Documenting Interpretations - York Museums Trust by Anna Duffield [ed19ard]

Starting Point - The Brief

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Our institution - York Museums Trust

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York Museums Trust is a collective of five museums and galleries, as well as several venues for events.

What is a 'Big Idea'

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The overarching narrative of an exhibition

It links multiple themes within an exhibition space into a cohesive story
A concept or idea that engages the visitor, it encourages debate, connection and empathy

Starting our research

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Our first group meeting

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Who's Who?

Anna, Jocelyn, Megan, Brandon

Mapping our skills and ideas

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We thought about any skills and previous experiences we could bring to the group

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After looking through YMT's collections webpage, we brainstormed any ideas relevant to the overall project, or to the types of objects collected.

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York Museum Trust's collections

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Fashion, dress and textiles
Fine art - mainly paintings and sculptures
Decorative arts - homewares
Biology, archeology and geology
Photography and social history
Military history
Numismatics (coins, money and tokens)

My area of knowledge is fashion history

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Week 2 meeting - bringing together ideas

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The Emerging Ideas...

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How did products from the Empire and beyond create the ritual of British tea parties in the 18th and 19th century?
Using fashion, ceramics, decorative arts and paintings

Visiting York Museums Trust

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We spent time at the Yorkshire Museum, the Art Gallery and York Castle Museum
We aimed to find particular items we'd seen in the online collection, especially in the areas of fine art and fashion

Fashion

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York Castle Museum had several dresses on display that were in the era we'll be examining, e.g. this 1840s printed day dress.
We'll be looking to find or take updated images of garments on mannequins, to give a better sense of their use and movement

Ceramics and decorative arts

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York Castle Museum also had several tea sets and ceramic sets on display, such as this set which features a sugar cone and tongs.
We may want to mention sugar within our exhibition as an explicit connection to the Empire and exploitation

'Tea Leaves' (1888-91) Interpretation

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- York Art Gallery had the painting 'Tea Leaves' on display, which has formed the base of our investigation into the relationship between British tea culture, and women's spaces.

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'Tea Leaves' by Alma Broadbridge

Wallpaper... an added bonus

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When visiting the Art Gallery temporary exhibition abut 18th and 19th century wallpaper, we realised that some of the designs could feature as graphic design elements in our website.
The decadence of the wallpaper fitted in with our desire to explore how women created luxurious spaces for themselves in the home.
We won't be able to use any William Morris designs due to copyright, but could find archival pieces under CC

During week 3 we started to narrow down our Big Idea

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Reflecting on the themes we explored during our field trip

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Tea Culture as a way to communicate and connect
Women are visible in this area of history - for once men are the invisible ones
Indulgence of tea sets, day dresses, practice of 'visiting' other women, in contrast with the labour of those making the tea, ceramics, sugar, fabric
Subtext of Empire in the products used to create tea rituals

Our initial Big Idea

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Subject: the female experience of tea culture in the 18th and 19th Century

Action: tea culture as a space for female connection and escape

Consequence: we still use tea as a community builder - the past continues to influence how we connect

We then worked on our first object shortlist

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Considering Loan Objects

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Thinking about the tone and voice of our labels

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After looking at all of our labels, we realised that we needed to consolidate our Big Idea, and reconsider exactly what we wanted to examine.

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This led us to rethink our voice

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Adding and changing our objects

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Megan and I focused on drafting and re-drafting labels

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Delegating tasks

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We applied Elena's feedback:

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Brandon experimented with visual design

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Rethinking the order of our objects

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Adding more criticality to labels

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I wrote the ALT text for our images.

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Following the Royal National Institute of Blind People's guidelines on writing ALT text effectively

Thinking about using multiple senses

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Searching for CC sound effects, and editing them in Audacity

An example sound effect, which I edited for length and to reduce pauses

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This would have been paired with 'The Gossips' to give a more tactile sensory experience to viewing the painting.

This helps to bring back some of the materiality to the online images of the objects. They can seem almost 2D if the other sense aren't engaged.

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I ensured all the SFX used were part of the creative commons license, and checked which deeds they were under.

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Overcoming copyright issues

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We realised that the teapot we had been using to discuss the Suffragette's tea parties didn't have a copyright free image. I looked through the Creative Commons image portal (https://openverse.org/search/?q=suffragettes&license_type=commercial,modification), until I came across this teapot from Birmingham Museum. By using this image instead, we could keep our original interpretive label, with a few changes, and could still highlight a really interesting aspect of tea party history. This is the second of our two "loans".

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We met to talk through each label, then worked on them over the next week. We added comments for everyone to see, editing the interpretation as we went along. Once we had a full draft, we spent a lot of time editing the labels to bring them into the character count (around 750 characters), and thinking about how didactic our tone was. It was difficult to find a balance between being informative, but not authoritative.

Jocelyn got started on the event notice and press side of the project

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Our first shortlist of objects from YMT

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We tried to find objects that we could use to talk about both tea culture and colonial connections.

