Tate Britain - Watercolour Exhibition Part 2

Welcome back to Access London everyone and thank you once again for supporting this site and disability access and awareness.

Today's short post continues on from yesterday's on Tate Britain's Watercolour exhibition. For more information on the gallery, exhibition, its access, times and prices, please scroll down to yesterday's post.

As promised, today's post is an interview with Tate Britain's Community and Access Curator, Nora Razian.....




AL: Who are you and what is your role at the Tate?
NR: Nora Razian. I'm the Community and Access Curator at Tate Britain.

AL: Can you briefly explain how Tate Britain is accessible to those with disabilities and mobility problems?
NR: All Tate Britain's entries are accessible to those with mobility problems; we also have elevators in the gallery and disabled parking spaces for visitors that can be booked in advance.

AL: Do you have a current special offer or exhibition that is accessible to those with disabilities?
NR: All our exhibitions are accessible to those with disabilities. In addition, we have events such as, BSL and lipspeaking-assisted talks around key works in the collection or around works in an exhibition. We also offer picture description tours on the collection. These tours can be booked in advance by contacting me directly or through contacting Tate Britain on 020 7887 4946.

AL: Do you have any concessions for disabled visitors and/or their carers?
NR: We offer concession prices to both disabled visitors and their carers.

AL: Can you sum up in 5 words the Tate Britain Experience?
NR: Singular, Dynamic, Enriching, Surprising, Engaging


Access London would like to offer a huge thank you to Nora for taking the time to answer some questions.

Watercolour is on at Tate Britain until the 21st August 2011. To book tickets for the exhibtion, please see the gallery's website: www.tate.org.uk/britain

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COMING SOON: Love Never Dies, The Wizard of Oz, The London Eye

Tate Britain - Watercolour Exhibition

Welcome back to Access London, thank you for your continued support for disability access and awareness in London. After a few week's break, whilst I was on holiday, Access London is back for a busy June.

Today's post is the first of 2 on Tate Britain's Watercolour exhibition.

The Tate Britain is located in Pimlico near Vauxhall Bridge and opens daily from 10am until 6pm. For the Watercolour exhibition, the most convenient entrance is the Manton Entrance on Atterbury Street, off of Millbank. For those in a wheelchair or mobility scooter, there is a long, wide, paved slope down from the pavement level to the entrance which has automatic sliding doors.

Once inside there is a cafe, shop, ticketing hall/collections and toilets, including disabled ones. The exhibition itself is very near to this entrance and you don't need to use a lift to get to it. The exhibition is fairly large and is all on the same level.

Watercolour explores the use of this medium over the last 800 years. The exhibition is divided into rooms, each with its own theme - travel, botanical, portraits, history of watercolour tools, war and many others. The themes are so diverse that I believe anyone will find 1 or 2 rooms that really appeals to them. One of my favourites was the very first room. This included examples of intricately painted books from 800 years ago, protraits inside pendents and maps. The travel room displayed pieces from all over Europe, some of my favourites dipicted scenes in Northern Africa and Italy.

The exhibition ends with how Watercolour is being used today, with examples from Tracey Emin. This exhibition really does have something for everyone plus, you can always stop for luch after and then take a look around the main collection which is free to enter.


Watercolour runs at Tate Britain until the 21st August 2011. It costs £12.70 for an adult to enter the exhibition. For disabled visitors there is a concession to £10.90 - a carer is also admitted for free for each disabled visitor.

The Gallery has 2 parking spaces on-site that can be booked by disabled visitors - to do so, call 020 7887 8888. This number can also be used to book a wheelchair or mobility scooter that can be used around the gallery if you do not have your own.

The Tate's website writes about this exhibition:
"Watercolour at Tate Britain invites you to challenge your preconceptions of what watercolour is. The most ambitious exhibition about watercolour ever to be staged, with works spanning 800 years, this boundary-breaking suvery celebrates the full variety of ways watercolour has been used."



To visit Tate Britain's website and to book tickets for Watercolour, please see www.tate.org.uk

Tomorrow's post will contain an interview with the Community and Access Curator at Tate Britain.

Also to come this month: Love Never Dies, The Wizard of Oz, Miro exhibition at Tate Modern and beginning the celebrations for Phantom of the Opera's 25th Birthday.