The working life of Museum of London

The group discussing ideas for today’s workshop.

Click here to see more photos from the project

Photos by Nick Landau

I’m Shauna O’Brien and am continuing my internship here at Museum of London with Lucie Fitton, the Museum’s Inclusion Officer. This week the students from Barnet College came for the seventh week of the Empire project, making an art installation using goods traded in the British Empire to be placed in an under-floor display case in the new Expanding City Gallery.

Last week the group finished decorating the waves for the base of the display and today they folded them to make the ocean more three-dimensional. Judith Hope, the project artist, worked with Sousan Luqman (lecturer at Barnet College) to cover the case of the case with tea-stained calico for the waves to rest on. The table at the heart of the sculpture is going to have sugarcane legs, and Sousan used a saw to cut them to the right length and angle. They are to be handed over to the Museum’s conservation department now to be freeze-dried for preservation.

Amongst the waves will be some small ships carved from ginger, so the group had a go at drawing pictures of ships, using illustrations as a reference. This will be continued next week. Annette and Sousan and Judith worked at gluing the waves onto the display base and had very coffee-stained feet by the end of it!

Judith had printed some decorative images of shackles onto silk, which will be attached onto the tablecloth edges. Nick, Marion (a support worker at the College) and Maria worked at cutting some bondaweb into circles to stick the tablecloth and images together. Judith had made a template, so it wasn’t too difficult to be precise!

As the session was going, the crockery that Lucie had ordered for the table setting arrived and the group was keen to have a look! The coffee set had a beautiful cream jug and sugar pot, and with them were some decorative transfers that Andre and Daniel cut up into smaller pieces. Next week we can embellish the plain crockery with these to make it more decorative.

Andre, one of the participants, wrote a blog for this week:

‘Today we used our hands to very slowly and carefully bend the waves into place. We had to be careful so that the sugar and tea didn’t fall off! We then looked at the ceramics that Lucie had ordered to place on the table. They were plain white but came with transfers which stick to the crockery when dampened. We had to cut out the shapes we liked to decorate the crockery next week.’

Next week is the group’s last working on the artwork. Lots of things are happening at once and it is so nice to see the group’s ideas become real and placing each element into the case is so exciting. We all can’t wait to see the final piece!

Daniel and Maria decorating the waves with sugar and loose tea.

Click here to see more photos from the project.

Photos by Nick Landau

I am Shauna O’Brien and have been on an internship at Museum of London with Lucie Fitton, the Museum’s Inclusion Officer. I’ve been helping out on some of the community projects, as you may have seen from the previous blogs. Today was the sixth week of the Empire project. The final plans for the art work to be displayed in one of three under floor display cases in the new Gallery were made over the last couple of weeks and today the group continued decorating the waves.

Last week the group painted sheets of card with diluted coffee and today Judith Hope, the artist working on the project, and Sousan Luqman (lecturer at Barnet College) cut out the wave shapes from the stained paper as the rest of the group decorated. We used loose tea and white demerara sugar to sprinkle on the crest of the waves to create a graduated colour effect. The decorating was very relaxing and the group managed to get them all decorated by the end of the session.

Next week the waves will be attached to the base of the display case and the group will have a go at carving ginger, and gluing coffee beans together to make small ships to float in the ocean the group will have created!

Judith, the project artist and Sousan from Barnet College making the table for the sculpture.

Click here to see more photographs from the project

Photos by Nick Landau

Hello, I’m Shauna O’Brien, and as you may have read in the previous community blogs, I am an intern here at Museum of London. Today was our fifth week of Empire looking to create a piece of artwork for an under floor display case as part of the new Expanding City gallery.

Today the students from Barnet College came to the Museum of London again after a week off for half term. In the previous session, they came up with lots of ideas for the sculptural piece made from goods traded in the Empire for the new galleries at the Museum. The final piece was decided on, inspired by Maria’s idea to have a table set up for a tea party, using the sugar, coffee, tea, porcelain, silk and spices that would have been first traded during the peak of the British Empire. Other ideas were used, by having the table in the shape of a ship, to have the table cloth embroidered with tea and coffee dyed thread and to have the sea beneath the table, by way of decorated card. The artist on the project, Judith Hope, had made a little model of the case for everyone to see. It made the visualisation easier and was great for us all to have a look at, especially for the people that were not in the last session.

So, today the group started making the elements for the case, which will be under the floor of the new Expanding City gallery, Judith and Sousan Luqman (lecturer at Barnet College) worked together to cut out the shape of the table from large sheets of foam board. They also made the base for the group’s work to rest on. The rest of us were painting sheets of strong paper with diluted coffee to be cut out for the waves of the sea beneath the table.

