The school holidays are here and that means more Family Fun at The Sir Duncan Rice Library!
The theme for our Family Fun sessions for these October holidays are the Georgians, to link in with our current exhibition Print Shop Window: An exhibition of Visual Satire. The exhibition is full of satirical prints showing caricatures of Georgian life, from the extreme fashion “monstrosities” of the Regency period to the skullduggery and corruption of 18th century politics. Yesterday families turned themselves into ‘Gorgeous Georgians’ by making fans and quizzing glasses (a kind of precursor to the monocle), essential fashion accessories for 18th century ladies and gentlemen.
Did you know that fans were not only a means of keeping cool in hot and crowded ballrooms, but were also used to communicate secret messages from one person to another? Usually the messages were between a lady and a gentleman, and a lot of the signals are to do with love affairs. For example, if you placed your fan near your heart it meant “I love you”, but if you wanted to put off an unwanted suitor, you might twirl your fan in your right hand, signalling “I love another”. You can see a hilarious pastiche of the fan language in the “Horrible Histories” Georgian video.
Check out some photos below of yesterday’s workshop:
Gorgeous Georgians? Lynsey and I look more like grotesque Georgian Gorgons!
Next Wednesday we’ll be embracing the grotesque even further by making caricature sculptures. Come along to the Sir Duncan Rice Library between 1 and 4 pm and make your own funny face sculpture. The session is free and drop-in, and you will find us behind the gallery in the events space.
Posted by: Sarah
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