Curator Without Museum

Spotted a calico cat which reminds us of our mouser. @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social #Caturday

Photo shows a hand holding a copy of Peter Ackroyd's Turner biography.

A new potential talk subject was suggested to me at an art talk so the research begins... (love this bit)

Haven’t been able to visit any sites recently but spotted this beautiful single rampart hillfort built by children on the beach at St-Jacut-de-la-Mer last month. Are we naturally inclined to build these structures ? Love the shell cobbled floor !! #HillfortsWednesday #IronAge

Photo shows a book open in the foreground. A poem called Find A Good Light is on the open page. In the background are a pair of legs in a hammock, a wall of a house, blue skies and a ray of sunlight cutting across the top right corner.

Spent yesterday in a good light, reading Donna Ashworth's To The Women and feeling the sun on my skin.

No idea what to post for #InternationalMuseumDay on "The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities." Thought of the encouraging banners in Columbia District, San Diego last year. "The future feels like a canvas to create" & "The future feels like a work of art." That's how to face the future

Attended the most intense and beautiful concert on Saturday. The Sacconi Quartet played at St Mary Le More as part of the Wallingford Chamber Music's 40th anniversary season. And what a stunning evening it was for it.
#Panufnik #Shostakovich #Beethoven

Photo shows white marble carved with small figures in classical draped outfits, most missing their heads. In the right side is the figure of a man in robes, again without his head. Above him is etched a circle with two line across the middle and a small circle in the top half. It looks like the death star.

Resharing that time I spotted the Death Star in the British Museum's Troy exhibition.... #StarWarsDay #MayThe4th #Troy #DeathStar #KindOfATrojanHorse #NotReally #StarWarsInClassics

An illumination from a Medieval Manuscript that shows a character bearing a striking resemblance to Yoda, a small green humanoid wearing an orange cloak. 📜 Royal 10 E IV, f. 30

A long time ago in a manuscript far, far away....

Happy #StarWarsDay! – #MayTheFourthBeWithYou, always.

Saw this poem on the tube last week. Made me think of my energetic bunch & the sheer joy of cycling when you're wee. This snap brought back the words. Such an inspiring final line.
@poetrysociety.bsky.social @artscouncilengland.bsky.social @britishcouncil.bsky.social @transportforlondon.bsky.social

My cultural and heritage highlights from a lovely Spring weekend in Paris cont
7) Musée du quai Branly - Jacque Chirac (and their gorgeously sumptuous au fil de l'or exhibition on costume and dressing around the globe)
8) Basilique du Sacré Cœur de Montmartre

My cultural highlights from a Parisian weekend cont.
4) & 5) The Catacombs - intense and humbling (and disappointing to see all the signs asking visitors not to write on the bones)
6) Simone de Beauvoir (& Sartre)'s gravestone
7) la tour Eiffel!

My heritage highlights from a Parisian weekend (lucky me!)
1) Hearing the bells of Notre Dame peeling out
2) Twinkly lights on Notre Dame
3) & 4) 1912 La Coupole in Les Galeries Lafayette (who says shopping can't be a cultural experience?!)

Photo in daytime framed by a willow tree, with caramel coloured tower and Abbey in the background, complete with stained glass windows. The building on the left has a white sign stating "Museum" hanging above the door.

Photo at nightime framed by a willow tree, with caramel coloured tower and Abbey in the background, complete with stained glass windows. The building on the left has a white sign stating "Museum" hanging above the door.

Lovely evening at Dorchester Historical Society. It was so brilliant to be in the Guest House, right beside Dorchester Abbey. There were rays of sunshine cutting across the sky as I drove in. Beautiful.
#DorchesterAbbey #Dorchester #Oxfordshire

Photo of a white walled art gallery. In the foreground is a white plinth with an enormous sculpture in the shape of a silver inflatable rabbit balloon. There are museum visitors around the room.

One more Easter-themed post... we were face to face with Rabbit (1986) by Jeff Koons at the Ashmolean in 2019. Surely one of the most famous rabbits in contemporary art?!
@ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social
#Easter #EasterBunny #EasterSunday #Rabbit #JeffKoons #Ashmolean #Art

Photo of inside a glass case. There is a clear perspex stand with 4 layers, each holding a dozen colourfully de orate eggs. In the background can be seen a black and white chequered floor and wooden panelling on the wall.

An Easter-y post for today. The Romanian Easter eggs we'd on loan at Bromley Museum. @hornimanmuseum.bsky.social collected them in 1950s.
Horniman Museum ran the amazing Object In Focus loan project, supplying a display case, cool artefact, help wth interpretation & marketing, all with great staff.

