I was really excited to spend an afternoon looking into the collections at the fabulous and newly opened Museum in Bolton. My daughter loves the museum….
The purpose of my visit this time, was to plan an engaging workshop, using the beautiful collections, with a group of adult refugees.
I wanted to see what I most connected with and begin to think about how i can work with these collections to improve well being. The building is beautiful, so I immediately felt inspired by the architectural details…
The painting room felt really peaceful; most of the space in the museum is full of exciting artefacts, so the painting room felt like a tranquil spot.
I was particularly drawn to this photograph and the painting below…..
something so ordinary, but so beautiful…
and this painting makes me feel quite dreamy, as if I am sitting on that chair. I was drawn to the printmaking, which inspired a seed of an idea to do a printing workshop for the refugees….I also was really inspired by the Botany collection, so thought the two might link together nicely. There is something very visceral about relief printing, so I thought this might be a way to engage a group, where there will be a lot of barriers to engagement.
There is also a miniature museum, with wooden people and museum stands to arrange, which I`d played with on visits with my daughter. Even the ceiling imitates the sky and there is a tree, as if in a park! It can`t fail to inspire and hopefully I can use it for other workshops linked with the collections.
There are such a lot of exciting things to see these were just some of my highlights.