Hannah Frank Art, December 2014 - a new website and a new era!

HANNAH FRANK NEWS – DECEMBER 2014

Our main news this month:

WEB EVENT: SPECIAL OFFER!

If you would like to give Hannah Frank prints as Christmas presents (or even to welcome in the New
Year) then we have a very special offer for you. Our beautiful clean new website launches at midnight UK time on Wednesday 10th December this week.

 To celebrate we’re offering a two for one offer on orders of prints right up to the end of the year.  (Cheapest print free of course).  Just choose your first print then write in the name of your second print choice in the comments box in the order form.

The new website will be at the same address as the old one, ie www.hannahfrank.org.uk, but will have the gallery much more accessibly laid out, lots of lovely poetry links, and will be easier to keep updated.

I'm very pleased to have support from Tony Haslam at Reliable Green Web, and from Fiona McKinnon, our new Web Intern. Fiona is a Dundee based art student (see below for how she arrived on the scene). Thanks to Lauren Pass for designing the new look of the site.   Also sending many thanks to Fiona Fahlin for years of fantastic service - wishing Fiona lots of success in the new things she's doing. There seems to be a 'Fiona' link here - if you're called Fiona and would like to come and help with the Hannah Frank art project, get in touch!

And please have a look round the site and let us know if you find any glitches - I'll be happy to send you a set of Hannah Frank notelets for your troubles if you find any problems, missing links or discrepancies on the site.

CULTURAL CONNECTIONS SUCCESS

The Cultural Connections Festival at Rozelle House, Ayr closed with much celebration after a packed summer. The main focus was an exhibition of work by Hannah Frank, her teacher and mentor, Benno Schotz, and Joseph Herman plus photographs of Scots Jews in the 21st century by Judah Passow. Many events ran throughout the festival including art classes, guided tours, storytelling,
stained glass workshops, dance workshop and a final concert and dance.    As part of the festival, we held a conference on Scottish Jewish Life and Scottish Jewish Arts, 1914 to 2014: filmmaker Sarah Thomas (pictured below) came to introduce 'Hannah Frank, The Spark Divine'  - the beautiful film she made about my aunt to mark her centenary.

An education pack for upper primary children was developed as part of the festival, and teachers can download the pack for free from our new website (go to the 'poetry' tag).

HANNAH FRANK INTERNS DISPEL NOTION OF WORK FOR FREE

Our five talented interns, who worked with Hannah Frank Art this Summer, have helped dispel the
notion that graduates have no choice but to work for free to get a career foothold in the highly
competitive creative industries sector.

I was delighted to be invited to give a presentation at the Glasgow School of Art on 1 October. It was organised in partnership between Glasgow School of Art and Adopt an Intern and was called ‘Being an Intern in the Creative Industries’.

Originally, I’d planned to take on two interns through the Adopt an Intern programme, which is a
spin-off organisation from the Centre for Scottish Public Policy’s think tank and finds paid internships for graduates. In the end I took on *five* interns who all worked on the Cultural Connections Festival.  Catherine Williamson, from Adopt an Intern, said: “It was great to hear from all of our speakers, including Fiona’s input about her drive and involvement in setting up the Hannah Frank project, as well as the other projects she is involved with, including the MacLaurin galleries internships. Historically, internships in the creative sector are often unpaid, making that essential first foot on the career ladder unattainable for many.”

Angela Short, whose internship involved archiving and research plus a curatorial role, has already
secured a full-time job with Low Parks Museum, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire. Angela was sponsored by the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre, Glasgow.

“Working on the Hannah Frank project gave me so much more experience and confidence which
really helped in the interview. I am over the moon,” Angela said.

Lauren Pass, illustrator, who created a two dimensional timeline to depict events and milestones in
Hannah's life and career, said: “The internship showed me how my skills can contribute to
collaborative projects like this.”

The other interns working on the project over this summer were Maria Simou, working with Hannah Frank Art, on social media and in a curatorial role, and Marzanna Antoniak, events, who worked with the Maclaurin Gallery. Additional support from the gallery meant that award-winning photographer, Claire Maxwell, was offered an internship. Her photographs were exhibited during the last two weeks of Cultural Connections.

Other speakers at the event were Sarah Drummond, co-founder of Snook, Keith McIvor, DJ and founder of Optimo Music/Optimo Espacio and Dylan Paterson, Business and Events Officer at the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society.

STUDENT VOLUNTEERS SERVICES AFTER THE TALK 

One workshop attendee contacted me the very next day to offer her services! She is Fiona
McKinnon, currently studying Fine Art and Philosophy at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee - she didn't want a full time internship but has been doing a few hours a week ever since, helping to migrate the website to its new site.

