NB This project was part of the N18 Digital Artist Development Programme as part of the Great Exhibition of the North, 2018.
Video by Alan Fentiman for N18
Do you have a favourite story? Have you ever loved a story so much you just want to keep telling it over and over again?
If you are anything like Thomas Bewick, the great Newcastle engraver, then you will have your own stories you like to tell.
200 years ago, in 1818, Thomas Bewick published a book of his own favourite stories; Aesop's Fables. You might have heard some of them before...
Have you heard the one about the super, speedy, sleepy, snoozy Hare and his slow and steady "wins the race" competitor, the Tortoise?
But have you heard of The Crow and the Pitcher?
Here is Thomas Bewick's engraving of the fable:
Click play to listen to the fable.
Fables are short stories that come with a bit of advice; the moral of the story.
Thomas Bewick thought the moral of The Crow and the Pitcher was:
"What we cannot accomplish by strength, we may by ingenuity and industry."
You could say "mind over matter", or "be creative in your thinking, just like the crow!"
But what happens when you decide what we should take from these stories? And what happens when you create stories of your own so we can see the world through your eyes?
Using the booklet, look for the codes matching the animals to find the fables.
Listen to the fables and decide what you think the moral of the story is.
You can draw your own version of the fable, or stamp it at the stamping station.
If you are accessing this without a map, you can find the fables here: