I was invited to the tour normally given to new staff, of the back areas not accessible to the public. The tour went through all the departments and corridors that are hidden from the “show rooms” and exhibitions. I was the youngest person present and they seemed quite intrigued as to why I chose to tag along. The tour itself lasted for about 1 hour and 40 minutes. It was very disorientating whenever we were underground, but always incredibly fascinating. I finally understood why I had been feeling so ‘weird’ when down in the archaeology stores for entire days. They are currently fixing the air-con which has been a bit out of order. This probably explains why the air felt stale and made my eyes dry up.

… Hold on a moment. Chester is trying to have passionate sex with my hand as I am typing this. Need to calm him down.. :P

There we go. Redirected him to the mouse. Hopefully he will find it more attractive. Budgie porn. Sheesh, who would’ve thought. Anyway! Back to the subject.

As we went through all the departments, I was just blown away all over again. I had only seen Archaeology and a bit of ethnology until now, but I didn’t realise that those two stores were just a part of a huge backstage research effort by the museum and its workers. To summarize, I saw:

The Glass Stores : As you would expect, contains lots and lots of glass.
The Natural History Stores : Dead animals in various forms. Stuffed, Skeleton, Death Masks etc… Specimens here are actively used for DNA research by scientists.

Fine Art Stores : Rack after rack of paintings in good and bad condition. Also radioactive place for painting restoration and X ray to see the layers of paint.

Geology Stores : The oldest collection of the museum. Contains rocks, minerals and fossils. Also has the most well preserved dinosaur in Britain. Has a connected small room where they were uncovering a dinosaur.
Conservation Stores : Where everything that is collected passes through. Also has an entire room for painting conservation and paper conservation. We got to see paper conservation in action.

The Preventive Office : This is where all the data is stored. Basically monitoring the temperatures of the buildings, has floor plans etc.

As we went through the conservation stores, we were asked to present ourselves to the staff there. When it was my turn I was probably blushing, but everyone was really nice to me. I told them the reason I was there and to my surprise, one of the conservationists invited me to record their work as well as the archaeology(!).

I met many new people on that tour that were all incredibly helpful, but the moment it was finished and we were led out, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed. I feel like no matter how much work I do these next 5 weeks of the project, I won’t be able to do the museum justice. There is just SO much going on that the public doesn’t see and I want to record all of this, down to the very SMELL of it! All of this made me dizzy, so I cancelled my afternoon session down in the archaeology basement to go see my tutor for some guidance.

I was feeling very pressured to produce good work. Especially since the museum staff was so keen to let me record their daily business. When I told my tutor about this, he understood what I meant and told me to narrow it down. I now seem to have access to pretty much all of the departments of the museum, but I can’t do work in all of them. It’s simply not possible in just 5 weeks. I could spend 3 months in only  Archaeology and still see new things everyday, which is why I have devised a little cunning plan.

For this project, I will focus on Archaeology and Conservation (depending on which one is more interesting, I will spend more time there). But when the project is done, I will return with my rosy cheeks and homemade sketchbook, and I will ask them again in a very polite manner, if I may record some more on my spare time. Not for the University, but for myself. I really hope they will get a good impression of me these next coming 5 weeks, since that will be crucial to my future presence in the museum basements…

As a one sentence summary… I can only say it is flippin’ amazing.

Yesterday was another day spent down under. I try to get used to it, but my eyes go dry, making me squint, and my head feels cramped (in lack of a better description). At least I don’t get dizzy anymore. This is something I hope to be able to portray in my final piece, maybe. :P

As was written in the entry below, I found a new section that I hadn’t noticed before. Had dreams about it last night. Very weird.

Today I have been invited to a special tour around the structure of the Museum (so not the normal tour around the museums exhibition, but the building itself!). It was suggested to me after I mentioned that I need to learn how to draw buildings.

I can’t help but think of eerie stories around this place.

… Sketching away, when I suddenly noticed something in the corner of my eye which made me stop and turn back.

I found myself standing in the section for human remains. God knows how I had missed this bit until now.
I have seen dead people before because of my previous work at a hospital, but there is just something different about box after box of pre-historic human bodyparts, tagged neatly in such a “matter of fact” way.

Seeing it made my heart race and my mouth dry up.

25/04/08

The first day. I had an appointment with a curator of archaeology named Kate Iles. I had only spoken to her and her colleague over the phone, so I had no idea what she looked like or what to expect from the day that was ahead of me.

I went to the Museum at 10:30, armed with my sketchbook, my camera and my huge excited smile. The receptionist gave me a visitors badge and I was left to wait in the impressive entrance hall (a bit sweaty from the morning walk). Very soon a lady in her early 30’s came to greet me. At this point I should probably have been nervous, but I found myself getting on with her from the word go. She offered me a coffee at the museum café and we sat down to talk. Kate was incredibly nice, talkative and interested in my project. I showed her my sketchbook (which at that time didn’t have too much in it…) and told her about my ideas and so on. We had a lengthy conversation around illustration and archaeology during which something very unexpected happened.

Kate had looked at my drawings, listened to my plans and finally asked me: “Would you be interested in illustrating a story that we have around a few items in the museum? It would go up on the museum homepage.” My jaw was on the floor (in my mind!). I was more than interested! But the surprises didn’t stop there. Kate offered to get me on a special tour around the museum building to see the structure itself. She offered to put my own stories and drawings online on the Bristol Museum homepage and she was being very optimistic about using my University project in some way for the public to view.

