A few weeks ago Katharine, Marina and David from the Special Collections team were fortunate to visit the Andrew Logan Museum of Sculpture (ALMOS) in the beautiful village of Berriew, Wales. We were also able to stay over in the Lion Hotel, owned by Andrew's partner Michael and decorated by Andrew, and had a tour of Andrew's studio and his storage building. Finally we returned to Leicester with a car full of boxes holding additions to the Andrew Logan archive!
Images from the archive: Michael and David c 1970 and a small selection of items from the collection which includes many photographs, papers, exhibition guides and more.
In case you've missed our previous posts about the Logan collection, you can catch up here. Since beginning the Extravagant Delights and Global Fantasies cataloguing project in November 2022 we have wanted to pay a visit to ALMOS. This was especially important for project cataloguer Marina, to help her place the archives she is working on in their proper context and see the actual pieces that she's been reading about in the collection! When Andrew Logan visited Leicester in September 2023 to receive an honorary degree from DMU we were able to firm up our plans - the visit was on!
A WARM WELCOME AT THE MUSEUM
Andrew, Marina and Katharine with Andrew's sculpture of Zandra Rhodes
During our visit we were treated to a personal tour of the Museum guided by Andrew himself. It was so enlightening to hear the stories behind some of the individual pieces. The Museum displays include costumes, thrones and Crown Jewels from previous Alternative Miss World competitions, each exploring different themes by using a range of textures, colours and found materials. The throne and jewels for the 1986 'Earth' themed competition, for example, are made from pieces of wood found on walks mixed with earthy tones and bright green jewels. These sit alongside Andrew's portrait sculptures, which combine startlingly life-like sculpted busts of his friends and family with found objects, mirrors and glitter. The second gallery includes pieces from his Goddesses and Egypt Revisited exhibitions alongside pieces inspired by travels in India. After the Museum we were shown Andrew's studio, a treasure-trove of found pieces and glitter just waiting to be incorporated into new artworks!
The throne and jewels for the 1986 'Earth' themed competition, for example, are made from pieces of wood found on walks mixed with earthy tones and bright green jewels. These sit alongside Andrew's portrait sculptures, which combine startlingly life-like sculpted busts of his friends and family with found objects, mirrors and glitter. The second gallery includes pieces from his Goddesses and Egypt Revisited exhibitions alongside pieces inspired by travels in India. After the Museum we were shown Andrew's studio, a treasure-trove of found pieces and glitter just waiting to be incorporated into new artworks!
THE LION HOTEL
Andrew and Michael kindly put us up in the Lion Hotel, situated a few minutes' walk from ALMOS. The Hotel feels like a mini-gallery in itself as each bedroom is themed like the Alternative Miss World competitions, including Earth, Water, Fire, Sun, The Void and Air, and decorated accordingly! The dining-room is a showcase for Andrew's mirror portraits while the Hotel also boasts a glittering lion and Welsh dragon. It was certainly an experience to spend the night in a 17th century building packed with personality and artwork.
THE MILL STORAGE
Andrew's storage facility is a short drive from Berriew and we set off after breakfast. Again we were fortunate to have a tour of the pieces held at the facility and to get a glimpse of how they are prepared to be sent off for exhibition. We then packed up our car with boxes of archive material which relate to Andrew's family. These will be a great addition to the collection as his mother came from a prominent Leicester family so there are connections to local history.
We then packed up our car with boxes of archive material which relate to Andrew's family. These will be a great addition to the collection as his mother came from a prominent Leicester family so there are connections to local history.
We had a marvellous trip and would like to thank Andrew, Michael and Andrew's sister Janet for their hospitality!
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