Bringing together guest speakers, artists, educators and colleagues from Chatsworth, the 2024 symposium celebrated our Picturing Childhood exhibition.
It included conversations on playful and participatory practice, new research on Empire and childhood, and some observations of artworks that were featured in the exhibition.
The event concluded with a discussion on the value of heritage engagement for children and young people.
Below, you can watch a recording of each of the online discussions.
These recordings may interest artist-practitioners, researchers interested in art history and uncovering narratives of empire and colonialism, educators, interpretation specialists and teachers.
Session 1
Welcome from Jane Marriott, Director Chatsworth House Trust
5:16 - Reflections on Picturing Childhood with Gill Hart, Head of Learning & Engagement and exhibition curator
16:20 - Session 1: Artist Peter Newman in conversation with Louise Shannon, Chatsworth Head of Cultural Programme
Session 2 - Uncovering Narratives of Empire and Colonialism
Speakers:
Natalie Okpara-McFarlane (chair)
Dr Edward Town: new research on Jean-Baptiste van Loo’s portrait of Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington with his wife Dorothy Boyle, Countess of Burlington and Three Children
Kate Haselden:The Black Boy: identifying the subject of a 19th-century painting
Session 3 - New perspectives on childhood from Chatsworth
Speakers:
Gill Hart (chair)
Elania Pieragostini - Drawing childhood
Kerry Carrie - Finding childhood in the archives at Chatsworth
Session 4 - Engaging children and young people in heritage
Speakers:
Gill Hart (chair)
Nadege Forde-Vidal - Black Chiswick through History Project
Kerry Fernandez - Children taking over Chatsworth
Dave Shaw - The value of engaging children in heritage
Biographies
Peter Newman is an artist working in a variety of media including sculpture, installation and photography. Since graduating from Goldsmiths College, he has exhibited in Trafalgar Square, the Hayward Gallery, Turner Contemporary, Royal Festival Hall, Guggenheim Museum in Venice, Italy and 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan.
Louise Shannon is Head of Cultural Programme at Chatsworth. Prior to joining Chatsworth in summer 2024, Louise was Head of Programme at Tate Liverpool. She started her career at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London working across a number of collections engaging contemporary practitioners with historical collections.
Natalie Okpara – McFarlane is a Business Development and Employability Manager and Cultural Educator. Having led the University of Derby Windrush 75’ and Black History Month activity as member of the Race Equality Network (REN), Natalie also works with a school (MAT) to advise and deliver cultural education. In 2001 – 2005 awards for undergraduate and postgraduate research included “The Black Aesthetic”.
Dr Edward Town is Assistant Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art. His research on the production of art in the early modern period appears in numerous publications. He was an editor of Painting in Britain 1500-1630 (2015) and Marking Time: Objects, People, and Their Lives, 1500-1800 (2020).
Kate Haselden (Assistant Curator (Exhibitions and Displays) Tate Liverpool) was Research Fellow for the Understanding British Portraits network, completing the project ‘The Unnamed Black Subject: Revealing hidden narratives in William L. Windus’ The Black Boy (1844)'. The project marked the first time that the portrait had received dedicated research and was subject of coverage by The Guardian and Smithsonian Magazine.
Elania Pieragostini is Senior Curator at Chatsworth. Prior to that, she held curatorial posts at Christ Church Picture Gallery (Oxford), Victoria and Albert Museum, Royal Collection Trust (Windsor) and British Museum, focusing on researching and caring for prints’ and drawings’ collections.
Kerry Carrie has been a volunteer in the archive at Chatsworth for ten years. She is currently cleaning, repackaging and cataloguing the Currey papers, the largest grouping of estate, financial and legal papers in the Devonshire Collection, while continuing to work on the papers of Lady Blanche Cavendish.
Nadege Forde-Vidal has worked with Chiswick House and Gardens since 2019 and has been leading the research for the Black Chiswick through History project since its inception in 2021. She also collaborates on a variety of local history projects with heritage sites, secondary schools and community groups across London.
Kerry Fernandez is the Arts Engagement Manager at Chatsworth. This programme includes an onsite and outreach offer, where she delivers a range of specialist art and design skills to support STEAM learning and creative course units. Kerry trained and practiced in Visual Communication and Graphic Design before becoming a lecturer and has worked at Sheffield Hallam University and Chesterfield College.
Gill Hart is Head of Learning and Engagement at Chatsworth and curator of Picturing Childhood: A new perspective at Chatsworth. Gill has worked in heritage education since 2000, at Glasgow Museums, the Fitzwilliam Museum and the National Gallery London where she was Head of Education 2014-2018. She has published and broadcast on visual literacy in journals and on radio.
