Jewellery exhibition at Whitby Museum

I am in the final stages of putting together the jewellery exhibition at Whitby Museum, due to open to the public on 30th March 2010.  I have had a fascinating time selecting items from the museum collection, particularly as it has meant I could really search out objects that are not always out on display and also that I could show them together with items from other collections - so contrasting items from different periods or cultures.

I have been able to create a small display of jewellery made from different materials such as the necklace or rosary of Water lily seeds from Lake Lugano, Switzerland and the African ivory or bone bracelets.  I have also selected this amazingly intricate chain made of horsehair.  

Exhibition research

I am still busy with the planning and designing of the jewellery exhibition due to open at Whitby Museum at the end of March.  Today I spent the morning attempting to photograph pieces of jet for one of the information panels.  For those of you who love beads I am just posting this picture as a taste of what will be in the exhibition.  This is part of a long jet necklace where the carved beads are graduated and have round smooth jet beads in between.  It is Victorian and is usually on display within the museum's huge collection of jet.

Beadwork

Today I have been in to the museum and had a lovely discussion with one of the volunteers on the curatorial team about this beautiful beaded purse. Inside was a small handwritten label saying that is is North American Indian Eastern Woodlands Culture. It is made of what seems to be a felt like black fabric with a sort of polished cotton lining and what may be silk binding around the edges (not that I know very much about textiles!). The beads are absolutely tiny and the triangular flap clearly folded over to close the purse - as there is an un-embroidered space on the other side.

One of the things I really love about Whitby Museum is that there are artefacts from many distant places which must have their own, often hidden, stories to tell about their respective journeys to Whitby.

More Museum

I have spent another interesting day at the museum. It is always a bit of a luxury being able to spend time just looking at objects and I tell myself it is an essential part of my research and development for my Inspired by Heritage project. Out of the many thousands of objects I could look at today I have had another look at some of the things in the current exhibition 'Men and Whales' including some fantastic large whale bones; beautiful carvings and drawings by Captain Scoresby Junior.

The most exciting bit of news is that I was recently confirmed as Deputy Keeper of the Museum. At the moment it feels like a huge responsibility but I am enjoying the idea of continuing the link I have with all the enthusiastic members of the team of mainly volunteers who keep the museum running, helping the established members of that teams and hopefully even encouraging a few new volunteers to get involved.

Fun day at the museum

Yesterday I ran a workshop at Whitby Museum. They are always fun to do. I took the small group of participants around the museum looking at objects that had spiral patterns on them. I then showed them how to make a small brooch based on the Anglo Saxon ones in the museum collection and they each made on as an introduction to using pliers, cutters and copper wire. Then they all went off and had another look at some of the objects and made sketches and after lunch returned to make up their designs using a variety of thickesses of copper wire and beads.

I will be running similar workshops on the next two Thursdays. I will post some of the pictures of their work as a slideshow

Flora and photo polymer plates

I have been experimenting with some of the photographs I have taken at Whitby Museum recently and trying to make them into photo polymer plates for using to texture art clay silver. This is all preparatory work for the jewellery I will be making as part of my Inspired by Heritage residency at the museum. I have used a variety of different types and thicknesses of plates but eventually decided that I like the thin plates with a steel backing. These seem to produce the delicate and still crisp image I am looking for. It has taken me quite a few days work though and lots of pieces that are not quite what I was looking for. Here are some of my photos converted to black and white together with some of the finished plates. There are quite a few steps to the process including printing high density images on ohp film so that they can be used as negatives when exposing the sensitive plates.

Preparatory design work

I have spent most of the day trying to adapt some of the photographs I had taken of the herbaria in Whitby museum into black and white images to make photopolymer plates from. I am quite pleased with the results but somehow working at the computer doesn't feel like I am being creative, even though it is all part of the design process. The pictures I took are of very delicate pressed flowers and are such beautiful graphic images.

Back to normal

Well, it was the final day of North Yorkshire Open Studios '09 yesterday and when the last visitors had gone I made a brief attempt to return my studio to a normal working layout, removing a few of the display cases and the large acrylic screen from in front of the kilns and demonstration area and moving the tables back into the centre of the room. I have had a fantastic time meeting people; talking about techniques used to make different pieces of work and, on occassion catching up with old friends. I feel a bit deflated now it is over so think I will probably have a day off before I go back and tackle the next project.

I am going into Whitby Museum on Wednesday and already looking forward to my first peek at the herbarium!

Out and about

I have had an order for a leaf twist pendant in turquoise and while I was enamelling it decided I should make another in green.  It seems like ages since I did any of this kind of thing and it was lovely to get back to the bench and work.

Today I am going out and about.  I have the ordered version (in turquoise) to deliver along with a stack of brochures for the North Yorkshire Open Studios '09 and then, hopefully, will get chance to spend a bit of time in Whitby Museum.  I need to get sketching as have loads of ideas........ watch this space!

