Issue number 1 : Autumn 2008
V&A Online Journal - Issue no. 1 - Editorial
Welcome to the launch issue of the V&A's annual online research journal. Designed to complement the longstanding V&A Conservation Journal, this new initiative offers a lively forum for the discussion and publication of research undertaken in connection with all aspects of the Museum's activities...
Highlights in this Issue
Owen Jones and the V&A Collections
Owen Jones's Grammar of Ornament has been an influential design manual for more than 150 years, yet its material sources have not been properly examined. Newly observed connections between the 'Indian Ornament' illustrated in the Grammar and textiles in the V&A collections, selected by Jones and his colleagues, may enable better understanding of Jones's aesthetic principles, and the sources of his own design work.
James ‘Athenian’ Stuart: The Architect as Landscape Painter
For many visitors to the exhibition James 'Athenian' Stuart: the Rediscovery of Antiquity (Bard Graduate Center, New York, 2006-7; Victoria & Albert Museum 15 March-24 June 2007) the surprise was not the quality of Stuart's lost buildings and interiors so much as the striking examples of his art as a painter. The exhibition featured eighteen landscape views, thirteen of which were engraved for the first two volumes of 'Antiquities of Athens' (1762; 1787-9) by Stuart and Nicholas Revett...
Keepsakes of Identity - Michele Walker : Memoriam
Michele Walker trained and worked as a graphic designer. Since 1980 she has exhibited in both solo and group contemporary textile exhibitions. 'Memoriam', a plastic and wire wool quilt dedicated to the memory of Walker's mother, will be acquired by the V&A and displayed in the Museum's 2010 British patchwork and quilting exhibition. This paper examines the therapeutic role quilts play in both individual and collective memory and discusses 'Memoriam' in the context of Walker's oeuvre.
Other Highlights in this Issue
Can a ‘Communities of Practice’ Framework be Applied to the Creative Industries as an Identified Audience for the V&A?
This paper presents the findings of research into the Creative Industries using the communities of practice framework. Based on theories of situated learning, the framework examines three key structural indicators of a community of practice: domain, community, practice. The research found that despite disparate self-identification with the notion of Creative Industries, the three indicators were present across a creative activity spectrum.
The Film Work of Stage Designer Oliver Messel
The Oliver Messel Collection consists of around 10,000 individual items and has been housed by the V&A Theatre Collections since 1981. The collection was originally on loan from Lord Snowdon, Messel's nephew, who inherited the collection on his uncle's his death in 1978. In 1983 the V&A held a major exhibition using the Messel collection as the source material and including many objects on loan from his family, friends and work colleagues, including his sister Anne (Lady Rosse) and his nephew, Thomas Messel.
Contact Us
If you have any comments or feedback about the V&A online journal or any of the articles featured, please email the Journal editors at vandajournal@vam.ac.uk
The Value of Arts and Humanities Research to Life in the UK: A Museum Perspective
Arts and Humanities Research directly informs the key activities of a national museum like the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A). The Museum serves as an international centre of excellence in the fields of the history of art and design, conservation, learning and interpretation and contemporary creative practice, and its programmes benefit from research that is designed to contribute both to the public understanding and experience of its collections, and to the methodological and theoretical advancement of relevant arts and humanities disciplines.
Doing Time: Patchwork as a Tool of Social Rehabilitation in British Prisons
This paper explores the longstanding affiliation between patchwork and social rehabilitation in British prisons, looking in particular at the initiatives of Elizabeth Fry. In the light of these ideas, it discusses two objects that will be included in a forthcoming V&A exhibition on British patchwork and quilting: the Rajah Quilt (1841), and the HMP Wandsworth Quilt (2010).
In Conversation: Dorothy Hogg, Artist in Residence
This interview takes a personal look at the work and working processes of Dorothy Hogg, an internationally renowned jeweller and metalworker. It concentrates on her recent six-month residency at the V&A.
