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Archive for June, 2013

Sculpture Season opens today

By Jack Ashby, on 5 June 2013

Today at the Grant Museum, not only have we flung the doors open to the public (as we do six days a week), but we have opened the doors to the Museum – and the museum cabinets – to thirteen emerging artists, inviting them to rethink our collection. Today, Sculpture Season begins.

We’re consistently thinking how to use our collections in different ways, and while the team here is a creative one (otherwise – boast boast – we wouldn’t keep winning awards) we can definitely benefit from completely different eyes and minds looking at our collection.

Sculpture Season does just that – thirteen sculpture students from the Slade School of Fine Art at UCL were invited to create works in response to the Museum’s spaces, specimens, science and history. The results are fantastic. Alongside the Museum’s historic skeletons, skulls and specimens preserved in jars, the new works engage with animal/human encounters through re-animated flesh, tunnelling rats and mice, giant worms and body bags.

The artists have created music technologies, phantom occupations of the Museum’s iPad apps, hand-knitted internal organs and explorations of the excessive masculinity of giant deer antlers. Specimens have been re-ordered, re-labelled and re-imagined. (more…)

Working [in museums] Wednesdays #3

By Edmund Connolly, on 5 June 2013

Tunnelling into museums (not literally!)

When it comes to job hunting I am intensely jealous of people like Flinders Petrie, who was pretty much handed the Chair of Egyptian Archaeology at the bequest of Amelia Edwards in 1892[1] . Whilst some of this does still happen in the Museum world, indeed any employment pool, it can be as difficult finding a vacancy in a museum at it is finding an andron in a Greek house[2].

Online

There are some useful website for sourcing heritage and museum jobs. Naturally one can go direct to an institution (such as the BM or Tate), but bear in mind museums that are part of institutions, eg. the Petrie, employ via the same HR routes as their host (UCL). In other words, if one wants to apply for a job at the Petrie, the application will be on the UCL job website[3]. However, for in-house volunteering schemes (as blogged in #2)  you generally apply directly to the museum as they are more bespoke.

There are some websites which collate museum jobs in general, the standard Guardian Jobs is very useful as there is a ‘Arts and heritage’ group within which there is a ‘Museums’ sectioning. Slightly annoyingly though, this is separate from the Heritage and Library posts which are often also of interest, just make sure you tick both when searching.

 

The snazzy museum jobs website, copyright www.museumjobs.com

The snazzy museum jobs website, copyright www.museumjobs.com

(more…)

The mysteries of the Egyptian hairstyles

By Edmund Connolly, on 3 June 2013

Collection Correspondent: Monika Zgoda

Please note this post contains images of human remains.

The allure of the Ancient Egypt, scented with the air of mystery has been enchanting generations, and while more and more of its secrets are now being discovered, it seems some of its riddles are still waiting to be solved. One of such is right here at Petrie, and although sadly it is not the Sphinx (we wish!), its beauty and whimsical charm are of equal quality.
While the use of make up and cosmetics in the Ancient Egypt has been widely covered, and we are now familiar with the various aspects of it – from the religious and spiritual connotations to its more  practical uses – there is still some mystery regarding the cosmetic equipment used.

UC71153, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

UC71153, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

(more…)

Specimen of the Week: Week Eighty-Six

By Emma-Louise Nicholls, on 3 June 2013

Scary MonkeyThe decision for this week’s specimen of the week was an exciting adventure through the paths of taxonomic mishaps and similar looking un(closely)related animals. I chose (actually the curator suggested) a particular species and so off I went to find what specimens we had of said creature. Confusingly, the two specimens I found looked not a great deal alike (upon close inspection with the eye and thought process of a super duper scientist such as myself. Uh hum.) A wee while of interwebbing later I came to an interesting conclusion. So excited was I, by the chance to do real live comparative anatomy, that I wanted to share the experience with you. Therefore, this week you get TWO specimens. Oh yes. This week’s Specimens of the Week are… (more…)