Career Pathways: Sarah Rothwell
Career Pathways: Sarah Rothwell
We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Sarah Rothwell for our Career Pathways series. Sarah Rothwell is currently Senior Curator of Modern & Contemporary Design at National Museums Scotland where she holds responsibility for the collections of British, European and other 'Western' glass, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery and industrial design circa 1945-present. Sarah also serves as a Trustee of The Scottish Goldsmiths Trust.
Sarah Rothwell, Senior Curator Modern & Contemporary Design with Portals by Michael Eden (K.2016.53).
Image © National Museums Scotland
What drew you to working in the museums sector?
From an early age, I had always wanted to work within a gallery or museum, and had, during my school years, even participated in a work placement at my local art gallery and museum. Museums were something special to me growing up, as well—there weren’t that many in the South Lakes in the late ’80s and ’90s, and none that were free to make it accessible on a regular basis for my working-class parents to take my sisters and me to. So, the ones I was able to visit became awe-inspiring places that fuelled my fascination and interest in history and art, planting a seed inside me that someday I would like to work in one. Not that I knew in what capacity at that stage or how to achieve it, I just wanted to be there, immersed within these inspirational and special places.
My museum career started out when I joined the Lakeland Art Trust, the same trust that runs the local art gallery and museum I had my school placement with some 10 years earlier, as a curatorial volunteer in 2004, following the completion of my undergraduate degree. This also included shifts working in the tea rooms, reception, and waiting on during events. My time at the Trust cemented my desire to work within the sector and became a wonderful foundation, as I not only gained experience working with and on, fine art, decorative arts, contemporary craft, and social history collections and exhibitions. But also, an invaluable insight into the management and care of the Trust’s then three sites of Abbot Hall Art Gallery, the Museum of Lakeland Life, and Blackwell Arts and Crafts House. Since I left, the Trust now also cares for the Windermere Steam Boat Museum, which also has a very special place in my heart as it was one of the few Museums I did visit in my childhood thanks to a primary school trip.
Having the opportunity to work with leading curators within the field, learning directly from them on how to handle and care for works of art from artists such as the 18th-century portrait painter George Romney to ceramics by the grand-dame of British Studio pottery Magdalene Odundo. Assisting in the research of and contributing to exhibitions such as Talwin Morris & the Glasgow Style. Alongside meeting with artists, makers, and collectors was a dream come true. And it was through the support of these colleagues and their encouragement, I was able to see that I could be a part of the sector as a curator.
What did the start of your career pathway look like, and where did your interest in contemporary craft and design develop from?
Like many within the sector in the early noughties, I was encouraged to undertake a post-graduate course within Museum Studies to support the practical experience I had gained working and volunteering for the Lakeland Art Trust over the previous 16 months. This I did at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, at The International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies a leading academic centre for research and teaching in museum, gallery, and heritage studies. And it was during my time here, that I decided to focus my own research and curatorial activities in the area of Contemporary Craft and Design. The reason why is simple, I come from a long line of makers and craft workers - my paternal grandfather was one of the last cobblers who could hand sew in the South Lakes a skill that is now on the Heritage Crafts endangered list, my father was a carpenter, and I originally studied design myself. I understood from a very early age the wonders of watching someone who has a tacit knowledge of materials work, and how decorative art and craft have a fundamental place within art and society. So instinctively I knew that Contemporary Craft was the path that I should explore from now on.
As such, during my Master’s studies, I looked to seek employment of any kind within an organisation that celebrated craft and art within this sphere. Luckily during my time in the Northeast, there were several galleries and Museums that specialised in the area, but the one that stood out due to the exciting element of a glass studio where you could engage directly with artists and makers based there and experience at first-hand their visceral and enchanting material was the National Glass Centre in Sunderland. Similarly, to my role with the Lakeland Art Trust, I started out assisting with the exhibition program by researching artists and makers, as technical support and gallery attendant, whilst also assisting and running education workshops. Before gaining the position of Exhibitions Officer where I became primarily responsible for the coordination and the organisation of the exhibition programme on behalf of the Head of Arts and guest curators. It was then that I had the opportunity to curate a series of complimentary exhibitions to the blockbuster shows, that ranged from emerging artists within the field of glass, private and public collections, to commissioning new work. I was always keen to support those artists and makers who were challenging perceptions of their chosen material, pushing the boundaries of process and technic, or used their craft to tell a story, whilst also making beautifully crafted works of art.
