Macbeth in the Museum

In this guest blog from Three Bears Prints, Marliese Richmond writes about running workshops for Perth Museum as part of the Gannochy Trust funded project that is enabling Culture Perth and Kinross to work with a range of schools in and around Perthshire.

Perth Museum has a fantastic exhibition at the moment – Macbeth.  It describes the historical context for Macbeth, and its cultural, global impact.  Although I studied it at school, it has been a long time since I read or watched any of Shakespeare’s plays, so I really enjoyed this exhibition.  It has been a brilliant opportunity to reacquaint myself with its key themes.  I watched the Fassbender version of the play as a result of visiting the exhibition, and I recommend this film highly.  It makes the play very accessible, and the filming of the Scottish landscape is stunning.  Some of the exhibits on display are costumes from this film – their detailing is exquisite.

Staff at the Gannochy Trust Project at Culture Perth and Kinross, asked if I could run some pastel drawing workshops for a number of Primary Schools using the Macbeth exhibition as the inspiration source.  Some of the workshops were photographed by the talented Bartlomiej Masiukiewicz, and some of his photos are featured throughout this post.  I always enjoy working with children, and never cease to be impressed by their boldness and creativity.  I was curious as to how they would respond to Macbeth – whether a play written in the 17th century about events in the 11th century would resonate.  I was amazed by how much they embraced the themes of Macbeth.

Each workshop started with a tour of the exhibition, focusing on the history, and what the children knew about the play and Shakespeare.  We had some great discussions, such as the treatment of women at that time, and the fate of those who were accused of witchcraft.  We looked at the exhibition with our ‘artist hats’ on, and the children were encouraged to find exhibits that inspired them.  I shared with them the pastel drawings I had prepared in response to some of the exhibits.  One which really appealed to me was a poster of Macbeth with his hands covered in blood after murdering King Duncan.  I adapted it to Lady Macbeth, and her descent into madness.  Driven by guilt, she becomes obsessed with washing her hands, and the ‘damned spot’ of blood on her hands.  As you can see, I draw her washing her hands in what is initially water, but which turns into blood.

Although the children were inspired by a whole range of themes in the exhibition, this image in particular spoke to them.  They were adept at preserving the background colour of the paper and presenting the hands in ghostly colours.  They developed their own interpretations:  a shower of blood;  and the knife which killed Duncan causing the ‘spot’. They also experimented with their own techniques:  one girl created her hand drawing by rubbing pastel on her own hand and taking a print, which resulted in an image like an x-ray.  I could honestly write several blog posts about just how creative the children were, and how Macbeth continues to inspire young audiences hundreds of years later.  The Macbeth exhibition at Perth Museum is a must-see!

This blog originally appeared on Three Bears Prints‘ website and reproduced here with permission. See the original blog here.