Close-up detail of a Samian ware pottery vessel showing a raised relief of a rabbit or hare crouched in profile, facing left. The animal appears to be nibbling on a dandelion, with its long ears upright and front paws extended. The reddish-brown surface of the pottery is smooth and glossy, with a central vertical crack running through the image. Decorative arches and floral motifs frame the scene.

Easter bunny resting 🐰🐰

A #Roman samian ware bowl depicting a rabbit eating dandelion.

Found in Eschenz/Switzerland.

Photo: AATG, Daniel Steiner

Image shows black and white photo of the hall in the Natural Histiry Museum. All high ceilings, pillars, arches and windows. Lots of men in black tail coats are standing around a cast of a diplodocus skeketon. One man is standing on the far side of the dinosaur model plinth to address the crowd.

Happy 144th birthday to the Natural History Museum. One of my favourite facts about its collection is that it includes Sir John Lubbock (inventor of the Bank Holiday!)'s pet wasp! Lubbock can be seen speaking in this 1905 photo of the unveiling of their infamous diplodocus.
@nhm-london.bsky.social

Photo shows green expanse with blue skies in the background. In the middle ground is a big tree. In the foreground is an easel with a blackboard covered in pegs. There are 6 replica art works (including Van Gogh's starry night and sunflowers and a Monet's lillies) hanging on the pegs.

How brilliant. As part of the Easter Activity Adventure trail, helping to save and recreate Basildon Park in the style of the Iliffes, you got to curate your own artwork display. Loved it. @nationaltrust.org.uk
#BasildonPark #NationalTrust #EasterTrail #ArtLover #ArtOutdoors #Spring #April

a simple tutorial on how to draw a medieval cat. step 1 shows a basic “normal cat" with no details. step 2 shows the same cat but with a "human face" added, featuring a straight mouth and serious eyes. the final drawing combines both elements — a cat with a human-like face, surrounded by sparkles ✨

how to draw a medieval cat in two easy steps

Images shows Mary Beard in a teal trench coat with her hands on her hips, standing in front of the Pathenon. The text states "the secret histories of ancient Rome with Mary Beard".

Absolutely delighted I got tickets to see Mary Beard in Oxford later this year. Cannot wait.

A coloured engraving of a detail from a mosaic showing a crab set diagonally with claws pointing towards upper right. On the body between the claws are two features like eyes, while the curved lines of tesserae on the body make it look as if the crab is smiling, with the 'mouth' left uncoloured.

For #MosaicMonday, one of the most personable crabs imaginable. He was in a delightful marine environment, probably around a lost figure of Neptune, under what is now Gloucester House in Dyer Street, Cirencester.
#AncientBlueSky 🏺

Come on Britain.

Be more like Germany.

Loving all the tulips! #TulipFever

Photo out a train window of a red brick wall, house roofs and blue sky.

Photo out a train window of a green field and trees.

"What day was it a billion minutes ago?" Gotta love train conversations. (A day in AD100 for anyone wondering the answer)

Mallard Monday on a Museum Monday @railwaymuseum.bsky.social
#MuseumMonday #MallardMonday #Mallard #NationalRailwayMuseum

Photo of woman with short dark hair and glasses in green and orange jumpsuit. She stands at the bottom of a set of stairs, beside a cardboard cutout of Hugh Bonneville. They are having a selfie!

Look who turned up for my Two William Morrises talk tonight!!

Image shows a cartoon with a grey castle in the background. 3 men in the parapets are shouting down: "boom! Boom!", "bang!!" And "pow, pow, pow!". Two soldiers in the foreground discuss "sir, we have reason to believe that our adversaries actually have no weapons whatsoever". The title at the bottom in yellow states: "the fall of the onomatopoeia empire".

This cartoon tickles me so much! #EnglishLitGeekJokes

Photo of a museum case. There is a label at the base and a photo of the artefact in its original placement. Above is the fake bit of rock art with a figure pushing a shopping trolley.

For April Fool's Day my absolute favourite fake in museums is the Peckham Rock Banksy cheekily installed in the galleries at the British Museum, even with it's own label & accession no. It's brilliant that it now legitimately gets includes in exhibitions! This was the piece in Ian Hislop's I Object.

Is #Caturday a thing on Bluesky? #CatsOfBluesky

Shaggy's It Wasn't Me. Released before we had the term gaslighting but about blatantly lying despite being caught. Hate it.