It was very relaxing painting with the coffee, and we had the perfect weather outside for them to dry quickly! Judith and Sousan made a template to cut the waves from the group’s dried sheets of paper, and began to cut them out towards the end of the session.

One of the group members, Maria, added that she was looking forward to working with the sugar next week when we come to decorate the waves. The group will also make little ships to ‘float’ on the sea and working on what will be going on the table-top too.

This object was inspired by a Victorian hat, however the added balloons allow you to fly!

See more photos from the project on Flickr.

9th May 2009

I am Shauna O’Brien and am doing an internship at Museum of London as part of my MA in Museum and Gallery Education in order to learn more about the workings of the Museum. I am helping Lucie Fitton (Inclusion Officer at the Museum) on the Empire project, working with part-time students from Barnet College on a creative installation for the new galleries, and My Museum project. Today was the second visit to Coborn Service for Adolescent Mental Health for My Museum. Lucie and I were on hand to help Emily Candela (the freelance artist leading the project) with today’s creative workshop. Last week the group looked at a range of objects from the Museum’s collection and had to guess what their original use was. They then made collages using images of the objects as well as modern images to create new ideas.

Emily started by showing the group some of her own artwork in the shape of films. The group saw how she had made small papier-mâché structures and added different layers of other footage she had filmed to create a new film. Mixing the old and the new, the found and the re-created allowed a lot of ideas to come up and the group discussed why she might have made the films the way she did. It was great to see all the different ways of creating montages, from last week’s collage to this week’s sculptural workshop.

The handling session from last week’s workshop gave everyone the opportunity to photograph his or her favourite object and these images were used as references for making new objects.

The group members used chicken wire to build the shape of their chosen artefact using the photographs the group took from last week. Some of the group played about with the size of the object, making it much bigger or smaller. We then got messy and used papier-mâché to build up the structure. These will have time to dry in time for the next session when the group can build new objects onto their structures and decorate them.

15th May 2009

In week three Emily Candela, the freelance artist leading the project, began by showing everyone slides of the previous two week’s work. Last week the group had made sculptures from chicken wire and papier-mâché in response to the Museum’s artefacts that they had handled in the first session. The group then could build up on their original models with new objects. Emily had bought along a range of interesting items, from bouncy balls to balloons and holographic tape to fake hair! The idea was to create something that had a use, so to develop the purpose of the original artefact and turn it into something new. Emily also bought some expandable foam in, which was very exciting and we all got messy experimenting with it!

Some of the ideas were fantastic, with a Victorian fish seller’s bobbin hat growing balloons out of it, so that the hot air of your thoughts could lift you up. Another was the Victorian finger pillories becoming a more modern type of punishment in the form of a spiky bed. Everyone got very creative and the group decorated their new objects using paint and more found materials.

At the end of the session, everyone presented their work to the group and some of the group members photographed and filmed their art. Next time the group will have a go at making a montage in another medium- film.

Dan, David and Sousan sketching ideas for the artwork. Click this link to see more photos from the project on Flickr.

Photos by Nick Landau

12th May 2009

I am Shauna O’Brien and am doing an internship at Museum of London as part of my MA in Museum and Gallery Education in order to learn more about the workings of the Museum. I am helping Lucie Fitton (the Museum’s inclusion officer) on some of her projects including My Museum at Coborn Service for Adolescent Mental Health, and Empire. Today was our third week of Empire and Lucie, myself, Judith Hope (the freelance artist working on the Empire project) and the students from Barnet College visited the Museum in Docklands. We wanted to find out more about the histories, artefacts and stories from the British Empire, with particular reference to London’s involvement. London was central to the growth of the Empire and many of the things we take for granted today come from the beginning of the Empire when people explored faraway lands, discovered new commodities and created new cultures, languages and opportunities. The new galleries at Museum of London will feature an area on Empire and this week was a great opportunity for us to learn more.

We met with historian and researcher, Angelina Osborne, who gave a presentation on the concept of Empire. She showed the group images of those in power and those that were exploited and we learnt about how the British Empire, under Queen Elizabeth I and James I became so powerful. We learnt about the docks of London demonstrating the power and wealth gained during the 16th-18th Century. Angelina showed images of paintings of the Pool of London, but also taught us that it was from London that the earliest slave traders left. We learnt how Queen Elizabeth went from being horrified at the activities of slave traders to giving a ship to John Hawkins (a pirate who took over ships and sold them to Dominica) so that she could get a cut of the profits.