HANNAH FRANK ART COMES FULL CIRCLE AT NAIL FACTORY

Hannah’s art is getting a second showing at The Nail Factory, Dalbeattie, Dumfries & Galloway. Still time to visit as the show ends on 19 December. Hannah’s drawings and sculpture comprised the
little gallery’s biggest ever exhibition in summer 2013 and enthralled visitors. Nail Factory curator, Rupinder Dulay, said: “This new Hannah Frank exhibition follows on from the Glasgow Girls exhibition in Kirkcudbright which ran this summer. We will showcase a number of original Hannah Frank prints and a greater range of sculpture than we did last year. Visitors were absolutely enchanted by her work and asked to see more.”

Bringing my aunt’s work to this gallery in for a second time is a real honour. I am in no doubt that
even more people in this part of Scotland will come to love her work as much as her other fans.

The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC) will host an evening gathering at the end of the exhibition for Chanukah on Thursday 18 December  from 6.30pm.

 Hannah Frank Exhibition, Until 19  Dec 2014, Nail Factory, 56 Southwick Road, Dalbeattie,
DG5 4EW Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Tel: 01556 611686. Opening hours 11am - 6pm,
Tuesday to Sunday.  www.hannahfrank.org.uk

HIDDEN HANNAH FRANK POSTERS FOUND AFTER 18 YEAR SEARCH

This story was a real bolt from the blue! Steven Hill contacted us by email, saying: "About 18 years ago I bought an old loudspeaker in a charity shop in Oban.  As I've done since childhood, I proceeded to take it apart to see how it works. When I took the back off there was a ‘corrugatedly’ folded piece of wadding material, some old newspaper pages and two posters of your aunt's design rolled up, scroll fashion.” He added: “It was love at first sight.  Sadly, I no longer have them.  Life got in the way and I guess they are in a loft in Taynuilt with some of my other lost items.  I wish I could remember the details of the poster's design, aside from the fact that there was a woman in a long flowing dress.”

Steven tried to trace the design, which he thought featured as a poster for an art exhibition, but
without success.  “Do you know of the poster I found?” he asked.

I immediately suspected that it was the poster for the exhibition Hannah Frank: Drawings of Thirties.
It was held at the Charles Frank shop on Forrest Road, Edinburgh, from 21 August - 9 September
1972 as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

This is the image we have subsequently used on our paper Hannah Frank shop catalogue and it was
in a conference brochure some years ago.

I sent Steven a picture. His response: “THAT IS IT!!!  The very one. I am tingling all over! No kidding. Wow.  There were two copies of it in fairly pristine condition.  I very much regret being such a numbskull to leave such things behind.  Thank you so much.  You've really made my
day/week/month/year."

I told a story about Hannah Frank at the first Sparks Preston Storytelling evening earlier this week.
Have you got a Hannah Frank coincidence or a Hannah Frank story to tell us? Let us know!

AND FINALLY  - a surprise - HAPPY BIRTHDAY to wordsmith JUDITH COYLE

Judith has been behind the scenes, wordsmithing for me since 2003 - probably my longest and most successful relationship! thank you so much Judith for all your support, help and encouragement, you have been wonderful and helped so much with all our newsletters, press releases and anything else that involved words.

See Judith centre back, in black, in this 2008 pic of the 'Hannah Frank team' of the time, working up to Auntie Hannah's centenary celebrations! (others include Steve Landin who designed our very first website, Olabopo Lanre-Phillips who helped me with management and organisation as part of a Lancaster University consultancy project, Eddie Hams who designed the Hannah Frank book, Gill Ormond who has given me personal and professional support for years, Andy Hornby our graphic designer, and Ed Horwich who filmed lots of the process in the early days.) And me of course, centre front with 'Sorcery'.

Wishing you all a very happy Hanukah and Season’s Greetings - and please watch out for our new website from midnight this Wednesday!

