Dr Amy Jane Barnes
@amyjanebarnes.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer & Staff Tutor in Art History, OU. Museums, heritage, visual culture, Chinese things. Thoughts are my own. She/her
open.ac.uk/people/ajb2863
open.ac.uk/people/ajb2863
Pinned
I haven't introduced myself, so here goes. I'm a senior lecturer at the Open University, interested in museums, collections, and Chinese things, and especially (right now) posters and porcelains from the Cultural Revolution. :)
Chrimbo arts and crafts (for the cat’s benefit!)
December 22, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Chrimbo arts and crafts (for the cat’s benefit!)
Well, this is some positive news!
December 16, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Well, this is some positive news!
Reposted by Dr Amy Jane Barnes
Some Georgian-era sparkle from the Thames this week. A startling cobalt blue paste gemstone, impossible to miss this pop of colour among the beige, brown & grey of the foreshore at low tide. Likely to have been lost from an 18th century gent’s cufflink. The Georgians adored their bling #mudlark
December 12, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Some Georgian-era sparkle from the Thames this week. A startling cobalt blue paste gemstone, impossible to miss this pop of colour among the beige, brown & grey of the foreshore at low tide. Likely to have been lost from an 18th century gent’s cufflink. The Georgians adored their bling #mudlark
As an academic, what do you do when you literally have no more research ideas?
December 12, 2025 at 12:12 PM
As an academic, what do you do when you literally have no more research ideas?
Reposted by Dr Amy Jane Barnes
'AI is coming' I tell the museum stakeholders as I proudly cut the ribbon of our new Artificial Insemination exhibition
December 12, 2025 at 11:03 AM
'AI is coming' I tell the museum stakeholders as I proudly cut the ribbon of our new Artificial Insemination exhibition
Just submitted my claim (www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com?utm_medium=L...). I doubt anything will come of it but you never know. A few extra pennies might be nice!
Homepage | Bartz v Anthropic Settlement Site
www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
December 12, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Just submitted my claim (www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com?utm_medium=L...). I doubt anything will come of it but you never know. A few extra pennies might be nice!
This was meant to be a reply to @jackshoulder.bsky.social 🙄🤦🏻♀️
Happened the night before the start of the MA conference which was actually at St Fagans. Horrible coincidence!
December 11, 2025 at 9:30 PM
This was meant to be a reply to @jackshoulder.bsky.social 🙄🤦🏻♀️
Happened the night before the start of the MA conference which was actually at St Fagans. Horrible coincidence!
December 11, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Happened the night before the start of the MA conference which was actually at St Fagans. Horrible coincidence!
Reposted by Dr Amy Jane Barnes
"Art history gives you tools to interpret the visual world and makes you more of a critical viewer of political messages, advertising and a barrage of social media images. It’s dangerous if you can’t examine these things critically".
apollo-magazine.com/art-history-...
apollo-magazine.com/art-history-...
Art history is too important to be the preserve of the privileged
The subject is endangered at A level just as it couldn’t be more essential or universal. Helen Barrett makes the case for its survival in British schools
apollo-magazine.com
December 10, 2025 at 8:04 AM
"Art history gives you tools to interpret the visual world and makes you more of a critical viewer of political messages, advertising and a barrage of social media images. It’s dangerous if you can’t examine these things critically".
apollo-magazine.com/art-history-...
apollo-magazine.com/art-history-...
Yes. Also, why are they out and about if they actually have the flu?
Should people wear a mask in public if they feel unwell with flu?
Should people wear a mask in public if they feel unwell with flu?
With NHS and No 10 advice differing, we look at best practice for flu prevention and protection
www.theguardian.com
December 10, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Yes. Also, why are they out and about if they actually have the flu?
I don’t want to hear anyone calling Suffolk a cultural backwater ever again!
Man made fire 350,000 years earlier than previously thought, discovery in Suffolk suggests
Man made fire 350,000 years earlier than previously thought, discovery in Suffolk suggests
Groundbreaking find makes compelling case that humans were lighting fires much earlier than originally believed
Humans mastered the art of creating fire 400,000 years ago, almost 350,000 years earlier than previously known, according to a groundbreaking discovery in a field in Suffolk.
