Theresa

Flashback Friday: Inside the Collection

For Flashback Friday we are taking this month’s theme of discovery to a new level, exploring the whole of space and time, looking back at an Inside the Collection post: Fifty Years n the TARDIS: the golden anniversary of Doctor Who.

For Flashback Friday this week we are taking this month’s theme of discovery to a new level, exploring the whole of space and time, and looking back at a past Inside the Collection post: Fifty Years n the TARDIS: the golden anniversary of Doctor Who.

Interactive prototype in Stage 1 (1981) housed in a pavilion in the form of the TARDIS from the TV series Dr. Who

Since Kerrie’s post in 2013, it has now been 58 years since the first screening of the iconic British science fiction television series Doctor Who in the UK on November 23, 1963. The adventures of the nameless wandering time traveller and their British police-box-shaped time machine, the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space), have been shown in countries around the world and become firmly embedded in global popular culture.

Now on to it’s thirteenth series, since the programs 2005 program revival, and the thirty-ninth season overall, this series follows the Thirteenth Doctor, the first female reincarnation of the Time Lord, along with her companions as they navigate the universe and deal with enemies and secrets from the Doctor’s past.

The post provides details on how in the early days of the Powerhouse project, a TARDIS-shaped cubicle (pictured above) was created to house a prototype design for a computer-based interactive that was the state of the art in its day. This prototype was trialled in the original exhibition mounted in Powerhouse Stage 1 (now the Harwood Building), which opened in 1981.

‘The Mysterious Daleks’ Doctor Who toy figure

It details the three generations of a Dalek toy that the Powerhouse has in its toy collection. And for those volunteers and visitors who visited the SPFX: the secrets behind the screen exhibition at the Museum in 1995, you may recall encountering the genuine full-size BBC Dalek, loaned to the Powerhouse by the Australian office of BBC Enterprises.

The post concludes with an interesting examination of electronic music and sound effects and the contribution of Tristram Cary – for details refer to the post here. Interestingly I learnt that the Powerhouse has a significant collection of his electronic instruments and components that may have been used in the production of his music for Doctor Who.

Flashback Friday: Zoe’s House

This week we take a look back at Zoe’s house – a great interactive and creative space for children.

This week we take a look back at a very popular exhibition space from a few years back – the amazing Zoe’s House.

Zoe’s house was an interactive, educational and creative space for our younger visitors to come and enjoy. Kids were able to put on their construction gear and build the house with the foam pieces, fill and push the carts along the tracks, use the conveyer belt to move foam bricks and steer the large crane overhead.

Steering the crane in Zoe’s House

I have many fond memories of Zoe’s house. It was a an exhibition my son absolutely loved and we made the most of our Powerhouse membership and came here often. He spent many joyous hours wearing his hard hat and hi-vis vest loading the trolleys, transporting the bricks around the exhibit and building away with his friends.

Zoe’s House certainly was an amazing space and a source of many wonderful memories for both young and old.hi-vis

Sharing Stories, Knowledge and the Love of Reading

Sharing stories with our visitors provides many benefits to our visitors as well as for our volunteers.

One of my favourite experiences when out on the floor in the museum is is watching our volunteers engage with visitors during our story-time sessions.

During the Iranzamin exhibition many of our volunteers shared the colourful story of the Prince of Persia during our story-time sessions. These were attended by visitors young and old. Sometimes in intimate settings of one or two visitors and at other times with very large and attentive school groups.

Iranzamin volunteers sharing a Persian story

Benefits of Storytime

Sharing stories with our visitors provides many benefits to our visitors as well as for our volunteers.

For families, storytime allows parents and carers to experience a story with their children. Here they can engage in the story with the reader and reflect on the story later on. Younger children may not be able to read fully on their own, but they love stories! Through reading interactive stories you promote reading and communication skills. As you read by encouraging them to participate, they develop critical thinking skills and expand their vocabulary.

For volunteers sharing a story is such a rewarding and fulfilling experience to share with our visitors. Storytelling provides a great opportunity to impart knowledge and our volunteers have been amazing in relating stories back to objects and exhibitions within the museum. For some volunteers, sharing stories has come naturally and they are full of confidence. For others storytime has been a great experience to grow their confidence and skills.

There have been many times when volunteers have shared their positive storytime experiences with me – from the rewarding experience of having a young child engage and ask lots of questions to having a large group of primary school students captivated and engrossed in the story all the way to the end.

Volunteers sharing a Persian story — Volunteers Tony and Kel sharing a Persian story

16 Strategies for Making Story Time an Interactive Experience

The following tips and tricks, aimed for younger audiences, can be applied when preparing for and conducting storytime.

