The new publicity material includes images from some of the new collections that are available online in 2011 – from a handbag constructed using milk bottle tops from the Museum of Design in Plastics at Arts University College at Bournemouth, to a 1950s painting of Lots Road Power Station by British artist John Minton from the Royal College of Art Collection, and from a 1960s evening gown from the Woolmark Company Archive at London College of Fashion, to an image from the archives at University College Falmouth by former Principal of Falmouth School of Art, Tom Cross.

The publicity material is available freely to universities, colleges, schools and libraries across the UK. Contact us on info@vads.ac.uk or 01252 892723 to request copies.

You can also download the poster directly from the VADS website, at: vads.ac.uk/publicity

Tuart Forest II by Tom Cross, 1999, from the Tom Cross Archive at University College Falmouth © Estate of Tom Cross.

Whilst in the role of Principal from 1976 to 1987, Tom Cross produced many paintings and drawings inspired by Cornwall’s landscapes and seascapes. He felt it was important for students to be taught by practising artists and invited many key characters from the St. Ives art scene to teach at the College. Prior to his time at Falmouth, Tom lived and worked all around the country and abroad, and was influenced by a range of popular styles including French Modernism and Russian Constructivism, making him a key British twentieth century artist.

Blue jug and oysters by Tom Cross, 1991, from the Tom Cross Archive at University College Falmouth © Estate of Tom Cross.

University College Falmouth acquired the Tom Cross Archive in 2010. The archive provides a personal account of the life and work of the artist and former Principal through sketchbooks, diary entries, news-cuttings and exhibition catalogues.

Sketch for Calamansac Wood by Tom Cross, 1987, from the Tom Cross Archive at University College Falmouth © Estate of Tom Cross.

Following the donation of the archive, Pat Cross also donated a substantial collection of Tom’s slides of paintings and drawings, which the University College has uploaded into its database ‘The Image Space’ for learning, teaching and research at University College Falmouth. Out of this collection, Pat has also kindly donated a selection of images for public access via VADS, as she was keen to share the prolific work of her late husband with a wider audience. Pat and the Image Collections Co-ordinator from University College Falmouth made the selection together, based on works which Pat thought were key in Tom’s career and which showed a cross section of the range of work from different periods.

To view images from the Tom Cross Archive on VADS, please see:
http://www.vads.ac.uk/collections/TCA

A case study on the digitisation of the collection at University College Falmouth has also been made available on the JISC-funded Look-here! project website at:
http://www.vads.ac.uk/lookhere/casestudies

Doorway in Oman by Tom Cross, 1996, from the Tom Cross Archive at University College Falmouth © Estate of Tom Cross.

Led by the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS), and building upon the work undertaken by the Digital Curation Centre (DCC), KAPTUR will discover, create and pilot a sectoral model of best practice in the management of research data in the visual arts.

Research data is seen as a valuable resource and, with appropriate curation and management, it has much to offer learning, teaching, research, knowledge transfer and consultancy activities in the visual arts. To address the lack of awareness and usage of research data management systems in the arts, the KAPTUR project seeks:

• to investigate the current state of the management of research data in the arts;
• to develop a model of best practice applicable to both specialist arts institutions and arts departments in multidisciplinary institutions; and
• to apply, test and embed the model with four institutional partners.

The four institutional partners are: Glasgow School of Art; Goldsmiths, University of London; University for the Creative Arts; and University of the Arts London. The results will be fed back into the model, which will be revised and then published freely to the wider higher education community for use and reuse.

Links:

• KAPTUR project press release (PDF)
• KAPTUR project Web site
• KAPTUR project blog

Pink, red and yellow flower printed cocktail dress, from Sketch Book of 1960 & 1961, London College of Fashion Victor Stiebel Archive.

Victor Stiebel (1907-1976) was a British fashion designer and his clients included members of the aristocracy and the royal family, including Princess Margaret, and he also had an international reputation and dressed stars such as Katherine Hepburn and Vivien Leigh.

The Archive at London College of Fashion includes three sketchbooks from his couture house in the early 1960s. The sketch books show models wearing his designs, ranging from stylish cocktail dresses to smart suits and blouses, and the books would serve as an overview of a collection and and be shown to clients to encourage them to place orders. The three sketch books cover Stiebel’s final years before ill health forced him to retire in 1963.

Day dress and jacket 1962, from Sketch Book of 1962 and 1963, London College of Fashion Victor Stiebel Archive.

South African born Stiebel originally moved to England to study architecture in Cambridge where he designed the décor and costumes for the Footlights Review. He went on to train with the court dressmaker Reville & Rossiter and in the early 1930s opened his own business in Mayfair in London. After a period in the army during the Second World War and then working for Jacqmar as Director of Couture, he opened his own business again in Cavendish Square.

