Art workshops inspire city young people to visit museums

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Arts Awards, Brighton, Caroline Sutton, Royal Pavilion and Museums, Young People

While groups of extremely loud and over-excited teenage foreign students bounce off each other with their huge rucksacks outside the Royal Pavilion every day, it seems the people of Brighton and Hove can tend to take their cultural heritage for granted.

As we rush about our lives, it’s easy to use the Pavilion Gardens as a shortcut to that lovely vintage shop or ignore the Pavilion on the way to the beach. You may pass the Booth every day on the bus, promise you’re going to visit and then never do.  I was the same, living near Preston Manor for years but never visiting.

Much of the work behind the scenes at the Royal Pavilion and Museums is aimed at encouraging local people to come along and enjoy our museums and very own palace. After all, if you’re a Council Tax payer – they belong to you.

There are hosts of workshops, activities and special events designed to attract people like you and I to join in.  At the moment, a group of Whitehawk residents are getting involved in an archaeological project, there’s a creative writing course for marginalised writers dealing with mental health issues, disability, health or social issues who meet at the museum to write, and a lot of people have been involved in the setting up of the WW1 War Stories exhibition.

During the summer, I caught up with a group of young people who were spending some of their holidays visiting each museum and creating art as a response to what they had seen. They tried photography at the Booth, visited Hove Museum, the Wizard’s Attic and then tried out toy-hacking – recreating new toys from old ones. In later sessions they experimented with animation and urban art inspired by WW1 posters at Preston Manor. Quite a few of them had never been to some of the museums such as the Booth, despite living in the city.

Completed collage created at an art workshop at Brighton Museum

Run by Sarah Pain and Lindsey Smith the group was open to any young person but with a particular aim at attracting those not in education, training or employment.

Sarah explains that some of the young people are working towards their Arts Awards, which enables young people to develop as artists and art leaders and work towards a national qualification. The awards look good on a CV as they take a lot of hard work and commitment.

“We get a broad range of people who come along, a good mix of young people. We advertise through the youth service and it is aimed at young people from 14 to 19 or up to 25 with additional needs.”

On the day I met them the group met at the Royal Pavilion and were given a guided tour. They then went to the art room at the museum to create some weird and wonderful collages inspired by the over-the-top beauty of the palace.

There are five young people working at a table festooned with glitter, flowers, feathers, paint and glue getting down to work on their ‘kitsch’ creations. They chat happily as they work and the atmosphere is lively and fun.

Jason, from Hangleton says; ”I come along to have some fun. The thing I’ve most enjoyed so far is the toy-hacking which we did at the Booth.“

Sabrina, from Whitehawk said;”I’ve been to all the open days so far. We went to the Booth to look at the taxidermy and insects which was nice though I got a bit freaked out. I love art, it’s one of my favourite subjects and something I enjoy doing at home. I’m working towards my Gold Arts award which I hope to finish in 18 months.

“I’ve learnt lots of different things and I think more young people should come along.”

During the final workshop the young people got involved in Remix the Museum with animator David Packer as part of the Digital Festival and produced some fantastic animations.

Caroline Sutton, Blogger in Residence

An apprenticeship behind the scenes at the museum

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apprenticeships, Brighton & Hove, Royal Pavilion and Museums

Museum folk can be quite a daunting bunch with their degrees and doctorates about art, history and design.  The idea of having a career in a museum can seem out of reach for many.

So it’s been refreshing to bump into Rosie O’Connor a few times as I’ve been wandering through the museums.

Always friendly and keen to help, Rosie is on an apprenticeship with the Royal Pavilion & Museums, learning all about how a museum works behind-the-scenes.

Rosie, 21 originally from Gloucestershire had been working for a small charity in Brighton when she saw the apprenticeship role advertised. She is now into her second year.

‘I got a place at university but decided not to go,’ says Rosie. ‘It was the last year before the fees went up and it felt like a big yes or no. I decided no and moved to Brighton, where my boyfriend was.

‘I’m really pleased now that I made that decision not to go to uni as I’ve enjoyed the work so much and got so much experience. There are courses on museum studies which my family suggested I study for but I don’t think they are the areas of a museum I’m interested in. They are more aimed at teaching and educating and I’m more interested in the administration side, I think.

‘I’ve now completed my Level 2 NVQ in Customer Service and I’m about to do Level 3 diploma in Business Administration. I do my college work one day a week, which usually involves collating the work I’ve done at the museum.

