The ick factor takes over ...

Who knew Alice Franklin and Nicole Berry would be so at home in full body jumpsuits, playing around with eyeballs, exploding volcanoes and icky gloop??

Last Saturday (16 July), they treated a room full of young Puke Ariki visitors to an icky, mucky experience of a lifetime.  Inspired by Stranger Than Fiction's taxidermied and preserved specimens, they spent weeks creating all sorts of goodies that could be put into jars.  There were eyeballs, cauliflower for brains, amazing expanding balls and painted potatoes complete with pipe cleaner arms and legs.  Guaranteed to freak out any mother! 

After exhibition host Adrienne Cessford took the kids down into the show for a look around, they came back to the Education Centre and put their minds to the task of creating the freakiest looking jars they could possibly produce.  Looks like fun!:

 

There was even a paper mache volcano with plastic farm animals, fences and flowing lava!  It was made especially for the event by Discover It's own TeAo, who wanted to get in on the creative fun.  And the kids certainly seemed to be impressed:

Some sort of crazy, gloopy madness was served up in a paddling pool and the kids didn't seem to need any encouragement to get their hands dirty:

The workshop not only provided all sorts of hands-on fun for its young participants, but it also showcased the skills of the talented staff we have at Puke Ariki.  Nicole said it was fantastic to be able to put her early childhood teaching skills to good use, and the artistically inclined Alice said any excuse to paint potatoes was good by her!

Congratulations to the ladies for the tremendous effort put into their first Icky Things in Jars workshop.  Don't forget there is still a chance to get your young one in on the fun ... their second workshop is on Saturday 30 July!

Make the most of it!

'Better Than Beatrice' hat making workshop seen through the wet specimen case

Stranger Than Fiction is just about to enter its final two weeks and they're likely to be busy, what with school holidays and all.  Visitors have been enjoying some fabulous hands-on workshops in the exhibition space, inspired of course by the wonders on display.  The Better Than Beatrice hat making workshop, run by local artist Dale Copeland, resulted in a Mary Rutherford one-off that definitely rivalled Philip Treacy's Royal wedding creation for Princess Beatrice!

Mary's unique headwear was made out of a straw hat and was given some incredible embellishments and fine feather touches.  Hat making was also the order of the day for the Museum Madness workshop, run by Puke Ariki educator Erin Flanigan, on 18 June.  Salvador Brebner and Daisy Johnson certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves as they created hats inspired by the exhibition and wrote accompanying labels. 

The hats from the workshop are still on display in Stranger Than Fiction ... pop over and check them out!

This Saturday's Icky Things in Jars workshop is filling up fast, but there is another one on Saturday 30 July if your young one misses out this weekend.  We also have a second Museum Madness workshop on offer on Saturday 23 July.  Tell all your friends!

Time is running out for Stranger Than Fiction label writing ... unleash those creative impulses and write us a story to rival all others!!!  And if you haven't already, don't forget you can check out some of the label highlights on Puke Ariki's Flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pukeariki/sets/72157626629933899/

On other Ruru business, we're delighted to see that the I Digress ... scavenger hunts are getting more and more popular.  So far over 1,300 scavenger hunts have been undertaken by intrepid Puke Ariki visitors.  No doubt there are many a proud Ruru badge wearers out there in the community!  Your Ruru team is just starting to contemplate writing some new scavenger hunts, so watch this space ...

Label writing on steroids: it's 'Stranger Than Fiction'!

(photo credit: Virginia Winder)

Label writing has officially gone to a whole new level with Puke Ariki's new temporary exhibition, Stranger Than Fiction!  Some staff were caught in the throes of storytelling at the opening on 12 May - either that or the flash blinded Gerard, hence his 'deer caught in headlights' impression!!!

If we do say so ourselves, the show is looking amazing - very theatrical with red walls, velvet pillows, gold lettering and spotlights abounding.  All of the objects in the exhibition are displayed without explanatory labels ... so what are they?  YOU TELL US!

And so people have!  The label boards have been overflowing with amazingly inventive stories, astute observations or pun-tastic plays on words.  Here are a few of our favourites:

Is that a threat??



 The Royal Wedding has certainly been a theme ...

Who doesn't love a pun from a 10 year old??

If you haven't already, get yourselves over there to check it out.  It's not every day you get to write a completely fictitious label about a collection object and display it in an exhibition ... make the most of it!

And if you can't make it to the actual exhibition, you can check out our Stranger Than Fiction set on Puke Ariki's Flickr page: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pukeariki/sets/72157626629933899/ 

Thanks to everyone who helped get Stranger Than Fiction on the floor (with special thanks to Kate Boocock!), and to the staff who helped 'seed' the exhibition on the opening night.  You're AWESOME!

Ruru strikes again

Turns out it's an arduous job being involved in the installation of Ruru personalised labels!  This fact is evidenced by Geoff Parker's rather compromising position as he cleans the inside of the glass case Mikaere Gardiner's label features in.

Despite my tardiness in blogging about the new round of labels, they are up and ready to enjoy!  On the launch night (12 May ... yes, I know, ages ago now!), we had photographs of label writers projected in the temporary exhibition gallery.  Just to give you a taste, here are a few of the faces responsible for the writing of these fabulous musings.

Andrew poses with his wooden rulers

Don't just wait for the lift ... read Dale's label!

