Monthly Archive for July, 2009

Ties with tradition

Published by Lindie Ward 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

00x11382Apron made in Mislesevo-Vevcani, Struga, Macedonia, 1985, lent by Radmilla Karamacoska

It was love at first sight when I saw the aprons I was to be working on for an upcoming exhibition here at the Museum. I was seduced by the gorgeous colours, textures, and stories of Macedonian culture woven into them.

curatorial blog imageThis photograph shows Curator Lindie Ward, Interpreter Verica Sajdovska and me in discussion with apron lender Angelina Todoroska. Angelina is describing the technique and significance of the construction and decoration of this vest, another aspect of traditional Macedonian dress

For the past three months, we have been gathering information about the Macedonian aprons and documenting the stories of five Macedonia women from the Illawarra. With the aid of volunteer interpreter Verica Sajdovska I travelled back to my hometown of Wollongong to document their stories.

A particularly memorable experience was hearing about aprons from sisters Spasija Aleksoska and Kostadinka Jordeska.

00z35285Sisters Spasija Aleksoska and Kostadinka Jordeska talking about Spasija’s aprons

When I asked how they wore the aprons Spasija acted out the motions- folding and placing thick towels underneath her top, padding out her stomach and tying the apron on top.

“The men prefer large women. If she is too skinny, how can she work in the fields? When I was young I was skinny and the men would tease me. I would say to them, If you want meat go to the butcher, I am fine as I am. They would always prefer the skinny girls to dance with though”.

All the women described to me how the different colours and patterns were worn for different ages and how they could tell where a person came from by looking at their apron. The women also showed and described the techniques used to make aprons, including weaving, embroidery and making pompoms.

I came away with a deeper knowledge of the significance of these aprons, a full stomach, and some prospective Macedonian nephews and grandsons to date!

I would personally like to thank the five Macedonian women that were interviewed, for their kindness and willingness to share their apron stories. I feel privileged to have met and learnt from these remarkable women, who, when asked why they wove the aprons the way they did, replied, “it is how it should be, it is how it has always been, it is tradition”.

Rebecca Evans
Assistant Curator

Photography © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

We’ve got a Bleriot too!

Published by Margaret Simpson 0 Comments Tags: , .

The Powerhouse Museum’s Bleriot XI made in Paris, 1914 featured in the Transport Exhibition’s Sound and Light show (L611). Photography by Jean-Francois Lanzarone © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

In view of the media interest in the re-enactment of the first flight across the English Channel in a Bleriot XI monoplane last week, I thought our blog readers would like to know that the Powerhouse has one too. It made a great pioneering flight here and has a really interesting story.

Ours was shipped to Sydney in 1914, packed in a crate in the hold of the Orontes. It was brought here by a French stunt pilot, Maurice Guillaux, who wowed 60,000 spectators at Victoria Park Raceway. It’s amazing how this flimsy little plane actually managed to fly, let alone do “loop the loops” as well. The Guillaux travelling show took the Bleriot apart again to go by train to Melbourne for more stunt displays, at one stage landing in the grounds of Government House. The plane carried the first unofficial airmail letter from the Mayor of Melbourne to the Mayor of Geelong. Above Geelong racecourse Guillaux gave demonstrations of “upside down flying” and banking, took up six joy riders, one of them a woman, who presumably either sat on his lap or sat behind the pilot’s seat on the fuselage in Guillaux’s safety harness.

BleriotMooreParkPhotograph in the Powerhouse Museum’s collection of Guillaux flying the Bleriot over Victoria Racecourse, Sydney, 1914. No known copyright restrictions

But the really big claim to fame for Guillaux was when he was asked to fly the first official airmail from Melbourne to Sydney. The scheduled plane had crashed, something of an occupational hazard at the time, so Guillaux was asked to step in. He carried 88kg of mail for the GPO, 1785 souvenir postcards, official letters and the first air cargo, bizarrely – Lipton’s tea and OT brand chilli cordial and lemon squash. Now that would make a great trivia question! Even in those days there was sponsorship and emblazoned on the underside of Bleriot’s wings were “ADD a little O.T.”!

