The museum of the Home, once the Geffrye’s collection has a fine collection of domestic and everyday, which would be a good place to search for domestic magic, and the sort of things that are collected in the home.
'We want our collections to provoke discussion and reflection – what is revealed by what we choose to put on show?'
The museum runs events, supports research, and has a rather nice library and garden. They have classes the garden as a domestic space as it is most certainly in this context part of the home and its daily goings-on.
They would be a good place to approach if I wanted to deliver a workshop or event around domestic magic & learning.
A perfect target audience, as my previous experience running art clubs, was within the curriculum to classes of 20-30 children ranging in ages up to 12, and often the parents asked to join in. I also acted as a companion painter and tutor to older students, my oldest student being in her late 80's and a rather accomplished watercolorist.
The workshop would have to be fun and deliver something they took home as an aid memoir, to remember and learn.
The subject matter would need to be simple and probably vetted by the education officer at the museum who will be in place in September 2021, as there is a web ad up currently for that position. Punch and Judy and street theatre springs to mind, which could be used as a vehicle for quite a few subjects, law and order, theatre, street entertainment, puppet making- who would be the characters in your story, what voice would you give them and what would they say? Although they might want it to be a home-oriented game, any of the games I saw at The Alice in Wonderland Exhibition at the V and A could easily be adapted. Inclusivity would have to be researched for language and physical ease of access.
Ectoplasm slime, made with stuff from the kitchen cupboard, along with other great goo, showing chemistry starts at home. This would tie in well with Domestic Science.
Cake decoration with the planning involved, adaptable to the season's events or the collection and yes you get to eat it too.
Design your own story wallpaper, dragons, and wolves always a treat to involve them- discussions around narratives and storytelling.
Bookmaking - Ditto above, but can also be used to make a memento of the day and tie in with a treasure hunt through both the museum and its Garden
Mask making and welcome to ….. the list is endless.
Museum of the Home 136 Kingsland Road, London E2 8EA
