2011 Exhibitions
Model Rooms: History, Life, Architecture
The University of St Andrews owns a range of spectacular buildings designed and modified by some of Scotland’s most influential architects. You may recognise many of them from the outside, but you are much less likely to have seen their interiors. Access to many of them is limited, yet they are the University’s treasures - true model rooms.
In conjunction with architecture students from the Scott Sutherland School at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, the University of St Andrews offers you the chance to see what some of the University’s finest spaces are like and discover the stories behind them. Peek through the windows and doors of scale models of eight rooms, glimpse the lives of the students and staff who used them and see objects and images from their past.
The exhibition was open at the Gateway Galleries between Saturday 15 January and Saturday 5 March 2011.
Elements of Genius: A Legacy of Chemistry in St Andrews
19 March - 21 May 2011
Coinciding with the 200th anniversary of Chemistry in St Andrews, and the International Year of Chemistry, Elements of Genius showcases the world renowned chemists- including Nobel Prize winners- who have studied in Scotland’s oldest university. In this exhibition we examine the major chemical discoveries made by these chemists, the part the chemistry department has played in both war efforts, as well as the strong links between chemistry, St Andrews, and early photography.
The MUSA Young Artist Award 2011: Making Faces
4 June - 31 August 2011
The theme of this year's MUSA Young Artist Award is Making Faces and pupils from across Fife responded by creating depictions of the human figure inspired by objects and artworks from the University collections. A total of 421 entries of exceptional quality were received and the judges had a hard time choosing the winners.
You can see the winning entries and find out more about the competition on the MUSA Young Artist Award website.
‘The Beginning and the End of the World’ - The Gateway Galleries
Co-curated by Professor Robert Crawford, School of English.
17th September - 10th December 2011
In the early 1840s St Andrews became the first town in the world to be documented thoroughly through the new medium of photography. At the same time Robert Chambers wrote in St Andrews one of the most scandalous books of the Victorian age, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844). Vestiges presented a comprehensive account of the history of the Earth, from the formation of the Solar System through the development of plant and animal life, up to the origins of humankind. It suggested that scientific laws, rather than the intervention of God, could explain the development and progression of life.
This exciting exhibition is based on a new book of the same title by Robert Crawford. It considers how Chambers’ work, and early photographs of ruined buildings and eroding geological features in and around St Andrews, forced people to consider the vastness of geological time and contemplate ‘the Beginning and End of the World’.
Showcasing images from the earliest days of photography and 19th century scientific apparatus, the exhibition also links Victorian concerns about the ‘Beginning and End of the World’ to modern scientific developments and ecological issues, and features poetry attuned to time and erosion.
Display for MUSA Community Case
Principal Sir James Colquhoun Irvine 1877-1952
October - December 2011
MUSA has a new display in Gallery four on Sir James Irvine who was Principal of the University from 1920 to 1952. This is to mark the publication of a new biography of Irvine by his granddaughter, Julia Melvin: James Colquhoun Irvine: St Andrews’ Second Founder. A display case has material illustrating Irvine’s life, kindly loaned by Mrs Melvin. The focus is on Irvine’s home life, as well as his stature as an international figure in higher education, to complement the material already on show elsewhere in MUSA illustrating his contribution as a scientist and as University Principal. Also currently in Gallery 4 is the University’s finest portrait of Irvine, by Sir Oswald Birley (1880-1952).
This display is available to view in MUSA (7a The Scores, St Andrews) in Gallery Four.
