Bygone DVD inspires artists
Art works on display in a new exhibition at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life in Lincoln have been partially prompted by Blow by Blow’s Bygone Lincoln DVD 2.
The exhibition — officially launched last night ( March 17th 2010) — includes several pieces depicting the Lincoln Typhoid epidemic of 1904-05 and in particular the kindness of Alderman Thomas Smith in coming to the rescure of thirsty Lincolnians.
Viewers of DVD2 will recall that Alderman Smith, a businessman living 20 miles away in Newark where he served on the Town Council, organised daily supplies of clean water to be sent by rail to stricken Lincoln where people were dying from typhoid.
Artist Helen Link ….who works with colleagues Janet Schooley and Mandy Watmore in a trio called “Off at a Tangent”…..saw the letters written in gratitude by Lincoln citizens to Alderman Smith in Blow By Blow’s DVD documentary, which was “Highly Commended” in the IOV Awards. Producer Andrew Blow helped Helen get in touch with Alderman Smith’s descendants whose kind co-operation enabled her to base two pieces of art work on original letters from 1905. A third exhibit recalls the utensils with which Lincolnians collected “Newark water” in the sidings of the old St. Mark’s Station (today a shopping complex).
The exhibition, called “Contemporary Thoughts on a Past Reality”, can be seen in the Museum’s Gatehouse until May 23rd. Blow by Blow has created a short highlights DVD from the three Bygone Lincoln programmes and this plays in the exhibition. Admission is free.