May 23, 2013 Comments 135 notes museum studies museums museum advocacy
thebrainscoop: Reposted from my personal blog. 

thebrainscoop:

Reposted from my personal blog. 

May 23, 2013 Comments 54 notes museums museum jobs

(Source: thebrainscoop)

April 14, 2013 Comments 165 notes decorative arts renaissance art the getty museums
thegetty: This Renaissance revival of an ancient hard and soft stone inlay technique uses 17 types of gems, jewels and marbles. The central stone is breccia di Tivoli. Discovered around 1559, this stone was highly prized for its rarity and variegated colors which resemble gems set in dark stone.  Tabletop, about 1580-1600, Italian, Florence or Rome

thegetty:

This Renaissance revival of an ancient hard and soft stone inlay technique uses 17 types of gems, jewels and marbles. The central stone is breccia di Tivoli. Discovered around 1559, this stone was highly prized for its rarity and variegated colors which resemble gems set in dark stone. 

Tabletop, about 1580-1600, Italian, Florence or Rome

March 21, 2013 Comments 4 notes museums art internships
Whew! I had some amazing adventures with the Morse Museum of American Art last week…  While everyone else chose to relax over spring break, I decided to go straight from midterms and job training to an internship. It seems counter-intuitive to a vacation trip, but in reality, I had an absolute blast working full time with the Education department instead of trying to manage chunks of school and school work.  A quick over view of my week with the Morse: Preparations for the Winter Park Art Festival, which included making samples of our festival art project, and decorating staff shoes with pain and “shiny bits”. I lovingly rendered my shoes to look like the Tiffany Peacock necklace on display at the museum:The necklace has peacocks on the front facing side, and flamingos on the back, so naturally one of my shoes is done like a peacock, and the other in flamingo colors. The shoe decorating process received some odd looks, but it was a great project during breaks.  I did some not so shiny things as well - stuffing envelopes, playing office tetris to find supplies, counting and prepping supplies, etc. General work!  I got to sit in on the talk given by Dr. Richard Guy Wilson called “Gilded Age Design: Excess and Reform”. We made sure ahead of time that the set up looked alright, the tech was going to run as planned, and that the catered food was being taken care of. (It was delicious, naturally.)  On Monday, when the museum was closed to visitors, I took another brief tour of the exhibits, including the brand new Art Nouveau exhibit. (I later met the curator, who was absolutely wonderful and discussed Graduate programs in the Decorative Arts and American art with me, as well as the head of the Education Department.)  I worked both days of the Art festival all day long! On Friday I helped get the coffee (and offered to carry it back like a good intern), and both days I spent my time explaining what straw painting was, how the end of the project resembled Art Nouveau themes, and so on. You can see me wielding my primary color glass stain paints in my apron pocket.  It was loads of fun and a lot of work, but we had so many kids and parents and even just excited adults do our art project and stop by the Museum’s open house.  On my final half-day before I flew back home to Tempe, I got to see the storage facility and some of what’s kept there beyond supplies. Imagine my pleasant surprise when a stained glass window had been taken out and displayed in the storage rooms. It’s always amazing to get a small behind the scenes look at things, even if the reason you get it is because you’re storing the leftover art festival supplies. :) All in all, it was an absolutely amazing and wonderful experience, and I loved every minute of it! I’m so glad I went.

Whew! I had some amazing adventures with the Morse Museum of American Art last week… 

While everyone else chose to relax over spring break, I decided to go straight from midterms and job training to an internship. It seems counter-intuitive to a vacation trip, but in reality, I had an absolute blast working full time with the Education department instead of trying to manage chunks of school and school work. 

A quick over view of my week with the Morse:

  • Preparations for the Winter Park Art Festival, which included making samples of our festival art project, and decorating staff shoes with pain and “shiny bits”. I lovingly rendered my shoes to look like the Tiffany Peacock necklace on display at the museum:

    The necklace has peacocks on the front facing side, and flamingos on the back, so naturally one of my shoes is done like a peacock, and the other in flamingo colors. The shoe decorating process received some odd looks, but it was a great project during breaks. 
  • I did some not so shiny things as well - stuffing envelopes, playing office tetris to find supplies, counting and prepping supplies, etc. General work! 
  • I got to sit in on the talk given by Dr. Richard Guy Wilson called “Gilded Age Design: Excess and Reform”. We made sure ahead of time that the set up looked alright, the tech was going to run as planned, and that the catered food was being taken care of. (It was delicious, naturally.) 
  • On Monday, when the museum was closed to visitors, I took another brief tour of the exhibits, including the brand new Art Nouveau exhibit. (I later met the curator, who was absolutely wonderful and discussed Graduate programs in the Decorative Arts and American art with me, as well as the head of the Education Department.) 
  • I worked both days of the Art festival all day long! On Friday I helped get the coffee (and offered to carry it back like a good intern), and both days I spent my time explaining what straw painting was, how the end of the project resembled Art Nouveau themes, and so on. You can see me wielding my primary color glass stain paints in my apron pocket. 
  • It was loads of fun and a lot of work, but we had so many kids and parents and even just excited adults do our art project and stop by the Museum’s open house. 
  • On my final half-day before I flew back home to Tempe, I got to see the storage facility and some of what’s kept there beyond supplies. Imagine my pleasant surprise when a stained glass window had been taken out and displayed in the storage rooms. It’s always amazing to get a small behind the scenes look at things, even if the reason you get it is because you’re storing the leftover art festival supplies. :)

All in all, it was an absolutely amazing and wonderful experience, and I loved every minute of it! I’m so glad I went.

