Afternoon Tea with HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, 28 May 2013

The Youth Advisors were invited to afternoon tea on board the Cutty Sark to celebrate HRH The Duke of Edinburgh as patron for 60 years. Terri shares her experience...

At the party we met a few wonderful people; we were honoured to be invited to the party. It was an honour to also get to meet prince Philip he did in fact talk to some of the Youth Advisory Group, such as myself in the prince's very own words he said "Who do we advise" and in return I said "We Advise young people for the Museum"

It was a great honour to be invited to the party and to get to meet Prince Phillip we would like to thank the Prince for visiting the Cutty Sark, and also thanks to Christopher Gray for  being invited to the party.

The Duke with Youth Advisors

Shauna with the Youth Advisors

YAG Workshop, 25 May 2013

The Youth Advisors did some bookmaking today to make photo diaries of some recent workshops. Shauna taught them how to make an accordion book, using paper with Dutch Wax and Adinkra fabrics printed on. Lucas shares his highlight of the workshop:

'The best part was making the books, because they turned out rather professional'

YAG Visit to British Museum, Tuesday 09 April 2013

The Youth Advisors went on a trip to British Museum to explore their Africa Galleries and learn more about contemporary African textiles.

At British Museum

Piarve and Tina exploring the Africa Galleries

YAG Workshop with Jean Campbell, Thursday 04 April 2013

Today the Youth Advisors did a workshop with Jean Campbell, learning about cultural continuity and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The day started with a group game to share our name origin with each other. we learnt that enslaved people would often have their names changed and these cultural indicators, carefully chosen by our families, were lost

 

We then started to note anything we know about the Transatlantic Slave Trade, one piece of information on each card

YAG Workshop, Tuesday 02 April 2013

Today the Youth Advisors met with Amy Miller, Curator of Decorative Arts & Material Culture, Research & Curatorial at Royal Museums Greenwich, and Louise Simkiss, Adult Learning Manager. Joan and Piarve tell us about what they got up to...

Meeting in the Queen's House with Amy Miller

  

 

Amy and Louise talked to us about the Alice Kettle Garden of England exhibition inspired by the flamboyant Tudor and Stuart eras and then we moved on to the National Maritime Museum to see the extraordinary Yinka Shonibare's 'Nelson's Ship in a Bottle' which is inspired by Nelson's flagship Victory and Batik textiles ad well as European history and African culture. I found exploring different materials and different techniques to create materials interesting. Understanding how different cultures wore fabrics and interpreted colours was interesting. We also got an introduction to the Silver Arts Award.

Reviews of Alice Kettle's The Garden of England (in the Queen's House until 18 August 2013)

Mercedes Thompson

 

Alice Kettle’s ‘The Garden of England’ is an exhibition in The Queen’s House, taking inspiration from the historical figures around Greenwich.  The first part of the exhibition I went to see was the ‘Flower Helix’ on the Tulip Staircase.  I learnt that the artist was not Kettle alone, but also her students, who had helped to create the beautiful flowers for this wonderful piece. I also visited ‘The Flower Bed’, an installation made of synthetic fabrics with the exception of wool, due to the fabric-eating insects beneath the floorboards.  I really liked this piece because the colours were rather vibrant; I also thought that Kettle’s idea of incorporating patterns from the clothing of royal figures, such as Elizabeth I, was quite unique.  The last piece I saw was a stitch of ‘Queen Henrietta Maria’, which I found amazing as it had a lot of texture and a broad range of colours.  The exhibition was excellent, and I appreciated that Kettle and her students had made a variety of different flowers for the visitor to take away as a souvenir.

My review will be shared through the blog, and I thoroughly enjoyed sharing my experience of this exhibition through writing this review.  The evidence I have for my attendance at this event will be in the form of photos.

Meet the Museum, Tuesday 19 February 2013

Today the Youth Advisors had the opportunity to come and meet National Maritime Museum staff and find out more about what they do, how they got their roles here and what their experience and education was before. Youth Advisor Piarve tells us more...

MEET THE MUSEUM 2013 

The future is unexpected and you just never know where life will take you. One thing which has been constantly stressful to hear is 'think about your career' and 'what do you want to be', and as a young person the answer can sometimes be 'I don't know' or I am very interested in so and so but I don't think there are any jobs in it.

Today I met a wide range of people and careers which I did not imagine existed. I met a graphics designer who did graphic design from university level, graphic design as a first job and is now the graphics designer at the national maritime, but also met a lady, who did an African and Asia literature degree, started her career in media and did some journalism, yet has ended up working as a learning officer at the national maritime (what a mix of skills!). I also met a photographer who despite not attending uni, built a strong portfolio of work, did some freelancing and is now a full time photographer at the museum.

 

Louise Simkiss, Adult Learning Manager

I was amazed at how many jobs were available, from events management, to filming director to organic conservator and each individual showed true passion in their jobs.

The highlight of the day was being able to actually see 'behind the scenes' of a museum, which was nothing as I expected and I learnt that many personalities and talents are needed to form a museum. I also loved the drive, passion and ambition carried by the director as he took time from he's what seemed chaotic schedule to spend some time giving us an insight of he's role but also he's appreciation for the YAG.

I enjoyed the paper conservation part, I found it interesting how we can connect so many old pieces of history together in order to form a story. It also reminded me of the hard work and dedication it takes to unravel history. Elizabeth the paper conservative found the mixture of art and science in one job amazing.

Overall it was a good day and gave me some confidence about the future. I took away that: Whatever I do, I will still find a job which makes the best of me.

 

And Youth Advisors Terri and Tianna tell us their experience...

Today was very interesting and help us youth advisors develop our knowledge on what Jobs were actually like in the museum and it also helped us to think about whether in the future we may want to pursue a career in a museum department. Today was overall very and we hope to continue with days like this in the future round about every other month. Here's what we got up to....

Youth Advisors' Visit to Ansel Adams Exhibition

For their Silver Arts Award, the Youth Advisors visited the National Maritime Museum's Ansel Adams exhibition: Photography From the Mountains to the Sea. They wrote reviews of the exhibition and photographs they saw, which are shared below...

Youth Advisors at Ansel Adams: Photography From the Mountains to the Sea

Henry Bartlett

The Ansel Adams exhibition was a pleasant display of Ansel's best work, featuring his most mass scaled work of nature and water and landscapes.

Adam's B/W photography captures extraordinary details using water to make a brilliant effect as can be seen in the visually impressive 'mirror lake' which can really show the magnitude of nature and in turn the world.

The amount of breath taking work placed in one area really makes the exhibition a must see. However, I felt that some of his work was a little obscure sometimes.

Bethanie Tokenge

My favourite artwork in the exhibition is the Sundown in the Pacific, Carmel Highlands, 1946. One fact about this artwork is it is the Center Photography, University of Arizona. What I liked about it most was its simplicity. It showcased a peaceful happiness and silent environment. I would like to find out why this picture was taken and what was the photographer thinking at the time. There's nothing I don't like about this artwork. I would definitely recommend visiting this exhibition because the images portray a view most people wouldn't see/experience everyday. The images are unique and beautiful. The simplicity of the artwork I like, indicates something beautiful, doesn't need to be shocking. Its simplicity also reflects the mood you have in the exhibition - calm and relaxed.