Exhibition Workshop: Halloween Amulet Making

This event will take place in person at ISAW (15 East 84th Street).

Materials will be provided. The activity demands a certain degree of hand dexterity.

Registration is required at THIS LINK.

Protect yourself with the eye of Horus or scare off all evil with the fierce face of the demon Pazuzu! At times calling on spooky spirits, at times relying on benevolent magical symbols, amulets were part of the lives of people across the ancient Mediterranean. Join us for the Galleries at ISAW's Halloween event, where you will learn to make amulets out of stone or metal, in two different activities. Adults can craft amulets out of steatite, a soft stone used by ancient peoples, under the eye of amateur steatite carver Carl Walsh. Children of all ages are invited to make their own amulet on a metal plaque featuring a fantastical monster with ISAW doctoral candidate Leopoldo Fox-Zampiccoli. Afterwards, explore the amulets on display in the exhibition Cursed! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World.

Leopoldo Fox-Zampiccoli is a doctoral candidate at ISAW and the museum practicum student for 2026. They focus on the history, heritage, and languages of the eastern Mediterranean in the Bronze and Iron Ages through engaged, collective, and people-centered ways of researching and sharing history. Their research engages with collective memory, ecology, decolonial and queer studies, heritage, and contemporary art. Leopoldo is currently also part of the Turkmen-Karahöyük Archaeological Project (Turkey), a scientific committee member for the Festival dei Matti in Venice (Italy), and an occasional collaborator with the David Graeber Institute. They have previously studied in Venice, Leiden, and Jerusalem; have taken part in archaeological projects in Turkey, Italy, Israel-Palestine, Iraq, and Czechia; and have run multiple workshops and collective performances in New York, Italy, and Turkey.

Dr. Carl Walsh is an assistant exhibition curator at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. He is dedicated to crafting accessible and engaging stories about the ancient world and has curated multiple exhibitions at ISAW covering the ancient societies of Iraq, Etruria, Islamic Spain, and Egypt, as well as early modern art and photography. He co-edited Teaching Ancient Egypt in Museums: Pedagogies in Practice (2024), which delves into ethical best practices for engaging learners with ancient Egypt using museum objects, and is currently working on a follow up volume that looks more broadly at teaching on ancient West Asia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean in museums. Carl's research focuses on Bronze Age cross-cultural interactions and his current projects center on the material culture—such as board games, cosmetics, furniture, and pottery—of the kingdom of Kerma (Kush) in modern Sudan, to consider how these objects reveal the complex interactions between societies across North Africa.

This workshop is offered in conjunction with ISAW's exhibition Cursed! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World. The exhibition is organized by the Toledo Museum of Art; its presentation at ISAW is made possible by generous support from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Leon Levy Foundation.

Please check isaw.nyu.edu for event updates.

ISAW is committed to providing a positive and educational experience for all guests and participants who attend our public programming. We ask that all attendees follow the guidelines listed in our community standards policy.