Echoes art installation in Lytham Hall
History haunts Lytham Hall this week as the new contemporary art exhibition from Lytham based, Fable Arts CIC, continues its three week run throughout the historic rooms of the house.
Celebrating connections between past and present, Echoes is a place making project which explores the effect that some of the lesser known residents of Lytham Hall have had upon the form and feel of the place.
Included in the four site specific installations on show, is a textual sculpture by Blackpool artist, Tina Dempsey. ‘Silent Voices’ draws on the long list of Clifton family employees to pay tribute to these forgotten figures and asks visitors to share their own memories and knowledge about the people behind the names incorporated in the sculpture.
Lytham Hall Activity Plan Officer, Marianne Blaauboer said, “We’re trying to build a picture of the people who worked at the Hall. Uncovering the stories of individual employees will enable us to recognise their contribution to the place to a fuller extent, so if visitors recognise a name in the ‘Silent Voices’ sculpture we’re inviting them to share what they know about the person with us on one of our ‘Memory Postcards’. ”
Also in the exhibition is a homage to the love story between John Talbot Clifton and Violet Beauclerk, which has been created by fashion designer and artist, Ellie Kidsley, from Somerset, but who is currently on an internship at Fable Arts.
“After working with Fable Arts CIC as one of the set designers for this summer’s Festival of Stories at event Park View 4U, I was thrilled when an opportunity to work at Fable for a further three months came up. I have loved working in Lytham over the last six months. There’s such a great sense of community and been able to work in, and respond to, a beautiful environment like Lytham Hall has been really inspiring.”
Fable Arts founder, Alex O’Toole, said, “As a community, the better we get at articulating and understanding our local story, the more connected our community will feel. The more connected our community feels, the stronger our collective sense of place becomes. Lytham Hall is a unique site steeped in history, but over the years, for various reasons, its connection to the community has waned. The staff at Lytham Hall are working hard to bring it back it back to life, by encouraging new ways of engaging with the Hall and the history of the Clifton family and the Echoes exhibition is a part of this programme. I hope very much that Echoes helps to connect people back to the Hall. It’s been an immensely interesting project to work on, but really, we’ve only scratched the surface. There are so many stories still to tell at Lytham Hall.”
The Echoes exhibition at Lytham Hall runs until Sunday 15th November, when the Hall will also be open for the Hopeful and Glorious Craft Fair.
Entry to ECHOES at Lytham Hall is included in the cost of a ticket to tour the Hall, priced £5 per adult. Limited edition exhibition programmes will be available to buy from the Hall at £2.50 per copy.
Entry Times:
From Sunday 1st November the exhibition will be open: Thursdays and Fridays between 1pm and 4pm Sundays at 12pm and 2pm during guided tours.