We went on a tour of the London, Sugar, Slavery gallery and got to see a sugar cane mast, sugar moulds and slavery abolition images. Angelina was a fountain of knowledge and it was a first time visit to the Museum for much of the group, so there was plenty to see and learn.

Angelina made lots of suggestions for the piece we will be producing and next week we will be coming up with ideas of what to make to represent the positive and the negative elements of Empire. I think we all left feeling really inspired about stories to tell and images to create.

19th May 2009

Today was our fourth week of Empire looking to create a piece of artwork relating to Empire for a sunken display case that will be in the floor of the new Expanding City gallery.

We were back at Museum of London after taking a research trip to Museum in Docklands last week. There, we learnt from historian and researcher, Angelina Osborne, all about what an Empire is and how Britain came to being the ruling country in the 16th Century onwards. The group of students from Barnet College, me, Lucie and the artist leading the project, Judith Hope had the opportunity to see artefacts in the Museum in Docklands’ London, Sugar, Slavery gallery relating to the British Empire. This week the group put their newfound knowledge and ideas to good use by coming up with ideas for what to make for the new gallery.

The group worked in pairs to discuss ideas of images and the ways the materials could be used to get the positive and negative messages of Empire across. Everyone was so creative, with ideas ranging from slave ships to trading merchant’s family crests, to maps and globes. One idea looked at the triangle of trade between Britain, Africa and the West Indies, with different symbols for each area being represented through the goods traded (such as gold, tea and coffee). Another was to have a Union Jack made from gold leaf and to look at the shape of a boat to be filled with the commodities, including people. There was also the idea of a table laid with the porcelain and silk tablecloth and displaying a tea party, which would show all these new goods and how everyday they have become.

After discussing everyone’s suggestions, an idea was made to have the table in the shape of a boat and below that the sea, as though it were sailing along. As it will be a table set for tea it will include many of the goods that were traded across the Empire. The tablecloth will be decorated with symbols of Empire and the settings can represent each country. Next time the group will start making the artwork from the goods that were traded (coffee, sugar, tea, tobacco etc.).

One of the group members, Nick, has written a blog about today’s session:

We worked in pairs to draw up ideas of how we were going to present the Empire for the display in the Museum. Part of our idea was based on the triangle of movement of ships between Britain, the west coast of Africa and the West Indies. Our idea was to take the port on the west coast of Africa as a symbol of the flow of slaves to the Caribbean and plantations where they worked. We also represented the goods that came from their colonies, traded from the Caribbean to Britain. We then discussed which of our ideas to use in the display. Maria had the idea of a table top as a ship on which to represent the various aspects of the triangle trade of people and goods.

Group visiting the design office. Click this link to see more photos from the project on Flickr.

Photos by Nick Landau

28th April 2009

This week we started a new community project with adults who attend art and museum studies part-time courses at Barnet College. The group are going to be working with Museum staff and artist Judith Hope over the next two months to create an art sculpture made out of goods that were traded across the Empire, particularly those that were imported into London. Some of these many goods included tea, coffee, spices, tabacco and silk. It will be the first time that most of us have ever used these goods as art materials, so it’s a bit scary, as well as being an exciting challenge.

What makes the project more exciting is that the artwork will be installed in a permanent gallery in a large under floor case which is about 2 metres long. Visitors will be able to walk over the case and children can bend right down to see close up detail. We have quite a challenge to make the artwork visually exciting. It also needs to portray the message that much of the growth of the Empire was due to exploitation of people and resources.

This artwork is part of the Museum of London’s exciting new galleries. The Galleries of Modern London will open in Spring 2010 and tell the story of London from 1667 to present day. This artwork will go into the Expanding City gallery, which will cover 1667 – 1850. Click on this link to find out more about the redevelopment.

In this first workshop Alex Werner, the curator of the Expanding City Gallery, gave a talk about the Museum’s redevelopment, and focussed on this gallery. It was useful for the group to know which themes and topics appear in the rest of the gallery. The group also had a tour of the Museum’s open galleries to learn a bit more about all of our collections .

David, one of the group members is writing part of this blog each week. Here he writes about his tour of the Museum:

‘The curation of the Museum of London’s historical facts combined both information with a passionate, imaginative and modern display. Timelines both indicated spicifics as well as homelife, agriculture and leisure. As we were taken around the museum indications of historical events had an electricity of colour, graphic design and ancient artefacts.”

5th May

Today we learnt more about the visual look of the Expanding City gallery by visiting the Museum’s design office and meeting Jayne Davis, the graphic designer. Jayne showed us the various colours, materials and designs utlised in the gallery. This will help us get a better creative feel for where our artwork will sit.

