Louise Gray speaks to Andrew Logan, artist, inventor of the Alternative Miss World, great British eccentric and the subject of his own museum
Where: The Andrew Logan Museum of Sculpture is in the village of Berriew, mid-Wales. The Accredited museum is Europe’s only one dedicated to a living artist.
What: The museum occupies an old squash court that Logan and his partner, architect Michael Davis, bought in 1988 and then renovated. It has two galleries and a small cafe. “I had a dream to open a museum after seeing the amount of people who came to my former London studio, the Glasshouse in the Sky,” Logan says.
He remembers people queuing round the block to come in. “My work is about joy, happiness and the celebration of life. I wanted people to see it.”
Opened The museum opened in 1991. It is open at Easter, from June to September and by prior arrangement. It hosts many educational and group visits. A small caravan, redecorated with, says Logan, “a surreal red interior”, is used as a mobile exhibition space.
The caravan – the Andrew Logan Museum of Travelling Sculpture – is “painted in a black-and-white Tudor style to mirror the architecture of Berriew”, Logan says. In August the caravan will be attending the Eisteddfod.
Collection: The museum reflects the extraordinary range of work of its founder. It has portraits, costumes and items relating to the Alternative Miss World, the anything-goes contest that Logan started in 1972; jewellery, theatrical props and sculptures covered with the artist’s trademark broken mirrors; and a series of works depicting Logan’s late friend and actor, Divine.
Gallery: Two shows films and a 25-minute light and sound show called Egypt Revisited. The largest artefact is the Cosmic Egg, a five-metre tall egg that was commissioned by the Greater London Council in 1983 and used in a peace parade. The museum is firmly embedded in its community.
Logan says that some of his most enjoyable work comes from organising events and workshops with local schools. The museum is helping the village school celebrate its centenary this year with a procession and a crown-making workshop.
The museum is also a venue for concerts. Highlights Logan’s highlights are his portrait of his friend, the designer Zandra Rhodes, and his first sculpture, the Wave Mirror, an oyster-shell light made when he was an architecture student.
“It is made out of cardboard, Uhu [glue], and broken glass that I collected from the streets of Oxford.”
Help at hand: As the director and the chairman of the board of trustees respectively, Logan and Davis are very much involved in the running of the museum.
At present, an administrator, Anne-Marie Pope, works one day a week, with Julia Hawes providing front-of-house services during opening hours and back-of-house duties at other times. Local volunteers contribute to the events programme. Logan and Davis are in the process of moving to the village as full-time residents.
Budget: Historically, the museum has received some funding from bodies, including the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council of Wales and Cymal (Museums Archives and Libraries Wales). “Cymal has been wonderful, really supportive,” says Logan, “but museums need help, basically.” Adult admission is £3.
Visitors: Visitor numbers peaked at 5,000 a few years ago, but now are about 1,000 a year. The museum is working hard to attract more people.
Sticky moment: “The ceiling of Gallery Two fell in because the builder hadn’t used long-enough nails,” says Logan. “That was quite sticky.”
Survival tip: “Offer as much as you can,” Logan says.
Future plans: Logan wants to make a virtual tour for people unable to visit in person. He and Davis own a bit of land between the museum and the village pub. “We’d love to build a small place with a workshop, library and two flatlets for artists in residence,”
Logan says. “Our visitor book is full of testimonials from people who say the museum has changed their lives. We’d like to offer others that life-changing opportunity, too.”
Where: The Andrew Logan Museum of Sculpture is in the village of Berriew, mid-Wales. The Accredited museum is Europe’s only one dedicated to a living artist.
What: The museum occupies an old squash court that Logan and his partner, architect Michael Davis, bought in 1988 and then renovated. It has two galleries and a small cafe. “I had a dream to open a museum after seeing the amount of people who came to my former London studio, the Glasshouse in the Sky,” Logan says.
He remembers people queuing round the block to come in. “My work is about joy, happiness and the celebration of life. I wanted people to see it.”
Opened The museum opened in 1991. It is open at Easter, from June to September and by prior arrangement. It hosts many educational and group visits. A small caravan, redecorated with, says Logan, “a surreal red interior”, is used as a mobile exhibition space.
The caravan – the Andrew Logan Museum of Travelling Sculpture – is “painted in a black-and-white Tudor style to mirror the architecture of Berriew”, Logan says. In August the caravan will be attending the Eisteddfod.
Collection: The museum reflects the extraordinary range of work of its founder. It has portraits, costumes and items relating to the Alternative Miss World, the anything-goes contest that Logan started in 1972; jewellery, theatrical props and sculptures covered with the artist’s trademark broken mirrors; and a series of works depicting Logan’s late friend and actor, Divine.
Gallery: Two shows films and a 25-minute light and sound show called Egypt Revisited. The largest artefact is the Cosmic Egg, a five-metre tall egg that was commissioned by the Greater London Council in 1983 and used in a peace parade. The museum is firmly embedded in its community.
Logan says that some of his most enjoyable work comes from organising events and workshops with local schools. The museum is helping the village school celebrate its centenary this year with a procession and a crown-making workshop.
The museum is also a venue for concerts. Highlights Logan’s highlights are his portrait of his friend, the designer Zandra Rhodes, and his first sculpture, the Wave Mirror, an oyster-shell light made when he was an architecture student.
“It is made out of cardboard, Uhu [glue], and broken glass that I collected from the streets of Oxford.”
Help at hand: As the director and the chairman of the board of trustees respectively, Logan and Davis are very much involved in the running of the museum.
At present, an administrator, Anne-Marie Pope, works one day a week, with Julia Hawes providing front-of-house services during opening hours and back-of-house duties at other times. Local volunteers contribute to the events programme. Logan and Davis are in the process of moving to the village as full-time residents.
Budget: Historically, the museum has received some funding from bodies, including the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council of Wales and Cymal (Museums Archives and Libraries Wales). “Cymal has been wonderful, really supportive,” says Logan, “but museums need help, basically.” Adult admission is £3.
Visitors: Visitor numbers peaked at 5,000 a few years ago, but now are about 1,000 a year. The museum is working hard to attract more people.
Sticky moment: “The ceiling of Gallery Two fell in because the builder hadn’t used long-enough nails,” says Logan. “That was quite sticky.”
Survival tip: “Offer as much as you can,” Logan says.
Future plans: Logan wants to make a virtual tour for people unable to visit in person. He and Davis own a bit of land between the museum and the village pub. “We’d love to build a small place with a workshop, library and two flatlets for artists in residence,”
Logan says. “Our visitor book is full of testimonials from people who say the museum has changed their lives. We’d like to offer others that life-changing opportunity, too.”