HMI Research Fellowship

Last week I received some fantastic news. I have been awarded a research fellowship from the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, England. You can see a picture of the institute above. The contemporary glass facade on a Victorian row house gives you a good sense of how they see them as a bridge between the past and the present. According to their website, the HMI "is an award-winning exhibitions venue, research centre and sculpture archive." They specialize in British sculpture, mostly from the late 19th century to the present, but also hold material dating back to 1800. They are affiliated with The Henry Moore Foundation, which was established in 1977 by the British sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986), a leading figures in 20th-century sculpture. His large-scale, biomorphic figures can be found in museums and sculpture gardens around the world. Click here for just one example from the sculpture garden at Perry Green, Moore's home in England. By sheer coincidence the Tate Britain in London is opening an exhibition of his work in a few weeks as well.

This is a one-month residency research fellowship, for which they provide housing. I will have time to use their extensive library and archive, and to view the sculpture collections at the HMI and the Leeds Art Gallery, all in the goal of doing more research on the work of the sculptor John Gibson (1790-1866). You'll recall that I also received from my school a grant for a research project on Gibson in Liverpool, so this extended period of time will be an incredible start to the next phase of my academic career. We're still coordinating the dates, but the plan is for me to be doing all of this in the fall.