Our all-new event for February half term went down a treat with everyone!

The plan was to host a week of nature-themed fun and activities for little ones and adults alike…helping our visitors to make the most of Harewood and the great outdoors at this time of year – and blow those winter cobwebs away!

Nature Fest: Go wild outdoors at Harewood this February half term turned out to be a fantastic idea and a wonderful event.

Whether they had a thirst for knowledge or an enthusiasm for the outdoors or just wanted to have fresh air and fun at the Harewood, our visitors unanimously approved the new event!

With so much going on visitors we’re spoilt for choice: grow your own, meet the bugs, storytelling sessions, nature trails, Bird Garden walk-talk-feed tours, cookery demos in the Old Kitchen, willow weaving and Garden trails to the Walled Garden to see the work going on there developing Harewood’s original Kitchen Garden.

If you missed it this year be sure to join us next year!

visit our what’s on pages to find out about forthcoming events and more…

Art in Yorkshire – supported by Tate – is a year long celebration of the visual arts in 19 galleries throughout Yorkshire. Works from Tate’s Collection of historic, modern and contemporary art will be showcased through a compelling programme of exhibitions and events.

Click here to go to our website to to hear about Yorkshire as a destination for the arts from Gary Verity (Director, Welcome to Yorkshire).

The idea of Art in Yorkshire is a simple one – to encourage people to explore the huge variety of public art galleries across Yorkshire during 2011, and experience our region’s long and strong cultural tradition of visual art.

You can read more about our forthcoming exhibition, see videos and book tickets for associated events on our Finding Adam webpage.

Visit the Art in Yorkshire website for full details of the venues and programme.

Buckingham Palace and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London are just two famous buildings that feature Scagliola, a marble imitation that was first developed in the Baroque era. Today it is often more expensive than real marble because it is so complicated to make. Only experts can determine Scagliola from the real thing.

Deutsche Welle, Germany’s equivalent of BBC-World, visited Harewood this week with Michael Koumbouzis of the Leeds-based ‘Scagliola Company’ to explore Harewood’s collections…you can see the footage on Euromaxx (Deutsche Welle’s daily life and style magazine show) here.

Visit the House from 22nd April 2011 to see if you can spot the scagliola and marble pieces we have!

http://www.harewood.org/house

Our first ever Christmas Lights Switch On was a fantastic success with a swinging festive party on stage hosted by Real Radio’s Dixie and Gayle followed by the highlight of the show – a state of the art light show, using a three dimensional projection onto the stunning exterior of the 18th Century House…

If you missed the Lights Switch On (and all the recent press coverage too!) you can watch a snippet of the show on our Harewood You Tube channel, or visit our website to read more and to watch it now!

‘Adam’, an extraordinary piece by one of Britain’s most important twentieth century sculptors Sir Jacob Epstein, and one of the most important items in the Harewood modern collection, was carved from a single piece of Derbyshire alabaster in 1938 and 1939.

On 11th November this year, Adam left Yorkshire for London for conservation prior to being displayed at the Royal Academy… Removing Adam from the Entrance Hall here at Harewood was a considerable feat of engineering in itself, requiring an A-frame, winch and trackway, as well as scaffolding to support the steps and undercroft of the House and a Hiab outside the building to lift the sculpture on to a lorry… a big job for the scaffolders and art handlers, and the beginning of a long journey for Adam…

Adam was uncrated today at the conservation studio where he will remain until the New Year whilst cleaning work on his surface and repairs to his base take place.

We are filming the process – short snippets of which will be available on our website in the New Year and the final film will be shown as part of the exhibition here at Harewood in the spring when Adam returns… check out our website for details: www.harewood.org/findingadam