The Summer Holidays are a chance to get creative here in Reading.
As part of ‘Let’s Get Real’ initiative and our ‘Reading Abbey Revealed’ project Reading Museum and the Museum of English Rural Life worked together to put on a fantastic workshop exploring shoes.
In Our Shoes
Fake Shoes: Fake News follows on from the In our shoes exhibition currently on display in Reading Museum where children in care created shoes to express themselves, their personality and their outlook on life. You can find them in the Visitor's Gallery on the second floor.
Activity Book
There were a host of activities where participants earned their Arts Award Discover by exploring shoes in Reading Museum Collection.
They looked at the history of the shoes, discovered artists who had explored the connection of shoes to a person’s story and their life, took 3D images of shoes, made drawings and created animation with a variety of software and equipment.
The day finished with the children creating labels for the shoes in our collection, becoming curators, and organising a display of the shoes and the stories that go with them. These shoes will be on display in the Victorian Gallery until September 2018.
On Display in the Victorian Gallery
It is up to you whether you believe the stories on display or not…
Feedback from the day:
They very much enjoyed handling the old shoes, making up their own stories and then seeing this in a display cabinet.
They loved the filming, it was great to see some being really creative with this and developing a strong interest in this sort of media.
Two of the children have ADHD and can be difficult to keep occupied at times however you guys did a great job at keeping the day really dynamic and fluid so there was never a dull moment or an opportunity for them to become distracted.
Art is your Human Right
Reading Museum and Arts Award
Want to achieve an Arts Award with Reading Museum? Get in touch with our Education Team!
Working with 3D
Let’s Get Real
The Let’s Get Real project involved Reading Museum and The MERL working collaboratively on projects to better understand the social purpose of digital technology for arts and heritage organisations. Alongside this, as part of Arts Council England’s NPO funding, both organisations will be working together on a four year programme to further develop their work with young people under the age of 25.
If you are interested to hear more about how you (or your organisation) could get involved, please contact Phillippa Heath.
