Hertford Museum Blog

Holly, the museum development Project Assistant and chief of balloons!

Eleanor Payne, Learning Officer, trying to draw in the crowds!

 Then on Tuesday it was all hands on deck!  Children and adults alike flocked to look and handle the fabulous fossil and mineral specimens we brought from the museum and rockwatch collections.

Susan from Rockwatch is inundated straightaway with young geologists keen to find out more about her wonderful objects...

Margaret brought a case of objects from Hertford Museum's collections

Margaret brought a microscope for children to get a little closer to the fossils and minerals, which proved very popular indeed for youngsters!

Teresa from Hertford Library came along to share fossil and dinosaurs stories, picture books and non-fiction books. Storytime was lively and popular with the children as well as the adults!

Geraldine from Rockwatch (in front) and Janet, a Museum volunteer are busy straightaway!

Visitors could also enjoy a cup of tea or coffee, crafty activities and making their own plaster of paris fossil to take home.

Dress up, share memories and find out about life on Hertford's Home Front

Head 1974 etching and drypoint (CGM 228) Reproduced by permission of the Henry Moore Foundation

An exhibition of Henry Moore’s much-loved sheep etchings is coming to Hertford Museum next year.  The Sheep will be the first temporary exhibition the Museum will host  when the doors re-open  in March 2010 after major refurbishment.

Etchings, sculpture and other related items are being kindly loaned by the Henry Moore Foundation based at the artist’s former home in Perry Green, Much Hadham.

Henry Moore’s representation of sheep are among the most popular of his works.  He sketched the animals as they grazed in the fields surrounding his Hertfordshire studios.  His monumental bronze sculpture ‘Sheep Piece’ (LH 627) crafted in the early 1970s, was inspired by the sheep around him. 

Henry Moore with Sheep Piece at Perry Green in 1977. Reproduced with permission of the Henry Moore Foundation

Moore studied his subjects well, writing in 1980: ‘I began to realise that underneath all that wool was a body, which moved in its own way and that each sheep had its individual character.’

We at Hertford Museum are very excited at having this temporary exhibition as our opening debut.  As well as the sheep etchings, this exhibition will include a selection of related sculpture and found objects.

To find out more about the Henry Moore Foundation please visit www.henry-moore.org