Brontë Parsonage Museum's Contemporary Arts Programme 2008-09

A press release from the Brontë Society:

Brontë Parsonage Museum’s Contemporary Arts Programme October 2008 – March 2009, full programme details:

Zoë Brigley: Poet in Residence

Saturday 11 October, Brontë Parsonage Museum

To mark National Poetry Day, poet Zoë Brigley will be resident in the museum for one day, engaging with visitors to create new poems inspired by the Brontës and the Parsonage. Zoë invites visitors to consider the Brontës' secrets and to write their own responses, which she will weave into a long collaborative poem. This will be read at the end of the day along with poems from her most recent poetry project, My Brontë Passion.

Zoë Brigley's first collection of poetry, The Secret, is published by Bloodaxe Books and was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. It has also been longlisted for the 2008 Dylan Thomas Prize. Zoë Brigley works at Northampton University as lecturer in English and Creative Writing. She has won an Eric Gregory Award, an Academi bursary and the English Association Fellows' Prize for Poetry.

Free on admission to the Brontë Parsonage Museum

Diane Setterfield
Wednesday 15 October, 2.00pm, West Lane Baptist Centre, Haworth

Diane Setterfield will be reading from and discussing The Thirteenth Tale, her phenomenally successful debut novel. The Thirteenth Tale reached No.1 on The New York Times bestseller list and won the 2007 Debut Author of the Year Quill Award. A timeless gothic tale about family secrets and the magic of books and storytelling, the novel makes reference to the works of the Brontës, specifically Jane Eyre, as well as Daphne du Maurier and Wilkie Collins.

Diane Setterfield is a former academic specialising in 20th Century French literature, particularly the works of Andre Gide. She lives in Yorkshire.

Admission is £3. Tickets available in advance from jenna.holmes@bronte.org.uk / 01535 640188.

Maggie O’Farrell
Wednesday 12 November, 3.30pm, The Old Schoolroom, Haworth

Novelist Maggie O’Farrell will be in conversation with writer and poet James Nash to discuss her latest novel, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox (2007). The story of a woman edited out of her family history, the novel explores the themes of sanity and madness, and parallels have been drawn with Jane Eyre. Maggie O’Farrell has acknowledged the influence of the Brontës on her work.

Maggie O’Farrell was born in Northern Ireland in 1972, and grew up in Wales and Scotland. Her debut novel, After You’d Gone, was published to international acclaim, and won a Betty Trask Award, while her third, The Distance Between Us, won the 2005 Somerset Maugham Award.
Tickets are £5 and should be booked in advance. Bookings: 01535 640188 / jenna.holmes@bronte.org.uk

Alter Ego: Victor Buta
Friday 6 February to Tuesday 31 March, Brontë Parsonage Museum
Victor Buta has produced a series of abstract paintings based on Brontë handwriting and signatures. The paintings emerge from an interest in signatures of questionable authenticity; those invented or used in a conscious effort to mask or change identity. Alter Ego explores the Brontës’ writing pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, and the origins and development of the Brontë surname. Numerous items from the museum collections, including the Brontës’ miniature books and handwritten correspondence, have been used as source material.

Victor Buta is a Haworth based artist who has developed a number of projects and exhibitions based on signatures, including a series of paintings using doctors’ signatures, now in the permanent collection of the NHS Hospital Teaching Trust. He has been exhibiting in solo and group shows for twenty-five years, teaches art to a variety of groups and has been involved in numerous large-scale community art projects.
Free on admission to the museum.

Alter Ego: Graphology and the Brontës’ handwriting Saturday 14 February, Brontë Parsonage Museum
As part of the Alter Ego exhibition, the Brontë Parsonage Museum invited graphologist Diane Simpson to analyse examples of Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne’s handwriting, which has produced new insight into their personalities and behaviours. Throughout the duration of the Alter Ego exhibition, museum visitors will be able to use these findings to ‘read’ the Brontës’ writings in new ways.

Diane Simpson will be working with visitors during a one-day special event at the Brontë Parsonage Museum. Discover the graphological clues that reveal the personality traits of each of the Brontës and explore what your own handwriting says about you.

Curtis Brown Group Ltd, Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4SP
Tel: +44 (0)20 7393 4400 Fax: +44 (0)20 7393 4401 email: media@curtisbrown.co.uk

Diane Simpson has become particularly well known for her work with West Yorkshire Police on the Yorkshire Ripper case. A founder member of the British Institute of Graphologists, she has worked on projects with several museums and galleries including the National Archives and has analysed the handwriting of historical figures such as Elizabeth I and Anne Boleyn.

Free on admission to the Brontë Parsonage Museum

The Brontë Parsonage Museum’s flourishing contemporary arts programme has seen projects with major writers and artists in recent years, including Brontëan Abstracts, the result of a year-long collaboration with the artist Cornelia Parker.

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Talks