National Museums Liverpool Blog - learning

Copyright Stephen Shakeshaft

The photographs in the exhibition Liverpool People by Stephen Shakeshaft have struck a real chord with visitors and brought back a lot of memories, as the comments made during reminiscence sessions in the exhibition have proved. Some of these comments have been included with the photos on the exhibition website now, and there are more below.

If you would like to take part in a reminiscence session there are a few more planned, with the next one taking place tomorrow afternoon. Full details are in the exhibition events programme on the website.

And don't forget that there are just a couple more days left to enter the caption competition and win a signed copy of Stephen Shakeshaft's book 'No Illusions' - so get your thinking caps on if you haven't entered yet!

"One thing which stands out is the expression of resilience mixed with hope on the faces of the people in our great city."

"We seem to have grown up in poverty but children always seemed to be laughing. The photographs made me realise this."

"The photo of the clothes rack reminds me of sitting at the kitchen table with wet clothes dripping into your dinner."

"The photograph of the lady with the washing rack reminds me of my gran's house. She always had the kettle on and cake in a tin."

"My son can't believe some of these photos. Why have an indoor washing line?"

"I love the photograph of the lady with the gas mantle. Looks like she's just come in from the wash house, is so pleased with her washing all done and is ready for that cup of tea. I can almost hear her sigh."

"The photograph of the carters reminded me of my dad and brother who used to be carters. They would dress up the horses with brasses and ribbons and go to shows. We used to take the horses back to the stables in Whittle Street."

"I'm reminded of the rag and bone man with his goldfish. Where did he put all those goldfish on his cart?"

"The photograph of the carter reminded me of having our milk delivered by Mabel in her pony and trap in West Derby in the fifties. Sometimes she'd give me a lift to the Saturday cinema in the village. I couldn't tell whether the smell was Mabel or the horse."

"The shop with the children reminds me of shops always having a bell that rang whenever the door opened."

The Liverpool Cityscape by Ben Johnson

Even amidst a giant spider prowling the streets and a herd of superlambananas dotted across the city, Ben Johnson’s The Liverpool Cityscape stood out as a highlight of 2008.

Ben finished the vast painting in front of a live audience at the Walker Art Gallery early in the year. Thousands of visitors observed their city arriving on the canvas layer by layer through the intricate process the artist employed.

Once the painting was finished it took pride of place in the exhibition Ben Johnson’s Liverpool Cityscape 2008 and the World Panorama Series where it was joined by panoramas of Zürich, Jerusalem and Hong Kong and paintings representing Chicago and Paris.

Many of those who flocked to see the painting under completion and the stunning exhibition that followed have enjoyed taking part in the free events celebrating the astonishing work over the last few weeks. But don’t worry if you haven’t had a chance yet, the season of free events for all the family continues over the next couple of months. See the website for more details.

One of the events, We love Liverpool, is an opportunity for visitors to reminisce and share their memories of the city. If you can’t make it to the gallery but have got something you want share, please feel free to add it on the blog.

The events have been coordinated in partnership with the University of Liverpool.

I thought my school days were over, but last week I was very excited to be able to join our class of Little Liverpool Designers on their very first school trip!

I had a lovely morning spent with Class R reception class from Kingsley Community School in Toxteth, touring Liverpool familiarising themselves with Liverpool’s famous landmarks to inspire artwork for the Museum of Liverpool’s dedicated children’s gallery Little Liverpool, opening 2011.

They will be working with illustrator Kate Pankhurst to develop the final artwork for display in Little Liverpool as part of our work with the ECHO in the Community programme, which aims to inspire young people by engaging in a cross section of activities, including the arts.

A Little Liverpool Designer gives the new Museum of Liverpool the thumbs up

At four years old, Mrs Randles’ reception class were a credit to their school, and it was fantastic to be surrounded by such young, inquisitive minds who were visibly impressed by everything they saw.

The first stop on our magical mystery tour of Liverpool was at the Anglican Cathedral, and I only wish I’d had a video camera with me to record their faces on walking into that grand, vast space and filling the air ‘wows’!

We also took a trip to the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral, or Paddy’s Wigwam as it is affectionately known locally, where they were very taken with the colours and reflections coming in from the beautiful stain glass windows. Hopefully this will transfer to the marvellous artwork they’re soon to create for our Little Liverpool Gallery.

After the cathedrals, we also took a driving tour round many iconic buildings, including St George’s Hall and William Brown Street; home to World Museum, Central Library and the Walker Art Gallery.

Spotting the Radio City Tower overhead, our whistle-stop tour also took us past the Town Hall – "where the mayor lives" – and down to the waterfront where we met Museum of Liverpool buildings operations manager Martin Hemmings – "Bob the Builder" – and had a look at the location for Little Liverpool.

A lovely day out was had by all, so thanks goes to Mrs Randles and her ‘helpers’ for organising the trip, and for inviting Julia Bryan from the Museum of Liverpool team and I along. We look forward to seeing the wonderful artwork that Class R create in their roles as Little Liverpool Designers.

Does your child have artistic flair? © Simon Webb

We're currently working with Liverpool ECHO in the Community on a fantastic project for a class of under five-year-olds to have the chance to help develop the artwork for the dedicated children’s gallery in the new Museum of Liverpool.

Little Liverpool is a tailor-made gallery for children under six; a fantasy dreamscape where the youngest visitors will be able to relax, play and explore.

The Little Liverpool Designers competition is searching for a class from a Merseyside-based school to be appointed as designers, working with an artist to direct the final development of the artwork for the Little Liverpool gallery.

So, if you think your child has artistic flair and is within a class that you feel could win, encourage their teacher to enter the competition, and they could make their own historic and creative mark in the new museum!

Visit http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/community-projects for more info. The closing date is Thursday 24 September at 5pm, and the winning class will be appointed on Friday 25 September. Good luck!

Send us your memories about Liverpool!

Here at the Walker Art Gallery, in partnership with the University of Liverpool, we are launching an exciting new programme of adult and family events inspired by Ben Johnson’s 'Liverpool Cityscape.'

Join us for cultural walks around the city or bring your little artists to Big Art and try out making collages inspired by this impressive panorama. Like all our events and exhibitions, it is all free!

We'd also like to hear about your memories, views and opinions of Liverpool past and present in our event; 'We Love Liverpool' taking place at the Walker.  All of the comments we get from you will be recorded to form a living history of the Liverpool.

If you can't make it to the gallery you can still submit your memories by adding a blog comment below. So let us know what you think...

Angelica Vanasse is currently pursuing postgraduate studies in MRes Art & Design (Curatorial Practice) at Liverpool John Moores University.  Angelica recently lead a drawing workshop at the Walker Art Gallery and is here to tell us how it went. You can see more photos of the group and their work on Flickr.

