a trip to the hunterian
Hi guys, this is Jamie Cramb from Cramb in Creative! In this blog I will be talking about when me and some of the team at Creative Stirling went to Glasgow to see the Hunterian museum (sorry if I spelled Hunterian wrong). We went to it to have a look at the amazing art, learn about the history and most importantly gain KNOWLEDGE. So, here’s how everything went down on the day we visited the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, so lets do it.
So, lets first rundown the people who went, it was me, (girl) Sam, (boy/Dr) Sam, and Joe. We took the train from Stirling (just down the road from Made in Stirling) and we got snacks first. I got Irn Bru and mini eggs, and the reason why I am saying this is because this could be last time I have mini eggs for this year because they’re always in shops during Easter time, but I digress. We got on the train, Stirling all the way to Glasgow, but when we got to Glasgow, and I did not know this I thought we were just going now walk after taking the train but no…
We then took THE SUBWAY! Glasgow’s famous, or infamous by my point of view, the clockwork orange subway. Now, I did not enjoy it. It was a bit noisy, very fast, and if you look back you can see the other train cars going side ways because on how fast its going, it almost like a snake! It wasn’t like that fun normal train, no it was like “going off the rails on a crazy train” by Ozzy Osborne type train. Now, I haven’t took the subway before (I think I had once when I was little but that very distant memory of mine) and can I just say I think this subway deserves the title of the clockwork orange subway: chaotic, crazy, and orange.
Anyways, we eventually got to the museum and I think this is a good time to mention its also free entry, so you don’t have to book to go or pay anything you can just go whenever you like. There was one moment me and Joe saw this timer at the bottom of a stairwell of the building, but it turned out it was just a video for the museum. It was kind of funny because we were intrigued on what it was going to do but that was when we realised how massive this part of the museum is, like the stairwell bit was almost like a lighthouse. So, first we all looked at the art exhibit and the first pieces of art work we saw was made by a man named William Hunter, who was a graduate of the university of Glasgow in the 16th century he made lots of paintings and sculptures for the university hundreds of years ago. Fun fact, there were some portraits with no paintings in them because there are some of his and others work from other time periods work still yet to be discovered that’s MIND BLOWING!
The Hunterian museum is also very diverse museum, showcasing work from all across different eras, so maybe soon they find more art work to put on display soon. They ask for viewers of the exhibition’s feedback and to tell them what they thimk is missing/should be represented.
There was also a bit about Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who attend Glasgow University’s art evening classes. This is where he also meet the love of his life, Margret MacDonald, and where they eventually got married and produced paintings, glass, and furniture, exhibiting it all across Glasgow, London and Europe. They had some of their belongings on display, like old letters (that boy Sam couldn’t read), old knifes and forks that people back then used, it was all really cool.
There were more paintings later on. There was one of Jesus after being crucified, one of a woman called Nelly O’ Brien (who was an actress during the 17th century), and one of a man (who shall not be named, all Voldemort style), who lets just say did not like black people, and stole money from them and was a supporter for slavery. How ironic his portrait was next to a modern portrait celebrating black people’s culture… severs him right! Before we went to look at something else I gave him a well-deserved middle finger, racist jerk.
After that we went upstairs. I don’t even know what to say for this next bit but we saw the Derek Jarmin exhibition and heard eerie music coming from the back, and I saw a film with a red filter over a beach with creepy visuals playing on a endless loop. Even though it was quite creepy, it was quite mesmerising which I think is the right way to put it and I gave me a great idea for horror movie actually, so it was pretty inspiring.
After a break for lunch, we then went across the street to another part of the museum, after we took a ride on the slow lift to get moving we reached the top and we saw all sorts of stuff from the past. We saw old coins used by the Romans when Julious Cesar was still alive, we saw the skeleton of the plesiosaur (which some people think that’s what Nessie could be), and timed capsuled dinosaur eggs (which thankfully don’t hatch!), and even body parts, such as hands and spines in jars… they were very gross which gave me chills, like why would people find that cool or interesting?!
Lastly we than found a mummy in a coffin all the way from Egypt. Now this wasn’t a Pharo or a Queen, but a woman who was super rich. They had her jewellery and makeup from back then on show, which showed her wealth as people from middle or lower class families wouldn’t have been able to afford. It was very cool and she was still in the coffin, which very spooky but at the same time very cool that the museum could have this part of history from that far back.
After one more time on the clock work orange train, where this time I was squashing boy Sam because of how fast it was going (sorry boy Sam if your reading this), then back on the normal train back to Stirling.
Our visit to the Hunterian museum was successful and I enjoyed going with the team. It was great going on the train (even if I didn’t enjoy the subway) and The Hunterain museum is filled with all sorts of amazing art work and history, so I highly recommend if you haven’t already been. It’s part of Glasgow University just so you know where to find it, so go check it out if you haven’t already.
Jamie.