So, to give you a rundown, here is the list of new labels and their whereabouts:

In Taranaki Life

Clare O'Connell wrote about the Janet & John books

Cameron Curd wrote about the dentist display

Pam Murdoch wrote about the leather strap

Gerard Beckingsale wrote about a transistor radio

David Harrop wrote about Carrington's chain

Lucy MacFarlane wrote about the cheese display

Jill McKillop wrote about Frank Mace's New Zealand Cross

Mike Nightingale wrote about the survey pegs

In Taranaki Naturally

Te Maari Barham wrote about the clay doorstop dog

Sarah Ede wrote about the 'Wreaking Havoc' display

Karen Moratti-Longstaff wrote about a monarch butterfly

In Takapou Whariki

Mikaere Gardiner drew a graphic representation of a hei tiki

Lisa Tamati wrote about the Kahu toi

In the Taranaki Research Centre

Bill Howard wrote about the camera display

Virginia Winder wrote about the Wells enlarger

Christine Nana wrote about the money in the TSB Bank display

In Discover It!

TeAo Katene wrote about the small Maori kite

Lakshmi Iyer wrote about Maori musical instruments

In the South Wing

Andrew Moffat wrote about the wooden rulers in a drawer below the 398's, level 1

Dale Cousens wrote about the sculpture under the stairs by the lift, ground floor

(disclaimer: sorry about the lack of macrons, I can't figure out how to put them into the blog template!)

What an amazing array of labels.  Check 'em out!!!

Get your strange on!

What's that?  A Magritte bowler hat being taken for a walk???  Stranger Than Fiction is in the run up to final installation and all manner of important things are being worked on.

Missie has been busy welding stuff ...

Leonie has been stinking out the place with spray paint ...

... and Duncan has been vandalising things with his trusty hacksaw!

So far we have had over sixty RSVP's for the Stranger Than Fiction opening and Ruru label launch ... it's gonna be good!  If you haven't already, please RSVP by the end of Tuesday 10 May if you want to secure your food, drink and label writing rights!!!

It's only days away ... see you there!

Preparations are underway!

The Stranger Than Fiction branding has been signed off and posters featuring all manner of unusual and uncommon things are due to start popping up around town.  Doesn't Majesty look incredible??!!

Leonie Smith, who is working for the Exhibitions Team, has been putting her considerable artistic skill and imaginative powers into action as she starts to tackle the mount making requirements for the show.  Here she is pondering over ideas, taking inspiration where she can:

We can testify to the fact that she is doing an AMAZING job and will be displaying some of the Heritage Collection's treasures in ways you could never imagine!

It seems all manner of crazy things happen when you pull these kinds of delights out of the collection.  Objects get mis-labelled as lights:

And wooden hands seem to attack each other with Stanley knives ...

All this and more awaits you on Thursday 12 May from 6pm!  Drop by, down a drink, have a nibble and a natter, marvel at all the magnificent objects on display and WRITE A LABEL!  How often do you get to make up completely fictitious stories about collection objects??  Make the most of it!

And don't forget our fabulous Ruru personalised label writers!  We will be celebrating their literary efforts, patting them on the back and generally admiring them and their wonderfulness (if that's even a word ... I just checked 'Dictionary.com' and it seems to suggest it is!).

SEE YOU THERE!

Ruru presents 'STRANGER THAN FICTION'!

Sorry we've been out of touch for so long!  We had a few things to sort out before enlightening you about our newest Ruru project, but we're good to go now ...

Ruru is happy to announce a brand new project, presented to you in conjunction with Team Heritage.  Label writing is going fictitious!!!

Image courtesy of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

We've borrowed a brilliant exhibition concept from the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and adapted it for Puke Ariki.  In 2009, the Powerhouse staged an exhibition called The Odditoreum.  It involved pulling an intriguing range of 'odd' objects out of the museum's collection and inviting children's author Shaun Tan to write completely fictitious labels for each object.  The museum then invited visitors to write their own imaginative labels and display them for other visitors to enjoy.

Image courtesy of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

The Odditoreum was incredibly successful and resulted in some spectacularly imaginative feats of label writing.  We thought, "that sounds good enough for us!"  So we have adapted the idea for Puke Ariki, choosing a range of unusual, unexplained and uncommon objects from the Heritage Collections.  They will be displayed in the main temporary exhibition gallery while all the foyer redevelopment kerfuffle is going on.  Like in The Odditoreum, the public will be encouraged to write fictional labels about our collection objects.  In case the title of this blog didn't give you a clue, the exhibition is called Stranger Than Fiction and will be opening on Thursday 12 May 2011 from 6pm until 7.30pm. 

Instead of inviting a famous author to write imaginative labels to 'seed' the exhibition, we thought we would extend that courtesy to YOU!!!  You guys have been writing AMAZING object labels, so who needs a children's author to get us started??!!  After the success of the last Ruru launch, we figured you all needed another excuse to get together.  Therefore, we are inviting you (plus partners & kids!) to come on down to the temporary exhibition gallery on Thursday 12 May, have a drink and help us write some fanciful labels to get Stranger Than Fiction underway. 

It will also be an opportunity to recognise and celebrate our new round of personalised label writers ... we haven't forgotten about you, we promise!  AND it was going to be the temporarily displaced iSITE's housewarming party, but word on the street is their move into the temporary exhibition gallery has been postponed by a few weeks.  But we can still have a drink in their honour anyway!

So join us on Thursday 12 May to marvel at our amazingly unusual collection objects and to write us some awesome labels.  Let your imagination run riot ... the stranger the better!

(and here's just a little taste to whet your appetite):

What is it???

What is it used for???

Eeeek!!!  That looks scary!

(or at least Stranger Than Fiction!)