00:00Thank you very much.
01:00And what I've noticed going about is that it's not just the kind of classical, it's
01:13the real kind of transition into other stuff, you've seen there's photography as well in
01:17the other room.
01:18How has it been trying to bring this all together into one, under one roof?
01:22Well, basically the project is in collaboration with the Fleming Collection, which is a private
01:29And their collections are really strong in landscape, particularly a lot of the kind
01:34of modern and contemporary pieces as well.
01:36And also that's the strength of the Lenz Collection, so we had a lot to choose from.
01:41It was probably more kind of narrowing it down, really.
01:44But we were keen to, although there's a kind of chronological thrust to the exhibition,
01:49we're really keen to also emphasise certain themes and showing how modern and contemporary
01:54artists return to those ideas as well.
01:57So ideas that were introduced around landscape in the early 19th century, how other artists
02:02do kind of reuse and return and revisit it as well.
02:05So it was a real pleasure to really select from the collections that trying to actually
02:11kind of narrow it down was actually the trickiest bit, just because particularly at the Lenz
02:15are really strong landscape collections.
02:17How do you do that then?
02:18How do you kind of bring it down from what you've got down to what we see today?
02:23We start by actually really looking in the stores and seeing things in person, discussing
02:28it, but it's very much thinking about how a work will fit within a particular section
02:33or a particular theme, how it might work as a pairing with another work as well.
02:37So sometimes you might select something because it really complements another piece that you've
02:42already identified.
02:43I tend to start by kind of mapping out in terms of those ideas, but really in terms
02:49of narrowing down the choice, it's all to do with layout and it's all to do with actually
02:53when you start to design the exhibition and kind of work out how things are going to work
02:57within the galleries that we have and within the kind of sequence.
03:01So that's when you start to narrow things down really and think about which works you
03:05want in certain key locations as well, where you're going to get kind of a straight view
03:10through to them and things like that.
03:12So that actual spatial planning really helps to kind of narrow down the choice and to start
03:17to think about how works will look alongside each other in the gallery space.
03:22And I guess as well, coming from a north-east angle, how important is it to make sure that
03:26these pieces stay in the area rather than heading elsewhere, be down south or abroad
03:31or anything like that?
03:33Yeah, I mean it's definitely an emphasis of our collections and how we continue to acquire
03:38is to represent the art of the region and also the kind of landscape and places of the
03:44region which is why the collections are so strong.
03:48So that's something that we can continue to do really, but also kind of highlighting
03:53what a wealth of works we have and also the importance of Newcastle and north-east based
04:00artists as well throughout time.
04:02So that's something we're always really keen to do.
04:05And it's that kind of identity, isn't it?
04:07It's that kind of identity within the north-east and that pride of staying within the region,
04:11I guess, as well.
04:12Yeah, absolutely.
04:13And I think we really wanted to get a sense of place in this exhibition and a sense of
04:18these works which have kind of shaped how we look at landscape.
04:23I think often when we look at landscape, we're almost looking through the eyes of artists
04:28and paintings that we've seen and we expect that landscape to look like that, but also
04:32to really unpick the fact that these landscapes have been shaped by human intervention as
04:38well and to emphasise agriculture and industry and urban expansion as well and how that's
04:44influenced our landscape.
04:46And putting this all together as well, has it kind of changed your relationship with
04:49how you see various parts of the north-east or Scotland or things like that?
04:52Yeah, absolutely.
04:53I think particularly the ones which are kind of those wild, untamed, kind of unspoilt landscapes
05:01and it's made me think about actually how those landscapes kind of came about.
05:06The fact that of course there were people living there and I think particularly around
05:11the Highland Clearances as well and what happened in terms of that, that actually what we're
05:16seeing is very much this kind of image of Scotland in particular as this wild and untamed
05:22place and actually the role of art in creating that.
05:26But thinking more about actually the communities and kind of who lived there as well versus
05:31the people who would come for maybe for sports or kind of tourism and that kind of thing.
05:37So yes, it's definitely kind of changed my views in terms of those.
05:41One of the things that we're really proud of is the fact that we've represented women
05:46artists kind of throughout the period.
05:48So the exhibition covers over 200 years of landscape art and we're really keen to emphasise
05:55the role of women right through from the early 19th century through to the present day and
06:00really make sure that they were also represented within the works as well, which is always
06:06slightly trickier for the kind of earlier period.
06:09It's something that we really wanted to do and we were able to achieve partly through
06:13loans from other museums as well.
06:16So yeah, we're really pleased to do that.
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