International rock art expert Stan Beckensall compares Hannah's work to its ancient inspiration. © North News and Pictures.
Written in Stone?, on show at the Museum of Antiquities in Newcastle until January 8 2005, presents a series of colourful contemporary cast glass sculptures on display alongside fragments of ancient rock carvings.
Taking their inspiration from their Northumbrian ancestors, the modern work was created by a group of young people from Greenfield School, Newton Aycliffe.
"This is a really unusual project which has reaped enormous benefits, both for the schoolchildren and for the museum," explained Lindsay Allason-Jones, Director of Archaeological Museums at Newcastle University.
"We jumped at the opportunity to get involved, because we saw this as a way of engaging people all around the region with our collections, and it has also enabled us to creatively display this exciting new work alongside our existing exhibits, giving them a new dimension too."
Supported by a grant of £11,250 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Written in Stone? project has taken seven months to complete.
From the very beginning, through to its climax in the galleries of the Museum of Antiquities, it has been a joint venture involving schoolchildren, archaeologists, local experts, teachers, museum staff and an artist.
© North News and Pictures.
First off, international rock art expert Stan Beckensall introduced the group to some of Northumberland's wealth of prehistoric rock art.
He took them to visit rock art sites at Roughting Linn and Chatton Park Hill, both sites famed for their mysterious 5,000-year-old cup-and-ring markings.
"We purposefully asked the students and their teacher not to do any previous research" said Stan. "The whole idea of the project was to get the students' immediate response to the landscape and the rock art. The symbolism is very powerful, and when you encounter rock art for the first time, there is a great sense of discovery."
The group then joined cultural geographer Dan Knox of the University of Sunderland, who encouraged them to explore their everyday surroundings and local heritage by studying the landscapes of Newton Aycliffe.
Leading them on a visit to their local shopping centre, Dan helped the group take a fresh look at familiar surroundings.
They examined modern signs and symbols and were encouraged to think about the many different meanings that could be taken from contemporary urban spaces.
© North News and Pictures.
Recording their experiences through drawings, paintings, photographs, maps and beach art, the youngsters then took part in a workshop at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland.
With help from glass artist Kathryn Hodgkinson they turned their research and designs into cast glass sculpture.
"What was really interesting was that none of the pupils simply created a two-dimensional replica of the prehistoric rock art they saw." said teacher Sharon Simpson.
"They each interpreted it differently, some affected by the location, others by the circular markings. They were intrigued by the fact that we no longer know what these marks mean, what they are meant to signify or why they were placed in specific locations."
"It made the pupils question everyday symbols in their own town centre," she added. "Did they have just a local understanding, or a universal meaning? Would people understand them in thousands of years from now or are they only important today?"
After it closes at the Museum of Antiquities in January, Written in Stone? will go on show at the Greenfield Community and Arts Centre in Newton Aycliffe.