One of my notable achievements during my time at the National Glass Centre was assisting on the project management of the international exhibition Interloqui for the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. This was devised by the then Creative Director Grainne Sweeney alongside a consortium of galleries from the North of England which included the Laing Art Gallery, Locus+ and mima, and Caterina Tognon Arte Contemporanea in Venice. The exhibition featured commissions created at the National Glass Centre by the artists Rose English and Cerith Wyn Evans, alongside an installation by Paul Noble that had been specially created for the Laing Art Gallery and works from the Craft and print collections of mima. During the run-up to the exhibition, we also worked with the Berengo furnaces in Murano to achieve a series of glassworks that Rose English designed. The aim of the exhibition was to discuss cross-disciplinary practice and how craft processes were a powerful element in conceptual thought. It was a magical time as all the artists and curators involved stayed within a house on the Lido, so the chats around the dinner table at night were always engaging and inspiring. And cemented within me a desire to explore Craft in all its variance, from traditional exponents to conceptual endeavours.
However, as I had always wanted to work with and care for a collection, I knew I needed to move on from the National Glass Centre to gain this experience as they did not hold a collection. The opportunity presented itself in 2014 when I joined National Museums Scotland as an Assistant Curator for the then Art & Design department. It was always a childhood dream to work for National Museums Scotland. On our biennale trips to Edinburgh to visit my father’s childhood friend, we would, on rare occasions find ourselves at the then Royal Museum. With me, the Museum geek that I have always been, spending most of my time spellbound by the objects and artefacts held within. So, it was a great honour for me to join the organisation, and to be part of such an amazing and dedicated team that cares for our National Collection.
What does your role at NMS involve and what element of it do you enjoy most?
In my role as Senior Curator of Modern & Contemporary Design at National Museums Scotland, I have responsibility for the collections of British, European, and other 'Western' glass, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, and industrial design circa 1945-present, which includes the care of its nationally significant collection of Contemporary Craft. And am part of a new Department that specialises in Global Art, Cultures, and Design.
An important element of my role and one that I am passionate about is in advocating for, developing, and gaining recognition for National Museums Scotland’s significant Contemporary Craft Collection within the international sector. As you can imagine this involves everything from caring for the collection alongside my colleagues in conservation and collections management to securing research funding to further developed areas of the collection, such as in 2015 when I was one of the first recipients of the Art Fund New Collecting Award, which aims to provide curators with opportunities to undertake research and acquire objects on behalf of their organisations. The project focused on collecting, researching and disseminating northern modernist jewellery with a particular emphasis on work designed and manufactured in Britain and the Nordic countries during the post-1945 period. The research project addressed a gap both in National Museums Scotland’s collections and in those of many other museums, allowing the Museums to establish a nationally significant collection of Modernist jewels. The culmination of the project fed into an exhibition which took place at the National Museum of Scotland from December 2017 to April 2018 and has since led to further acquisitions in this area, including an important early work by the internationally recognised Scottish jeweller and educator Dorothy Hogg MBE (1945 – 2022).
Articulated Necklace, silver, labradorite by Dorothy Hogg, London, England, 1969 – 1970 (K.2019.68)
©Prof. Dorothy Hogg, MBE; Image © National Museums Scotland
In addition, I also publish articles, deliver conference papers and lectures, mentor, and participate in education and knowledge exchange projects, including the #coronapunks challenge with Glasgow School of Art during the 2020 lockdown. Another aspect which always brings me joy is sitting on Contemporary Craft selection panels, in which I have been honoured to have been asked to participate both here in Scotland and on several international panels, including the 2021 European Glass Context as one of six guest curators. And I further support the sector through my position on the Board of Craft Scotland and as a Trustee for the Scottish Goldsmiths Trust.