Coat 1963, from Sketch Book of 1962 and 1963, London College of Fashion Victor Stiebel Archive.

These new images add to the vast collection of material that has already been opened up online from the unique and extensive archives of the London College of Fashion. This includes images of sewing patterns; shoes from the Cordwainers College; promotional photographs of wool fashions from the Woolmark Company; promotional photographs of cosmetics from Gala and other cosmetics companies; as well as photographs which chronicle the history of the College from its origins as two early needle trade schools up until the 1970′s. In total this includes almost 8000 images which have been made available online for free use in non-commercial learning, teaching, and research.

To view the London College of Fashion Victor Stiebel Archive, see:
http://www.vads.ac.uk/collections/LCFVS

To view all the VADS collections, see:
http://www.vads.ac.uk/collections

Ladies work for sailors, published by the Mission to Seamen. The Richard Rutt Collection, Winchester School of Art Library.

The books were donated by scholar and former bishop Richard Rutt, often referred to as the ‘knitting bishop’ and widely known for his classic book ‘A history of hand knitting’ published by Batsford in 1987. Richard Rutt’s personal library of books, journals, magazines, patterns and his research notes on knitting were donated by him to the University. His intention being that his library joined the Montse Stanley Knitting Collection in recognition of their shared passion and knowledge of knitting developed through their long standing friendship.

How to knit spun silk socks & stockings: with full and simple directions by which persons may teach themselves, by Miss E. Ryder. The Richard Rutt Collection, Winchester School of Art Library.

A particular distinction and strength of Richard Rutt’s collection is the range and number of nineteenth century knitting books first published in the 1830s. These Victorian knitting manuals may be considered as the precursors to the contemporary knitting pattern and the ‘how-to-knit’ books that are still being published over 180 years later. This collection has now been digitised and each book has been copied from cover to cover by the University of Southampton’s Digitisation Unit and are available online via the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS).

The knitting manuals have been made available on VADS as part of the JISC-funded Look-Here! project which was a collaboration between ten partners across the arts education sector. The project sought to develop skills and strategies for digitisation within libraries, museums, and archives in the arts education community.

The stocking-knitter’s manual: a handy book for the work-table by Mrs George Cupples. The Richard Rutt Collection, Winchester School of Art Library.

One of the outputs of the project was a series of case studies by project partners focusing on various different aspects of digitisation in the creative arts. This includes a case study on the Knitting Collections at Winchester School of Art Library by Linda Newington, which can be found on the project website at: http://www.vads.ac.uk/lookhere/casestudies

The collection of nearly 400 pieces, which has been accumulated over 20 years, includes the work of significant British artists, such as limited edition prints by Bridget Riley, Henry Moore, and John Piper, through to more recent additions from Hampshire-based artists or works depicting Hampshire scenes, including a set of works bequeathed to the council by artist Nick Schlee.

White Cloud Over Green Fields by Nick Schlee, 2006, Hampshire County Council Contemporary Art Collection.

The collection of almost 400 works adds to the national collection of over 120,000 digitised images available online through the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) where Hampshire’s database is held. VADS is a research centre based at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) and provides global online access to hundreds of unique art and design collections from universities, colleges, libraries, museums and archives across the UK, for free use in non-commercial education and research.

Energy, by Antony Gormley, Hampshire County Council Contemporary Art Collection.

The online launch follows the recent Land Sea Sky exhibition at the Winchester Discovery Centre which presented a selection of paintings from the Contemporary Art Collection with a particular focus on rural and coastal landscapes.

Breakwaters by Richard Eurich, Hampshire County Council Contemporary Art Collection.

For more information about Hampshire’s Contemporary Art Collection and its development, see:
http://vads.ac.uk/collections/HANTS

Front cover of Ercol Catalogue 1969. High Wycombe Furniture Archive, Bucks New University.

The High Wycombe Furniture Archive is part of the Research Centre for Furniture at Bucks New University in High Wycombe and incorporates visual material primarily from Ercol Furniture Ltd and E Gomme Ltd, including the famous G-Plan range, which saw the exciting designs of Donald Gomme, Ib Kofod Larsen, and Lesley Dandy, amongst others.

Page from 1956 G-Plan furniture catalogue showing a bedroom setting, High Wycombe Furniture Archive, Bucks New University.

The images presented on VADS represent just a taster of the vast archive which comprises over 16,000 visual materials and accompanying technical papers relating to the design and manufacture of locally-produced furniture, which were previously gathering dust in various company vaults or in danger of being lost altogether.

Print of a design by Ib Kofod-Larsen of: Sideboard. Drawing No. 177, High Wycombe Furniture Archive, Bucks New University.

The online highlights from the archive join other related British furniture research resources that are available on VADS, such as the Frederick Parker Chair Collection and the Design Council Slide Collection and Design Council Archive.