Image courtesy of Angelica Vanasse and Robert Flynn

My research involves looking at the role of participants in art galleries, using the gallery as an immersive space for experiencing and interpreting artwork. Using the Walker Art Gallery’s sculpture collection as inspiration, I lead sculpture drawing workshops to explore this concept.

At one session, I gave the group a variety of tools and techniques that they could use during the workshop.  With pencil, graphite, charcoal, conte crayon and a variety of papers, the group spread out in the gallery to begin their creative investigation.  It was fascinating to see the varied ways in which all of the participants were negotiating their drawings. 

I worked with them on a one-on-one basis to help with their drawings, which included mapping out the drawings, investigating proportions and creating shading.  To help with breaking away from rigid focus, we also spent some time on gesture drawings with quick poses. 

I’ve discovered that using drawing as a way to interpret artwork encourages participants to look more carefully at the work around them and think about how it is made, as a way to create their own work. The session went really well - here are some of the comments from the group:

“I’d always thought sculpture was quite static and peaceful, but using different techniques - especially fast ones - creates an energy.  It must be similar to what a sculptor can visualize in a block of stone.”

“It made me look at items in more detail and appreciate form, light, lines, etc.  I enjoyed trying something semi-abstract.  I would love to come to another one!”

A huge thanks to the education team and gallery staff at the Walker Art Gallery for assisting in making this possible, as well as the wonderful participants who attended!

It was a depressingly long time ago that I was an A-level student. The only highlight of these two years of study was when the local Bargain Booze was raided causing delightful disruption to the school day, and a feature on Crimewatch!

However its safe to say that students from Sutton Sports College St. Helens, All Saints Catholic High School Kirkby and North Liverpool Academy Liverpool trumped my highlight with their A-level art work being put on display in a special exhibition called Showcase at the Walker Art Gallery.

Students at launch of Showcase A-level art work exhibition

These lucky students from each of these three schools were invited to display their art work by Find Your Talent. This exhibition is part of Find Your Talent, a national programme that aims to give each child and young person access to five hours of culture.

The exhibition had its official launch last week. Here nervous students showed their work much to the enjoyment of proud parents, family, friends and teachers. It was a lovely evening and it was clear that everyone was genuinely impressed and excited by the skill and originality demonstrated by all these talented students. 

On until 31 July, 2009 Showcase is well worth a visit and is a true testament to the talent regional schools can offer. 

To find out more about Find Your Talent please follow the link
 

Bug House Demonstrator, Rebekah Beresford, tells us about the latest addition to the Bug House...

The weird and wonderful Wandering Violin Mantis

So, may I present to you the Wandering Violin Mantis or Gongylus gonglodes. This awesome looking insect is our newest addition to the Bug House. We have eight of these funky little creatures and they’re one of the most bizarre looking out of all the mantids.

These insects are part of the order Mantodea and are characterized by their slender limbs and stocky upper body. As suggested by the name, this mantis looks somewhat like a violin with leaf like appendages protruding from the legs to aid camouflage and a leaf like head. They’re from Southern India and Sri Lanka and come in a variety of different shades of brown.

The wandering violin mantis is more of a ‘sit and wait’ species rather than a hunter but that’s not to say that they’re picky. These mantids are confident, ravenous feeders and will snatch a variety of flies and moths from the air, if the dare to fly close enough. Most mantids are solitary and have to be kept individually but these are unusually social. Given plenty of space they can be housed together in small groups of 8-10 and pose no threat to each other. 

So, keep your eyes peeled for them in the Bug House! I’ll be putting them out on display in the next few weeks in a mixed exhibit with the hermit crabs and fresh water shrimps. Also keep an eye on the blog for my next posts on how I set up their new vivarium.

Next Saturday 27 June, we’re teaming up with the Liverpool Parks Friends Forum to put on a special event at Merseyside Maritime Museum for anyone out there who has a passion for our city’s parks!

With over 70 parks, Liverpool offers plenty of opportunities to enjoy some free green space, and fresh air away from the buzz of the city, so it’s particularly apt this year that we are staging this free event during the Year of the Environment 2009.

The event will take place from 9:30am – 4pm at Merseyside Maritime Museum, and like our parks is completely free! Click here to register and experience all that is on offer on the day.

Boating on lakes across Liverpool such as Stanley Park was customary in the past

The event has been created as part of a number of community activities taking place in the run up to the opening of the new Museum of Liverpool in 2010, to give the public opportunities to learn all about different aspects of our city, its history and development.

It will include workshops focusing on themes such as parks and controversies through history with local historian Frank Carlyle and creative nature conservation with Richard Scott from the National Wildflower Centre.

There will also be a site visit to discover the ‘hidden side’ of Chavasse Park and talks from Robert Lee from the University of Liverpool and Chairman of Friends of Birkenhead Park, and Janet Dugdale on the new Museum of Liverpool.

A daring performance by our talented Youth Theatre

After a 12 month break for maternity leave I'm feeling a little rusty, so I've been enjoying the opportunity to reacquaint myself with our venues and exhibitions. Last week, during a trip to the Walker Art Gallery, I was lucky enough to catch an on-gallery performance from our very talented Youth Theatre in the exhibition Fashion V Sport.

The young people explored the four themes of the exhibition; dare, desire, play and display to create a quirky interpretation of each area. The budding thespians interlinked poetry and drama to produce a funny and unique short play that questioned our addiction to fashion and celebrity.

Unfortunately the exhibition closed last weekend but you can find out more about the Youth Theatre Project here. Or contact Helen MacBryde on 0151 478 4818.

Guy Knight shows us some bees

This week I got to look around the entomology lab at World Museum Liverpool, at one of the creepy crawly tours that are available to visitors during school holidays. Zoology curator, Guy Knight, took us around the lab so we could see some of the thousands of mounted specimens housed in the back of the museum.

He showed us a case full of crickets that were found in Liverpool after they hitch-hiked here on some bananas. Then there were questions from some of the eager smaller visitors on the tour – my favourite being; ‘What happens if they come back to life after you’ve killed them?’ Maybe they had been to the Ancient Egypt gallery beforehand and had learned about the afterlife! Bees were next on the agenda – we have around 10,000 bees in our collections apparently. We learned that there are 250 different kinds of bees, but wild bumblebees are getting rarer due to the countryside changing and there being less wild areas for bees to live in.

In other bug news, you can now come and see a new ‘living display’ in the bug house gallery featuring the Indian Ground Beetle (Anthia sexguttata). The beetles’ new home has been created using a special sand and cement mix, which will allow them to dig burrows to lay their eggs.  Indian Ground Beetles are a large predatory beetle, which actively hunt down their insect prey and this species has never been bred in captivity. They can also spray an acidic liquid accurately into the eyes of their enemies if they feel threatened. Unbee-lievable!