Bleriotpostcard2Souvenir postcard in the Powerhouse Museum’s collection. This was carried on the Bleriot flight and shows a photographic reproduction of Guillaux. No known copyright restrictions

BleriotpostcardSouvenir postcard in the Powerhouse Museum’s collection. This was carried on the Bleriot flight and shows an illustration of the Bleriot. No known copyright restrictions

The 930km flight needed 7 fuel stops at Seymour, Wangaratta, Albury and then Wagga where Guillaux landed at the wrong racecourse causing a sensation touching down near the judge’s box just as a race ended! On to Harden, the plane was buffeted by strong winds and driving rain. Its flimsy fabric wings stretched to breaking point and the exposed and hardworking Gnome engine coughing and spluttering. Guillaux was forced back to Harden, violently airsick, wet and cold, his face swollen from the scouring rain in the open cockpit. Goulburn was finally reached in bad weather and Guillaux followed the smoke from steam locos on the main line towards Sydney.

BleriottolandPhotograph in the Powerhouse Museum’s collection of Guillaux flying over Victoria Racecourse, 1914. No known copyright restrictions

Ahead of schedule, he landed near a small town in the bush southwest of Sydney. A local resident told Guillaux it was Liverpool and invited him to stay for lunch. A strong tail wind brought him in to the landing spot at Moore Park in Sydney, still ahead of schedule. Too early for the official reception with the Governor-General, Guillaux filled in time flying between Parramatta and Manly before descending in a blinding storm at Moore Park. He was carried shoulder high amid cheering crowds. The postal authorities weren’t too impressed with the flight as it had taken longer than the normal train journey. The flying time was only just over 9 hours 35 minutes. Still, it was the longest airmail flight in the world at that time (18 July 1914). Incidentally, a regular airmail service between Sydney and Melbourne wasn’t established until 1925.

When the First World War broke out in September 1914, Guillaux returned to France and was killed. His plane was left in Australia and sold, used to teach flying and give aerial demonstrations in Victoria. It also carried the first South Australian airmail in 1917.

GuillauxPhotograph in the Powerhouse Museum’s collection of Guillaux at the controls of the Bleriot, 1914. No known copyright restrictions

The Bleriot has been in the Museum’s collection since 1941 and if you want to see it, it’s currently on display suspended in the Transport exhibition at the Museum.

Watch a Bleriot flight in action:

The Bosdyk Dolls House- part one

Published by Erika Dicker 3 Comments Tags: , , , , .

00z20512Photography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved.

Fallen in love with this dolls house yet? Just wait, you will!

Let me introduce you to one of the latest objects to join the Powerhouse Museum collection, the Bosdyk Dolls House, a unique example of the art of the miniature.

The house was built and decorated by Frans and Christina Bosdyk over a period from 1997 to 2006. They estimated that they spent 15,000 hours and many thousands of dollars of materials on the work. Frans is a skilled electrical instrument maker who can turn his hand to any material with great precision, in fact he made most of the furniture inside the dolls house. Christina was closely involved with all construction decisions, sourced miniature items, decided where everything went and chose interior decor, wallpaper and dolls.

The Bosdyk dolls house competes with the very best in the tradition of Dutch dolls’ houses, renowned in the seventeenth century for their style and extraordinary attention to detail. That this should have been made in Australia is unusual and the Bosdyk’s eight years’ dedication to the project is an extraordinary achievement. The story is one of Dutch migrants bringing the very best of their traditional culture and skills to Australia.

This most rare acquisition is an important affirmation of the wonderful skills and contributions made by migrants to Australia. It will undoubtedly bring joy and wonder to countless visitors to the Museum when it goes on display.

This post is the first in a series that will take readers on a journey into the house, to see some of its hidden treasures and perfect details. Stay tuned, in the mean time here are some teasers:

“The kitchen”
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‘Grandma invites a friend for tea”
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Lindie Ward
Curator of decorative arts

Apollo at 40: celebrating the first Moon landing

Published by Kerrie Dougherty 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Photo courtesy of NASA

Forty years ago, on July 21, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 Moon mission, became the first person to set foot on another world. This historic spaceflight marked the culmination of the so-called “Space Race”, one of the major Cold War propaganda battles between the United States and the USSR, which began in 1957, when the Soviet Union shocked the world by launching the first satellite, Sputnik 1. Stung by a string of Soviet firsts in space exploration, in May 1961 President Kennedy committed the United States to achieving a human landing on the Moon by 1970: a bold goal to set at a time when America’s first astronaut had made only a 15 minute sub-orbital flight just 3 weeks before.

When Apollo 11’s Lunar Module Eagle, with its crew, mission commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Col. Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, landed on the Moon, it effectively gave the United States the victory in the Space Race, as the Soviet Union had not been able to mount a successful lunar programme of its own. But the success of Apollo 11 was more than just a Cold War propaganda victory: when Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface at 12.56pm Eastern Australian time and uttered his famous words “That’s one small step for (a) man; one giant leap for Mankind” he was fulfilling a centuries-old dream.

