Historic Harris back with a bang
Prop from the Wallace and Gromit Exhibition at Preston’s Harris Museum (Credit: Scott Reece)
The reopening of the Harris Museum has been a great success as attendance targets have surpassed expectations according to Preston city councils head of arts and culture Timothy Joel.
With tightening budgets and a world-wide pandemic affecting the progress of refurbishment, the £19m refurbishment had its challenges.
But since its reopening at the end of September, the museum is on its way to exceeding the target of 450,000 visitors per year, and way above the previous high of 350,000 before it closed.
Tim said: “We were averaging about 15,000 visitors a week and then half term week we had 32,500 visitors in. So 15,000 a week is probably double what we were forecasting.
“It’s a really good start towards achieving our visitor target and visitor reaction has been really positive.”
Artwork at the Harris (Credit: Scott Reece)
Careful work has been done to maintain the Victorian heritage of this Preston landmark with public opinion strongly in favour of preserving the building’s history.
One early challenge was making sure the plans were communicated properly with the public, and lessons were learned.
Tim said: “When we did a mid-stage review, we developed initial plans and none of us had really clocked it but
none of the pictures that we went out with were rendered so they were just artist impressions, so essentially everything was sort of whitewashed, and there was a public uproar.
“We were roasted overnight because everyone thought we were painting the columns white, we would get rid of the floor and everything else.”
Main chamber at the Harris (Credit: Scott Reece)
Now the project is complete, new artwork has been installed around the museum to reflect the cultural diversity of
Preston’s population. There are plans to rotate the artwork to keep the museum fresh and encourage people to return on a regular basis.
Mr Joel is particularly pleased to have funding to commission new artwork as well as preserve the past, highlighting the portrait of local south Asian University of Lancashire woman Azira Matala as a personal favourite.
He said: “I’m really proud of the 10 plus acquisitions that we’ve got across the building, really working with artists of different lived experiences.”
Artwork at the Harris (Credit: Scott Reece)
A section of the museum is currently dedicated to the Wallace and Gromit franchise by local animator Nick Park, who opened the museum in September.
Tim said: “He started sketching in Preston and now Aardman is a multi-million pound company and Nick’s inspiration tells that story through the exhibition.
“The Harris being that sort of inspiration and touch point for him to be able to do that is really powerful so I think if you go as a small child or even as an adult, to Aardman, you can see that journey and that inspiration.”
Timothy Joel posing with a painting (Credit: James Best)
The Wallace and Gromit models and other artwork will be on display to the public until January, after which Preston residents will have the chance to submit their own works of art for the chance of it being displayed in the museum, highlighting the commitment to showcasing local talent.
Mr Joel added that he’s hoping further work on the Egyptian murals on the top floor can be completed once extra funding is available.