Fiona

Fiona Frank
07778 737681
hannahfrankart "at" gmail.com

Hannah Frank Art

Cultural Connections in Ayr - Hannah Frank and her contemporaries in a summer festival! HANNAH FRANK NEWS – July 2014 Welcome to the July newsletter as we excitedly prepare for Hannah Frank’s work to play a central role in a summer celebration of Jewish art and heritage in Scotland. (And web designers, see below for a Web Request!) CULTURAL CONNECTIONS The ‘Cultural Connections’ Festival of Jewish Arts and Culture is being staged by The Maclaurin Gallery, Ayr.  It is a true cultural festival, focussed around an exhibition of drawings and sculpture by Hannah Frank together with art by Benno Schotz, and Josef Herman – all of whom are Jewish artists who worked in Glasgow in the last century – and photographs of Jews around Scotland this century by US photographer Judah Passow.    There are lots of connections between the four artists – Benno Schotz taught Hannah Frank; Judah Passow was at the launch of the Hannah Frank exhibition in Shetland last year; the Ben Uri gallery has lent the Josef Herman drawings to the Maclaurin Gallery and has also sent up ‘Sun’, a beautiful Hannah Frank drawing from 1943. The exhibition runs from Sunday 27 July to Sunday 21 September 2014. Opening reception is Sunday 27 July from 2pm. Read on to find out how to get *your* invitation. HANNAH FRANK EVENING BRINGS A SPECIAL SURPRISE On Wednesday 30 July there will be a special evening at the Gallery focusing purely on Hannah Frank, starting at 7 p.m.  See the programme of events at http://www.themaclaurin.org.uk/cultural-connections.asp  for further details.   At that evening one lady will get a special surprise!  You may remember that the drawing ‘Diaphenia like the Daffadowndilly’ (dating from 1928 when Hannah Frank was only 20) only recently resurfaced.  It was bought at auction earlier this year by a Hannah Frank fan as an anniversary present for his wife.  The name of the new owner of the drawing will be unveiled on this special Hannah Frank evening.  Let’s hope she likes it! A Conference: Scottish Jewish Arts and Scottish Jewish Life On 14 and 15 September The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC) and the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre  (SJAC) are hosting a conference at the Maclaurin Gallery during the last week of the exhibition, as part of the European Week of Jewish Culture and Heritage (14-21 Sept 2014).   Highlights include: • Harvey Kaplan, Director of the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre, speaking on the history of the Jewish community in Ayr, including the emerging story of Susanne Schaefer-Buck, fostered by the Hamilton Family of Rozelle House (where the Maclaurin Gallery is set) during the war.  • A presentation on the Scottish Government funded inquiry Being Jewish in Scotland, with a panel and discussion on the contemporary experience of 'Being Jewish in Scotland' and how the Jewish experience relates to that of other minority identities. • A chance to see the film ‘Hannah Frank, The Spark Divine’  and to hear from Sarah Thomas, the film’s director, about how she made this film, which came out in 2008 to celebrate my aunt’s 100th birthday and which was launched at the Scottish Parliament. • Talks about Scottish Jewish artists and talks BY Scottish Jewish artists On Sunday 21st September there’s a special kosher lunch, followed by a concert of Klezmer, Baroque and Scottish music with the fabulous international Adrianne Greenbaum trio. Other activities during the exhibition  include family picnics, drawing, painting, stained glass making, creative writing, singing, dancing, tree-dressing and Ipad-art workshops, storytelling, and ranger-led walks in the park of Rozelle House.   All the events are FREE except for the lunchtime concert on the closing day.   http://www.themaclaurin.org.uk/cultural-connections.asp YOU ARE INVITED The opening reception for the exhibition is Sunday 27 July. It begins at 2pm with a talk by photographer Judah Passow, and there’ll be Klezmer music by the wonderful Celter Schmelter. If you would like to come email me at hannahfrankart@gmail.com and I’ll send you back an invitation by return.   Look forward to seeing you there! Cultural Connections – 27 July – 21 September 2014. Maclaurin Gallery, Rozelle Estate, Monument Road, Ayr, KA7 4NQ.  Tel: 01292 443708. www.themaclaurin.org.uk LINKS WITH EDUCATION CONTINUE Regular readers will know that Hannah’s art has been exhibited across the length and breadth of the UK as well as internationally. Fascination with her work has led to several innovative projects, particularly in the field of education. You may recall the national Hannah Frank poetry competition in Scotland in 2009. Her art has also inspired teachers and pupils at schools in the UK and in California.   The Maclaurin exhibition continues the links between Hannah Frank and education.  In partnership with the Ben Uri Gallery, London, we are developing a Learning Pack for schools, linking the work of  Hannah Frank and Benno Schotz with trees, the environment, and Jewish traditions; and we are inviting schools from all over Scotland to visit the exhibition during September to work with the Learning Pack.   