The main gallery will soon be filled with an array of sculptural pots created by Gordon Baldwin, for our new show, Gordon Baldwin: Objects for a Landscape.

At the moment the pots are being unpacked and stored in the South Gallery next door which is being redisplayed with three groups of paintings from our permanent collections, Early Religious paintings, Dutch and Flemish Still Life and Georgian Painting and Old Masters.

Some interesting contemporary pieces are also being included in these displays.

In among the altarpieces and alabasters are two contrasting pieces:

Christ Beckham, by Philip Eglin,  shows Christ on the cross with a picture of David Beckham appearing like an apparition on his body. Either side are alabaster panels that date back to 1450 – 85.

Father with Dead Son, Bam, 2004 is a copper sculpture inspired by a photo taken in the aftermath of the earthquake in Bam, Iran, which is reminiscent of a ‘pieta’ – an image of the Madonna holding the dead body of Christ.

In the middle section dedicated to Dutch and Flemish still lifes, are two works by Liza Dracup from 2010 and 2011 called The Pheasant and Mistle Thrush.

These were actually commissioned for an exhibition of works by John Atkinson Grimshaw in Harrogate, but now provide a contrast to two still lifes called Wild Fowl and The Cockerel from our own collection which have not been out on display for some time.

Displayed alongside our Old Masters and Georgian portraits is a work called Shadows, Reflections and All The Sort of Thing #47, 2009 by Jorma Puranen, which appears to have a reflection worked into a portrait picture.

The newly-displayed South Gallery is due to open at the same time as the Gordon Baldwin exhibition on 11 February .

A Japanese print by Hiroshige from York Art Gallery's collection

The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal is somewhat like an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? as it follows four generations of the Ephrussi family through Europe.

The focus of the book is a collection of Japanese netsuke, bought in Paris in the late 1800s, by Charles Ephrussi and then passed down through the family, eventually being given to Edmund (the author) by his uncle Iggy.

Much of the Ephrussi family’s wealth was lost during the turmoil of the Second World War, and this book tells the remarkable story of the nesuke’s survival. We were much taken by de Waal’s eloquence in writing about objects.

As an accomplished, successful ceramic artist he brings a maker’s sensibility to the words he chooses. His descriptions of the tactile quality of objects are really very beautiful.

In writing about the Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries it is inevitable that there are times when this small treasure of a book cannot do justice to the huge political and social changes taking place.

However, by focussing on the story of this set of objects owned by one family, these events take on a different shape. Read it. It’s a work of art. We then looked at a selection of Japanese Prints from the Art Gallery collection.

The YMT book club is led by Vicky Hoyle. Each month we also look at relevant objects from the YMT collections. The next book is Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson We will be meeting at York Castle Museum on Saturday 12 November at 3pm.

For more information visit our website.

Hans Coper pots from York on display in Japan

Back in 2009, we sent 15 pots by Hans Coper to Japan, to take part in the first major touring exhibition of his work there. York Museums Trust was the only UK institution to loan works to the exhibition, which has turned out to be a pivotal show, introducing Coper’s work to the Japanese and opening their eyes to the wealth of modern British studio ceramics beyond Bernard Leach.

Hans Coper exhibition, Shizuoka Museum of Art

The tour ended in June at the Shizuoka Museum of Art and I was lucky enough to go to Japan to courier our pots back to York.

Though only there for a week (part of which was spent in a jet-lagged fog), I managed to visit two places that are unmissable for anyone interested in studio ceramics.

The first was the Mingeikan or Japanese Folk Art Museum in Tokyo. Founded by Soetsu Yanagi, a philosopher who in the early 20th century saw that the work of craftsman in Japan was being lost as industrialisation gathered pace and formed a collection to preserve this part of Japan’s heritage.

When I visited, the current exhibition was the best pieces from their collection. I spent quite a few hours wandering round gazing at their treasures and was pleased to spot that some examples of English slipware (similar to pieces currently on display in our Honest Pots show) were deemed important enough to be in this nationally important collection.

Shoji Hamada's studio in Mashiko

My second trip involved six trains and a bus journey to Mashiko, north of Tokyo. Mashiko is a place of pilgrimage for anyone interested in the work of the potter Shoji Hamada, who helped Bernard Leach set up his pottery in St Ives in 1920.

I was a bit apprehensive about what I would find there following the earthquake earlier this year, as I had heard Mashiko had suffered quite a bit of damage, but in fact I hardly spotted any evidence of it apart from some damage to Hamada’s climbing kiln. Mashiko is an amazing place and every other shop seems to be a pottery or ceramic gallery- there are something like 180 potters working in the town. Well worth a visit with an empty suitcase!

I should mention that thankfully all our pots survived the earthquake unscathed and are now safely back in York.

For those who want to know more about it and the artist behind it, we have invited Cornelia up to York this week.

She is giving a lecture about her work on Thursday 30 June, at 1pm at Kings Manor.

This will be followed by questions and a conversation with Cornelia and writer and researcher, Dr Claire MacDonald. The event is free and no need to book.

We will be streaming the event live on our website for those that cannot attend – just visit www.yorkstmarys.org.uk  (this is a first for York Museums Trust and we hope it proves popular!)

We will also be live tweeting under the hashtag #30pieces or follow @YorkArtGallery

Hope you can join us – in person or online!

David Hockney’s Bigger Trees near Warter has now closed and is being taken down, canvas by canvas, from the wall in the Main Gallery.

It’s been extremely popular and gallery guide Julie Redpath, for one, is sad to see it go.

“I’ve got used to seeing it every day and am feeling quite sad now it’s going!” she says.

