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PICKERING MUSEUM VILLAGE VIRTUAL EXHIBIT
Pickering Museum Village Receives Funding for aVirtual Ex
A new project is underway at Pickering Museum Village.
The museum received $100,400 from the Digital Museum of Canada and $33,000 from Young Canada Works to create a free virtual exhibit and educational resource. The website will invite users to explore the evolution of blacksmithing in Ontario and includes curriculum links and lesson plans for grades 7-12.
Available in both English and French, the website will feature an interactive timeline that takes users on a journey from the 1860s to today to discover how blacksmiths adapted their trade to meet the changing needs of their communities. The website will launch December 2022.
“It is fascinating to see the change from small rural smithy to blacksmithing as an art form.” says Ellen Tayles-Armstrong of the Pickering Museum Village. “The Greenwood Blacksmith Shop at the museum, for example, was used as an art studio by artist Bill Lishman after the last village blacksmith retired in 1959. This website will give new life to stories such as these in a fun and exciting new way.” Andrew Mullins, the Project Coordinator, has this to say about the project. “I am very honoured to be a part of this project. It’s an innovative teacher resource highlighting an important part of Ontario’s history. It also helps celebrate the renovation of our 175-year-old blacksmith shop at Pickering Museum Village. The Pickering Museum Village is passionate about bringing Pickerings’ past to life by utilizing the latest in media technology to resonate with emerging generations in Pickering and beyond.”
The Museum Village has partnered with five partner sites, including Fanshawe Pioneer Village, Westfield Heritage Village, Lang Pioneer Village, Grey Roots Museum and Archives, and Fleming College to individually represent an era of blacksmithing in the timeline.
The website includes dynamic videos of blacksmiths solving design and technological challenges using the tools and methods of their assigned time period.
Accompanying teacher resources include lesson plans that link to history, science, and art curriculum. Various activities are included, such as an archival scavenger hunt, a blacksmithinginspired sculptural art project, and a text-based adventure game.
al Exhibit
Andrew Mullins Project Coordinator, Pickering Museum Village
A “Blacksmith’s Toolbox” will serve as an interactive virtual archive for users, exhibiting various artifacts and tools that illustrate the changing technology of the trade.
The website will be available in the new permanent on-site exhibit in the Greenwood Blacksmith Shop at the museum through a touch screen television. This will add an innovative use of technology in the space and provide additional historical background on blacksmithing.
The new exhibit, opening June 1, 2022, will explore wagon making at the turn of the century. Families and kids will be able to learn about three trades- metalworking, woodworking and painting through exhibit activities such as forging a horse shoe, shoeing a horse, assembling a wagon, and adding to a community paint-by-number.
“The Pickering Museum Village is excited to launch both the website and the on-site exhibit during the year that we celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Greenwood Blacksmith Shop,” says Ms. TaylesArmstrong. Museum staff have an amazing lineup of new programs and workshops for children and adults set for summer 2022.
