Welcome Back Dundee!

Yay, three cheers! The McManus has now re-opened and The Creative Learning Team are busy bees, developing exciting online learning activities for you to engage with! You may have been following and taking part in our Mini McManus online activities during lockdown, and these have been a great way for families to get creative and play with simple, everyday materials at home, whist learning about the museum collections.

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The museum has two very exciting new temporary exhibitions for you and your families to enjoy during your visit to us, as well as our fascinating permanent collection.

Time & Tide: Transformation of the Tay charts the influence the Tay on the city of Dundee, and how the growth of the city, particularly along the waterfront, has affected the Tay, it’s wildlife and the people who live here.

A Love Letter to Dundee Joseph McKenzie Photographs 1964 – 87 showcases a vast collection of stunning black and white photographs which evidence the changing fortunes of the City and its people.

We so look forward to welcoming you back to The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum, Best Visitor Attraction winner 2019/2020 at the Scottish Thistle Awards!

Penguins and Polar bears!

Although we’ve been a little quiet on the blog front, we have been working away behind the scenes here at Creative Learning HQ getting ready for a brand new exhibition we know you’re going to love!!!

This weekend the museums new temporary winter exhibition ‘Among The Polar Ice’ brings together two major series of artworks by leading Scottish artists Frances Walker and James Morrison. The exhibition features the extreme landscapes of the Polar Regions at a time when melting ice and rising sea levels are making world headlines. The spectacular paintings offer a visual record of these fragile areas and raise awareness of global warming.

You will notice our ‘Family Space’ may appear a little icier than usual … the penguins have escaped from an original Frances Walker print and made it feel a little more like home! Wrap up warm with our ‘Polar Dress Up’ corner and prepare for your own expedition to see how many penguins you can find! We also have an exciting new range of books for you to enjoy, and lots of other creative activities to keep your little polar explorers busy!

 

Our Exhibition ‘Among the polar ice’ in the Here & Now Gallery, opens on Saturday 7th September. Play and learn in the Museum’s Family Space. Drop in each day to try out our fun creative activities, themed costumes, books and games  The Family space is open daily 10am until 5pm and returns this weekend.

 

Farewell Bash Street’s Back at the McMenace! From Your Friend, The Big Draw’s Big Bash.

Over the last four months, here at Creative Learning HQ we have been living, breathing and embracing everything Bash Street and Beano as we celebrated 80 years of the Beano here at the McManus. STOP PRESS! We have even been DREAMING about Bash Street!

We have delivered over 140 Beano and Bash Street inspired events, school sessions and creative learning activities for families, schools and young people! Cor blimey!!

Last month saw us laugh, laugh and laugh some more as we rounded off a fantastic summer with one of our final Bash Street’s Back events for this year’s The Big Draw. The Big Draw was founded in 2000 and is a visual literacy charity that promotes the universal language of drawing as a tool for learning, expression and invention. The theme for 2018 was PLAY, and for us, this was the perfect opportunity to get our pencils at the ready to celebrate The Bash Street Kids and our city’s fascinating comic history.

Digital Doodles.

We enjoyed a fab comic and storyboarding workshop with our Comic Caper artists from Dundee’ Comic Space, before joining our special guest Dennis the Menace and his trusty sidekick Gnasher for our pop-up gallery activity ‘When The Bell Rings. Dennis and Gnasher kindly posed for their portraits so we could test our live drawing and portrait skills! We rounded off the day of comic inspiration with a live drawing session on our new digital smart screen and created digital storyboards inspired by Dundee’s love of comics!

This was the most successful ‘Big Draw’ yet! – Freelance Artist Feedback

What a great Creative Learning send off to our fabulous exhibition ‘Bash Street’s Back at the McMenace’!

Our latest exhibition, ARTIST ROOMS Lawrence Weiner is now open so keep up to date with our upcoming projects and reflections via the blog. Lots to come over the following weeks as we take a journey into the world of conceptual art with our McManus Youth Action group and the Wednesday Writers creative writing group.

#creativelearning #TheBigDraw #Play2018 #mcmanus #learn #create #discover #Dundee2018 #whatsondundee

WHIZZ BANG! Bash Street’s Back at The McMenace!

 

KAPOW!!  WHIZZ!!  BANG!!

We are very excited to announce that our much anticipated exhibition, Bash Street’s Back at the McMenace has officially opened!! The past couple of weeks have been crammed full all things Bash Street here at The McManus and we have officially re-named ourselves The McMenance for the Summer! Pea-shooters at the ready, look out for Plug and all his pals and join us as we celebrate 80 Years of The Beano!

Here at Creative Learning HQ we have been rather busy BEANO-fying our family space (and ourselves), planning our fun-packed activities and donning our Dennis t-shirts and BEANO badges! Drop in to our Family Space for free funny stuff, including dress up, comics and craft activities. The Family Space is open daily during our regular opening hours.

Last week we celebrated the exhibition launch with our VIP’s, pupils from The High School of Dundee and explored all things Bash Street and Beano. We created our own Beano badges and Beano puppets and pupils got a sneak preview of the exhibition and learned how their school was the original inspiration for the famous Bash Street Kids!

There is lots to see and explore this summer, so here is a handy run-down of what you can take part in over the summer!

When The Bell Rings…when you hear the school bell ringing, join the McMenace Gallery Gang for pop-up activities inspired by The Bash Street Kids! (Weekends and school holidays at 2:30pm).

School may be out but McMenace Summer S’Kool is definitely in! Our fun summer holiday project offers young people aged 10 – 14 yrs an opportunity to explore the exhibition creatively, through art, music and drama. Enroll into The Deartment of Arty Capers to create a McMenace comic with Dundee Creative Comic Space, join The Department of Makin’ A Din to make and play instuments like a Bash Street Kid or sign up to The Department of Actin’ Up to perfect your comic timing with jokes, pranks and high jinks!

All S’Kool Departments FREE but places are limited. To book please contact the Creative Learning Team on 01382 307 216 or email us at creativelearning@leisureandculturedundee.com.

Follow our social media channels for the latest exhibition news and updates! #mcmenace #Beano80 #beanotown #LoveDundee #YOYP2018 #SunnyDundee #Dundee2018

Have fun McMenaces!