INTERNS MAKE VITAL CONTRIBUTION Our three Hannah Frank graduate internships have helped make The Maclaurin exhibition possible. Not only have they helped with setting up the exhibition, they are carrying out other vital work to preserve and promote knowledge about Hannah’s art, life and her Jewish heritage. Marzanna, Angela and Maria with Fiona on the way to Ayr at the  beginning of the planning process The internships came via the Scottish government-funded Adopt an Intern organisation.  The three interns are Marzanna Antoniak, who has worked with curator Dianne Gardner at the Maclaurin Gallery to set up the events programme, Angela Short, who is working with the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre to complete the archiving of the Hannah Frank and Lionel Levy Collection there, and also helping with the curating of the exhibition, and Maria Simou, who’s been working on social meda and also working with Angela on the brilliant, detailed information labels you’ll see in the Hannah Frank section of the exhibition.  Plus we have an award-winning photographer Claire Maxwell, a Glasgow School of Art graduate herself, who has been documenting all the work setting up the exhibition, and who will have her own show at the Maclaurin Gallery from Sunday 7th September – and Lauren Pass, who has produced a fantastic  illustrated timeline linking Hannah’s art works with the archival material, which you’ll be able to see at the exhibition. Here's a small part of it..... SUMMER OFFERS To celebrate Summer we have a Two for One offer on four signed prints.  If you order a signed copy of ‘In Thoughts of the Visions of the Night’ (1930) for £200 from the webshop you can have the exuberant Spring Frieze (1945) completely free; or if you order  ‘Woman with Birds’ (1947) for £100 from the webshop you can have the beautiful ‘Girl at Window’ (1952), free.  These offers will run until the end of the show.                                                                            Order via the Hannah Frank website at http://hannahfrank.org.uk/pages/gallery/prints/index.htm The offer is not highlighted online; just order your first choice and write the name of your second choice print in the ‘comments’ section. GLASGOW GIRLS EXHIBITION This bronze Hannah Frank ‘reclining woman’ (1964) is part of  a lovely exhibition running in Kirkudbright, Dumfries & Galloway.    The Glasgow Girls 1920-1960 is a sequel to the highly successful ‘Glasgow Girls: Artists and Designers 1890-1930’ exhibition shown in 2010. There were over 500 visitors to the first day alone!   28 June - 25 August 2014, Kirkcudbright Town Hall Open Daily from 10am - 5pm including Sundays Admission Free, donations welcome.  http://www.artiststown.org.uk/ HELPING THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART FIRE FUND The Glasgow School of Art was such an integral part of Hannah’s life. In fact she was synonymous with it. We were horrified when the fire broke out there in May and I wept at the loss of the Mackintosh Library, the students’ and staff’s work and irreplaceable documents and artworks. My aunt donated a bronze and plaster cast of ‘Reclining Figure 1975’ to the GSA some years ago, and we haven’t had news yet as to whether these pieces have survived.   With all this is mind we are donating £5 from the sale of every copy of the book Hannah Frank, A Glasgow Artist – Drawings and Sculpture, to the GSA Fire Fund. Order this book here (postfree) and we’ll do the resthttp://hannahfrank.org.uk/pages/gallery/books_DVD/index.htm FACEBOOK PAGE THRIVING We are getting lots of new likes for our Facebook page. This is a great way to keep people updated on a regular basis and the posts give rise to conversations and, in some cases, reminiscences. We have been posting discoveries from the Scottish Jewish Archives there too. For example, we posted a sketch from Hannah Frank's personal diary (Saturday 19 March 1927) portraying herself as proud of her new university tie which engaged fans. You can join us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hannah-Frank/181743705209038?fref=ts And there’s also a Facebook page where you can find out more about the Maclaurin Gallery activities – you’ll find it here. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1452214335014315/?fref=ts If you live in Dumfriesshire rather than Ayrshire you only have to wait till November for the artworks to come back to you – we’re going back to the Nail Factory in Dalbeattie later in the year!  More news soon….. See you in Ayr over the summer I hope! WEBGURU WANTED! OH and FINALLY – we are looking for someone to take over the Hannah Frank website from our great hostess Fiona Fahlin who's doing New Things.  We have a beautiful new design for it and need a new host and webguru to incorporate Lauren Pass’s amazing new design into a smooth new site and do a bit of a sortout of the shop – ideally looking for someone who would do it for part money and part Hannah Frank signed prints, but it could just be for money..!  please get in touch or ask your techie contacts to get in touch if you’re interested.     With all good wishes, Fiona Frank Hannah Frank Art www.hannahfrank.org.uk

