Outreach

Illuminating objects

Sketch

By Hannah Eastwood

Last Friday evening saw many of Oxford’s cultural venues, including the University museums, hosting late-night events to celebrate the city’s annual Christmas Light Festival. One of the standout contributions to the evening was work completed by local primary school children along with the museums’ six HLF Skills for the Future trainees.

The aim of the project was to build six lanterns, one to represent each of the Oxford museums and collections – the Ashmolean, Pitt Rivers Museum, Museum of Natural History, Museum of the History of Science, Museum of Oxford, and the Botanic Garden and Harcourt Arboretum. The finished lanterns were to go on display as part of the Light Festival on Friday 21 November.

Fire clock

Dragon fire clock (inv. 46586)

As one of the HLF trainees working on this project, I wanted to share our experience of conceiving, developing and building these wonderful lanterns. A group of six children from each school came to visit the museums to select their favourite object from a set prepared by each HLF trainee. The selected object would be the inspiration for the final lantern. For the Museum of the History of Science the chosen object was the beautifully striking dragon fire clock above.

Pupils work on their lantern constructions

Pupils work on their lantern constructions

The real hard work began when we visited the schools to start the construction of the lanterns. We all had very limited experience working with willow, but our lead artist Nikki Gunson thankfully has a lot more experience creating fantastic willow lanterns. Nikki was able to draw up plans for our museums’ selected objects and it was our task to devise a session plan from these designs and to divide up the work for each child.

In my group, we worked with around 15 children at a time, swapping groups so that each child could create a section of the dragon that they would be able to identify as their own once it was finished. The children loved working with the willow and especially enjoyed the more complicated tasks such as sawing the bamboo and creating complex shapes from the design.

Due to the complexity of the design we didn’t manage to cover the willow structure with the paper and glue; this work was completed by a team later where finishing touches and messy glue was applied. It’s a difficult process, where pieces of paper are covered in waterproof PVA glue and then laid on to the willow. The paper needed to be kept taut so not to lose the shape of the dragon underneath.

Building the frames

Building the frames

Nikki Gunson then worked her magic on the completed lanterns: a fancy lick of paint and they were ready for public display on the lawn outside the Museum of Natural History!

Finished lanterns

The finished lantern outside the Museum of Natural History

The six schools taking part in the lantern project were Bayard’s Hill (Museum of Natural History), Wood Farm (Museum of the History of Science), John Henry Newman (Botanic Garden), Rose Hill (Museum of Oxford), Blackbird Academy Trust (Pitt Rivers Museum), and Cutteslowe (Ashmolean).

The stars, the world, and two old friends

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The Museum regularly hosts workshops for lots of different audiences – adults, families, prospective students, and school groups – as a way of providing access to the collections through hands-on activities. Working with the Oxford University Museums and Collections outreach team, we recently delivered a workshop for adults with learning disabilities, focused on the Museum’s collections of terrestrial and celestial globes.

Community outreach officer Nicola Bird welcomed 17 adults and their helpers for a morning of discovery here. The group searched for globes over the three galleries, looking for signs, constellations, oceans and countries that they recognised. They discussed with wonder how previous generations mapped the world and the stars using ancient and emerging techniques; and they considered the globes’ uses in navigation and time-telling.

After exploring the Museum, everyone gathered around the large table in the Basement Gallery to have a go at making their own globes to take home to show friends and families.

Everyone has a go at making their own terrestrial or celestial globe

“We all had such a fantastic time – people had the opportunity to show off how much they already knew about globes and how we use them. Everyone made and took home at least one globe: I was very impressed with everyone’s knowledge and ability to make the globes, covering them with 12 segments from the map,” says Nicola Bird.

The finished article

It’s great to hear that the participants enjoyed the session too, learning about the Museum at the same time: “I enjoyed discovering a space I never knew existed, creating my very own celestial globe. I would like to return to the museum as a regular member of the public.”

As with most workshops, there was an element of the unpredictable too. During the session, one man recognised an old friend, someone he had not seen for over 20 years. The pair used to have a cup of tea together every week and really enjoyed seeing each other again after such a long time. What a coincidence. You might say that it was written in the stars…

These workshops are organised in partnership with the Community Education outreach officers, the Museum, and Paula Simmonds from Oxfordshire Skills and Learning Service. Paula coordinates workshops and classes all over the county for people with learning disabilities.

Oxford University Museums and Collections Outreach is led by Susan Griffiths and Nicola Bird who represent the University’s Museum of the History of Science, Ashmolean, Pitt Rivers Museum, Museum of Natural History, and the Botanic Garden and Harcourt Arboretum. The team aims to break down real or perceived barriers to visiting the University’s museums and collections by taking collections material out to groups all over the county. To find out more, visit the outreach website.