Select the right story. Choose books that have clear story lines and illustration contexts, age-appropriate themes or topics, rhythmic language, interesting vocabulary, sensitivity to diversity, and themes or objectives related to current study.
Familiarise yourself with the book. Preview the book before reading it aloud. Look at the pictures and be familiar with the story incase you need to paraphrase for younger audiences.
Think about learning opportunities. Identify concepts to develop, vocabulary to discuss, and questions you want to ask.
Print key vocabulary words and illustrations. Use flashcards to introduce and discuss new vocabulary. If possible, include illustrations on the strips of paper for further engagement.
Present the cover. Before reading the book, encourage the children to look at the book cover, describe what they see, and predict what the story is going to be about.
Talk about the author. Discuss the role of the author and illustrator. Bring up important points such as how they work together to create the books you are reading. You could also make the connection that children are also authors and illustrators since they write and draw.
Use your fingers. As you read the book, track the print with your finger or a pointer. This is particularly important if you are reading to a large group.
Ask, ask, ask. Make sure to pause and involve the children by asking them questions about the reading or connection to the reading.
Allot time for children to reflect. Allow the children to reflect on what is happening 1–2 times during the story. Have them recall details or what they think will happen next.
Be expressive. Use facial expressions and voice variations to add excitement to the story. Don’t be afraid to be silly!
Choose appropriate pacing. Pace the story to fit the type of book you’ve picked for storytime. Invite children to participate at the same pace.
Make personal connections. Try to connect the book with the children’s prior knowledge or personal experiences.
Summarise the story After reading the book, review the story plot and help the children to summarise the story. Take time to go over important themes from the story.
Extend storytime. To extend storytime, try using these follow–up activities such as using story maps, word webs, sequencing activities, role play, story retelling with props, or flannel board characters.
Mix it up! Vary the strategies from book to book and from reading to reading. There’s no need to use more than a handful of these strategies with each story. Younger children have an attention span that ranger from 10 to 12 minutes. Once it is exhausted, learning is no longer fun! Keep it exciting!

Adapted from KAPLAN Early Learning Company

Electric Keys: Explore the Keyboards

View and hear the keyboards from the Electric Keys exhibition

The amazing Electric Keys exhibition has recently opened at the Powerhouse on Level 2. For those that haven’t visited the exhibition, did you know you can explore and listen to the exhibition at home?

At the entry to the exhibition, as well as on the hand-out exhibition guide, there is a QR code for visitors to experience the exhibition online from their mobile device.

When you scan this QR code, the link takes you to the Electric Keys website to explore this great collection of keyboards.

Electric Keys Website:
On the website you can view the collection of the keyboards on display in the exhibition and then select to view in-depth details of any keyboard of interest.

Keyboard Details:
For each keyboard there is a description of the object and a link to the MAAS website to view the item online in the collection.

Some keyboards also feature music tracks relating to the instrument being viewed. Here you can listen and download the tracks which also feature in sound snippets in the soundtrack within the exhibition.

The Electric Keys exhibition is certainly an audible and visual treat for the senses.

Flashback Friday: Step into Paradise

Today we Step back into Paradise and explore the colourful exhibition featuring Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson

This past week the ABC featured a documentary Step Into Paradise described as:

The extraordinary story of iconic fashion designers Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson, whose pioneering style created a bold and unashamedly Australian fashion identity. (2020)

You can view the ABC’s Step into Paradise documentary on iView

Exhibition Walkthrough:
The Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson: Step into Paradise exhibition featured at the Powerhouse in 2019.

Take a step back with this short video walk though of this amazing exhibition:

Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson:
In the mid 1970s Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson began to forge a unique vision of Australian dress, one that did not look to the trend-driven fashion mainstream for inspiration but drew on the Australian environment with creativity and flair. When the pair first met in 1973, both felt an immediate connection and Kee began stocking Jackson’s original designs in her flamboyant Flamingo Park Frock Salon in Sydney’s Strand Arcade. Together, with a group of creative collaborators, they showcased their designs in the annual Flamingo Follies fashion parades, transforming Australian fashion with their colourful expressions of the country’s natural and cultural landscape. The Museum houses an extensive record of their partnership and individual careers, including artworks, textiles, photographs, videos, and sketches which can all be accessed via the Museum’s online collection.

The Exhibition:
Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson: Step Into Paradise captures the dynamic energy of the designers and their creative partnership. It draws on more than four decades of one of the most influential pairings in the history of Australian fashion, examining the influences, inspirations and the compelling stories behind their work.

Image of Flamingo Park in the Step into Paradise exhibition

Over 150 garments, textiles, photographs and artworks from the Powerhouse’s own extensive collection are brought together with the designers’ personal archives. Visitors will experience a re-imagination of Jenny Kee’s Flamingo Park Frock Salon originally located at Sydney’s Strand arcade, where the creative partnership between Linda and Jenny began, and where they conceived their annual Flamingo Follies fashion parades.

Step into Paradise highlights the key influences in their creative practice including the Australian bush, Great Barrier Reef, opals and waratahs, branching into their distinctive individual careers through to recent years including Jenny’s costume designs for the Sydney Olympic Games and both designers collaborations with Australian designers Romance Was Born. The exhibition makes visible the dynamic creative energy of Sydney that has been present over generations.

Highlight pieces on display include a suit from Karl Lagerfeld’s first collection for Chanel in 1983 featuring Jenny Kee’s Black Opal print, Linda Jackson’s iconic flower-form Waratah dress, Kee’s Blinky koala jumper, a style famously worn by Diana, the Princess of Wales, a handpainted Gladioli dress by Jackson, worn by Marcia Hines, the spectacular ‘Frida Exotica’ costume designed by Jenny Kee for the arrivals section of the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and Jackson’s ‘Glacier gown and Penguin coat’ worn in Antarctica by Nell Schofield for a Vogue Living assignment.