozenge. Her exhibition opens at Wiltshire Museum in 2019.

At the celebration event at Salisbury Museum in October 2018, Clare Conybeare, Chairperson of Wessex Museums, said: “The event was an opportunity for us to demonstrate how the four museums plan to work together to reach out to new audiences, as well as share skills and expertise, and ensure the best care and conservation of our collections.”

David Dawson, Director of Wiltshire Museum, added: “These are exciting times for our Museum – the ambitious exhibition programme of the Wessex Museums will bring more visitors to Devizes over the next few years. Wiltshire Museum already welcomes visitors from all over the world and brings £500,000 into the local economy.”

As a National Portfolio Organisation, the Wessex Museums Partnership will receive almost £1.3m from the Arts Council over four years. The museums have been working together since 2014, and this funding is enabling them to extend their range of innovative partnership projects.

Wicked Wessex Tour dates

20 October 2018 – 5 January 2019
Each museum will display its own Wicked Wessex object

19 January – 6 April 2019
Dorset County Museum – Bellarmine Witch Bottle from Wiltshire Museum
Poole Museum – Martyrs Maquette from Dorset CountyMuseum
The Salisbury Museum – Cat o’Nine Tails from Poole Museum
Wiltshire Museum – Scold’s Bridle from The Salisbury Museum

20 April – 6 July 2019
Dorset County Museum – Scold’s Bridle from The Salisbury Museum
Poole Museum – Bellarmine Witch Bottle from Wiltshire Museum
The Salisbury Museum – Martyrs Maquette from Dorset County Museum
Wiltshire Museum – Cat o’ Nine Tails from Poole Museum

20 July – 5 October 2019
Dorset County Museum – Cat o’Nine Tails from Poole Museum
Poole Museum – Scold’s Bridle from The Salisbury Museum
The Salisbury Museum – Bellarmine Witch Bottle from Wiltshire Museum
Wiltshire Museum – Martyrs Maquette from Dorset County Museum

  • 21st October 2018 - 9th October 2019
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