Calling all part time art and craft students - how would you like to have your artwork displayed in our venues during Adult Learner's Week in May 2009? You could if you win the 'Inspired by...' competition.

Entrants in this year's competition must submit a piece of artwork inspired by the collections, exhibitions or displays in either Sudley House, World Museum Liverpool or the National Conservation Centre. You may submit any art, craft, multi-media, digital work, video or animation. Participants must be over 18 and studying arts or crafts part time. Full entry criteria and downloadable application forms are on the Inspired by... web page.

You may have seen on the news that the Prime Minister, the Rt Honourable Gordon Brown MP was in town yesterday for the first ever Cabinet meeting in Liverpool, which took place at the BT Convention Centre. The Prime Minister had a busy day but found time to come and look around the site of the new Museum of Liverpool which is currently under construction on the waterfront.  

Accompanied by Culture Secretary Andy Burnham MP, the Prime Minister took time out to talk to museum curators about the sort of objects going in the museum, as well as meeting some members of the construction team who are creating the iconic building. I’m told he really enjoyed his visit and was very interested to see our future plans.

What you may not have seen on the news is that Mr Brown also spent some time with young people who have been involved with the museum. On first arriving at the docks by boat (which coincidentally had the youthful name ‘Groove Armada’), he was greeted by young people who have worked on the 'Portrait of a Nation' project and Museum of Liverpool's youth champions. At Museum of Liverpool he met two Creative Apprentices who are currently working on the project – they will be telling you more about their involvement at a later date. 

All smiles: Children from Pleasant Street Primary meet the Prime Minister and museums' chairman Phil Redmond. Image copyright Mark McNulty.

Outside the Merseyside Maritime Museum the ministerial party paused to admire the ‘The Orrery’ – a colourful community sculpture commissioned by Liverpool Culture Company. He also took time out to speak to pupils from Pleasant Street Primary School about their involvement in Liverpool 08, before moving on to his next engagements. A journalist recently commented that the Prime Minister is looking very well and incredibly youthful these days - perhaps it’s down to the company he is keeping. 

We've been following the progress of Kensington Youth Inclusion Project on the blog, from when they first started working on ideas based on the John Moores 25 exhibition, to doing paintings of their own with artist Keiron Finnetty, right up to now, with the final display of their paintings in the gallery at the weekend. The group have even tried their hand at Haiku and rhyming couplet poems inspired by the exhibition! We recorded their readings of these poems and they'll be available to download as a podcast on the website soon.  Here is Learning Officer Lauren Gould's final words on the work of these budding artists:

Be sure to make a trip down to the Walker to see these unique takes on paintings in the John Moores 25 exhibition before the show closes on 4 January 2009; a great way to walk off those extra Christmas calories!

Artist Keiron Finnetty with artists from the Kensington Youth Inclusion Project and Learning Officer Lauren Gould.

It takes a lot of guts to get up in front of an audience and talk confidently - anyone who's ever had to do a presentation will know all about this! At the Lady Lever Art Gallery, they've been training up groups of young people from all over the Wirral to be junior guides, enabling them to talk about the paintings in the gallery to visitors. Learning officer Lauren Gould can tell us more about it all:

Taking over the gallery: one of the new recruits talks to a group of visitors.

Over the past six weeks, young people from Bebington High Sports College, The Oldershaw School, and Neston High School have been training as junior guides at the Lady Lever Art Gallery.  They have been learning from staff as well as their five mentors, who trained as junior guides in 2007.  In addition to learning about the gallery and its collection, they’ve also developed their confidence, leadership, and presentation skills,

On Tuesday 25 November they delivered their first tour to Rock Ferry Primary School and received a round of applause for their efforts!  After providing four more tours for primary schools in the run up to Christmas we’ll be looking to keep this group of committed young people involved as volunteers while they complete their Arts Council England Youth Arts Award Bronze and Silver.

As promised in an earlier post, here's an update on the work of Kensington Youth Inclusion Group who have recently been creating their own versions of paintings from the John Moores 25 exhibition. Their interpretation of 'Black Bile' is certainly a refreshing new take on the painting, using an attractive candy pink! Here's Learning Officer Lauren Gould to tell us more...

Over four after-school sessions at the Kensington Youth Inclusion Project centre, we have created some fabulous works.  Local artist Keiron Finnetty help each of the two groups to create a large work based on some of their favourite paintings from the John Moores exhibition.

They collectively worked on a re-interpretation of 'Fontana' by Peter McDonald and 'Black Bile' by Alex Gene Morrison.  I highly recommend making a visit to the Walker Art Gallery once these unique works go on show at the beginning of December!

Each young artist then created a painting of their own, based on sketching done during their visit to the John Moores 25 exhibition in October.  This coming Saturday they will make their final visit to the Walker to write poems responding to the paintings that inspired them most. 

I'm good at making spaghetti bolognese, I'm not bad on bass guitar, but I am no good at drawing! I'm envious of anyone who's good with a pencil and we've been lucky enough to have some budding artists at the Walker Art Gallery recently, from Kensington Youth Inclusion Group. Here's Learning Officer Lauren Gould to explain what the group have been up to...

Making great art together: budding artists from the Kensington Youth Inclusion Group.

You may remember that some fantastic young artists took part in completing the 'Superfiveadaybanana' that was in the Walker Art Gallery as part of 'Go Superlambananas' over the summer.  Once again, these young people are participating in a project that will bring their work into the gallery for a unique display. 

Eleven young people from Kensington Youth Inclusion Group visited the John Moores 25 exhibition during the October half term.  They explored the exhibition looking at texture, colour, pattern and light as well as discerning the difference between abstract and figurative art.  The group focused on 'Fontana' by Peter McDonald, 'Sometimes We Sense the Doubt Together' by Roland Hicks and 'Special Relativity' by Julian Brain and explored the themes of; artists at work, everyday objects and home. Each young person did a drawing that they are going to develop into their own painting with local artist Keiron Finnetty.

Watch this space for images of their work progressing on the blog and for their paintings, which will be up in the resource area in the John Moores 25 exhibition at the end of November.

George Ferguson School of Irish Dance put their best foot forward

Visitors to World Museum Liverpool over the last couple of days will have noticed a distinctly Irish flavour to the events. Our very own leprechaun from the learning department, Ann-marie McGaughey, explains what was going on:

This year, we had a number of events including drama workshops, singing workshops and traditional storytelling, using the tale of The Children of Lir. George Ferguson School of Irish Dance returned for a second year running and treated us to a fabulous display of Irish dancing, before getting us all up to join in with the Ceili!

