Regionalism and Identity in British Art:
History, Environment & Contemporary Practice

Location: United_Kingdom
Conference Date: 2006-10-28
Date Submitted: 2006-05-25

This conference, jointly organised by UWE's Regional History Centre and the
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, explores the interplay between
historical concepts of regional identity and their representational
expression in the visual arts. Following a keynote address from Sir Howard
Newby, it uniquely brings together a number of practicing visual artists
and cultural historians and seeks connections between contemporary
practice, regional/cultural geography and historical context. To what
extent do historical memory, myth and ritual impact upon understandings of
regional difference and how have those understandings been mapped and
moulded in the arts? And how important have regional arts institutions like
the RWA been in the historical manufacturing of civic pride and regional
identity?

PROGRAMME:

9.30-10.15am Registration and coffee

10.15am Welcome & introduction: Derek Balmer (President, Royal West of
England
Academy)

10.30am Keynote: Sir Howard Newby (Vice-Chancellor, UWE), A sense of place:
English regionalism and identity in the 21st century.

11.00am-12.30pm Panels 1 & 2 (concurrent)

Panel 1: Regional art institutions and local identity: historical perspectives
(chair: Steve Poole, RHC/UWE)
James Moore (University of London) Ancients and Moderns: art museums and urban
governance in N W England (1850-1914)
Joanna Soden (Royal Scottish Academy) Nationalism, regionalism &,
internationalism in the visual arts in the 19th C: a Scottish perspective
Brendan Flynn (Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery) Branding the Behemoth: the
visual arts and civic identity in Victorian Birmingham

Panel 2: Regional identity and natural materials (chair: Janette Kerr, UWE/RWA)
Esther Dudley (University of Plymouth) In blessed memory
Michael Fairfax (public artist) Slate, Tintagel and Cornishness
Kate Lynch (artist) Willow, tradition and farming on the Somerset Levels

12.30-1.30pm Lunch

1.30-3.00pm Panels 3 & 4 (concurrent)

Panel 3: Urban centres, regionalism and art in the 20th C
Tricha Passes (University of Bristol) Evocations of history and memory in the
work of Reece Winstone and Jem Southam
Darcy White (Sheffield Hallam University) Public art and regional identity:
Sheffield - 'steel city?' A changing picture
Deborah Lewittes (Tufts University, Mass.) The Shape of the City to Come:
regionalism and urban identity in post-war London

Panel 4: Landscape and regional identity
Ysanne Holt (University of Northumbria) A northern landscape aesthetic?
Jeremy Gardiner (artist) Time Passes, listen, time passes.
Harvey Turner (North West Kent College) Endangered minority languages:
authenticity, regional visual language and development in the early 21st
century.

3.00pm tea & coffee

3.20-4.50pm Panels 5 & 6 (concurrent)

Panel 5 - Memory, region, myth and icon
Paul Usherwood (University of Northumbria) What has the Angel done for the
North East?
Ros White (Cumbria Institute of the Arts) Relating contemporary art and
culture with history, heritage and memory: a regional context.
Inga Bryden (University of Winchester) Myth and matter: interpreting place and
Arthurian legend in British art

Panel 6 - Nationalism, regionalism and 'the margins'
Craig Richardson (Oxford Brookes University) Ross Sinclair versus Sir Edwin
Landseer: situating Scottishness
Alice Correia (University of Sussex) Willie Doherty: positioning Northern
Ireland within British Art
Jennifer Way (University of North Texas) Sean Hillen's Irelantis: Island as
region

4.50-5.30 Plenary/summing up - Paul Gough & Claire Doherty (UWE),
Reconfiguring a 'Picture of Britain'

5.30pm Wine reception and private view of RWA Autumn exhibition

6.30pm close

For a full programme including abstracts and booking form, please see the
Regional History Centre's website or contact us by e-mail.

Pat Diango (Adminsitrator, Regional History Centre, UWE)

HLSS, St Matthias Campus,
University of the West of England
Oldbury Court Rd
Bristol
BS16 2JP
Tel: +44 (0)117 328 4307
Fax: +44 (0)117 975 0402
Email: rhcuwe.ac.uk
Visit the website at
http://humanities.uwe.ac.uk/regionhistory/rhcnew/futurecon.htm