To view highlights from the High Wycombe Furniture Archive on VADS, visit: http://www.vads.ac.uk/collections/HWEFA

To view more images from the archive, visit:
http://hwfurniturearchive.bucks.ac.uk/asset-bank/action/viewHome

The digitised material represents a selection of the vast collections housed at the Women’s Library at London Metropolitan University, and includes posters, photographs, postcards, badges, and other memorabilia relating to the British suffrage movement.

Poster by Hilda Dallas, c.1912. Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University.

Particularly remarkable and moving items from the online collection include a photograph of a crowd attacking suffragettes, and the purse that was held by Emily Wilding Davison at the Epsom Derby in 1913, when she stepped in front of the horse of King George V, which resulted in her death four days later.

Photograph of a crowd attacking suffragettes, c. 1908. Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University.

The Women’s Library is the oldest and largest collection of women’s history in the UK and was founded in 1926 as the Library of the London Society for Women’s Service, a non-militant organisation led by leading suffragist, Millicent Fawcett. It is now held by the London Metropolitan University and is an internationally acclaimed specialist library, archive, and museum with collections that have broadened since its inception to include a wide range of subjects which focus on the lives of women in Britain. The collection now consists of 60,000 books and pamphlets, 3500 periodical titles, over 450 archives, and 5000 museum objects.

Pencil and ink drawing of her prison cell at Holloway by Katie Gliddon, 1912. Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University.

The collection of valuable documents, from the Women’s Library and the Parliamentary Archives, which tell the story of the women’s suffrage movement has recently been selected as one of twenty collections to represent the outstanding heritage of the United Kingdom on the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register.

The online selection provides a taster of these extensive collections, and adds to the national repository of over 120,000 digitised images available through VADS from a range of collections across the UK. In particular, this latest addition complements the existing online collection of Women’s Library Suffrage Banners, which includes almost 250 banners and associated artworks which have been made available online for free use in education and research.

To view the new Women’s Library Suffrage Collection, see:
http://www.vads.ac.uk/collections/WLS

To view the Women’s Library Suffrage Banners, see:
http://www.vads.ac.uk/collections/FSB

The file comprises almost three hundred pages of documentation that offer unprecedented insight into the planning of the Homes and Gardens Pavilion, and is one of 77 files held in the Design Council Archive at University of Brighton relating to this national event. A key resource for researchers, this rich set of correspondence, memoranda, plans, and sketches is now visible to scholars around the world.

Handwritten note from the official administrative file relating to the Homes and Gardens Pavilion at the Festival of Britain, 1951. Design Council Archive, University of Brighton.

Front cover from ’4 Ways of Living’ leaflet, from the official administrative file relating to the Homes and Gardens Pavilion at the Festival of Britain, 1951. Design Council Archive, University of Brighton.

Photograph of Homes and Gardens Pavilion designed by Bronek Katz and Reginald Vaughan at the Festival of Britain, 1951. Sculpture by Jacob Epstein in the foreground.
Design Council Archive, University of Brighton.

The digitisation work was undertaken as part of the JISC-funded Look-Here! project during 2010 in anticipation of the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain this year. The file can be accessed via the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) and compliments the 3200 images already available online from the Design Archives at University of Brighton. For more information, and to view all of the digitised collections from the archive, see:
http://www.vads.ac.uk/collections/DCA

The file can also be accessed as part of the multi-level description of the Design Council Archive available on the Archives Hub

The Look-Here! project, which was led by VADS in collaboration with nine partners across the arts education sector, sought to develop skills and strategies for digitisation within libraries, museums, and archives in the arts education community. One of the outputs of the project was a series of digitisation case studies by project partners, including a case study on the digitisation of the Festival of Britain documentation, which can be found on the project website at: http://www.vads.ac.uk/lookhere/casestudies

The Spot the Difference project will pilot the use of visual search tools developed by the Centre for Vision, Speech, and Signal Processing (CVSSP) at the University of Surrey and test their application to learning and teaching in the arts and in particular to the complex and nebulous concept of ‘visual plagiarism’.

Whilst there has been extensive research and guidance in the area of text-based plagiarism, there has been relatively little research undertaken in the area of visual plagiarism. The Spot the Difference project seeks to address this gap, and in particular to explore the potential application and relevance that visual search technology may have to offer in this area.

The Centre for Vision, Speech, and Signal Processing at the University of Surrey is the largest UK academic research centre exploring topics in image and video analysis, with 110 researchers and ranked 2nd on the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). The Centre has pioneered visual search technologies utilising the ‘bag of visual words’ framework which will be used in the demonstrator for the Spot the Difference project.

The project is funded through a JISC Learning & Teaching Innovation Grant and will run for 12 months from June 2011 to May 2012.