Bones, bits and boxes

Bones, bits and boxes

Pop-up museum and activities

Summer 2017

finished tiles from the July workshop

 As part of Buxton Museum’s Collections in the Landscape project, I’ve been doing events using museum themes (local history, geology, ancient history) outside of the museum - taking the collection out into the landscapes it came from

tiles ready for firing

Summer events began a few weeks ago with a lovely Tile-making workshop at the Dove Valley Centre. Here, inspired by the patterns of 18^th and 19^th Ashford Black Marble and flowers and trees of the Upper Dove Valley, our group worked with local potter Sue Blatherwick to make their own tiles

This summer we have a pop-up museum popping up in various places

my own cabinets tend towards the natural history end of things

25^th July:

Craftbarn, Hadfield nr Glossop. Indoors here, space is limited and the event might be fully booked by now. Check in with Julia at the Barn to see. The handling collection will be there and we’ll be making Cabinets of Curiosity to take away*

2^nd August

Castleton Visitor Centre. After a major refit, the Centre is open again and we’re there to celebrate the new with some very old bits and pieces. Castleton was also the home of one whole element within our collection: pieces from Randolf Douglas’ (Randini the escapologist) House of Wonders

The House of Wonders in Castleton featured a fascinating collection of, well, stuff. From relics of Houdini's (and Randini's) careers as escapologists to models of miniature buildings and cabinets of strange curiosities, it was a treasure trove of marvels
With that tradition of being involved with the little things and leftovers, we will be there with flint tools to hold, geological treasures, ancient metalwork, fossils and bones to handle. Again there will be the chance to make your own Cabinet of Curiosity: an opportunity to make your own portable museum to give your wanderings and rummagings new purpose and structure*

16^th August

what treasures would you choose?

Bogtastic at the National Trust’s Longshaw Estate. We’ll be there among this celebration of all things boggy: from bog-bouncing and wildlife spotting to face-painting (I really hope you can be painted as a bog body!)

We’ll be there, providing an oasis of fossilised calm with pieces from the eastern moors: fossils, flints, bones and bits. We’ll be making our own cabinets again: a chance to create miniature portable museums to assemble your own bog-collection in*

We provide materials and guidance: you have to find the treasures yourselves!