Two Paid Hannah Frank graduate internships! Hannah Frank news Feb 2014

HANNAH FRANK NEWS FEBRUARY 2014

FANTASTIC OPPORTUNITIES: TWO PAID GRADUATE INTERNSHIPS
These exciting opportunities come via the Scottish Government’s Adopt-an-Intern scheme under the auspices of the Centre for Scottish Public Policy.


Post One: Paid Graduate Internship – Assistant Curator and Researcher - with the Hannah Frank Art Project
The post is based in Glasgow and Ayr. The pay is £7.65 per hour, 20 hours a week over 12 weeks, with some flexibility and the potential for an extension (funding dependent). Immediate start. Closing date for applications: 3 March 2014, 5pm.


You can see the full job description here.


It is a wide-ranging role that will provide superb experience for the right applicant. The post is divided into three parts. The intern will work at the Maclaurin Gallery, Ayr, helping to locate Hannah Frank works that will go on display there between 26 July and 22 September 2014. There are other curatorship tasks too. This work will be invaluable to the Hannah Frank Project and could be continued in a future project.


Then there’s the work at the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre. The letters, scrapbooks and other documents in the Hannah Frank and Lionel Levy collection that remain uncatalogued need to be entered on an Excel sheet with a description of their contents.


And lastly, but, of course, importantly, the intern will work closely with me on the Hannah Frank Art Project. You’ll help develop and expand Hannah Frank's presence across different online platforms and help to increase sales from the online shop.


The post will be based at Garnethill Synagogue in Glasgow city centre and at the Maclaurin Gallery in Ayr.  You can do some of this work at home and there will also be a base at the Glasgow Women's Library in Glasgow city centre.


To see what sort of person we are looking for do click through on the link above. If you fit the bill, please apply!


Post Two: Paid Graduate Internship - Arts Events Intern with the Maclaurin Gallery, ‘Cultural Connections’ Summer Festival. Location: Ayr/Glasgow. £7.65 per hour, 240 hours (7 – 10 hours per week) between March and September. Closing date for applications is 3 March 2014, 5pm.

The Maclaurin Gallery, Ayr, is holding a summer festival of Jewish art and culture from 26 July to 22 September 2014. The focus is on the works of Benno Schotz, Joseph Herman and…Hannah Frank! An exhibition of new photographs of Jewish life in Scotland by photographer Judah Passow will also be on show.


The intern will help develop a programme of activities to accompany the exhibitions. These activities could include talks, guided tours, and arts and crafts workshops, for example, encouraging adults and children to create their own responses to the exhibition in various media, through drawing, painting, sculpture, poetry or dance. Along with other organisations the intern will work with the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, and Forestry Commission Scotland.

The post is based at the Maclaurin Gallery in Ayr but some of the work could be home based. The intern could also work at the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities office in Giffnock, South Glasgow.


To read a full job description and find out what sort of person is being sought click here. 


Please note all applications require the submission of a CV and brief covering letter through the Adopt an Intern online application form.


We think these opportunities are outstanding. Please pass them onto any suitable graduates you may know – or perhaps you are right for the role yourself!


GLASGOW UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ PRESENTATION ON HANNAH FRANK
Four third year students from the University of Glasgow’s Theology and Religious Studies department will give a presentation on the life and work of Hannah Frank in March. This is part of their Modern Judaism course. In order to prepare the presentation the students visited the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre at Garnethill where they looked through the Hannah Frank and Lionel Levy collection, and I also took them to see the original art at Westacres, Newton Mearns, the care home where Hannah spent her last years. The students are also planning to update the Hannah Frank Wikipedia page.


HANNAH’S DRAWING ‘GARDEN’ FEATURES IN SHABBAT SERVICES PROGRAMME
Betsy Stein, from Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States, contacted us. She is a member of Congregation Shearith Israel Sisterhood in Atlanta and her group led Shabbat services on February 22. The group used a reproduction of ‘Garden’ from 1932 on the front cover of its programme.
Betsy has promised to send me a hard copy of the programme. We look forward to seeing it.

The beautiful 'new' drawing 'Daffidowndillies” featured in our last newsletter went for £1200 – a nice little sum for the seller! Keep in touch as we hope to be able to offer prints at some stage.

Let me know if you'd like to discuss purchasing a sculpture; or if you'd like to take up a 'two for the price of one' signed print offer right through March - email me with details of the two prints you'd like; OR if you'd like a half price copy of the book Hannah Frank a Glasgow Artist: I gave away 10 copies last month and there are 15 copies to give away this month - £10.50 instead of £21, plus £4.50 p&p. Get in touch for details.


Best wishes
Fiona Frank
niece of the late Hannah Frank
Director, Hannah Frank Art
07778 737681
hannahfrankart@gmail.com
www.hannahfrank.org.uk