Exeter Museum

Kapes bentoni – A well travelled specimen from the RAMM’s collection

Kapes was a small lizard-like parareptile some 100mm long.

It had only been found in Triassic of Russia until a tiny jaw was found in the Middle Triassic Otter Sandstone at Sidmouth in 2002.

230-240 million years old, the Sidmouth specimen is named after Mike Benton, Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at Bristol University, who has made major studies of the Otter Sandstone fauna. His finds at Sidmouth were donated to RAMM.

The Kapes jaw has recently returned from the University of Helsinki where it has been on loan and the subject of further study by...

RAMM nominated for Collections Practice Award

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Thu, 06/20/2013 - 10:42am

RAMM’s Collections Review has just been nominated for national Collections Practice Award from the Collections Trust.

These awards celebrate projects which demonstrate the application of innovative practice to improve the sustainability and use of collections. The winners will be announced on 2 July 2013.

RAMM is home to almost a million objects and support from Arts Council England has enabled the museum to take stock of this wealth of material. Wishing to unlock the collections’ potential for learning, research and inspiration and to ensure that our collections will be...

Donate your teeth for art

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Mon, 06/17/2013 - 12:28pm

Milk teeth are needed for an artwork in Wasted, an exhibition starting on Saturday 22 June that explores the life-giving potential of ‘discarded’ body parts and their relationship to myths, history and cutting-edge stem cell research.

It features works by Gina Czarnecki and one, called Palaces, incorporates milk teeth donated by children. Teeth are one of the only parts of the body we lose naturally that are a sign of growth and development rather than decay. Different cultures have different traditions about where these teeth go and what they are used for.

Scientists are...

Exeter's William Morris collection is transferred to Museum of the Year 2013

Objects from Exeter's William Morris collection are now on display in Museum of the Year 2013: The William Morris Art Gallery in London.

All 33 items in RAMM’s Wiiliam Morris collection have been transferred there and several of the objects are included in the permanent displays. The collection came from Iceland and was donated to RAMM in 1939 by Mary Frances Lobb, the lover of Morris’s daughter. The eclectic mix includes slippers, a bodice, a cap, a 16th-century bible and carved horn spoons and containers.

There are very few items of European origin in RAMM’s World...

Focusing on Fijian Artefacts at RAMM

The Fijian Art Research Project is helping RAMM learn more about its Fijian artefacts, identify objects that can be included in major European exhibitions of Fijian art and prepare for an exhibition at RAMM in July 2015.

The World Cultures collection currently includes 131 objects from Fiji of which 16 are included in the displays. The objects were donated mainly in the 19th century by those serving in either Royal Navy or the army, such as Lieut. George Phillpotts who was killed in New Zealand in 1845, Captain George Peard who served on the HMS Blossom in 1828 and, of course, the...

Gallery 21 Exhibition: Wasted

Event Date: 
01/09/2013 - 10:00am to 29/09/2013 - 5:00pm
Venue: 
RAMM, Queen Street, Exeter

This exhibition explores the life-giving potential of ‘discarded’ body parts and their relationship to myths, history, cutting edge stem cell research and notions of what constitutes informed consent.

The art works are sculptural, incorporating milk teeth donated by children and bones and fat from living, consenting donors.

Wasted is produced by Gina Czarnecki in collaboration with Professor Sara Rankin, Imperial College London. The body, its limits and unexplored possibilities for self-regeneration form the basis of a four year body of research culminating in this ground...

Gillian Ayres: Paintings and Prints 1986 to 2011

Event Date: 
16/07/2013 - 10:00am to 15/09/2013 - 5:00pm
Venue: 
RAMM, Queen Street, Exeter

This exhibition features the printmaking of Gillian Ayres, one of the leading British abstract artists of her generation. As well as the vibrant, heavily-worked canvasses for which she is best known, Gillian is also a dedicated printmaker.

Born in 1930, Gillian Ayres studied at Camberwell College of Art between 1945 and 1950. She worked initially in London and then went on to teach at the Bath Academy in Corsham, Saint Martins School of Art and finally became Head of Painting at Winchester School of Art. She left teaching in 1981 and moved to Wales and then Cornwall, where she...

Renewing relationships and reviewing collections with the Blackfoot Nations

A grant from the Leverhulme Trust has enabled RAMM to review its Blackfoot collections with the active participation of representatives from Blackfoot Nations in Canada and the USA.

Co-ordinated by Dr Alison Brown of the Department of Anthropology in the University of Aberdeen, staff from RAMM and the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) will be linked with the Blackfoot Nations of Siksika, Piikani, Kainai and the Blackfeet.

A series of reciprocal research visits will improve identification, interpretation and care of the museum collections...

Expect Success: Invest in Exeter logos available!

Following on from our Blog of 8 March – ‘What Are We Doing About Exeter’s Triple Crown Status’ The Plum Consultancy is delighted to advise that the ‘Expect Success: Invest in Exeter’ logo is available for all local businesses to use on their websites, stationery and email signatures to promote Exeter’s extraordinary triple crown status in the UK.

With investment enquiries up by 250% since the campaign was launched in London 2 weeks ago, congratulations are to be extended to all those involved in obtaining these fantastic accolades. To capitalise on this opportunity, Exeter Chamber...

What are We Doing About Exeter’s Triple Crown Status?

It was exciting to hear that the great and the good ventured up to London recently to see the launch of Exeter’s Triple Crown status on Bill Boards and in Underground Stations, maximising Exeter’s profile to London businesses who may be contemplating doing business with the region or relocating to this beautiful area of ours. BUT, what about the businesses based in Exeter that would also like to shout about Exeter’s buoyant, trend bucking successes; something all of us based in Exeter are part of?

A little while back we raised the idea of a Triple Crown logo to be developed for...

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