Two new exhibitions at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery

Every year in October, the Education Room at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery becomes home for two special displays when students from the MA Art Gallery and Museum Studies take over and create brand new interpretations. This year, two groups of students have worked with the University of Leeds' Liddle Collection to create unique displays: I'm On My Way: Communication, Movement and the First World War and Art of Warfare: Global Interaction.

The Art of Warfare: Global Interaction illustrates the power of war to break down the artificial boundaries we create between nations and people. Using the University of Leeds' Liddle Collection, the artistic and creative works gathered from the far reaches of the First World War will be displayed.

As the great Empires of the First World War collided, men and women of thirty nations found themselves drawn into the conflict. Many chose to communicate their experiences through art. The war took a great deal from a great many, but also afforded ordinary men and women the opportunity to explore and be inspired by a world beyond the limits of their nations borders.

The harrowing nature of war was expressed through a variety of media. But despite the horror of war, for the men and women who travelled overseas, there was also often a sense of wonder at their new surroundings, as the objects in the display demonstrate.

The second display, I'm On My Way: Communication, Movement and the First World War, highlights the themes of communication and movement, through objects which were made and owned by people from across the world. The artefacts, from the University of Leeds' Liddle Collection, illustrate the different experiences of individuals during the world's first modern and worldwide war. The global diversity of the objects on display acts as a reminder of why this war became known as the First World War.

A third group of MA students have been working on a project to bring a family focus to the University's Public Art Trail. More information can be found here.

The exhibitions open at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery on 26 October and run until 19 December.

Images:
Detail from HMS Pelargonium, 1919. Watercolour painting. Liddle Collection, Special Collections
Pocket watch (detail) LIDDLE/MUS/BEO/43. Liddle Collection, University of Leeds Special Collec