Japanese Master Carver, Hideta Kitazawa, at the Pitt Rivers Museum

Japanese Master Carver, Hideta Kitazawa © Pitt Rivers Museum 

In February 2017 Hideta Kitazawa, a Japanese Noh theatre mask carver visited the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, to demonstrate his skills to the public. Kitazawa-san was visiting the UK to deliver a mask that he had recently carved that was to be used in a Noh theatre performance in London, and was running a range of workshops and demonstrations as part of a trip in parnership with the Japan Foundation.

Carving a Noh Mask © Pitt Rivers Museum

This short film shows the artist at work on the Clore Learning Balcony of the museum. It was an incredible success. Kitazawa-san is a natural performer and communicator and the public were mesmerised by his work. Some people sat and watched for up to three hours, and on the Saturday the museum received a record number of visitors, over three and a half thousand.

Hideta Kitazawa had previously visited in 2009 to run similar workshops. In 2015 the museum commissioned Kitazawa-san to carve three masks to show the processes that he uses. These are now on display in the museum (PRM 2015.28.2-4) as part of an HLF funded re-display and public engagement project  Need Make Use. There is no doubt that he is a master carver and my personal favourite is a mask that he was commissioned to make for the Williamette Theatre in Oregon US, it’s a mask of Frida Kahlo.

Carving a mask for the © Pitt Rivers Museum

I feel very privileged to have worked with Kitazawa-san on two occasions. I particularly enjoyed being referred to as Andy-san. The highlight for me was when Kitazawa-san ran an informal workshop with students from Rycotewood Furniture Centre as part of the museum's HLF funded Need Make Use project. The two-way discussion of tools, materials and processes was truly inspiring. I’m looking forward to the next visit. This is a picture of my son wearing one of Kitazawa-san's masks.

Wearing one of Kitazawa-san's Masks© Pitt Rivers Museum

Andy McLellan
Head of Education and Outreach
Pitt Rivers Museum 2017

City primary schools get to be Curious Curators!

The project Curious Curators gave pupils a chance to find out more about what goes on in Oxford's University Museums and develop literacy, research and presentation skills.  Over 400 Year 4/5 city primary school pupils were involved in this cross-curricular project which placed objects at the centre  of the learning experience.  The project was enabled by an OUMP innovation fund and allowed The Ashmolean, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the Museum of the History of Science and the Pitt Rivers Museum to work with 7 city schools.

Replica Porcupine Fish Helmet © Pitt Rivers Museum

What did we do at the Pitt Rivers?

As the Primary School Education Officer I worked with a Year 4 and a Year 5 class from both St John Fisher Catholic Primary School and St Andrews CofE Primary School.  Each class visited the Museum twice with a gap of two weeks to allow the pupils to prepare their presentation on key items in the collection.   During the first visit pupils focused on one object and explored lots of different ways of engaging audiences with that object.  The object we chose to look at was the porcupine fish helmet from Kiribati, a group of Pacific islands.  Pupils had a great time trying on a replica helmet, modelling their own fish helmet from plasticine and asking a range of questions.  I particularly liked the questions: Was the fish killed while puffering? Did you steal this object? and Do you need gloves to pick it up?

Plasticine Helmets © Pitt Rivers Museum

In small groups pupils were then allocated an object in the collection which they had to research and go away and prepare a multi-sensory presentation on.  By working closely with the class teachers we were able to choose objects which matched their classroom topic.  One class explored Mythical Beasts so we discovered hippocampi (Greek mythological sea-horses!) and dragon serpents lurking in the Museum, whilst another class explored Ancient Egyptian artefacts.

Spotting an Ancient Egyptian 'pencil' case in the Museum © Pitt Rivers Museum

In the second visit pupils gave their presentations which were incredibly fun and engaging.  I had modelled different ways of engaging visitors with an object in the first session but they seemed quite sedate in comparison to what the pupils produced!  We experienced Egyptian dances, listened to raps, watched stop motion films, helped to create a lion's mane and all had a go at making origami frogs. It was a great pleasure to see the pupils owning the Museum space and having the confidence to present and perform in a public arena.

Preparing a person for mummification in Ancient Egyptian presentation
© Pitt Rivers Museum

Finally, pupils had the opportunity to meet a real curator, Faye Belsey, who told us a bit more about what goes on behind the scenes in a Museum.  Pupils found out how objects get organised and recorded whilst also discovering how they are protected from hungry insects - they should all know what moth poo looks like now having had a hands-on experience!

Handling moth poo! © Pitt Rivers Museum

What now?

This pilot project enabled museum education staff to work alongside primary school teachers to explore how museums can be used to support learning in a cross curricular way.  We hope it will pave the way for schools to access the collections of their local museums in a creative way when exploring a classroom topic. Objects really can bring topics to life and if those objects are nearby why not go and see them?

If you would like to discuss ideas for a possible Curious Curator session please contact rebecca.mcvean@prm.ox.ac.uk

Becca McVean
Education Officer (Primary)

Awesome Aboriginal Arts Award project at Iffley Academy

Throughout the Autumn term of 2016 we worked with a Key Stage 4 class at Iffley Academy in Oxford on a print-making project inspired by Aboriginal Art in the Pitt Rivers Museum.  Iffley Academy is a community Special Academy for children and young people up to the age of 18 with special educational needs. Each of the participating students created an Arts Award Explore portfolio as part of the project. Arts Award Explore is a nationally recognised Entry Level 1 Qualification. 

We began the term by meeting each other on skype. The class prepared a series of questions for me (I am the secondary education officer at the Museum) about the Pitt Rivers Museum and what I do here. It was a great chance to ‘e-meet’ each other and talk about what we were going to do in the project before I visited the school for the first time.

