Solent gets hands-on with humanities

Solent University partnered with the University of Southampton, Nuffield Theatres Southampton and the John Hansard Gallery to deliver a day of fun humanities orientated activities for all the family. Local residents, staff and students got involved, celebrating the humanities through a series of free workshops, exhibitions and film screenings.

This was the first year Hands-on Humanities Day has taken place within the city’s cultural quarter, allowing local organisations to collaborate and provide open access to a variety of venues, while showcasing their unique offerings.

Solent was proud to be among those taking part. We ran a series of activities for all the family, including a show reel of work by students from the BA (Hons) Television Production course and a photo exhibit ‘people and place’ by our BA (Hons) Photography students’ work

Dr Atsuhide Ito, Course Leader for BA (Hons) Fine Art at Solent also ran a build a paper tower exercise. Throughout the afternoon, families took part in constructing a structure out of paper and tape. The model, which took many forms during the day, enabled people to explore how versatile and resourceful a basic material like paper can be.

Commenting on the activity, Atsuhide said: “The activity allowed the public to take part in a fun and interactive activity, which without any barriers enabled them to explore their creative side. Paper is often considered a support surface to which marks are made and paint is applied, as opposed to being the object itself. It was great to see the end result and I hope families will consider recreating this at home, re-using paper before it reaches the recycling bin.”

Solent’s support of Hand-on Humanities Day is one of a number of key city events that the University supports. Further details on how to get involved can be found on our community pages.