Inspired by the Anglo Saxons

Yesterday I did a workshop at the museum making wire jewellery based upon Anglo Saxon inspirations.  I am putting a few images on in a slide show at the side.  This was a lovely day and I really enjoyed seeing how creative people can be given a very simple medium like copper wire and a few beads.

Egg decorating and badge fun

I have spent a very busy day at Whitby Museum helping young visitors to make drawings on eggs - which I think were then rolled downhill outside in Pannett Park and making their drawings on paper into badges. Great fun, lots of enthusiastic children and their parents, all the eggs were used up (thankfully) and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I completely missed all of the events that were going on outside in the park as I was fully occupied so didn't get chance to slip out and have a look around but know from what the visitors were telling me that there was a scavenger hunt; den making; tombola and of course egg rolling...... sadly too busy to take any photos so today's entry has to go without :)

First 'Inspired by Heritage' set

Well here it is, not quite finished but at least I feel as though I am now making some progress with my residency at Whitby Museum. My project is to research through all aspects of the museum and produce a new collection of jewellery inspired by and reflecting the diversity.   I have spent some time looking at the information about the Captains Scoresby.They were father and son and each captained whaling ships. The younger William Scoresby was particularly remarkable for his scientific studies of arctic flora and fauna and of magnetism.  He surveyed and mapped the East Coast of Greenland and Jan Meyene Island north of Greenland and also studied the detailed forms of snowflakes, producing a remarkable series of drawings of them. More information can be found at http://www.whitbymuseum.org.uk/d12/scor/index.htm

Anyway, this is the beginning of my first real piece inspired by the museum collection.  I hope when it is finished it will reflect both the drama portrayed in prints of ships amongst the icebergs and the delicacy of Soresby's drawings of snowflakes.

Inspired by heritage

I have been reflecting on the progress of my residency at Whitby Museum and in particular the making of badges with visitors.  I have really enjoyed this but was not sure how it fitted in with my own work or with my plan for the residency.  I have spent quite a few days sketching in different areas of the museum but was still feeling quite confused by the variety and quantity of inspiring artefacts, but enjoying all the shapes and patterns.  At the same time I have had other work to focus on.  In April it will be the 30th annual conference of the Guild of Enamellers and the theme for the members exhibition this year is texture.  In May I am going up to Edinburgh one weekend to help Dorothy Cockrell run an enamelling workshop.  This is being organised for the Art Clay World UK Guild by Emma Baird (of The Little Beadshop - see link) and she needs a photograph for her publicity.  Then in October I will be a tutor at the Art Clay World UK Guild Conference in Jersey and, in my usual way, am already preparing examples for that.  Yesterday I spent the day working on some beads constructed in art clay silver with the aim of using them for all three events.  This morning I realised that, with all the badge making at the museum I am now happily designing within circles without even thinking about the constraints.  Now I need to dash back to the museum and sketch some more and will be on my way as soon as I have printed out a few more circles - definately Inspired by Heritage

More fossils

I did go back to Whitby Museum on Thursday and spent the whole day sketching and photographing things, concentrating mainly on the extraordinary fossil collection.  If you 'click' on the picture of the Museum on the right it will take you to their website, with details of the collections and of the opening times.

The plant fossil is Cladophlebis denticulata which is a very graphic matte black, with the delicacy almost of a watercolour painting across the surface of the stone.  

In contrast the photograph of rib cage (below) is just the central section of a large Plesiosaurus Propinquus.  It is astonishing to me that such contrasting things can have survived almost intact for an inconceivable period of time.  There are so many beautiful patterns and structures in this part of the collection I could spend the whole year of my residency at the museum staring into one cabinet and not get bored but there is so much else to investigate in there.

I am beginning to develop a few ideas and at some point will publish a plan of workshops I will be involved in running inspired by the collections throughout 2009

Holotypes and ammonites

I have been into Whitby Museum again this afternoon, thinking I would do a bit of quiet sketching. Instead I have met a number of very interesting people (and apologise in advance to them as I won't remember any of their names) and been introduced to some holotypes of ammonites.  Now I have always liked the fossil collection but really only ever viewed it as a series of interesting patterns and forms.  I had realised that the museum had an important collection but now know that it has a number of 'holotypes' - which as I understand it are the actual physical examples (or one of several examples) used when the species of ammonites were being formally described for geological and scientific identification purposes and, yes, when you look more carefully you can see the differences in them!    I need to go in when there is no-one around now so that I can look more carefully and maybe even sketch and photograph some of them.  

I knew being artist in residence at Whitby Museum would be interesting and exciting but had no real idea of the wealth of inspirational material there was tucked away there............ just waiting to be explored.