Bright, colourful, vibrant and dynamic, birds have inevitably been used as inspiration for design and decoration through the ages. 2010 sees a series of bird-inspired events being held across Leeds Museums and Galleries: from the detailed accuracy of Audubon and Turner to the fantasy birds of the 18th and 19th century decorative arts and the use of frothy feathers in fashion.
Study Turner's bird watercolours at the Art Gallery, investigate JJ Audubon's birds as wallpaper at Temple Newsam House and take a look around Leeds's collection of feathered fashion at Lotherton Hall.
Highlights include;
Ruffled Feathers: Fashion, dress and design at Lotherton Hall
2nd March - 31st December
Come and find out about the feathered and fancy world of birds in art and nature. In the Costume Galleries explore our fascination with birds and clothing; from feathered hats to bird inspired textiles. One of the star attractions will be a newly commissioned feathered hat from the celebrated British designer Philip Treacy.
Birds for Lotherton
2nd March - 30th June
Paintings in traditional Chinese style by the Chinese Brush Painters Society, Yorkshire Group.
Bird-inspired Art and Design at Lotherton Hall
2nd June - 31st December
A trail around the house includes birds on silver, furniture and china and an extraordinary Victorian fire-screen full of real natural history specimens.
Matters of Life and Death: Looking at Turner's Bird Studies
Leeds Art Gallery, 3rd April - 11th July
Turner's haunting watercolours of native birds were made after shooting excursions with Walter Fawkes of Farnley Hall near Otley. There, at a time of renaissance in ornithological study, they took their place with other material as part of a large album. This display looks at them in the context of their times and attitudes to natural science and asks what significance they carry for us today.
From a starting point that considers the 'album' as a space for ideas, a supporting programme of activities in the Gallery's Artspace uncovers unusual ways of responding to the artworks in the exhibition.
A House of Birds: American Birds in a Chinese Garden
Temple Newsam, 28th May - 30th November
'A House of Birds' takes as its starting point Lady Hertford's act of 'vandalism' by cutting out the priceless illustrations from her copy of J J Audubon's Birds of America and pasting them onto the walls of her Chinese Drawing Room in 1829.
The exhibition then goes on to look at the way in which birds have inspired the design and decoration of furniture, textiles, wallpapers and ceramics through the ages.
An explorers guide with puzzles, activities and pictures to colour is also available for younger visitors.
For details of further events, see Whats On.
Whats On at Temple Newsam House
What's On at Leeds Art Gallery
Whats On at Lotherton Hall