4. Reimagining
Ancient Greece



Reimagining Ancient Greece (2018-19) was a community curriculum project and temporary exhibition at Belsay Hall, Northumberland (September 2018 - February 2019). The exhibition is a collaboration between Newcastle University and the Great North Museum, working in partnership with Belsay School and English Heritage, and is the result of a Community Curriculum Project looking at the legacy of ancient Greece. The project utilises local historical resources and heritage sites to create a curriculum that encourages creative engagement with the museum collection and meets the specific needs of local children.

I worked to co-develop resources and creative activities for teaching Ancient Greece at Key Stage 2, and delivering children’s art workshops on ancient Greek art. This exhibition (‘Re-imagining Ancient Greece’) is the endpoint of this project; displaying examples of the children’s artwork alongside objects from the Shefton Collection. I was also commissioned to produce artworks to enhance the content of the exhibition. These included ceramics influenced by Ancient Greek forms as well as embossed paper works informed by the Greek motifs found in the interior of the Hall. Benign Decay was a mixed media installation that references Grecian ideals of beauty alongside 19th century ideas of luxury while alluding to the faded aesthetic of classical antiquity made prominent in the empty interiors of Belsay Hall.  


Mark