The Hunt Museum

The Hunt Museum is a big tourist attraction in Limerick city, hosting many art exhibitions as well as its permanent collection of historical artefacts. Being from Limerick I have been to the museum several times with my primary school for class trips as a child. There are usually interesting exhibitions taking place in the museum and for this reason it has always appealed to me. For this blog assignment I decided to visit the museum.

Recently my mom was involved in an exhibition in the museum called “Then and Now”. The exhibition involved making ceramic works inspired by the Hunt Collection. Taking inspiration from the artifacts in the museum each artist produced pieces for the collection. I attended the opening of the exhibition with my family but as there were so many people at the opening I didn’t get a chance to look at all the pieces and so I took this opportunity to revisit the museum. 

                                      

 

I checked the Hunt Museum website to get details on the dates of the exhibition and opening hours. I found the exhibition and the Hunt's own collection very interesting. The building itself backs onto the River Shannon and is situated in the city center.  The pieces in the exhibition were integrated into the Hunt Collection, sitting in cases next to the original pieces that inspired them. I found this displaying technique very effective and really showed the "Then and Now" aspect of the exhibition, showing the contrast between old and new art.

The pieces in the exhibition varied greatly, taking inspiration from paintings, vases, bowls and other artifacts. My mom took inspiration from a set of small bronze brooches that looked like boats and, along with the influence of the river so close by, made a collection of small paper clay boats for the exhibition. My favourite piece, besides my moms of course, was the piece below, by artist Sheena Burns, which took inspiration from various paintings around the museum. The piece contains miniature versions of the paintings and lights up in the center.

I really enjoyed the exhibition and visiting the museum again. The museum also has a lovely cafe and a gift shop. The Hunt Museum is a great asset to the city of Limerick and it's great to have such a good museum in the city center. 

Rachel Ryan (11135581)