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McMarras Dnudee
Lovely to try new things and get surprised at how well I can do!
Across 2024, The museum’s Learning Team delivered an ambitious eight-week engagement project called ‘McMarra’s Dnudee’ alongside THAT (Tayside Healthcare Arts Trust) and their participant groups within The McManus. We're so proud of what was achieved that we're now entering the project into the Seriously Social Awards 2024. The awards celebrate the social value & social impact of organisations like ours across the UK.
The project was co-designed to provide person-centred learning experiences and creative participation for people marginalised by their long-term health conditions such as; Stroke, Acquired Brain Injury, Dementia, and others.
Inspiration from the developing archive of Dundee singer-song writer…
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The McManus ‘Reconnects’ to combat Covid-19 social isolation
The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum has embarked on an ambitious six-month remote learning and engagement project to help combat isolation heightened by the current COVID-19 pandemic. 'Reconnect' will enable the museum to continue to provide valuable cultural engagements, resources and experiences for community groups with long term health conditions and families groups. This will enhance positive cultural participation and ensure that isolated and shielding participants can still benefit from the rich experiences the museum has to offer.
An integrated team of museum educators, curators, cultural partners and freelance artists has been brought together to support those most in need. Participant groups involved are from Alzheimer Scotland, Home-Start Dundee and…
Inside and Outside
As lockdown restrictions begin to ease, art historian and curator Alice Strang reflects on the past few months in paintings in our modern Scottish art collection.
Alberto Morrocco (1917-98), The Striped Curtain, 1968 © The Artist’s Estate
Living under lockdown has meant that most of us have spent more time than usual at home. The Striped Curtain of 1968 by Alberto Morrocco (1917-98) celebrates our everyday surroundings in a lively kitchen interior. Morrocco was born in Aberdeen to Italian parents. He studied at Gray’s School of Art in the city, under James Cowie (1886-1956) and Robert Sivell (1888-1958). In 1941 he married Vera Mercer and following his appointment to the staff of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in 1950, they moved to Dundee. Morrocco was…
The McManus Wins Best Visitor Attraction Award at National Final
Last night, The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum struck gold at the 2019/20 Scottish Thistle Awards National Final at Edinburgh International Conference Centre where they won Best Visitor Attraction.
The Scottish Thistle Awards, now in their 27th year, help shine the spotlight on individuals and businesses going above and beyond to create a destination and visitor experience worth talking about amongst our valuable tourism industry. They champion the very best of the Scottish tourism industry, celebrating innovation, success and excellence in the sector.
2019 saw almost 600 entries submitted, including more than 1,000 nominations from members of the public keen to give hotels, restaurants, B&Bs, visitor attractions and individuals the opportunity to…
Polar Ice Exhibition closing
Image credit: James Morrison painting at his easel in the Arctic © The Artist
Don’t miss your chance to see our 5 star ‘Among the Polar Ice’: exhibition closing 8 March, 2020.
Featured as one of the Scotsman’s art critics’ favourite shows of the year, Among the Polar Ice will soon end its run at The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum.
Spanning 200 years, the exhibition brings together paintings, photographs and diaries by artists who have experienced life in the most fragile of landscapes.
Central to the display are a remarkable group of paintings by two of Scotland’s finest contemporary artists, James Morrison and Frances Walker. Morrison’s Arctic paintings capture the glacial landscape of Otto Fiord, Ellesmere Island, which lies within the…
Extraordinary wartime heroics revealed
Eighty years after the start of the Second World war, an extraordinary story of wartime heroics has been revealed with the donation of four Military Crosses from the same family to The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum.
Brothers from the Rae family survived some of the fiercest fighting of the Second World War and returned to their hometown of Dundee with remarkable battlefield achievements and recognition for gallantry in the field. Indeed one brother, even received an additional bar on his military cross for his courageous actions.
Stanley, Ian, Douglas and Bruce Rae were the sons of Stephen and Agnes Rae of Encliffe, Albany Road, West Ferry. Their father was a partner in McIntyre & Rae, a well-known accountancy firm which he had founded in 1910 in…
Among the Polar Ice
Exhibition: Among the Polar Ice
The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum
Albert Square, Meadowside
Dundee, DD1 1DA
Saturday 7 September, 2019 to Sunday 8 March, 2020
The most fragile landscapes on earth are the subject of a new exhibition at The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum. Among the Polar Ice brings together contemporary and historic works by artists who have experienced life on the ice.
Selected from Dundee’s nationally significant fine art and whaling collection, the exhibition showcases a small but growing collection of polar artworks which spans 200 years. At its heart are two major series of artworks by leading Scottish artists - Frances Walker and James Morrison.
The Antarctic Suite is the result of Walker’s voyage to the South Pole…
Chance brings The McManus and Illustrator together for Oor Wullie Bucket Trail
Through a fortunate stroke of serendipity, a Dundee illustrator has been matched with her other place of work as part of Oor Wullie’s Big Bucket Trail. The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum is by chance where Sanna Dyker is employed as a Visitor Assistant. The cultural attraction is also where she has now become the artist painting the Oor Wullie statue sponsored by the museum.
Billy Gartley, Head of Cultural Services at Leisure & Culture Dundee, couldn’t believe the good fortune with The McManus being matched with one of their own members of staff and is delighted by the coincidence.
“It’s fantastic that we have been put together with one of our Visitor Assitants. Sanna has worked here for a number of years and we all know what a talented illustrator she…
The McMenace shortlisted for prestigious Marketing Award
The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum has been shortlisted alongside some the UK’s leading attractions for the first time at the Museum + Heritage Awards. They are up for Marketing Campaign of the Year Category for Bash Street’s Back at the McMenace.
The 17th annual Museums + Heritage Awards will celebrate innovative and ground-breaking initiatives from museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions across the UK and overseas.The Awards shine a spotlight on the diversity of this sector, of museums large and small – from the nationals to one-room volunteer-run museums, from iconic buildings and monuments to the great outdoors. There are 14 award categories.
The awards are judged by a panel of the sector’s leading lights who are united in their quest to…
Visual Arts and Craft Makers Awards: Dundee
The Visual Arts and Craft Makers Awards: Dundee are inviting applications from professional artists and makers based in the City.
In partnership with Creative Scotland, the Visual Artist and Craft Makers Awards: Dundee has been established to support Dundee-based visual artists and craft practitioners in their creative and professional development.
The awards are intended to encourage artists to stay in Dundee and to ensure that the arts play a vital and lasting role in the City.
Awards of between £500 and £1500 are available. Mentoring grants are also available…
Download application forms and guidelines at:
Visual Artist and Craft Maker Awards: Dundee
The closing date for applications is Tuesday 5 February, 2019.
“Beatlemania” Images go on Show in Dundee
Photos taken in Dundee, the city where the phrase ‘Beatlemania’ was coined, have gone on show at The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum. A small selection of 10 images taken of The Beatles performing at the city’s Caird Hall on 20th October 1964 have gone on display as part of their Revealing Characters Exhibition. The images show the Fab Four in the early days of their meteoric rise to fame, performing in front of an excited crowd.
Taken by Monifieth-born photographer Winnie Forbes-Cochrane, these pictures are part of 33 photographs that were put up for auction earlier this year and successfully secured for the city’s collection by Leisure & Culture Dundee.
The phrase Beatlemania was first conceived in Dundee after a promoter, Andi Lothian, witnessed fans’…
