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art

Guest Blog: Artist in Residence at Work

Peter Driver, our Artist-in-Residence has written posts at his blog about the work that he has been doing with us up at Basing House while we were excavating. Peter is part of the team that is working now to develop a travelling exhibition all about the excavation.  We’ll keep you updated with our plans here on our blog. I’ve copied Peter’s posts below, but please do visit his excellent blog here: http://reflectivediscontent.blogspot.co. Continue reading →

Meet the Team – Michael Davies

Michael Davies I’ll be attending between the 29th and the 31st to help out and work with Peter on making little prints, probably woodcuts and monoprints in response to the objects excavated at the site. My work has been of abstract landscapes as of late, so to explore treasures underneath the surface will be an exciting experience and possibly something I can take away with me for inspiration as to where my own work can develop in the future. Continue reading →

On the beauty of ancient objects

On the recent Guardian onartblog Jonathan Jones asks Is Archaeology the New Art. Writing about the British Museum’s two new exhibitions on ice-age art and the ancient sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum, Jones notes how ancient objects are ‘thrilling’ and ‘still fascinate and beguile’. In drawing attention to these distinctive qualities of archaeology, Jones suggests that an emphasis on such attributes is the ‘best way for archaeologists to popularise their research’. Continue reading →

Ice Age Art and the question of sex

There are many old friends in the British Museum’s must-see Ice Age Art exhibition. As a research student in the early 1970s I worked for several months in the Ulmer Museum in southern Germany. Every day on my way into the storerooms to measure more Palaeolithic reindeer teeth I passed the ivory statuette of the Löwenmensch, the Lion-headed-man. There was less of him in those days. His muzzle had not yet been handed in and big chunks of his back were missing. Continue reading →