I am passionate about museums, always striving to bring the collections to life, making them exciting and accessible. I am highly motivated to engage and inspire a broad range of visitors through creative displays.
Throughout my museum roles I have developed a wide range of skills. It is in my nature to be proactive, and I am always keen to learn. I communicate effectively and am happy to present leadership skills, enabling me the capacity to deliver projects on time. I am comfortable using my own initiative; however, I enjoy the development that comes from working as part of a team.
I am currently working on the next blockbuster exhibition at the Natural History Museum. It is a highly collaborative project, working alongside interpretation, technical production, project managers, conservation, as well as scientists, and external contractors. Thoughout my position I have developed the exhibtions key design principles, conveying these through vision boards to stakeholders. I have worked in close partnership with the interpretation team on both showcase design and exhibit design and I have collaborated with exhibit producers and technical production to develop and produce exhibits.
In this role I produced temporary exhibitions and permanent displays for Norwich Castle Museum; NMS's flagship museum. I designed a gallery for the project, Royal Palace Reborn, a £15 million project supported by NLHF due to open in 2025. The gallery is in partnership with The British Museum and I worked alongside, curators, learning, conservation, and collections from both institutions, to deliver the project aims. The last two exhibtions I designed for NMS were, The Last Voyage of the Gloucester: Norfolk's Royal Shipwreck, 1682 and Norwich Works: The Industrial Photography of Walter and Rita Nurnburg. These exhibitions were both in collaboration with the University of East Anglia.
During my time in this position I worked on various exhibitions and displays for the 9 museums under NMS. These projects have included partnerships with Yale Centre for British Art, Young V&A and Arts Council Collection. Designing exhibitions for The Singh Twins to The British Art Show. Through all these projects I worked closely with curators and learning officers to ensure the vision and outcomes are delivered. Also working alongside conservation and collections management, caring for the collections and loans, following the museum code of ethics. During projects I communicate my designs to technicians and contractors making sure that I get the desired product and build.
Within this role I produced and maintained displays, using my own initiative or from drawings supplied, using a range of materials and skills. Undertaking technical tasks such as moving, hanging, pinning, mounting, unpacking, and packing objects. Making sure I follow health and safety procedures and guidelines within the museums. Working with curators, designers, and conservators to deliver high standard exhibitions and displays.
I was acting head technician between May 2019 - September 2019.
I operated the day to day running of various sites. I filled in when other members of staff were on annual leave or off sick. Sometimes this meant I would start the morning at one site and had to move to another location if the need was greater. This job gave me the ability to slot into different teams and into different roles. My duties included stock control, resource planning and end of day/week financial management. Ensuring that company policies and procedures were adhered to and making sure that health and safety was a priority.
This was a fantastic opportunity to gain experience working in a school. My main duty was to provide support and personal development for the students at Ellis Guilford School, (Basford, Nottingham). This was while acting as a positive role model and increasing awareness of higher education. During my placement I gave a presentation to the students on my university project work.
I was serving high-profile people who had been personally invited by Delia Smith. I needed to make sure that I was friendly, courteous, and efficient as there was only a couple of hours to deliver a four-course meal prior to kick-off. In my 12 years working at Norwich City Football Club, I had also delivered service for to up to 550 customers at one off events, as well as working in the kiosks at half time. As a supervisor I always made sure I was driving team motivation and commitment, while enforcing policy, procedures and health and safety.
This level 4 work-based diploma was established by the V&A and Icon. It promotes professional standards and practice in conservation and collections care. The course allowed me to demonstrate new and existing skills and competencies. Throughout the course I documented all my day-to-day work as well as fulfilling new practices to meet the specified criteria. This was collected though, videos, images, PDP logs and written documents. I also delivered a 'Pecha Kucha' which is a Japanese style of presentation, where you talk for 20 seconds on each of your chosen 20 slides.
This 8-week course was taught at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, under the UEA. It focused on different areas of Art History. They included: The Art of Japan, Dutch Paintings, and African Art and Culture. I chose the print, Under the Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai to be the subject of my final assessment.
Decorative Arts is a fusion of applied art, design, and studio-crafts. The course offered a unique opportunity to explore, develop and create with a variety of traditional and modern materials, including ceramics, glass, metal, paper, plastic, textiles and wood. In my final year I specialised in glass and ceramics. My dissertation explored The Concept of Revivals, with the focus on the Volkswagen Beetle.
This level 4 diploma was an introduction to the main areas of 2D and 3D Art and Design. I learnt a wide range of processes and techniques to help me widen and develop my skills within this subject, while building a substantial portfolio of work.
Previous qualifications available on request.