But what I enjoy the most and have been extremely lucky to throughout my career in the Museum sector, is working alongside contemporary artists, designers, and makers, supporting them in their practice through research, curating, commissioning, mentoring, as well as acquiring works for the National Collection. When I joined the Museums in 2014, the National Museum of Scotland was embarking on the redevelopment of its Art and Design galleries, an exciting period, and one which allowed a large section of the Contemporary Craft collection to be displayed for the first time together in one dedicated gallery, Making and Creating. And afforded me my first experience, under the mentoring hand of the then Senior Curator Rose Watban, of acquiring works of Contemporary Craft on behalf of the nation. These pieces included Slanted Red Sand Bowl by Adi Toch; Scatter Brooch by Elizabeth Jane Campbell and Collection of Faceted Boxes by Andrea Walsh all of which feature within the gallery displays. Alongside commissioning acclaimed Digital Craft artist Michael Eden whose sculpture Portals reflects how Museums are transformative spaces full of inspiration and knowledge exchange, something I truly believe to be true.
Since then, I have facilitated introductions and worked cross-departmentally in building relationships with other colleagues to enable research by artists into National Museums Scotland’s collections, such as the collaboration that transpired between the Danish artist Anne Vibeke Mou and Stig Walsh which resulted in the creation of a new body of work that is the subject of a fascinating blog post by Anne. I have become an active voice in the museum’s contemporary commissioning programme, project managing the P&O Makower Commission for National Museums Scotland which looks to support emerging silversmiths with their first major commission, both the inaugural commission by Hamish Dobbie and the second by Jessica Jue, can also be seen on display in the Making and Creating gallery at the National Museum of Scotland. Most recently, I co-lead on the 2018 Glenmorangie Commission with colleagues in our Scottish History and Archaeology department which saw the creation of a new work by the internationally renowned metalsmith Simone ten Hompel. This project resulted in the development of the 2020, Museum and Contemporary Craft Symposium, highlighting how artists and makers can help facilitate further engagement with and understanding of Museums and their collections.
coordinate, Silver, corten steel, guiding metal, stainless steel by Simone ten Hompel, London, England, 2020 (X.2020.32)
© Simone ten Hompel; Image © National Museums Scotland
What advice would you give to students and young professionals interested in working in a Gallery or Museum?
The museum and gallery sector is a wonderful world to be part of, and there are many roles within it for a fellow Contemporary Craft enthusiast to become involved within. What I would suggest if you have the capacity and financial capability to volunteer, is to see what opportunities your local gallery and museum have. Most National Museums like my own organisation, have dedicated volunteer callouts that can be found through their websites. These outline the type of opportunities that are available and what skill sets they are looking for, but also more importantly, what the successful applicant can gain from being a volunteer. Smaller museums and galleries may not have callouts but may be open to a formal written approach by an individual.
What I would also say is to be realistic with your expectations. The volunteer opportunities may not be the glamourous film depiction of a museum worker that you have in mind. They often require hard work and dedication. So be open to getting dirty by filling walls with poly, painting plinths, and carrying empty crates, as through observation and practical application you can learn a lot about the mechanics of how to create a display. If it’s data processing, this is an important skill set needed to understand collections management systems and archiving. Whilst gallery attending provides opportunities to become an expert on the displays and objects you are monitoring so you may share their stories with visitors, whom the collections have been developed for. And in the end, the skills learned through volunteering will aid you in the future and are an important asset to your CV.
However, I am aware that many can’t afford to do this. I myself volunteered a day a week whilst working full time, whilst also trying to save to go back to study, it’s not easy. And paid internships are few and far between. So do look around to see what other opportunities there might be, because though this may not be the desired role, it may set you on the path to achieving your dream job in the future or could create new opportunities that you may not have considered as a career prospect in the sector.
Our thanks to Sarah Rothwell and National Museums Scotland.