About this Event
Join us for an evening of inspiration and ingenuity, as we explore the world of automata, with key makers and curators from the Marvellous Mechicanical Museum.
Hear from Henrietta Boex, Fi Henshall, and Paul Spooner, with a chance for Q&As!
Drinks available from the bar | The whole museum will be open | Talks will take place on the downstairs floor | Lift access will be available for the 1st floor
About Marvellous Mechanical Museum (open 19th March – 6 July):
The Marvelous Mechanical Museum is a visually stunning blend of art, science and engineering full of fun.
From the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre comes an entertaining, interactive, and whimsical show. Explore automata created by Cornish artists, discover their inner workings at the push of a button or turn of a lever, and learn about the mechanics, engineering and art that goes into the delightful creations.
Cabaret Mechanical Theatre have played an integral role in the revival of automata and in supporting a growing number of automata makers. Recognising the potential popularity of these moving machines, CMT actively encouraged a group of makers in Falmouth, Cornwall to make automata to sell in their local craft shop, Cabaret. CMT often actively guided the artists’ creative direction, looking for wit and entertainment in the automata that they collected.
About Paul Spooner
Paul Spooner went to art school and in his early thirties, took up the then almost extinct profession of automatist.
A series of fortunate circumstances led him from the school teaching and lorry driving jobs he’d done after art school; he moved to Cornwall with his wife Sue, he met Peter Markey, who had been making mechanical sculptures and selling them in Sue Jackson’s shop, Cabaret, in Falmouth.
Cabaret became a destination for enthusiasts of mechanical playthings, with works by Paul, Peter Markey and Ron Fuller. Paul installed ‘The Last Judgement’, a coin-operated machine, in the window of the shop and used the proceeds to buy a lathe.
Since then he hasn’t stopped producing devices, made mostly of wood, mostly small enough to fit on a mantelpiece but sometimes of more ambitious sizes.
About Fi Henshall
Fi Henshall works mainly in wood, old tins and small old items of the sort found at the back of sheds, having a fascination with the use to which beautifully made but now often obsolete things may be put. The pieces have become increasingly colourful and seem to have recurring themes of naked women, birds and bikes. Fi is sometimes quizzed a little disapprovingly about the naked women, but finds them the most satisfying of forms to carve, and although has pondered the question considerably, is not sure how to clothe a figure without placing it solidly in a time and a place, which she likes to avoid.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Royal Cornwall Museum, 25 River Street, Truro, United Kingdom
GBP 6.00 to GBP 10.00