Rebecca Hardy Wombell

If you’re not familiar with Citizen Science, also known as Community Science, then you’re missing out.
I am not a scientist. Far from it – my scientific education ended with my GCSEs. Yet despite this basic level of knowledge, I really enjoy volunteering on Citizen Science projects.
And the 1.6million users that have registered with the Citizen Science platform Zooniverse suggest I’m not alone in this.
With Citizen Science, you can easily join a project on your laptop and quickly feel like a ...

Contemporary art has become a common feature in our heritage sites.

And for good reason. These are projects that interpret, that inspire and that shock. They make the headlines and change our perspectives – whether it’s the staggering contemporary art intermingled with the historic collection at Chatsworth, or the iconic Poppies pouring down the Tower of London.

Specialist organisations such as Arts&Heritage and Trust New Art, set up to facilitate these interventions, are over a decade old, and the catalogue of contemporary art across the sector is impressive.

But as we...

NFT art has been hitting the headlines a lot, but you might be wondering what it is? And could you use it in your art business?
There is lots of potential to use NFTs to find new audiences and to explore different models for selling your work.
Let’s take a closer look…
So what is NFT art?
NFT art ‘tokenizes’ a digital artwork (or a digitized work, such as a drawing or painting). This token is a unique, permanent record of the artwork. So while digitized art is easily copied, an NFT acts like ...

Slow Art Day has now been running for more than a decade. This international event encourages museum visitors to try slow looking – spending 10 minutes or more looking at a single work.

It is seemingly a big ask. The Weatherspoon Art Museum in North Carolina for example – in the introduction to its exhibition Slow Looking/Deep Seeing, which ran from January to June this year – said that researchers estimate visitors to art venues spend an average of eight seconds looking at each work on display.

Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Bernadine Evaristo, and Jarvis Cocker are among the 160,000 signatories of the Public Campaign for the Arts petition in opposition to funding cuts for arts and archaeology courses in Higher Education.

This threat to the viability of these courses is, of course, just part of a long history of reductions in arts education at all levels.

The pandemic has profoundly affected educational provision for all subjects and stages. While education providers have moved mountains over...

What do a giant inflatable ram, Gulliver’s Travels, and rhubarb have in common? They are all found in the heart-warming and eye-boggling work by UK digital artist Jason Wilsher-Mills.
Artiholics caught up with the artist.
You’ve been in the international news during the pandemic. Can you tell us about it?
When lockdown started my work was due to go to the Tate for an art festival. The pandemic prevented this. Whilst at home in isolation I decided to fight back, so I began putting on impromptu...

QR codes, or quick response codes, are now seeing a massive surge in their use, partly as a result of the pandemic.
Used as a touchless system to display information, show menus and ways to purchase as well as in contact tracing and lateral flow tests, they are now part of everyday life.
Their adaptability and functionality have been noted by museums, too and have been used to activate digital guides and audio for exhibitions as well as ticketing.
The big change in QR Codes’ popularity is tha...

The gorgeously graphic lines of Crittall style glazing add a timeless design feature to any space. Crittall style glazing is used for windows, doors, and partitions, and is recognisable for its elegant black metal frame with horizontal bars. These windows were used on buildings like the Houses of Parliament and the National Gallery, and are synonymous with art deco and modernism. Ironmonger Francis Henry Crittall developed the iconic style in Essex in the late 19th century, and it is now enjo...

Researchers at Stanford University have programmed their AI algorithm to look at a work of art, and then, astonishingly, to form an emotional response to it.
More than this, the AI can form multiple responses. for different parts of the picture. This means that is can read different parts of the picture, understand emotional responses from the viewpoints of different people, and in different contexts.
So, has art taught an AI algorithm empathy?
And what might this mean for museums in the futu...

Do you know your Commuterland Culturebuffs from your Kaleidoscope Creativity? These are (as the segmentation savvy will know) two of the profiles from the Audience Agency’s ‘Audience Spectrum’ segmentation model. This model helps cultural organisations to better understand audiences in the UK.
Whether this question leaves you nodding sagely or scratching your head, there is lots to learn from audience segmentation as museums navigate the post-lockdown world.
Segmentation 101
Segmentation mode...

If you’ve been one of the multitudes of holidaymakers heading to the UK countryside this summer, you might have been faced with slow internet connections or absent mobile signal.
And while this may be a bonus to your break, the difficulties of poor internet for the local community can be a real challenge.
COVID-19 led to unprecedented digital development which enhanced online engagement at a tremendously difficult time.
Museums may have previously offered free Wi-Fi and face-to-face guidance,...

There’s been a lot of stories in the news about NFT art recently. And for good reason, it has become the new investment hot ticket, catapulted into the spotlight by Beeple’s extraordinary sale of his artwork ‘Everydays: The First 5000 Days’ at Christie’s. This piece – a digital artwork with an authenticating NFT (non fungible token) – sold for $69.3m, which places it as one of the top 3 highest sales for a living artist.
So, it’s a great moment to use those column inches to raise the profile ...

Velvet has been a furnishing favourite for many years, and with good reason. The luxuriously soft fabric adds comfort to any room and is always inviting, as it is both warm in winter and cool in summer.
This year, velvet lovers can enjoy a lighter and brighter new swathe of colours. Look for pops of pink and light blue or mustard yellow accents, softened with white, grey and beige velvet pieces.
While we are used to seeing velvet in jewel tones, which brings out its natural lustre, these new ...

COVID-19 has changed the way that we use our outside spaces. Through the course of the pandemic, getting outside has been an opportunity for exercise, to socialise, for wellbeing, and for escape.
For city dwellers, this has led to an upsurge in the use of parks with The Art Fund reporting that some inner-city parks experienced a 300 per cent increase in visits last spring. This benefits of the outdoors were highlighted in a report commissioned by the National Trust, which showed that more tha...