After that I visited the school, when I took along a selection of Aboriginal objects from our handling collection.  These included two boomerangs with painted designs, woven baskets and large reproductions of some of the beautiful Aboriginal paintings in the collection. We learnt about how to handle delicate objects carefully, and thought about what these things were made out of and what they were used for. For example how skilled Aboriginal basket weavers are and how they make baskets out of natural materials. We then discovered a bit about Aboriginal culture and painting. We discovered how ancient Aboriginal culture is, and how many artworks depict scenes and figures from the Dreaming. The Dreaming is the word outsiders use to describe the way Aborigines look at the world. It is based upon timeless stories featuring mythological creatures and ancestors, whose actions resulted in the creation of the landscape, animals and the Aboriginal people.

Next each student did a drawing and took a photograph of their favourite object.

Dilly bag made of pandanus fibre, 

painted with red ochre 

© Pitt Rivers Museum 

Woven basket made of pandanus fibre

© Pitt Rivers Museum 

Curved boomerang with painted decoration of a 

kangaroo © Pitt Rivers Museum  

Replica boomerang with painted decoration of a geko
© Pitt Rivers Museum 

Then came the students’ trip to the museum. It was fantastic to welcome the group here. They came with so many questions and put their drawing skills to full use. We took a close look at the Aboriginal paintings and also visited the Conversation studio and the Education team office.

Students visiting the colourful Pitt Rivers Education Office © Pitt Rivers Museum

Looking at painting by the artist Yirawala,
from the Gunwingg community in Northem
Arnhem Land. The painting is on bark and
is of the Rainbow Snake, done in the
'X-ray style' of painting © Pitt Rivers Museum

Painting on canvas by the artist 
Judy Napangardi Watson, 1994.43.1 
© Pitt Rivers Museum

Drawing in the Museum © Pitt Rivers Museum

Drawing in the Museum © Pitt Rivers Museum

After the visit each student created their own poster about the Museum, presenting all their research so far. Then they chose one of their drawings to turn into a printed design. After that the textile artist Ellen Love came into school for an amazing collagraph printing workshop. The students transferred their designs onto a printing board, then used a special safe cutting knife to mark their design into the board.  

They then built up textures by cutting aware more cardboard, or adding small pieces of masking tape. Ellen showed us how to add ink to the board (using gloves!) and then make sure excess ink was removed using a special piece of muslin cloth called ‘scrim’. Finally it was time to use Ellen’s printing press! Each student made three prints from their board.

Inking the board © Pitt Rivers Museum

Scrubbing with the 'scrim' to remove excess ink
© Pitt Rivers Museum 

Board ready for printing © Pitt Rivers Museum

Placing the board on the collagraph printing press
© Pitt Rivers Museum

Placing the board on the collagraph printing press
© Pitt Rivers Museum

Revealing the print © Pitt Rivers Museum

Revealing the print © Pitt Rivers Museum

After our workshop with Ellen, students carried on working on two of their prints to add more colour and texture.

Once all the artwork was complete it was time to make a presentation about what we’d learnt and what we’d made. The students used the excellent ‘Explain Everything’ app to create a presentation about their learning and artwork. Some of the students chose also to present to Ellen and me in person.

Student presenting their project work to their teacher as part of
achieving their Arts Award Explore qualification
© Pitt Rivers Museum

A huge well done to all eleven students for completing their Arts Award portfolios, creating some truly beautiful work, and for learning about lots of different aspects of Aboriginal art and culture.  

- 

Katherine Rose

Education Officer (Secondary and FE)

Pitt Rivers Museum

Meet Me at the Museum - Around the World in Our Treasures

Over the past year I have been working with wonderful older people from across Oxfordshire, welcoming them in to the Pitt Rivers as part of the Meet Me at the Museum programme.

Meet Me at the Museum is an opportunity for older people and those living with Dementia to bring their curiosity and their continued thirst for learning to the Pitt Rivers. Every first Monday of the month we have been spending two hours together touring the galleries and handling objects that tell the story of the museum and bring to life the cultures behind the objects.

Object Handling, Meet Me at the Museum © CDAN 

Our first season of MMAM at the museum was in partnership with Creative Dementia and Arts Network (CDAN) Flourish funded artist, Charlie Henry. In collaboration with Charlie we shared our own special stories and objects, which culminated in Around the World in Our Treasures. This co-produced exhibition showcased our spoken memories and personal objects through a wonderful set of stop-animations that brought the objects to life.

Around the World in Our Treasures ©Pitt Rivers Museum

One of the most important aspects of this programme was that everyone in the group - carers, older people, people living with Dementia, volunteers and staff -  shared their object stories. This created an equality of purpose. Having had experience as a carer for someone living with Dementia, carers are not always actively engaged in the activities provided. Meet Me at the Museum is an opportunity to see the person you care for as having the ability to take part, contribute and to learn. Most importantly, it is also an opportunity to socialise with others living similar lives and to go away having learnt and contributed something yourself. MMAM has further highlighted to me the importance of ensuring that museums continue to develop opportunities for vulnerable older people to participate and make meaningful contributions to our museum activity. 

Touring the Museum  ©CDAN

This month we have widened the group further to include older people who would probably not think of themselves as vulnerable. This has changed the dynamic again – creating more active discussion and empowering some of our vulnerable members to participate with confidence.  We are currently looking at life stages and the rituals and ceremonies that we use to mark these. So far, we have covered birth, childhood to adulthood, and marriage, so we have heard lots of good stories!

If you are interested in finding out more about this group or in joining in then please contact me - Beth - on 01865 613004. Our sessions run every 1st Monday of the Month.

Beth McDougall
VERVE Activities Officer