The desire to journey into the heavens is as old as humanity and the dream of travelling to the Moon has inspired poets and storytellers since Roman times. But it was not until the 20th Century that the technology to achieve spaceflight was developed and scientists and engineers looked forward to achieving this long-held goal. Apollo 11 therefore represented not just a Cold War political prize, it was also the accomplishment of an ancient Human aspiration: for the first time, people had left our home planet Earth and travelled to another world in the solar system.

Australia played an important part in all the Apollo missions, with NASA tracking stations at Carnarvon (WA) and Honeysuckle Creek and Tidbinbilla (ACT) providing vital communication links with the Apollo spacecraft. In particular, the Apollo 11 Moonwalk images broadcast to the world were received at Honeysuckle Creek
and the Parkes radio telescope.

Visitors to the museum’s Space exhibition can view a genuine lunar sample from the Apollo 16 mission, as well as a massive F-1 rocket motor (five of which were needed to launch the mighty Saturn V rocket that sent the Apollo astronauts on their way to the Moon).

To mark the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, a selection of original contemporary space memorabilia from the museum’s collection is on display in the entry foyer until September.

Kerrie Dougherty
Curator of space technology

Meet the curator- Melanie Pitkin

Published by Melanie Pitkin 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Photo N¼: 00z35932 (1Mb)Photography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum all rights reserved

Name
Melanie Pitkin

What is your speciality area?
My academic background is in Ancient History and Egyptology so my main specialty area is actually Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period history. But, at the Museum I work mostly with our International Decorative Arts and Design collection (e.g. fashion, furniture, posters, ceramics and coins), and have developed a particularly strong interest in Central Asian and Middle Eastern textiles. I also dabble in transport history and the work of the aviation pioneer Lawrence Hargrave.

How long have you been working at the Museum?
Almost 3 years. But, before joining the Museum full-time, I volunteered with Anne Watson, former Curator of Architecture and Design.

What is your favourite object in the collection?
Well, there are a few. I love haute couture and the Museum’s fashion collection, especially the Balenciaga evening dress and Christian Lacroix shoes. For obvious reasons, I’m also attached to our small and select archaeology collection including our Egyptian ushabtis figures, Greek amphora vase and collection of daily life objects from Medieval and Roman Britain. In fact, this list of objects seems to evolve daily – so watch this space!

What piece of research or exhibition are you most proud of in your career at the Museum?
In 2007 I researched and documented the Museum’s Lawrence Hargrave collection and was able to expose the many thought patterns and processes involved behind his work for the first time. This man was not just ingenious for his contributions towards the first powered, controlled flight with his box kites (you can see the replicas of these hanging above Locomotive No 1 in the Museum), but he experimented with pretty much everything – engines, animal movement and propulsion, steam turbines, curved and flat surfaces and solar heating! I also loved my involvement with the development of the Powerhouse Discovery Centre: Collection Stores at Castle Hill.

‘Be the Change’ Inauguration Poster

Published by Melanie Pitkin 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

'Be the Change' Inauguration PosterPhotography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum all rights reserved

In April, I made a visit to the Design Museum in London to see the 2009 Brit Insurance Design Awards. You see, the winning design was Shepard Fairey’s ‘Progress’ poster which became the driving force behind the 2008 Barack Obama Presidential Election campaign, and shortly before leaving Sydney, I had assisted my colleague Anne-Marie Van de Ven on the acquisition documentation for Fairey’s ‘Be the Change’ Inauguration poster for our collection.

Both posters sit at opposite ends of the campaign spectrum. The winning ‘Progress’ poster was the very first ‘unofficial’ design produced by Fairey, before the official Obama campaign team brought him on board, while the Inauguration poster obviously signifies the successful end. Our poster, which is a silkscreen print on paper, was one of ten thousand produced and sold online to raise revenue for the Obama political party. Apart from representing the milestone that was the first African-American President to be elected in US history, Fairey’s image of Obama is also powerful, patriotic and what’s more – iconic. It is simple, yet evokes a very strong message, and true to Fairey’s form, became pervasive throughout much of American culture and the international media.

At a Museum like the Powerhouse, curators play an important role in collecting for the future. This means we need to keep abreast of trends and current affairs, including upcoming designers and design products. We purchased this poster online through the Inaugural Collectibles store, like 9,999 other people could, on the recommendation of Christopher Snelling, the Manager of the Powerhouse Discovery Centre at Castle Hill, who had personally ordered a copy of the poster online for himself. Interestingly, Christopher also has a history with Barack “Barry” Obama, having attended high school with him in Hawaii during the 1970s!

