OUGD603 - Evaluation of Work Experience - Christmas at Harewood: Dreams of the 1920s by Simon Costin

Evaluation of Work Experience - Christmas at Harewood: Dreams of the 1920s by Simon Costin

During the experience I helped with a variety of tasks on different days with new things arising all the time. This highlighted the need to be flexible and adaptable to things that might need doing. The role was hands on and always changing.  

It was interesting to see how the theme could be carried across the house, with the exhibition spread out over half of the rooms within Harewood. The rooms were supposed to be viewed in a certain order to create a narrative for the viewer about the boys as they journey around the House. This combined with the visual and conceptual links to Harewood House made it original and meaningful for Harewood, allowing the public to engage with the story and the house in a new way. This also made the Christmas exhibition more interesting and different from other Christmas Exhibitions at the time.

It was interesting to see how Simon worked, with him acting as Art Director for the whole exhibition and his team helping him with the creation of main pieces within the exhibition. Volunteers were also overseen by him for the making of certain parts of the exhibition throughout the installation.

Working in such a historic and beautiful setting was enjoyable as the place had lots of heritage and I was learning new things about the place all the time.

The attention to detail within the production of the elements was amazing and that craft element is something I enjoy, such as when I helped with the lino printing of the wrapping paper. The use of props within the exhibition was imaginative and an interesting interpretation of the story of the two boys and the links to Harewoods history.

The experience highlighted how much goes into producing an exhibition and the importance of collaboration between people, especially on such a large scale. To create the exhibition it was a joint effort between Simon and his team who dealt with design and concept of the exhibition, the management teams within Harewood, volunteers and other staff, who all worked together to install the exhibition as well as get the House and Grounds ready for reopening for the public. Lots of different people were working together on different aspects of the exhibition and preparing the house / grounds for reopening, with this highlighting the importance of delegation of roles and time planning when working with lots of people.