This weekend we also learned about a very special lady called Kitty Wilkinson, who was brought vividly to life by a roleplayer. Kitty was born in Derry, Ireland and came over to Liverpool in the late 1700s when she was still a child. Kitty settled in Liverpool in later life and lived here around the time of the cholera epidemic of 1832. At this time a lot of people in Liverpool were living in poor squalid conditions, with a lot of overcrowding in houses. Kitty was fortunate enough to live in a house with a hot water boiler (the only one in her street at the time) and she worked out that if people boil-washed their clothes and bed linen, they would be less likely to catch cholera, as the disease could not spread so easily. She invited families in the street to use her boiler to wash their clothes and as word spread, she eventually ended up with 80 families using her boiler! She began to charge families a penny to use the boiler and was able to set up the first public wash house in Liverpool. Kitty’s work played a massive role in stemming the cholera epidemic in Liverpool at the time and she is commemorated with a stained glass window in the lady chapel of the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool."

Just seen a new activity pack we've put together and the illustrations alone are inspiring me to grab a pencil and get drawing, which is quite impressive when you consider I've two left hands.  Liverpool's Biggest Big Draw Activity Pack (you can download a copy) is full of good ideas to get your creative juices flowing, and the artist, Sally Pankhurst, has done a fab job. Some of the ideas, like 'draw your dreams as soon as you wake up' are pretty cool, while 'draw yourself thirty years from now' are definitely the stuff of nightmares.

The pack links in with Big Draw month (the last few activities are this weekend) but I guess is also Find Your Talent - I'd be really envious of anyone who discovered that their hidden talent was drawing. If the pack inspires you let me know and we might feature your masterpiece.

Despite being an Evertonian through and through, last week was quite a week for me in terms football encounters of the red variety.

Ben Johnson helps Rafa Benitez draw his square for the People's Panorama

First we had ex-captain and coach of Liverpool FC Phil Thompson attending the press launch of our new UEFA exhibition Only a Game? at World Museum Liverpool, and then I was lucky enough to meet some other famous LFC faces for a completely unrelated project.

This month’s national Big Draw campaign is aimed at getting people across the country to uncover their artistic abilities through a variety of creative projects, and in its 2008 Capital of Culture year Liverpool is having its Biggest EVER Draw.

Teaming up with a number of cultural centres around the city, NML has put on a programme of events which included a return visit to the Walker Art Gallery from Liverpool Cityscape artist Ben Johnson at the weekend.

Ben has worked with NML to encourage people to take part in an exciting project to recreate his Liverpool Cityscape as The People’s Panorama; dividing it into 400 squares and inviting Liverpool’s people - including Liverpool Manager Rafa Benitez! - to each draw a square…

So, in the name of art I swallowed my blue-pride and accompanied Ben Johnson on a trip to Liverpool FC’s Melwood training ground last week to get Mr Benitez to draw his square. Stepping into his office I couldn’t have gone any further into the heart of the ‘enemy’ if I’d tried, and the disloyalty to my team felt almost too much to bear. This feeling quickly vanished however on ‘bumping into’ Sammy Lee and the legend that is Kenny Dalglish as they left Rafa’s office. So, feeling quite overwhelmed, I resolved to enjoy the encounter…and help complete the mission to get Rafa to draw his little piece of Liverpool!

Rafa's drawing of North Western Hall on Lime Street

Rafa’s artwork can now be seen in the Liverpool Cityscape gallery at the Walker, alongside that of the Lord Mayor’s and 398 other people of Liverpool!

Lauren Gould, Learning Officer at the Lady Lever Art Gallery writes to invite artistic young people to join a summer course...

Sketching outside the Lady Lever Art Gallery

We still have a few vacancies on this year's week-long course for young people who want to explore their artistic side.  There will be plenty of sketching, outdoor painting, art history, and photography during the week of activities.  The course is free, although participants will need to bring a packed lunch. It is suitable for all 11-16 year olds.

The course runs from Monday to Friday, 28 July to 1 August, 10.30am-4pm at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, Bebington, Wirral. Contact 0151 475 4143 to book a place.

Basically, we need you to help us to help you. We're developing a new feature for our main site and need to understand how teachers - one of our biggest user groups - would use the system.

We've got well over a million objects in our care, ranging from microscoping plants to ships. Of these collections we currently have about 1,500 objects on our website but want to increase this number substantially. We also want to make our collections more easily searched and to provide much more in depth information, so are creating a single, comprehensive online collections system. We already know that teachers use our website in their work and want the new system to meet their needs as closely as possible.

The questionnaire, which you will find here http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/57097/online-collections, basically asks teachers how they are currently using the site and what features they would like to see. We've given you a bit of a shopping list to chose from plus the option to mention anything we've missed. There are eight questions which should take about 5 minutes. Any feedback teachers, or other learning professionals, could give will help us enormously and will in turn allow us to support you as best we can. I realise we're right at the end of term so any feedback would be doubly welcome.

Any questions just email me using the link below this post.

Wave if you're winning! Participants on the Culture Vultures summer course at the Lady Lever Art Gallery enjoying the sunshine.

Michelle O’Callaghan, our youth arts officer, has this great news:

"Young people from National Museums Liverpool Youth Theatre, Lady Lever Art Gallery Junior Guides and Culture Vultures course participants achieved a rip-roaring success when they joined forces last Saturday to have their Young People's Arts Awards moderated.

The Young People's Arts Award, run by Arts Council England and Trinity Guildhall, enables young people to achieve a nationally recognised qualification at three levels (Bronze, Silver and Gold) through their participation and enjoyment of the arts.

It encourages the young people taking part to think about their own development as artists and encourages development of leadership, communication skills and confidence, as well of development of their own artistic skills.

At Bronze level the award involves taking part in arts activity, enjoying the arts as an audience member, researching an arts hero or heroine and leading an arts activity for peers.

This is the first assessment and moderation since NML became an Arts Award Centre in 2007 and there are currently two trained Arts Award advisors within NML; myself and Lauren Gould, learning officer at the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

16 young people's work was moderated last Saturday and we are very pleased and proud to confirm that all 16 were successful in achieving their Bronze Arts Award.

Certificates will be winging their way to the young people very soon and they will be treated to a presentation evening to mark and celebrate their success.

A big thanks goes to all of the young people involved for all their hard work on the award and a massive well done on their success! It is well deserved!

Congratulations to the following young people who successfully passed their Bronze Arts Awards:
 
Sarah Kenny, James Garland, Deniece Courtney, Natasha Sweeney, Marcella May Rick, Kezia-Jaye Atherton-Davis, Charlotte Clynch, Dominic Hughes, Laura Baker, Craig Parry, Kaz Worrall, James Woodfinden, Beckie Clarke, Keily Hogarth, Abigail Hill and Marc Taylor."

Michelle O'Callaghan, our Youth Arts Officer, writes about a recent Youth Theatre event.

Day one culminated in ‘The Big Sketch’, a chance to showcase their work. Our Youth Theatre took to the stage for their debut of a section of a performance we have been working on to tie in with the forthcoming Beat Goes On exhibition. This stylised, physical theatre piece tells our interpretation of The Coral’s song ‘Liezah’, set in Liverpool Lime Street Station.