Curators Laura Turner and Jenny Alexander have been busy checking over the canvases before the giant picture moves on to its next host gallery, the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull.

Meanwhile paintings for our new exhibition, William Etty: Art and Controversy, which opens on 25 June, are already going up on the wall in the next-door South Gallery.

This huge exhibition will be the first for years to take up both ground-floor galleries – it really does aim to show as many works as possible so people can make their own minds up about Etty and the controversy his nude paintings caused at the time.

Julie’s colleague Tony Dunnington already likes the look of it – and prefers it to the departing Hockney: “Look at that wall of Old Masters – it’s great!” .

He is pointing at one end of the South Gallery which is covered in paintings by different artists, displayed in the style of 19th century exhibitions.

Laura Turner explains: “This Old Master hang gives a flavour of how paintings were displayed in Etty’s day and they are similar in style to some of the Old Masters which Etty looked to for inspiration. The rest of this section will be filled with Etty’s paintings “after” the Old Masters, or inspired by them, including Etty’s prized copy of Titian’s Venus of Urbino which the artist considered to be the best copy he had ever produced.”

The rest of the South Gallery will include at a selection of Etty’s paintings and sketches from the Life Class, and a display of his portraits. 

The partially-completed wall of Old Masters

This painting of a male nude holding a staff is a study from around 1816 from the life studio, and is mounted alongside a sketch of a male nude, to show how Etty experimented with different poses

This painting showing a male nude with his arms up stretched is typical of Etty's work in the life studio

Guide Tony Dunnington looks at some of Etty's portraits which have started to go up on the walls

This large portrait of two sisters is called Preparing for a Fancy Dress Ball and dates from 1835

Once the Hockney painting has gone, the Main Gallery will be repainted before being filled with a spectacular array of Etty’s major historical works, loaned from galleries across the UK including the Tate and the Royal Academy.

Watch curator Sarah Burnage explain more about the Etty exhibition in a special film on our website.

Don't look down! The view from the top of York St Mary's as the grid was installed

First of all, we had to build a system of grids to suspend from the nine metre-high ceiling. This was the first challenge – we are not permitted to screw into the beams, so we had to suspend the grids from timbers laid over the existing beams.

The work itself is 30 pools of silver, each with around 30-40 squashed silver objects suspended five inches off the floor. Each object supported by two to four individual wires.

Two technicians worked at the top of the scaffolding attaching wires at the top according to a plan, and four of us worked on the floor, attaching the other end of the wire to the objects themselves.

Jenny, right, is pictured at work carefully putting the silver objects into their correct positions, helped by curator of art Laura Turner

It sounds quite straightforward but if one of us attached a wire to the wrong object it meant twisted wires and a lot of work to untangle them. It really tested our communication skills – “can we do the handle of the third fork in from the big spoon at the edge of the circle?” and “I’m doing the funny shaped object between the knuckledusters and the Eiffel Tower!”. We felt like we were on the Crystal Maze at times!

It seemed like it would take forever to complete and took three days longer than planned, but the end result is fantastic and well worth a look.

A close-up of some of the suspended silverware

Finished! A view of the completed installation from above

Thirty Pieces of Silver by Cornelia Parker opens on 28 May, at York St Mary’s, Castlegate, York. Visit our website for more details.

Marco is an acknowledged expert on the work of David Hockney and is going to be talking about Bigger Trees near Warter and Hockney’s other East Yorkshire landscapes.

He is currently co-curating the huge Hockney show which opens at the Royal Academy in 2012 so I’m sure he’ll be able to tell us more about that. I’m a huge Hockney fan so can’t wait to find out more! 

Also intrigued to find out what Hockney is currently working on, as I know he has been making films of the East Yorkshire countryside near his home in Bridlington.

David Hockney, East Yorkshire, August 29, 2006. Copyright David Hockney. Photo Credit: Jean Pierre Goncalves De Lima.

Visit York Art Gallery’s website for more details and how to book a place.

Guide Chris House, working on reception, had a shock when Hockney walked in with his assistant and pointed him in the direction of the main gallery, where the painting has just been mounted.

Our chief executive Janet Barnes and curator of art Laura Turner just happened to be in the gallery doing an interview with local journalist Elly Fiorentini, co-ordinated by our press officer Lee Clark.

Hockney agreed to chat to Elly, from BBC Radio York, before talking to our staff about how his painting looked. He stayed for about 20 minutes then went back home to Bridlington.

The painting, made up of 50 canvases, took three days to mount in a jigsaw-puzzle style process (see pictures below) and will be revealed to the public on Saturday. Don’t miss it!

We had a whopping 1700 visitors into the gallery and there was a positive response to the space. The redisplay features over 70 paintings, sculpture, ceramics and costume from York Art Gallery’s fantastic collections and we’ve tried to include a balance between old favourites and works of art which haven’t been seen for some time.

One of the highlights of the redisplay is Richard Jack’s enormous painting, Return to the Front which depicts a scene at Victoria Railway Station in London during the First World War. This was conserved a few years ago with a grant from the Friends of York Art Gallery and we’re delighted that it’s back on display.

We’re also busy preparing for our next exhibition – David Hockney’s Bigger Trees Near Warter which opens on 12th February.  We usually have a two week turn around for exhibitions, but we’ve had to allow three weeks for this change over, as it’s such a huge task. In order to display the painting (Hockney’s largest and most ambitious work to date), we needed to build a false wall.

The wall was completed on Saturday and we’re now busy raising the lighting track and repainting the gallery. The next step will be the  installation of the paintings…

Visit our website for more details on Bigger Trees Near Warter and The Burton Gallery