Buying online is not an uncommon phenomenon for Museums now. Powerhouse curators also acquire objects through purchases on EBay, but not without first determining the object’s provenance, condition and authenticity.

Happy Birthday Wedgwood!

Published by Eva Czernis-Ryl 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

00222241 ©Powerhouse Museum all rights reserved.

Did you know that Josiah Wedgwood was born on 12th of July 1730? It was his birthday on Sunday so we thought that this would be a good opportunity to illustrate our fabulous ‘Venus in her chariot’ vase, a highlight of our significant Wedgwood collection. This striking piece was made about 1790 at Josiah’s famous ‘Etruria’ manufactory in a district of Stoke-on–Trent, Staffordshire, England, only a few years before his death in 1795. Below is also some background information relating to the vase and our collection.

Regarded as the greatest English potter of his century, Josiah Wedgwood set up his ‘Etruria’ factory in 1759. What marked his progress towards fast-growing success was a process of ceaseless technical and stylistic experimentation. He was tireless in developing new ceramic bodies and was responsible for introducing the neoclassical style into English ceramics.

Wedgwood’s most important contribution to ceramics was jasper which he introduced in 1775. A result of more than 3000 trials in the search for a ceramic material that would best fit the new style, jasper was a dense white stoneware ideal for his decorative objects inspired by the classical art of ancient Greece and Rome. Named after the gemstone of the same name, jasper was easy to mould and decorate and could be stained by metal oxides in many colours. It was blue jasper however, that soon became synonymous with the name Wedgwood.

Although Wedgwood employed talented artists to design many of his vases, the white jasper low- relief decoration applied to this example is based on designs by the French painter Charles Le Brun (1629-90). The vase is decorated with two scenes by Le Brun: one side features ‘Venus in her chariot drawn by swans’
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while the other shows ‘Cupids watering the swans’.
00222241

Venus, the Roman goddess identified with the Greek Aphrodite, the goddess of love and fertility, was the subject of Wedgwood’s many figures and decorative reliefs applied to his vases and panels.

Wedgwood’s links with Australia go back to 1789 when Governor Arthur Phillip sent clay from Sydney Cove to the eminent English botanist Sir Joseph Banks who gave the clay to his friend Josiah Wedgwood. As a result, a special Sydney Cove Medallion was made from that sample of raw material. In the 19th century, Wedgwood products were displayed at the Sydney and Melbourne international exhibitions of 1879 and 1881 and also spectacular table services were produced with Australian wild flowers decorations.

The Museum has collected tableware and other objects designed and made at Wedgwood from 1890 – the first Wedgwood objects were acquired only ten years after the Museum was founded in 1880. When in 1988, the century-old collection of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences was re-sited at the new Powerhouse Museum, it’s already substantial holdings of Wedgwood ceramics were enriched with many important 18th century objects. This vase was acquired with funds donated by the Powerhouse Members Organisation in 1990. You can see it on display, among our other selected Wedgwood treasures, in ‘Inspired!’, the long-term decorative arts and design exhibition on level 3.

Eva Czernis-Ryl
Curator, Decorative arts & design

Full steam ahead – the 3265

Published by Erika Dicker 4 Comments Tags: , , , .

3265 running at Eveleigh 25 June 09 012 - low res Photography by Andrew Grant © Powerhouse Museum all rights reserved

Under the supervision of the Museum’s Engineering conservator, Ross Goodman, and a dedicated group of volunteers, Steam Locomotive 3265 has been extensively rebuilt and once again will be fully operational and carrying passengers.

Work commenced on the project in 1998 in the Large Erecting Shop at Eveleigh. Since then 3265 has undergone a very detailed and painstaking overhaul.

00z18430Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski © Powerhouse Museum all rights reserved

The task of rebuilding has been immense as almost every wearing surface was worn down to well beyond tolerance. Specialised skills, material and machinery were required in order to restore the locomotive to its now current operating state. Over this next month 3265 will undertake a series of steaming trials, followed by new paintwork, plus monogram all in the distinctive ‘maroon and cream’ colour of this particular 32 class engine.

Once painting is complete the Museum plans to have a special event to launch 3265 back on the rails. This will then be followed by the relocation of the locomotive to a new facility at Thirlmere, where along with Steam Locomotive 3830, it will be available to hire to accredited Heritage Railway Operators.