‘We get so many applications at RP&M from people who have studied history of art at university and they are all looking for unpaid work experience doing just what I’m doing. I’m really lucky as I’m being paid to learn the skills.’

Blue exhibition at Hove Museum

Rosie says she is really proud of much of the work she has done at the museum around the various departments.

‘One of the best things I’ve done is working on the Into the Blue exhibition at Hove Museum. I worked on the interpretation of the work and helped to write the text panels and with the gallery design. It’s great to look at the show now and think I helped put that together. There’s so much going on and there’s always something different happening every day.’

In the future, Rosie hopes to carry on her work in museums as a career.

‘I’d love to stay working here but I don’t know what will happen. But as it is I’m really hopeful I’ve now got the experience to work in another museum in the future.’

 

Caroline Sutton, Blogger in Residence

 

 

 

 

Behind the scenes with Royal Pavilion and Museums’ designer Alex Hawkey

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Alex Hawkey, Brighton, Royal Pavilion and Museums

Tucked away in the Old Courtroom buildings, opposite the Dome, a certain type of alchemy is taking place.  A little bit of science, some technology, a large dash of creativity and some judicious editing results in some of the most exciting work taking place at the Royal Pavilion and Museums.

Designer of the Royal Pavilion and Museums, Alex Hawkey is responsible for creating the exhibitions rooms which constantly change in the museums. It’s a job he’s been doing for many years now in a place he has loved since childhood.

“My father, Gerry used to be the carpenter here,” says Alex, 43. “He used to bring me to the museum to work with him as his assistant while I was still at school and I loved being here. We’d come to his workshop and he’d let me help him and have a go on his lathe. I always loved making things, so I really liked it. I once made a handle for a tool there and everytime I visited, he’d made an excuse to use the tool, though I’m sure it was probably useless.

“It was a real treat to come to the museum for me. He’d make me a cup of tea and we’d have some cake and it would feel really exciting.”

Alex went to college to study theatre design and worked for some years in London for large theatres such as the Royal Opera House. But when he heard about the role of designer at RP&M he jumped at the chance. He’s worked here 17 years now.

“It’s a job which is getting better and better,” he admits. “I like it even more as I’ve got a great boss who has really encouraged me to learn more and more.”

Alex’s job involves a huge variety of skills. He works with the museum staff as they plan their shows for the future. The curators will research and find the exhibits to go on show. They will then work with Alex to decide the lay-out of the show and how the items will be displayed, the colours and the styling of each show as well as how to make the show as accessible as possible.

He plans the show on a 3D computer programme before deciding what cabinets or mounts will work best for each item.

“We try to re-use what we have or I will design a new piece if necessary. I will also work out where to place the exhibits so that people move around the space in the way we want them to navigate the room. We’ll highlight certain pieces and by placing objects in a certain way, you can guide people around the story. Sometimes I just watch visitors to a show to see how they move around and look at the objects.

“Research has shown there is a limited time in which to engage a visitor’s attention and so carefully plan to attract them with interesting items throughout a show.”

“I don’t see myself as a storyteller,” he says. “More of an editor. I’m helping a story to be told by making it as easy as we can to show what we’re trying to say.

“The teams will come to me with their thoughts on how they want to tell the story of the objects and documents they have for display. I try to help them but it can sometimes mean highlighting one object or losing another.”

His skills also include understanding the science of the old items to ensure they will not give off gases which react with other objects within the cabinet and to having some understanding of security issues when working with such priceless objects.

A potter around Alex’s workshops reveals that he is not just thinking about wall mounts and lighting. The rooms are an eclectic mix of old exhibits, computer technology and artists materials.

As well as designing the exhibitions, he conserves and repairs many of the exhibits around the five museum sites. On the day I visited, he was busy repairing a stuffed sea bird with a damaged wing and had recently repaired some exquisite sea-horses, both for the Booth Museum.

At the moment, Alex is working on the big WW1 exhibition which opens this summer and promises to be fascinating.

Even so, Alex admits he’s rarely off–duty. “I like to visit museums at the weekends,” he admits. “I usually visit a different show about twice a week. It’s great to see how other museums design their shows and I’m always learning more and more. I love the Natural History museum, for instance, as their text can be really funny. That’s what visiting a museum should be about. They can be fun, they should be about giving pleasure.”

Caroline Sutton, Blogger in Residence