Day two was brought to a spectacular climax by ‘The Big Show’, a chance for the young people to share and show off the work they had been creating over the two days. The standard of performance and the creativity behind the work which was created in just two days was outstanding and the range of talent on show was remarkable!

DJ’s from JuiceFM rounded off a magnificent two days with a ‘Big Party’ celebration for all involved and I think it’s fair to say a fabulous time was had by all!"

There's just a few days left to submit your application for one of the 10 Creative Apprenticeships on offer. A number of Merseyside-based cultural organisations, including National Museums Liverpool, are involved in a project to foster emerging talent and give young hopefuls a solid grounding in the arts and culture industry.

By the end of the year-long apprenticeship you'll have earned a Level 2 Certificate in Creative and Cultural Practice, and a Level 2 National Award in Community Arts Management, but perhaps more importantly you'll have developed the skills and contacts you'll need for a career in the industry.

More details are available on the Creative Partnerships Liverpool website.

Andy Burnham talks to young people from National Museums Liverpool's youth theatre

Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, Andy Burnham, dropped into World Museum Liverpool recently to announce funding for Find Your Talent, a new Government initiative encouraging children to experience five hours of culture each week.

While he was here Andy caught a rehearsal by members of our youth theatre who are preparing a performance for our next big exhibition The Beat Goes On. The group have created a physical theatre piece that follows the story of Liezah, a character from a song by Wirral band The Coral.

Admitting he was a Coral fan himself, Andy seemed very impressed by the performance and spent a while talking to the young people to find out what they thought of taking part in more cultural activities.

Liverpool city region, led by National Museums Liverpool and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, is one of ten areas around the country to pilot the Government scheme. The programme has been developed in partnership with The Bluecoat, FACT, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, Tate Liverpool and the Unity Theatre. Principal partners include Liverpool Culture Company, Creative Partnerships Merseyside, Liverpool City Council, Knowsley MBC and St Helens MBC.

The Beat Goes On runs at World Museum Liverpool from 12 July 2008 and the youth theatre will be performing Liezah and other short pieces throughout the run of the exhibition.

Alex Shears has had another busy day at the Aigburth Family Centre, who started making their own Liverpool cityscape yesterday. Here's her update on their very own work of art:

"The second day at Aigburth Family Centre began with tons of excitement as we met Chris; a brilliant cartoon artist who helped the children to draw pictures of each other (not to mention power rangers!) We stuck on lots of cartoons and photos of the children’s faces but made sure to leave room fo children who come to the centre in the future. In the afternoon we came up with a name for the picture and made a big sign so everyone could see what it is called... 'My Liverpool'.

The picture is going to go on display in the entrance to Aigburth family centre to welcome everyone in."

Here Michelle O'Callaghan, our youth arts officer, talks to two young people about fruit!

Busy on the superlambanana

NACRO Kensington Junior Youth Inclusion Project was the lucky group selected with their winning ‘Superfiveaday’ fruit and vegetable themed ‘Lambanana. Working with professional artist Vince, the group will be working hard over the next three weeks to ripen their ‘Lambanana and bring him to life! During the session I took two of the young participants, Jessica and Ashleigh aside for a quick interview about their initial experiences of the project so far and this is what they had to say…

“Today was our first session with our ‘Lambanana and five of our group came to get started. ‘Lambanana started off purple – which was weird! We expected it to be white or cream.

The boys worked on painting the orange, the broccoli and the banana and we (the girls) worked on painting the strawberry – the 'Lambanana’s head. It felt boss painting the first bit on the ‘Lambanana, actually it was just boss painting it full stop! The best bit about today has been the actual painting, getting started and having fun!

We can’t wait to come down to the Walker Art Gallery when it’s finished to see what it looks like when it’s properly done. There is the proper space set out for it in the Walker and it’s going to be filled with our work - something we’ve done!

Working with Vince the artist has been boss, we didn’t know he was a professional artist at first but when we found out the session just kept on getting better and better. We really like painting and arts, so this is brilliant to be able to do this.

We’re going to be dead proud when we go into the Walker and see our ‘Lambanana, and people say “did you see that Superfiveadaybanana?” and ask us “wow, are you the one’s who did that?” We think that people will be surprised when they find out it is kids that have painted this ‘Lambanana! They might think that kids have designed it, but that it’s been painted by professionals, but when they find out it’s us kids that have done the painting, with a little help from Vince, I think they’ll be shocked!

Our ‘Lambanana will have different textures, details and effects and hopefully people will be able to stroke it. There should be some information next to it at the walker that can tell people about healthy eating and ‘five a day’ and tell people what to eat and where to get it from. So our ‘Lambanana not only looks good, but has a purpose too! The normal Superlambanana is just yellow but ours is dead bright and colourful!”

The next session will see the group adding more layers of paint onto the Superfiveadaybanana and starting to add textures to the fruit. A different group of young people from Kensington Junior Youth Inclusion Project will be coming along to work on the ‘Lambanana next time so more images, interviews and news on progress to follow… keep those eyes and those bananas peeled…

Ben Johnson isn't the only person who has made a large painting of the Liverpool cityscape recently. His enormous artwork has inspired some creative half term activities, as community development officer Alex Shears reports:

"Staff from the community partnerships team have been out and about at Aigburth Family Centre this half term meeting Raymond, Warda and Issa.

We were all inspired by the Ben Johnson panorama and decided to get creative and make our own fantastic picture of Liverpool's skyline. We started by thinking of important places in Liverpool and then we drew a plan to mark out where everything would go in our picture. The children worked really hard drawing, cutting out, colouring in and taking photos.  After a short break for lunch we played some games in the Family Centre's garden and then came back inside to stick our picture together.

We are back at the centre for another exciting day tomorrow, when the children are going to meet a cartoon artist who will help them put the finishing touches to their work!"

Vikky Evans-Hubbard plays the role of Diane Nash

As usual our museums are packed with things to keep you busy this bank holiday weekend, but a new performance at the International Slavery Museum on Monday 5 May is definitely worth a special trip.

Keep your eyes on the prize tells the inspiring story of Diane Nash and her involvement in the civil rights movement in America during the 1960s. There are two performances at 2 and 3pm.

Or if like me you are planning a very lazy long weekend then let BBC's Woman's Hour bring highlights of the performance to you. They are doing a series on the treasures of National Museums Liverpool as picked by female members of staff. Watch this space for the others to follow throughout 2008.

School Champions in the Liver Building

Here's the latest report from our School Champion Charlotte Osborne from St Margaret Marys Junior School, who has been on a visit to check on progress with the new Museum of Liverpool and explore some of the city's famous waterfront.

"I really enjoyed our second champions visit to the museum to learn more about the Museum of Liverpool visit and the three Graces.