It is known that humans used natural fire more than 1m years ago, but until now the earliest unambiguous example of humans lighting fires came from a site in northern France dating from 50,000 years ago. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 10, 2025 at 4:42 PM
I don’t want to hear anyone calling Suffolk a cultural backwater ever again!
Reposted by Dr Amy Jane Barnes
I grew up in the 70s and 80s.
If you weren't there, just a little clarification on that Spectator piece.
Literally, NOBODY admired Hitler. Apart from nazis.
Hope that helps.
If you weren't there, just a little clarification on that Spectator piece.
Literally, NOBODY admired Hitler. Apart from nazis.
Hope that helps.
December 10, 2025 at 1:14 PM
I grew up in the 70s and 80s.
If you weren't there, just a little clarification on that Spectator piece.
Literally, NOBODY admired Hitler. Apart from nazis.
Hope that helps.
If you weren't there, just a little clarification on that Spectator piece.
Literally, NOBODY admired Hitler. Apart from nazis.
Hope that helps.
Reposted by Dr Amy Jane Barnes
“Museums, to me, conjure up an image of being sanitised, stuffy places that only middle-class and upward people go to.”
Listen to episode 1 of Radical Museums season 3 now, where Sharon Heal travels to Belfast to meet with the ACT Initiative's William Mitchell: https://ow.ly/YyyA50XGeuM
Listen to episode 1 of Radical Museums season 3 now, where Sharon Heal travels to Belfast to meet with the ACT Initiative's William Mitchell: https://ow.ly/YyyA50XGeuM
December 9, 2025 at 12:54 PM
“Museums, to me, conjure up an image of being sanitised, stuffy places that only middle-class and upward people go to.”
Listen to episode 1 of Radical Museums season 3 now, where Sharon Heal travels to Belfast to meet with the ACT Initiative's William Mitchell: https://ow.ly/YyyA50XGeuM
Listen to episode 1 of Radical Museums season 3 now, where Sharon Heal travels to Belfast to meet with the ACT Initiative's William Mitchell: https://ow.ly/YyyA50XGeuM
In a workshop this morning that was repeatedly Zoom boomed. It’s like 2020 all over again! I really feel for the organisers. Hopefully fixed now! 🤞
December 5, 2025 at 10:49 AM
In a workshop this morning that was repeatedly Zoom boomed. It’s like 2020 all over again! I really feel for the organisers. Hopefully fixed now! 🤞
Anyone else received an email about the class action against Anthropic?
December 1, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Anyone else received an email about the class action against Anthropic?
Student awards day! How brilliant our students are! And how brilliant is the OU?!
November 25, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Student awards day! How brilliant our students are! And how brilliant is the OU?!
And this demonstrates why visual literacy is so important!
This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu
November 18, 2025 at 1:47 PM
And this demonstrates why visual literacy is so important!
Horror of horrors! I’ve run out of green tea! A sorry state of affairs. I think it might even warrant an emergency Tescos run!
November 18, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Horror of horrors! I’ve run out of green tea! A sorry state of affairs. I think it might even warrant an emergency Tescos run!
Ooh, The Hay Wain’s coming back home to Suffolk next year! #Constable250 www.ipswich.gov.uk/ipswich-news...
The Hay Wain to visit Suffolk for the first time as part of CONSTABLE 250 | ipswich.gov.uk
Exciting news for art lovers; the world-famous Hay Wain masterpiece by John Constable is coming to Ipswich.
www.ipswich.gov.uk
November 13, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Ooh, The Hay Wain’s coming back home to Suffolk next year! #Constable250 www.ipswich.gov.uk/ipswich-news...
Revising for my Chinese (spoken) assignment tomorrow evening. A very useful exercise in putting myself in OU students’ shoes! It’s a very straightforward assignment but I am extremely nervous!
November 9, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Revising for my Chinese (spoken) assignment tomorrow evening. A very useful exercise in putting myself in OU students’ shoes! It’s a very straightforward assignment but I am extremely nervous!
Reposted by Dr Amy Jane Barnes
So anyway, Rosalind Franklin
November 7, 2025 at 8:59 PM
So anyway, Rosalind Franklin
Reposted by Dr Amy Jane Barnes
Outstanding, no notes
November 3, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Outstanding, no notes