Image issues...

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We realised that most of the images from York's fashion collection were of poor quality; not on mannequins, blurry, had unattractive backgrounds. Megan got in touch with the social history curator, asking for some more information on the tea cups she'd found, and if there were any more photos.

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I offered to take updated photos with the garments properly mounted on garments. Unfortunately, the staff at York didn't have the time or resources to facilitate this, but did offer to let me volunteer on their digitisation projects in the future. This made us reconsider how relevant the dresses were to our narrative, which then made us rethink the overall big idea.

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Our first exhibition order, mapping out the ideas brought up by each object.

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A close up

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I found this painting - 'The Gossips' - in York's fine art collection. We were excited to realise that the term 'gossip' was used in the same way in the late 19th century as it is today - it had to go into the exhibition!

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We decided to remove one of the tea cups, and replace it with a tea pot that was a Wedgewood imitation. This was a more organic connection to class and tea than the previous object, which we'd just made assumptions about.

We had settled on all of our objects and labels. It was time to think about the other aspects of the project

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We reordered the objects after more feedback from Elena, who asked us to try and find clearer connection in the previous middle section of the exhibition. With this new lay out, the connections between objects felt more obvious. Opening with '5 o'clock Tea' also felt like a more natural starting place, as it contextualises the idea of the tea party for the viewer straight away.

Our first attempt at label writing

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Our first label drafts considered using the perspective of a Victorian house maid to interpret the items. We thought that having a character that was slightly removed from the tea party could create an interesting dynamic between the maid and the viewer's judgement of the middle class women. We all wrote the labels separately, and found that our tones varied a lot. From here, we realised that writing together or delegating would be a better tactic.

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We thought about comparing Chinese fan culture with British fan culture after Brandon revealed that historically, men gave fans as gifts to male friends in China. We would have compared this fan to an ivory fan in York's collection.

A more successful loan

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Brandon found this excellent example of a late 19th Century tea party, which would enable us to discuss the female role of the hostess within these settings.

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I added references to literature and a slightly more questioning tone to the labels.

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In the last few weeks of term (9 and 10), we started looking into the Wordpress.

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This was an area that Brandon had more experience in, and he worked hard to create a page that was engaging without being overstimulating. We wanted some interactive elements, so he came up with the idea of using icons to represent objects, which would link to our interpretive labels.

I found some fascinating journal articles about knowledge structures and gossip...

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Karen Adkins' book 'Gossip, Epistemology and Power: Knowledge Underground' (2017) comprehensively researches gossip. Despite being a practice that spans time and space, gossip has been understudied and undervalued. Her research challenges the idea that gossip is useless, proving that it's a valuable tool for understanding the world and spreading knowledge.

All of the SFX with their CC deeds and credits

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Eventually the sound effects didn't get used on the wordpress, as they weren't compatible with our layout. However, it was still a helpful exercise in thinking more widely about how online audiences can interact with objects.

Quiz time!

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We'd planned to have an interactive activity within our exhibition from the start of this process, and Brandon created a Buzzfeed-style quiz that we could use. Using paintings from York Art Gallery, the quiz would allow visitors to see what kind of 19th century lady they'd be whilst exposing them to a larger range of York Art Gallery's collection. We had some challenges with paywalls, but found a short term solution by having 10 'visitors' to the quiz for free, before having to pay.

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I advised Brandon to change some of the title colours of the images on Wordpress so that they'd have a higher contrast to the backgrounds, and would be easier to read. This was a quick fix, but made a difference to how accessible our content was.

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We had a few problems with uploading our images, but quickly realised that the storage on the Wordpress site was full. After this was changed, we no longer had a problem and could upload our final pieces.

After this, we had our final feedback session with Elena, and she was very happy with the final product.

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We asked a few quick questions about Wordpress, and for any last advice on our labels, but she was happy that they were accessible and not too technical.

We had finished our project!

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We had a quick meeting to discuss the upcoming presentation, and waited for the official launch date to come around. We were so pleased with how our exhibition had turned out, but had also really enjoyed working together as a group.

Press - writing the Instagram post

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I made sure the group was happy with the Instagram post I'd written, so it would be ready to send off on the deadline. Having looked at previous year's posts, I picked the three objects that I thought best summarised our project, and could catch users attention. Megan and I then came up with some quotes for Jocelyn's news story.

I advised Jocelyn on writing the Events Notice

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I helped her to find the right phrases to express our intentions, and advised her on the copyright for the images.

Peer reviewing our work

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I met up with Yuting on the Friday of week 10 for our peer review session, which would form the base on question 4 of our assessment.

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With our Big Idea narrowed down, we decided that the voice we had previously thought about - the maid - wouldn't work. With our idea having links to modern internet culture, we needed a more neutral tone with modern facets, rather than a voice rooted in the past.