We were very lucky to have a tour of the Liver buildings and also visit the Port of Liverpool and Cunard buildings. We all felt really excited inside the Three Graces because not many members of the public visit there!

I concentrated on all the different objects in them and wondered whether any of them would be good to put in the Museum of Liverpool. In the 'Port of Liverpool Museum' there was a marble effect compass and when you looked up the view was really cool! In the 'Cunard Building' there were posters that read 'Cunard to Canada' and many more different posters! In the 'Liver Building' I enjoyed concentrating on the stained glass window. On the top of the Liver Building there was a Liver Bird on each side, one of them looked at the sailors wives and the other looked at the sailors!

We then went over to look at the new Museum of Liverpool with Karen, Dave and Curtis this was the first time we had looked at the building very close up and we are hoping to get inside the building for a tour next time.

I enjoyed watching the slide show of how the new Museum of Liverpool was going to look like, and all the different galleries. Liz asked us questions and I was really excited of how it is going to look when it is finally finished.

In the afternoon we all made a poem about Liverpool and the New Museum with Curtis and mine was about the history of Liverpool and the new galleries in the Museum. I enjoyed doing the creative writing and would really like do it again.

Dave set out loads of objects all about ships and the river and I was really interested in what he was talking to us about and I was focused on everything he was saying! I thought it was amazing that you can measure the angle of the sun from the horizon.
 
Thank you for my wonderful day out again, we are really looking forward to the next time we visit!"

Sketchbooks at the ready!

Are you a budding Botticelli, a promising Picasso or would you just like to be able to make you stick figures look less like, erm, a pile of sticks? If so and you’re aged between 11 and 16 then Culture Vultures at the Lady Lever Art Gallery is the place for you. There are still a few places left on this week-long course for young people who want to explore their artistic side running from 25 - 28 March. You’ll get to try your hand at sketching, craft activities and photography all in the inspiring surroundings of the Lady Lever. If you want to book a place call Lauren Gould our Learning Officer on 0151 478 4143.   

I think it’s fair to say we all need a little encouragement to draw out our artistic sides. It took an influential primary school teacher to force, sorry encourage me, to play Joseph in the school musical (Boltonian boys are notoriously tone-deaf) and I’ve never looked back. As my colleagues in the Press and Marketing office will tell you this extensive training has not gone to waste and is regularly demonstrated in the finest Liverpool karaoke establishments.  

Here's a report from Ann-marie Cassidy, our project worker for engaging refugees and asylum seekers, about some of this weekend's activities.

"Saturday was International Women's Day. This special day is celebrated every year on 8th March. Throughout the world thousands of events are held to inspire women and honour their achievements.

Here at World Museum Liverpool we celebrated International Women's Day with a number of special activities.

We began in the atrium, with an activity called 'Home Sweet Home?' We erected a temporary shelter, which we hoped would represent the shelters often used by displaced people fleeing their homes in times of crisis. We wanted visitors to think about the things that were really important to them, by asking the question:

'If you had three minutes to leave your home, what would you take with you?'

We asked visitors to write or draw their answers on the shelter. Answers ranged from the emotional: mum, dad, dog, rabbit; to the practical: tent, Swiss army knife, torch, matches; to the sentimental: photographs, jewellery. A number of people also said that they would bring their computer games - until their friends pointed out that there would be nowhere to plug in their computer! All in all, it was a very thought-provoking activity.

This was followed by a textile workshop with Maryam Patala, based on the textile piece Freedom - who’s set the borders? (currently on display on the World Cultures gallery). Visitors had the opportunity to improve their sewing skills and learn about the appliqué technique used by Maryam to create the piece." 

You can see more photos of the 'Home Sweet Home?' shelter on our Flickr page.

You can now see a Flickr slide show of photos of the School Champions documentary team in action earlier this week. They've taken some fantastic shots, including some really good views of the Museum of Liverpool construction site from the ferry. I really like their description of the mixture of old and new building styles on the waterfront as, which they've called 'architexture'.

Weatherhead pupils on their first visit to the Museum of Liverpool construction site back in January

It's a few weeks since the last update on the School Champions project, which offers pupils from local schools the opportunity to get involved with the development of the Museum of Liverpool. In that time the budding Spielbergs who are filming a documentary about the construction of the new museum have been busy. Yesterday pupils from Weatherhead Media College and St Margaret Mary's RC Junior School took a ferry across the Mersey to film and photograph the Museum of Liverpool build. Afterwards Weatherhead pupils were also allowed onto the construction site to film.

Below is a report on the day's activities from Champion Libby Brunskill. Photographs from the day will be available on our Flickr page soon.

After this we went onto the construction site of the new Museum of Liverpool. We spent roughly an hour taking shots of the museum and came up with some really creative images of the reflection of the sun’s light on the pillars. Also cranes, the size comparison between the old museum and new one, workmen in action, skips and tyre tracks were very interesting. The best shot was probably the JCB, which we filmed at different angles with the Liver Buildings in the background.

Next we went back to the Maritime Museum and took various shots of the anchor and spiral outside it. We were able to capture the new museum and the Liver Buildings through the hole in the anchor, which looked really effective when zoomed out. Then, we finally took shots of the celebrity wall in the Maritime museum."

Learning officer Carol White and museum demonstrator Dave Brown have met up with the second group of students taking part in the School Champions project, which is giving local schools the opportunity to get involved in the development of the new Museum of Liverpool. By the look of this photo and Carol's update below, they are going to be quite hard taskmasters during the course of this partnership, expecting great things from the Champions!

More photos from this visit, during which the students found out the truth about the Liver Bird and had a site visit to see the Museum of Liverpool construction, plus the trip earlier this week by St Margaret Mary's School are on the School Champions Flickr slideshow.

Over to Carol:

"Sixth form students from Weatherhead High School Media Arts College, Wirral visited the Magical History Tour exhibition for a whistle stop tour of Liverpool's history with Dave Brown. 

The students will be producing a short documentary film about the new Museum of Liverpool during 2008 and will act as our 'School Champions'.  They will follow and report on the progress of the new museum's development.   ................ or else!"

This is the first blog post from one of the roving reporters in our School Champions project. Over the months ahead our learning team at Merseyside Maritime Museum are going to be working with the Champions to get their input into the plans for the new Museum of Liverpool, as part of the community consultation process. 

They have promised to let us know what they get up to, so here's a letter from one of the Champions from St Margaret Mary's School, who came on the first visit:

"Thank you for a lovely day out at the museum and the piermasters house. I really enjoyed it. When I found out that we were going to see what the new Museum of Liverpool was going to look like I felt really excited to be part of the School Champions. I looked at the building and thought about what it was finally going to look like.

I really enjoyed helping with the History Detectives timeline and finding out what different things were, such as the 'Great Pyramid of Geeser'. I now know what order of events these things came in!