In my mind, I was stunned. I still needed time to take it all in really… and I hadn’t even been downstairs to their office yet!

We finished up our coffee, made plans as to when I could come see her downstairs in the Museum basement in the future, and then we were off for my private tour of the “stores”! This was the moment I had been waiting for. We entered the basement area through a subtle door with a small “PRIVATE” sign on it, walked down a flight of stairs and ended up in what seemed like a labyrinth of underground corridors, lit up with bright fluorescent lights. On the walls were rows and rows of ancient weapons hanging behind glass displays. Swords, daggers, spears, machetes, guns, bows… At this point, my jaw really was on the floor. I kept on mumbling “oh my god…” quietly to myself while I was being led through these corridors towards the stores. The amount of times I kept on turning my head to see something new, you might think I would get whiplash.

Kate unlocked a door and we entered a bigger room with higher ceilings. The walls were literally covered with stacks and stacks of boxes. Only one wall was free. It had rows of books instead. As we entered, there was a computer desk immediately ahead of us. Stacks of paper on every available table surface. But when I looked to the left, I just saw shelving unit after shelving unit towering up towards the ceiling, arranged like a library with small corridors left neatly free between each unit to allow staff to pass through. Kate began to tell me how the arrangement worked.

First was the pre-historic. Then the Roman. Then the Medieval. … And it went on. She pulled out a random box from the pre-historic shelf and showed me its contents. Fragments of what seemed like flint tools, bagged up and neatly tagged.

“You can have a look at whichever box you like, just let me know when you do, and only touch them while wearing gloves. They’ve got nasties!”

Then she leaned down to a drawer unit. These drawers were everywhere on the bottom of each shelving unit. She pulled one out to reveal swords, daggers, jewellery, mirrors, combs… The list just went on and on.

I was utterly utterly flabbergasted.

Kate showed me a precious collection of various items that had been separated from the rest of the shelves. I need to get more information around them, as they were intriguing to say the least. We walked past bigger shelves in the back where a human shape was lying down with a white cover over it. I stopped and stared. It was the remains of an Egyptian casket. Next to it was a wooden carving that had been removed from the Bristol Cathedral because of it’s rudeness. It depicted a man with his pants down, being shot in the ass by a bowman! This piece was originally taken down to be burnt, but it was saved from the flames.

When I had been given a general tour of the stores, Kate showed me through to the department next door. It was a room exactly the same as the one before, high ceilings, shelving units and all that, but it had something much more sinister lurking behind all of this.

When we turned the lights on, they flickered for a moment and I caught a glimpse of two huge dark figures standing on a table in front of us. It startled me, but turned out to be sculptures made by an African tribe. At least I think so. They were called “Payback men” or something similar. Incredibly hostile looking with their teeth bared. Probably made to intimidate you.

Kate had shown me to the department holding the more religious and culturally sensitive things. We walked around, looking at the various items on the shelves. I came across two sculpted heads of monster-like creatures with real teeth stuck to them to make them seem extra horrific.

“I don’t like being here on my own. Especially not when I have to turn the lights on or off.”

Kate was looking at the masks with me and I fully understood why she felt that way. At this point I was not allowed to take photographs of these items because of the cultural sensitivities. Kate told me to ask the staff of the department when they come in on Monday. We returned to the Archaeology stores and I was free to get on with my work, and even though I enjoyed it thoroughly, I still kept on having occasional thoughts about the department next door and its eerie atmosphere. Even though it was just a door away, the ‘feel’ of the two rooms were completely different. I was much more comfortable in the Archaeology room, to say the least.

Later on, as my first day at the museum basement came to a close, I couldn’t help but feel energized by everything that I had experienced in just a few hours.

I said goodbye to Kate and walked home with a buzz, knowing that I had only opened a handful of drawers and boxes that day, and that there were hundreds more waiting for me when I returned.

We went together with Tom’s mum to view our new home yesterday. Above is a sneak-peak.

Woo. Things are going forward!

I still need to make the “Next” and “Previous” buttons to work on my homepage when you browse through the art, but for now, I have added Lampgirl to the rest!

Lookie :D

Right now, I’m getting ready to go to the Museum. I am meeting up with an archaeologist to set up a schedule for the next 6 weeks. Very very excited at the moment. I have no idea what they might be storing in the back rooms! :O

Will be bringing my sketchbook and camera. Hopefully I am allowed to take pictures.

www.jenniegyllblad.com

now has a script in the art section which makes viewing images muuuch easier. I love it. Some people may find it weird, I don’t know. :P Have a look anyway!

“You are fascinated by even the most mundane things.” - Rich

Very true comment. I am easily amused!

Thanks to Mithi, I now have some photos of my final piece for the Narrative and Sequence project. Namely, my Lamp Girl. :)

I will add these properly to my homepage soon, but for now, here’s a link to the album. (the album is shared with clay sculptures. Ignore those)

Click me for Lamp Girl!

Some photos from Italy!

These are just a tiny fraction of the photos from Italy. I still need to get the rest from Alex. :P

I finally got my new charger. All hail amazon.com. :P So my mobile works again. Hallelujah!

Will also get the proper photos either on Monday or Tuesday from Mithi. Depending on when I hunt her down. Poor lady :D

Working on my homepage today. It’s been a while.