Designed by William Thow, Locomotive Superintendent of NSW Railways, in consultation with the builder, Beyer, Peacock & Company of Manchester, England, the 32 class was one of the most successful and long running steam locomotives in Australia. Having 3265 operational will raise awareness of the significance of steam locomotion in New South Wales and will bring much enjoyment to passengers eager to experience steam travel.

Much thanks goes to Ross Goodman, for overseeing the project, conservation staff, Jennifer Edmonds and Rob Smithers, and to the Museum’s volunteers for their expertise, enthusiasm and dedication in rebuilding 3265.

Contributed by Andrew Grant and Susan McMunn

Chanel at the Powerhouse

Published by Melanie Pitkin 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , .

A8945 Chanel tweed suitPhotography by Andrew Frolows © Powerhouse Museum all rights reserved

The recent release of the new Coco Avant Chanel film inspired me to revisit the Museum’s very own collection of Chanel fashion to see just how much we hold which dates before the designer’s death in 1971.

From humble beginnings, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel started her career in fashion by designing and selling hats to French aristocrats, opening her own millinery shop in 1910 and combined millinery and fashion house in Paris in 1913. Her initial clothing designs were fashioned from low cost materials, such as jersey (used in men’s underwear!), including her trademark tailored suits, which had a prepossessing boyish look about them. In the years that followed, Coco had also introduced her signature No.5 perfume (1922), woollen cardigan jacket (1925) and ‘little black dress’ (1926) – classic and timeless additions to any woman’s wardrobe.

The earliest item in the Museum’s collection therefore comes at least a decade after this – a c.1938 full-length evening dress with cape. The dress echoes the atmosphere of Paris in the 1930s and was probably made not long before Coco closed the doors of her salon when France declared war on Germany in 1939. Jumping a further few decades, the Museum also houses two tweed suits (comprising a long sleeved jacket and knee length skirt) made from wool, dating to c.1965.

Unfortunately, the film did not cover much of Coco’s later fashions – in fact, it never even made it to WWII – but the whirlwind catwalk display at the end at least foreshadows many of the styles later adopted by Karl Lagerfeld when he took over as chief designer of the fashion house in 1983. The Museum’s collection from this point in time includes one of Lagerfeld’s very first creations for Chanel, or should I say “dinky-dye creations“! It is a black and white houndstooth jacket and skirt lined in Jenny Kee’s ‘Black Opal’ print with a matching print shirt. Jenny Kee met Karl Lagerfeld through some friends in the early 1980s and he was suitably impressed by what she was wearing. Not long after, he requested to use the print, which Kee allowed at no cost.

Another stunning Lagerfeld design in the Museum’s collection is the ensemble showcased as part of the 1991 Spring-Summer prêt-à-porter collection, which comprises a fluorescent pink suit (jacket and skirt) with matching hat, shoes, handbag and earrings, all with their own individual protective packaging boxes and bags. This suit, if only accompanied by an extra bottle of Bollinger, just yells “Patsy” from Absolutely Fabulous each time I look at it! Or, perhaps, if you are a Simpsons fan, you will recall the episode in which Marge buys the suit at a marked down price and finds it nets her and the family an invitation to the swish Springfield Country Club!

I often wonder what Coco would make of the whole Chanel Empire today? Would she approve of Karl Lagerfeld’s designs and the interlocking ‘CC’ logo? What would she think of today’s fashion culture and stick-thin models parading her clothes? How would she do things differently?

Any thoughts?

Speak Up- the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Published by Erika Dicker 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

00x06247Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski © Powerhouse Museum all rights reserved

What is this block of marble? a geiger counter? what does it have to do with the Sydney Harbour Bridge?

Well, it is in fact a microphone! and the very same microphone used at the official opening ceremony of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on 19 March 1932.

As always Matthew Connell tells it best:

What makes the microphone especially significant is that it was signed by ten of the dignitaries officiating at the launch, including the NSW Premier Jack Lang, NSW Governor Philip Game and the Bridge’s Chief Engineer, JJC Bradfield.

Thanks to this simple device we are able to hear their voices today and witness the unveiling of a great Aussie icon, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which symbolised progress, pride and hope for people at a time of great economic depression. Two months after the signatures were engraved on the microphone, Governor Philip Game sacked the Lang Government after Lang decided to default on loan repayments to the Commonwealth in favour of spending to stimulate the New South Wales economy. ..

Note: A big thank you to Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW who provided some of the images used in the youtube clip and to the National Film and Sound Archive’ & ‘Australianscreen Online’ who kindly provided the footage.