I was also really intrested in the activity where we had to find out what the different objects were, and I found out what things were that I didn't already know.

One of the best things of the day was sticking a china cup back together with tape (from hundreds of years ago). I really felt like an archaeologist!

I enjoyed going to the seafront to talk about the river Mersey. My favourite part of the day was going to the 'Piermasters House' because we were treated like wartime children. My mum's friend's Grandad was the Piermaster.

Thank you for my lovely day at the Museum.

From Charlotte Osborne, St Margaret Marys"

St Margaret Marys School Champions on their first visit. You can see the Museum of Liverpool being built in the background.

Last week a group of us from National Museums Liverpool were taken on a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of the bug-tastic World Museum, so I thought I’d fill you in on what we saw. After visiting the aquarium we explored the learning areas, designed our own colourful fish in the Eye For Colour exhibition and then got up close and personal with a few six & eight-legged friends!

Bughouse Demonstrator, Jenny Dobson, took our group behind the scenes in the Bughouse where we were introduced to a pregnant Flat Rock Scorpian (let’s call her Sally) who is expected to give birth to up to 100 babies in the next few months! We also came face to face with a Mexican Red-Kneed tarantula (let’s call her Tammy) who thankfully stayed very still, unlike her more boisterous male tarantula neighbour who looked like he wanted to escape. Apparently you can tell between the sexes if you compare the size of their rear ends – females have larger bottoms. I decided to give them these names as Jenny told me that she had stopped naming the bughouse residents due to her getting too attached to them! Thanks to Laura Healy for these great photos.

Tammy & Sally relax in the bughouse.

Jeannie documenting the colection

Volunteers do extremely valuable work across National Museums Liverpool. Jeannie has been volunteering for the Museum of Liverpool since September, and is getting hands-on collections experience documenting a diverse range of items kindly bequeathed by the late John Hamilton.

Jeannie became a volunteer to gain experience and an understanding of the museum environment after completing her University degree.

She says 'The wide ranging items keep the work interesting as you never know what you may uncover next; from evacuation labels and blow torches to French comics! Every week there is something different that develops my knowledge and understanding, not only of John Hamilton's personal history but also that of Liverpool'.

The George Ferguson dancers teaching visitors a few moves

Last Saturday World Museum Liverpool played its part in the Liverpool Irish Festival by hosting a special day dedicated to Irish arts. It was a busy, creative and very fun day according to Ann-marie Cassidy from our learning department, who has written the following account of the many activities.

You can see more pictures in a Flickr slideshow of her Irish Festival photos.

"The Liverpool Irish Festival has been running since 2003, when it began as a weekend of traditional Irish folk music. Each year the festival grows in size and now celebrates the special identity of the Liverpool Irish community with an outstanding programme of events and activities throughout the city.

This year, National Museums Liverpool staff worked in partnership with the Liverpool Irish Festival to introduce our visitors to a range of Irish-themed activities and performances. Enthusiastic visitors took part in Celtic art workshops with Holly Langley and explored traditional Irish myths in a singing and drama workshop with Claire Chandler. Our more energetic visitors were treated to a demonstration from the George Ferguson School of Irish Dance, before taking to the floor themselves with the dancers!

The atrium provided the perfect location for a performance from the Knotty Ash Signing Choir, who sang traditional songs with sign language. This was followed by an impressive musical performance involving some traditional Irish instruments. Jarlath Henderson played the Uilleann pipes and I was reliably informed that Uilleann means ‘elbow’. (I imagine this link has something to do with the way the pipes are played!) Jarlath was also joined by John Chandler on guitar and ‘Bones’ Adderley on the Bodráhn, a traditional Irish drum. The group were only asked to play for thirty minutes, but were so well received that they continued playing for nearly an hour!

The final workshop of the day was a poetry workshop with Eddie Bixter. Eddie began by introducing participants to some of the work of Seamus Heany and talked about how lots of the words used were ‘dark’ and ‘earthy’. He then asked the group to think about words that could represent Liverpool, looking at the language we use and talking about well-known buildings, people and places. By combining some of the words, the group created individual lines. These were put together to form one collaborative piece of poetry. The poem is quite abstract, but some of the lines are great! Have a read and see what you think!"

The Liverpool Irish Poem

Crosby rain stone, loving hard ground,
Rhythm cut a house,
Loose stoop rats, radio tower,
Musky, old, echoing path,
Kirkby la la cut out, Everton piled bog,
Irish stubbed clot grit,
Soggy bone, Scouse sods,
Shrill, overhead echoes,
Liverbird flock beneath salt dock fields,
Smug, solid Scousers,
Humming, smudging, minging railway,
Frogs lug splintered,
Sugar hung, thick dark cloud,
Oo-er, dig bush, Playhouse north,
Liverpool sky, cool 2008 hens,
Liverpool Echo, culture club.

On Friday museum demonstrator Claire Noble told us about the first day of the 'BORED?' games workshop that she ran at Aigburth Family Centre with Alex Shears. Here's her update from the second and final day, with some exciting news about an inventor in the making (remember, you heard it here first!).

Have a look at our Flickr slideshow of photos from the 'BORED?' workshop for more pictures.

"We have discovered the youngest board game inventor right here in Aigburth!! Our second day at Aigburth Family Centre began with our youngest member Yorgie proudly showing off his newest board game invention ‘Car Chase’.  With diagrams and written instructions (very nicely printed by his Mum), Alex and I couldn’t help but think that our Thursday’s sessions of games galore helped him on his path to board game stardom! But now back to normality…

We started Friday’s session with a series of fun and energetic games and (much to our delight) some of the young people began to offer to teach some of their favourite games to the rest of the group! The focus of the session soon changed to the instructional DVD, to be made that afternoon. Ideas were flowing and by lunch time the kids had not only chosen their favourite game to teach on the DVD, but had made their own poster for it too! 

After lunch our film maker Mally quickly set up and the young people began to teach and play their games to the camera. A bit of camera shyness soon disappeared and Mally caught some great footage. We wanted to finish the session with a fun group game and what better way to finish a game themed workshop, but with the best party game in the world, Pass the Parcel! 

With their mouths still full with sweets, we explained that invites would be in the post for them to see their DVD on the big Treasure House Theatre screen at World Museum Liverpool on 10 November. The National Museums Liverpool Youth Theatre would also be invited to the festivities, finishing with plenty of party food, drink and perhaps a few party games in between."

"Here I am (on the right) with the giant snakes and ladders game that we made"

Here's a report on some special half term activities from Claire Noble, one of our Treasure House Theatre demonstrators, who was out yesterday helping Liverpool children to escape half term boredom with games that have been played for thousands of years:

"At 10.30am sharp Alex Shears and myself began our first 'BORED?' session, the first  of a set of two full day workshops at Aigburth Family Centre. Based on the very fact these kids (like all kids do) get BORED over the school holidays, myself and Alex Shears decided that, what better way to keep kids from climbing the walls... but to teach them loads of games!! 