David, a group member writes:

‘The main exhibition became more of a realisation in the second week. The Museum of London’s new exhibit on the Empire was shown to us through a rough architectural prototype of the new galleries. Our artwork that is to be sunken in to the ground is central to the plan and was help provide visitors with a feel for with what had come from the other continents or colonies.

The artwork will use sugar, coffee, peppercorns and tea to construct a portrayal of the good and bad aspects of the Empire. We experimented with these materials which to me became quite a realisation. Using coffee to paint with was very interesting.’

The rest of today’s workshop was a chance to have a go at using various goods for the first time as art materials. These included coffee beans, coffee granules (used as a paint), tea leaves, sugar cubes, loose sugar, peppercorns, vanilla pods and more. It was a bit daunting at first, but once everyone got started the ideas flowed. It was amazing to see the various ways everyone used the materials.

Click here to see lots of photographs of the artworks we created.

Next week the group visit Museum of London Docklands on a research trip to learn more about the Empire and the transatlantic slave trade.

Click on this link to see more photographs from this project.

1st May 2009

Young people at Coborn Service for Adolescent Mental Health based at Newham General Hospital are working with the Museum to create exciting artworks in a variety of medium inspired by objects from the handling collection.

The group are working with staff from the Museum and artist Emily Candela to explore objects and create artworks.  In this first workshop the group took objects to Coborn, which is based at Newham General Hospital. We will be working there each Friday for the next few weeks.

Everyone had a chance to explore a variety of objects and tried to guess what they were. Before revealing the truth everyone came up with new and creative uses for the objects, including a fantastic story about how what is really a bone ice skate could have been a toe bone from a dragon. Some of the group used drama to act out their new uses, such as one member who used a heavy metal bootjack (used to take boots off) as a body builder’s weight. Some of the group used a Victorian glove stretcher in a drama sketch about hair curlers. The group then photographed their favourite objects to use as inspiration for the rest of the project.

In the second part of the workshop everyone created colourful collages which combines old and new objects.

You can see the group’s object photos, as well as their collages on Flickr.

Next week the group will get their hands on expandable foam to create 3D sculpture.

Late:Create is an exciting monthly workshop where members get creative using our collections for inspiration.

This month milliner Isabel Benavides facilitated some divine fashion creations suitable for the most stylish of you out there.  I was impressed that such hats could be made in a two hour workshop!

Isabel tells us more about the session:

‘I was invited to make hats with the participants at my very first Late Create on 6 November. Before we began creating our gorgeous pieces, we talked about the museum’s hat collection and how it is stored. In particular we focused on the teaching resources of a milliner who taught hat making in London during the 1950s and 60s.

I showed participants a few quick folding and curling techniques using sinamey (a straw-like fabric made from banana plant fibres) to get everyone started. Then everyone began to design and make their own fascinators using a range of materials including feathers, sinamey, veiling, ribbons and beads.

The results were impressive and all the designs ideas were really unique and original. We finished off the session by taking photos of the completed pieces. And then, of course, I had the chance to try on a few…!!’

Click on this link to have a look at some of the great hats.

Late: Create is free and takes place 6 – 8pm on the 1st Thursday of every month and is for people who are currently out of work.  Future workshops include creative writing and sculpture.  The sessions are coordinated by the Museum’s Inclusion Officer, Lucie Fitton. To find out more contact community@museumoflondon.org.uk

Day 5 (the last day)

For the final day of the project everyone was hard at work editing their interviews. The group did brilliantly editing 15 minute interviews into 5 minutes or less in just a few hours. At the end of a long afternoon we listened back to some of them. They were fantastic and really opened up some of the personal stories behind these Riots.

What next?

The interviews are currently being transcribed and the many photographs sorted. We’ll then be uploading the audio, transcriptions and photographs to our main Museum website, so watch this space!

See more of the photos from the project here.

This blog has been written by participants of a social media reporting project.

Day 4

It’s the day of the interviews and we’re all prepared.  Some of us are up and out interviewing on the streets of Brixton on the front line reliving the experience of the 1981 riots.

A few of us admitted to feeling nervous, but speaking to the interviewees prior to the interviews really helped to calm the nerves and provided valuable information for the main interviews.

Our official photographer Frewine Solomon was joined by another photographer from Time Out magazine who took pictures of us in action, and some of us were interviewed – it’ll be interesting what they say about us!

After doing our interviews we sat quietly and did our logging – hopefully this will help us with the editing process.

See photos from the project here.