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Lina Peterson is making Imagined Objects of Desire at University of Nottingham Museum

1 October - 17 December 2010

Lina Peterson creates objects of desire using archaeological fragments

The University of Nottingham Museum holds archaeological artefacts from the Palaeolithic age to the Post Medieval period, excavated in the East Midlands and from the Mediterranean. They reflect the everyday lives of people, including jewellery, hairpins, Roman shoes; and a Roman pottery collection of international significance. 

Lina Peterson created imaginative pieces of contemporary jewellery, ‘hybrid-objects’, taking the University’s collections as a starting point. The pieces were both thoughtfully researched and playful. Lina’s items were replicas of ancient objects, with contemporary additions. She worked with beautifully preserved artefacts on display in the University of Nottingham Museum and also with incomplete fragments, often with an unknown function, from the stores. Lina took casts from the originals to recreate them in bronze and silver, using the lost-wax technique. She then added new elements in a variety of materials. Exhibited in cases beside the ancient objects that inspired them, the work that Lina produced offers a new and individual interpretation of items in this museum.

The University of Nottingham Museum was named Museum of the Year 2010 at the annual Nottinghamshire Renaissance Heritage Awards. The awards are held annually and supported by Renaissance East Midlands. The Museum of the Year is awarded to a museum that has excelled in all areas of museum work and development. The University Museum was also shortlisted for the best exhibition, best event, and for its work with children and young people in the county.

Lina exhibited her project alongside pieces for sale at Lustre the annual Craft Fair at the Lakeside Art Gallery on the same campus at Nottingham University as the museum. Lakeside has been an active partner with the Museum in the museumaker project. Lina held two workshops on 13 and the 14 November during Lustre at Lakeside arts centre. Most of the participants had no previous experience of jewellery making and only two of the participants had heard of or visited the museum before. The sessions worked well as a quick induction to simple jewellery making techniques that could be carried on at home and gave the participants new skills and confidence in using them.

During Lustre Lina was also invited by CraftNet to talk with Lesley Beale from Lakeside about the museumaker commission: 20 craft curators.

The Objects of Desire commission will travel to Sweden to be exhibited at one of the main Museums of decorative arts, the Rohsska Museum in Gothenburg, in 2011.

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Take part: For the participatory project, Lina worked with older people, encouraging exploration of the stories behind objects in the Museum’s collection, and relating the techniques and materials used in their making to those used in contemporary craft today.  

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