Volunteers enrich re creation of war time at historic house

    Volunteers enrich re creation of war time at historic house

    By: Susie O'Reilly on 01 June 2015

    As we walked up the driveway, noticing the sandbags heaped against the front door at Upton House, my companion remarked “Poor things, they must have had a flash flood”.  Not a bit of it of course, this was just the start of Upton’s immersive and entertaining installation “Banking for Victory’.  Staff and volunteers have worked together for months to research and recreate the war years at Upton – a remarkable time in the history of the house, when the owner, Lord Bearsted packed the most important of his pictures off to the slate mines in Wales, along with the National Gallery collections (he was a trustee) and moved in key staff from Samuels, the family bank. They worked and lived in the house, sharing bedrooms and spending their leisure time cycling and courting. We were there for the private view; fellow guests included the daughter of one of the team of bank staff, who had met and married her mother while billeted there for the duration. She had been tracked down by Upton’s team of in-house researchers, along with a wealth of wonderful authentic period props (including manual typewriters, 1940s stationary, utility furniture, wellington boots and a Harris tweed coat to die for).

    All the pictures came off the walls and were packed into crates for safe keeping, leaving ghostly imprints on the wallpaper.  The artist Yelena Popova has been inspired by this and the on-going work of conservators; work which continues to reveal surprising secrets about how the paintings were made. An exhibition of Yelena's work, The Collector's Case – which comprises a mix of video and painted pieces - was inspired by her ambition to encourage visitors to slow down and allow themselves the time needed to really see the Upton collection. 

    As with Banking for Victory, much of the preparatory work and task of opening The Collector’s Case exhibition up for visitors has been undertaken by volunteers, who have relished the opportunity to undertake a stretching programme of work which has challenged, inspired and empowered them. 

    The first event in New Expressions 3's field visit programme explores the experiences of Upton House and its volunteers in delivering The Collector's Case. 'Collaborative working with artists, volunteers and historic houses', takes place at Upton House, near Banbury, on 18 June. 

    There is still time to book for ‘Collaborative working with artists, volunteers and historic houses’.  For more information see: [link to news story]

    'The Collector's Case' by Yelena Popova opens to the public at Upton House on 5 June and runs until 31 December. 

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