The Illustrated Museum was a long term collaboration with illustrator Felicity Tattershall.
After a visit to the museum in 2021 Flis was inspired to create designs which could be used in a variety of ways, for people of all ages, either just for fun or as a way to aid good mental wellbeing. Flis worked with a number of groups in 2022 including local teenagers, clients of Park View and volunteers and staff from the museum to discover which objects were their favourites and to encourage them to have a go at drawing and look at the objects with an artists eye.
Flis created three colouring sheets filed with objects from the collection. Flis played with scale and placement in order to bring a focus onto the objects that had been chosen that sometimes get overlooked. These sheets were enlarged to AO scale and formed the backbone of a two month exhibition at the museum.
During the exhibition (which ran from 24th May 2024 – 22nd July 2024 at the museum) some of the objects that were picked out to be drawn by Flis and others who took part in the creative workshops were on display so that visitors could have a close up look. The original black and white designs were displayed alongside sheets that had been coloured in by various groups including Park View who had been one of the original groups consulted. A masterclass in illustration was held during the May half term and also a workshop for families who were invited to chose their favourite objects and create their own min-sketch book. One of the AO sheets was taken out to the first Helston PRIDE Picnic and was coloured in my many people attending the event of all ages. There was also the chance throughout the exhibition to sit down and do some calming colouring or visitors could design their own colouring sheet by drawing some of the fabulous objects that were out on display. This activity was particularly popular with families during the May half term although we did find that many adults also welcomed the chance to sit quietly and colour as we actively encouraged adults to sit and colour and not think about this activity as being just for the kids. Interpretation told the story of mindfulness as a movement and the role of colouring within it.
Once the exhibition at the museum finished it moved at the end of July 2024 to No 12 Wendron Street, a former butchers shop with lovely large Victorian windows that has become a pop-up exhibition space for the museum. Moving the exhibition to this space places it into the centre of town and allows everyone walking up and down the road to see some of the objects within the museum in picture form and learn more about the work that the museum does within the local community. The pop-up exhibition lasted for six months.
Going forward the small colouring sheets will be used on an ongoing basis with people of all ages. It is planned that they will be presented to memory cafes that engage with the museums collection by booking a loan box . Colouring is an activity that all memory cafes encourage and will be a way of sparking conversation and memories after the visit with the loan box has taken place.
The AO format pictures will be used to work with a broad range of groups as a way of connecting with the collection during projects within the museum and also during outreach activity.
This project has had a long gestation period as conversations with Flis Tattersall started in 2021 so it seems appropriate that this project will continue to have an impact long after the exhibitions and initial workshops have finished.
This project was made possible thanks to support from Arts Council England as part of mc7, an innovative three-year project to develop a dynamic new model of collective working and programming for seven Cornish museums.