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It was helpful to see our exhibition through a visitor's eyes. Yuting emphasised how engaging our project was, saying that the design really drew her in and encouraged her to explore the page in depth. We both made some notes on each other's thoughts; we were both enthusiastic about our work, and the experience of peer-reviewing was really positive.

The final presentation

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On Monday the 9th December all of the groups met up to give their final presentations of their process, before the exhibitions went live on the 11th.

Notes made after the session

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'Pouring Tea' audio, which I edited for length and clarity.

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This sound effect would have been paired with the Wedgewood imitation teapot.

The official exhibition launch page:

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Feedback

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We had some interesting feedback from other groups and from the mentors. In particular it was highlighted that our title did well to connect a modern-day audience to a topic that's rooted in the past. The mentors were also intrigued that the topic of our project was communication, and the module was about communicating. Very meta!

Final Reflections:

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Bringing a Big Idea to life was a challenge, but presented many opportunities for learning, reflection, and connection. By working with a topic that we were all truly passionate about, we were able to create an exhibition that communicated our enthusiasm effectively to the visitors. We were able to try out new skills and strengthen old ones, and collaborated as a team successfully.

Please remember to scroll down too! Thank you.

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Bibliography

ed19ard — 2024-12-18 16:26:46 UTC

Adkins, Karen, Gossip, epistemology, and power: knowledge underground, (Palgrave macmillan, 2017)

Arts and Culture Google, Republican-China Folding Fan with Calligraphy by Chu Deyi Front, 2024, Arts & Crafts Museum Hangzhou Google Arts & Culture, https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/republican-china-folding-fan-with-calligraphy-by-chu-deyi/3QGue1tGC9oGCA [Accessed 21/10/24].

Beyle, Pierre M, The Gossips, 1876, ART UK, online photograph, https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-gossips-8002/search/2024--keyword:the-gossips--referrer:global-search [Accessed 18/11/24].

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Tea pot, Women’s Social and Political Union 1996 E2.96, 1905 – 1914, Copyright Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Creative Commons, ‘About CC Licenses’, CC, https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/ [Accessed 25/11/24].

Duffield, Anna, Anna, Jocelyn, Megan and Brandon, 2024, online photograph, taken by author.

Duffield, Anna, Mapping our skills and ideas, 2024, online photograph, taken by author.

Duffield, Anna, Week 2 meeting- bringing together ideas, 2024, online photograph, taken by author.

Duffield, Anna, Fashion, 2024, online photograph, taken by author.

Duffield, Anna, Ceramics and decorative arts, 2024, online photograph, taken by author.

Duffield, Anna, ‘Tea Leaves’ (1888-91) Interpretation, 2024, online photograph, taken by author.

Duffield, Anna, Reflecting on the themes we explored during our field trip, 2024, online photograph, taken by author.

Duffield, Anna, Our Initial Big Idea, 2024, online photograph, taken by author.

Duffield, Anna, Our first exhibition order, 2024, online photograph, taken by author.

Duffield, Anna, A close up, 2024, online photograph, taken by author.

Erbsland-Music, Pouring Tea, 2010, online sound effect, https://freesound.org/people/Erbsland-Music/sounds/105383/ [Accessed 25/11/24].

Garuda1982, Washing Up, 2019, online sound effect, https://freesound.org/people/Garuda1982/sounds/462229/ [Accessed 25/11/24].

Gogin, Alma (née Broadbridge), Tea Leaves, 1888-1891, ART UK, online photograph, https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/tea-leaves-8650/view_as/grid/search/2024--keyword:tea-leaves--collections:york-museums-trust/page/1 [Accessed 14/10/24] Copyright York Museums Trust (York Art Gallery).

Knifton, Rob and Swithenbank, Laura, ‘Interpretations 2024 Brief’, 24/25 ARTF5253M Interpretations (35680), < https://minerva.leeds.ac.uk/ultra/courses/_560924_1/outline> [Accessed 1/10/24]

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Stewart, Julius Leblanc, Five O’Clock Tea, 1883-4, Sotheby’s, online photograph, <https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/19th-century-european-art/julius-leblanc-stewart-five-oclock-tea> , [Accessed 21/10/24].

Teng, Zichen. Visiting York Museums Trust, 2024, online photograph, taken by author.

University of Leeds, ‘Spilling the Tea: How stereotypes of modern female gossip emerged from Georgian tea parties’, 2024, Centre for critical Studies in museums, Galleries and Heritage, < https://ccsmgh.leeds.ac.uk/events/spilling-the-tea-how-stereotypes-of-modern-female-gossip-emerged-from-georgian-tea-parties/> [Accessed 11/12/24].

University of Leeds, ‘Interpretations 2024 – online exhibitions’, 2024, School of fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, < https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/fine-art/events/event/3301/interpretations-2024-online-exhibitions> [Accessed 11/12/24].

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York Museums Trust, Teapot YORYM: 2001.8328.a-b, 1810-1830, Copyright York Museums Trust (Yorkshire Museum).