As part of our HLF Creative Wiltshire project we have provided training and opportunity for people who are interested in working in Heritage Services. This has involved training days for museum staff and volunteers and has also included a one day a week role as a Creative Wiltshire Exhibition Assistant (trainee) for a ten month period.

The planning of our end of project exhibition at Salisbury Museum, January to May 2019, presented the perfect opportunity to create this role and we are thrilled that Emily Smith accepted the job as it will provide her with important ‘hands on’ experience of planning, designing and delivering our end of project exhibition. The task of project managing will be a valuable experience and her mentor, Adrian Green, Director at Salisbury Museum, will guide her through the process.

Here is an update from Emily ….

Hello, it’s Emily the Creative Wiltshire exhibition assistant here. I have been in the role for a couple of months now and things are moving along nicely. We are planning an exhibition to celebrate the Creative Wiltshire project. It will be hosted by Salisbury Museum and run from January to May 2019. The exhibition will feature items purchased by Creative Wiltshire for museums and galleries all around the county.  

Over the past few months I have been busy selecting the items which will feature in the exhibition. These include works by Laurence and Rex Whistler, Howard Phipps, Jonathan Wylder and many more. This has meant a lot of research into each artist’s connection to Wiltshire and it has been really intriguing to see how the county has inspired so many different creative people.

 More recently I have been designing the look of the exhibition. We hope it will be a lively exhibition, full of colour and lots to look at. This has meant experimenting with different potential wall colours and planning how the pieces are going to fit into the space. To do this I have been using a 3D model and lots of blue tack!

It’s been a very exciting process so far and I will be sure to keep you updated as we get closer to the opening.

We look forward to a further update from Emily, and you may like to look out for this inspiring exhibition, ‘Creative Wiltshire: A Celebration of Art in Wiltshire’ in the new year.