Baby Fridays 

Baby Fridays were drop in sensory play sessions for babies and parents. Each session responded to a different painting or exhibition in the galleries collection and would begin in one of the exhibition spaces and then move into the learning studios where I created sensory instalations based on the themes that we had been exploring in the exhibition.

I ran these sessions for several months in 2016.

Impressionist Baby

For this session I took inspiration from Adolphe Valette’s impressionistic paintings of edwardian Manchester focusing on his use of Reflections, Lights and Fog. I built an installation in the learning studio with this in mind, inviting participants to use various optical filters to alter their vision as well as thinking about the sounds of the city through various textures and instruments.

Edwardians Exhibition

This months Baby Friday I responded to the collection of family portraits in the gallery's Edwardian exhibition. Following the abrupt urbanisation and industrialisation of the Victorian era the Edwardians craved green. Nostalgia for the countryside combined with a strong domestic focus leading to an upsurge of pastoral images of idealised country living.

In the gallery I invited parents to play with doilies creating lacy costumes for their babies. For the installation in the learning studio I focused on the various sensory elements of the paintings with particular focus on the sensation of exploring textures with feet and also on the herbaceous fragrances of the countryside. Within the installation were a verity of herbs and other aromatic plants such as thyme, lavender and pine. There was also clay and moss with mellow earthy smells and which families enjoyed toddling through.

Winter Edwardians 

For this months Baby Friday we looked at the winter paintings in the Edwardians exhibition.

In the exhibition I invited parents to create snowflakes using tissue paper and in the learning studio I created an installation that focused on hot and cold, with balls of ice and crunchy flour snow, a fire fan and an ice cave.

Winter Fuel 

This months Baby-Friday was based on 'Winter Fuel' by John Everett Millais.

The session encouraged participants to consider themes of harvest and stocking up for winter in a sensory environment designed with autumn in mind.