Tonight I went to the opening of Finding Lines, the last exhibition at Derby Museums and Art Gallery. It was curated by my wonderful friend Andrea Hadley-Johnson, who has been sadly absent in my life recently because of the flurry of activity in getting everything ready. The creative and wonderful results have been worth the wait, as her sparkles were evident everywhere in the space and atmosphere.
The event had been carefully planned with entertainments and distractions to suit all ages and temperaments. Carefully constructed linear face painting, turned participants into living works to admore alongside those hung on the walls.
The museum cafe was transformed into a lively bar, complete with DJs and doodling invitations enticing passers by to linger longer. The fabulous culmination of the Twitter hashtag, #findinglines were displayed in a colourful and engaging grid of pictures, continuing the co-produced themes that permeate Derby Museums Trust work.
I took up a suggestion to sit, chat and sketch by an artist who doesn’t take his eyes off you. The result is a melty, swirly picture that reminded me of a Dali dreamscape.