The first hour was nicely packed with drama icebreakers and story building games, all of which were devised so that they could play it themselves whenever they are BORED and need something to do. After a quick break (and happily the five attendees didn’t run out the door, but in fact stayed!) we introduced them to two ancient board games from the Weston Discovery Centre, which went down a treat. Menkala and Fox and Geese were played for a solid hour and at times the tension was unbearable! 

The afternoon session was craft based, beginning with the moulding and painting of their own scarab beetle board piece and then the making of a giant snakes and ladders board game that they can keep and play in their centre. There were a few 'eeeeees' when explaining why the Egyptians idolised the dung beetle and to show them an actual dung beetle provided to us by Jen in the Bug House was the icing on the cake. They were impressed too by the image of a 13th century Snakes and Ladders game from World Cultures Gallery too, especially as it was made by a monk for his sick mum!

Alex and I were really pleased overall with the sessions. After telling them that tomorrow's sessions will be inventing their own games and creating an instructional DVD for it, they were already thinking of ideas. Let’s see what tomorrow brings!!"

Two of our attendees with the scarab beetle board game pieces that were made at the workshop

Emily and Predrag in front of Menagerie

On Saturday I attended a talk at the Walker by artist Emily Stainer and curator of the Bound exhibition, Predrag Pajdic. Predrag asked Emily questions in front of an audience about her installation Menagerie, which went on display to the public at the Walker on Friday.

I had worked with Emily throughout the installation and knew a lot about the practical side to the installation; how it is set up and how the pieces are assembled. However it was the first time I’d heard Emily talk about the inspirations and concept behind the artwork, which was really interesting.

Menagerie was influenced by Emily’s interest in the cabinets of curiosities of the 17th Century; these ‘cabinets’ were small rooms filled by the wealthy with unusual natural history objects, works of art and religious and historical remnants. Menagerie similarly displays curious items, including found and composed objects which present contradictory ideas of the playful and sinister. Emily explained that in the past she’s found it really interesting how reactions to Menagerie have differed. Some visitors, usually children, are lured in by the bright lights and strange objects and find the moving doll body parts fun and amusing. However in contrast, most adults do pick up on the sinister connotations of the moving doll parts and the ideas of confinement.

The discussion was a great insight into Emily’s thoughts and ideas about her work. She will be at the Walker again on 10 October at 1pm to talk about her work and I’d highly recommend going along to it.

The installation also links well to the wonderful exhibition 'WunderKammer' curated by Oliver Braid at the Bluecoat Display Centre on Hanover Street, which is also inspired by 17th-Century cabinets of curiosities.

Local after school clubs have been treated to a programme of activities showing a different side to the Walker Art Gallery over the past couple of months. Starring King Henry, Millie Smith and the Athlete Struggling with a Python, almost 700 children have witnessed characters from the collections come to life in a production by Fuse Theatre company. Staff from the Walker have also been bringing out the children’s creative side with art workshops and follow up visits to Big Art for Little Artists. I remember when all I had to look forward to after school was an ice-pop, the occasional game of kerby and if I was really lucky an episode of Fun House with Pat ‘The Mullet’ Sharp and those scary twins.

Digital, 35mm or good old pinhole, pick up your camera, I’m declaring 2007 the year of the photograph.

We've got Bernard Fallon’s atmospheric images of Liverpool going down a storm at the National Conservation Centre and the images of Merchant Palaces at the Lady Lever Art Gallery provide a fascinating insight into the way the other half lived.

If you fancy a shot at photography and are lucky enough to be aged between 12 and 16 there’s a Victorian photography workshop at the Lady Lever on Thursday 12 April. Places are limited so call our learning department on 0151 478 4178 to snap up a place. 

Never fear oldies, there's also opportunities for those of us old enough to remember when Polaroid’s were cutting edge to develop our skills. Shoot Liverpool is an interactive photographic treasure hunt happening in May and promises a fantastic day of creativity and camaraderie on the streets of Liverpool. Sounds like a reel good time.

If your photographic thirst hasn’t been quenched by that fine lot I visited the BALTIC in Gateshead last week to see the Vik Muniz exhibition. Check out a chocolate Elvis  and Che Guevara reborn through the magic of black beans. Definitely the best exhibition I’ve seen all year – apart from our own of course.

Bernard Fallon's Crosby babes

Make your own dino mask

Yep, the puns on this blog just keep coming...

Anyhoo, lots of lucky kiddiewinks (about 300 of them actually) got stuck into the Dino Days sessions at World Museum Liverpool at the weekend. There are more workshops this weekend (check out the what's on section) where the many delights will include examining fossiled dinosaur poo - a perfect Mother's Day if you ask me.

If you can't get down to the museum (or even if you can) you might want to enter our 'design a dinosaur stamp' competition. The three best get a dinosaur goodie bag. You can download the application form pdf(119kb), which also includes details of how to enter.  

If you'd rather have a posted version contact Mike Graham, Learning Resources, World Museum Liverpool, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EN or call him on 0151 478 4241. The deadline is 30 March.

Just got this snap of an event that took place at World Museum Liverpool recently. Students and staff from EMTAS (Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service) worked with artist, Hilary Manuhwa to create this wonderful piece of contemporary stone sculpture representing the theme of 'freedom'. Hilary uses the shona style of Zimbabwe as his inspiration and showed everyone the traditional skills.  I'm told it was a proper learning experience for everyone involved and that they took a lot of pride in their creation.

The finished masterpiece

The sculpture will be on display in the World Cultures Gallery at the museum during Refugee Week (18-24 June) and for the following three months. Then it's off on tour to Salford, Newcastle and Leicester. This session was run as part of our Engaging Refugees and Asylum seekers programme.

PS This isn't be be confused with the other Freedom! sculpture currently at the Maritime.

If you are aged between 12 and 17 and fancy yourself as a budding journo then this could be the competition for you. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Parliament’s decision to outlaw Britain’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, National Museums Liverpool has teamed up with international children’s charity Plan UK and EducationGuardian.co.uk to launch a young reporters' competition. First prize is a weekend in Liverpool followed by a trip to a Plan project tackling child labour in Senegal. The deadline for entries is 27 April 2007.

Find out more on the EducationGuardian website.

This wonderful image was taken by Hamish Mackenzie at Plan UK.

Actually, if you're not a teacher who has recently brought a class on a visit to one of our venues you can stop reading now.

Our Learning department is running a monthly draw to win free coach travel next time one of your classes visits one of our venues. To be entered all you have to do is get your class to complete a really simple and pretty fun online survey all about their visit. What's more, the feedback can be supplied to you so even if you don't win you still get to find out just how much attention they were really paying. More details here.