Romans Revisited: Understanding Identity Through Objects
Since December 2009 we have been working with a group of nine young people and three staff from the Orchard Special School.
We have been using our Roman collection to explore issues surrounding identity and locality. The students in our group are aged between 16 and 18 and chose to be part of the programme, to learn about the museum, Romans, collecting and their relationship with the past. In the first stage students selected objects from our collections and recorded why this object is of significance to them and their lives. Some of the objects selected include a knife, sections of mosaic floor and a fragment of a face pot.
Each of the young people has chosen an object that they have researched and they have recorded their reasons for choosing the object, either in oral or written form, which will be uploaded to the website. Other sessions delivered included pottery making, mosaic making, conserving collections and learning from objects as well as a visit to the British Museum in February. Students have enjoyed learning about the Romans, making mosaics and pots, working with objects and visiting new places. They have gained in confidence and skills throughout the project.
Since April 2010 the group has been learning about curatorship and in July led guided tours of our museum store for invited guests where they spoke about their chosen object and a chosen area of the store.
Since April 2010 we have also been working with a second group of 15 young people and 3 staff from Year 8 at the Magnus C of E Comprehensive school. This group were introduced to the Roman collection and visited Roman sites in Lincoln. They also concentrated on learning about the collection prior to conducting guided tours of our museum store for invited guests in July. The group also participated in a workshop on constructing a mosaic, which is now displayed on their classroom wall. In November they visited the British Museum where they had the opportunity to visit the Roman galleries as well as be the first young people from the Newark area to see the Newark Torc up close.
Both groups had been working towards the exhibition to be held on the mezzanine floor at Newark Millgate Museum. Work went in to preparing text panels and object labels for the exhibition and the concentration was really on to get them finished in time for early December, so they could go off to the design company. The exhibition opened to the public on Saturday 8th January, but an official opening was held on Friday 14th January, when the exhibition was formally opened by the Chairman of Newark and Sherwood District Council. After this the Chairman and Leader of the Council presented certificates to all of the participants from both schools. Everybody then had a chance to look at the results of all their hard work and see what their chosen object looked like in a display case. Everyone agreed that all of the work was worth it and now their families, friends, the people of Newark and other visitors to the museum could see their interpretation of ‘What the Romans did for Newark.’ The exhibition will be open to the public until 27th February 2011.
During the February half term a number of Roman themed workshops were conducted including a ‘meet the Gladiator’ session and a chance to make a shield or diadem.
This project has enabled the young people to exercise their skills and greatly increase access to our Roman collection, which has not been displayed for several years since Newark Museum closed in 2004. We have all gained a greater understanding of our collections and the value of collections in understanding our identity.