February 28, 2013 Comments 99 notes art curator museums
letmypeopleshow: The Curator Vanishes!  On March 27, 1954, Barton Kestle, first curator of modern art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, boarded a train for Washington, D.C., and was never seen again.  A shy specialist in the Soviet Avant-Garde, Dada, and Surrealism, Kestle had usually worked late into the night at the museum’s grand McKim, Mead, & White building, his office placed near the front entrance so he wouldn’t trip up alarms. This explains how staff came to accidentally seal and paint over his door during a rushed construction job some time in the ’50s. Two year ago, employees found his door and stepped into Kestle’s world.  Curator Elizabeth Armstrong surveyed the vintage habitat of the forgotten Modernist scholar—his art and books; his high-tech-at-the-time Underwood Model 150 Typewriter, Polaroid Land Camera, and Graflex filmstrip projector; his clock radio and the other streamlined, mass-produced objects wearing their Deco heritage proudly; his ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts. She saw not just a time capsule, but an opportunity. And that’s how the Minneapolis Institute got its newest period room. Or was it? Read more at ARTnews.com Mark Dion, Curator’s Office, 2013, site-specific installation. Photo courtesy the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

letmypeopleshow:

The Curator Vanishes! 

On March 27, 1954, Barton Kestle, first curator of modern art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, boarded a train for Washington, D.C., and was never seen again. 

A shy specialist in the Soviet Avant-Garde, Dada, and Surrealism, Kestle had usually worked late into the night at the museum’s grand McKim, Mead, & White building, his office placed near the front entrance so he wouldn’t trip up alarms. This explains how staff came to accidentally seal and paint over his door during a rushed construction job some time in the ’50s.

Two year ago, employees found his door and stepped into Kestle’s world.

 Curator Elizabeth Armstrong surveyed the vintage habitat of the forgotten Modernist scholar—his art and books; his high-tech-at-the-time Underwood Model 150 Typewriter, Polaroid Land Camera, and Graflex filmstrip projector; his clock radio and the other streamlined, mass-produced objects wearing their Deco heritage proudly; his ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts. She saw not just a time capsule, but an opportunity.

And that’s how the Minneapolis Institute got its newest period room.

Or was it? Read more at ARTnews.com

Mark Dion, Curator’s Office, 2013, site-specific installation. Photo courtesy the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

(via niborama)

February 25, 2013 Comments 103 notes museums art history art

Went to the Arizona Science Center yesterday and saw the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition! The color differences between the current Mona Lisa and the original true colors renditions done are breathtaking. The one on the left is the current “look” of Mona Lisa and the one on the right is how she was painted to appear. 

I managed to google up side-by-side comparison shots, because we weren’t allowed to take photos there.

February 13, 2013 Comments 34 notes museums

…But museums will have to change to take advantage of the turmoil roiling our colleagues in education. We’ll need to be open and available. We need to let our collections be used by others for their ends. That means sharing online collections and images as open data, being open to collaborations, letting go.

It means that we need to break down the walls that separate curatorial expertise and educational expertise within the museum. Curators and curatorial knowledge will have to be open to the public. The one rule of the web is disintermediation: no more gatekeepers. Curators will need to be open directly to their audiences. Museum educators will need to know collections and content. Those jobs will merge as the museum opens up…

-

On the Center for the Future of Museums blog, Steve Lubar discusses the role of museums in a new world of education, and describes how opening up is key to success.

Read the entire post, “Museums: Essential Elements in the New World of Education.”

(via hstryqt)

(via thegradschoollife)

(via )
February 07, 2013 Comments 48 notes science museums
smithsonian: When it’s young, a red dwarf star frequently erupts with strong ultraviolet flares as shown in this artist’s conception. Some have argued that life would be impossible on any planet orbiting in the star’s habitable zone as a result. However, the planet’s atmosphere could protect the surface, and in fact such stresses could help life to evolve. And when the star ages and settles down, its planet would enjoy billions of years of quiet, steady radiance. (via Earth-like planets discovered right next door to Earth | Smithsonian Science) 

smithsonian:

When it’s young, a red dwarf star frequently erupts with strong ultraviolet flares as shown in this artist’s conception. Some have argued that life would be impossible on any planet orbiting in the star’s habitable zone as a result. However, the planet’s atmosphere could protect the surface, and in fact such stresses could help life to evolve. And when the star ages and settles down, its planet would enjoy billions of years of quiet, steady radiance.

(via Earth-like planets discovered right next door to Earth | Smithsonian Science) 

February 07, 2013 Comments 84 notes museums

museumnerd:

I can’t get enough of MoMA’s archival photos! Definitely follow Installator on Tumblr!

installator:

“William S. Rubin, Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture and director of the exhibition “Frank Stella: Paintings,” and the artist Frank Stella during the installation of the exhibition. 1970. Department of Public Information Records, II.C.180. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York”

+

“The artist working on the installation of the exhibition, “Alexander Calder.” September 29, 1943 through January 16, 1944. Photographic Archive. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York.”

(MoMA)

February 06, 2013 Comments 56 notes museums
massmoca: bigredandshiny: From our January journal (V2, 4): Samuel Rowlett conducts an excellent interview with MASS MoCA curator Denise Markonish [continued at Big Red & Shiny…] Above: Image of Denise Markonish’s office In case you missed it, here’s Samuel Rowlett’s recent interview with MASS MoCA curator Denise Markonish in Big Red & Shiny. Read on for info about upcoming exhibitions, advice to artists and aspiring curators, great Ray Bradbury quotes, and more!

massmoca:

bigredandshiny:

From our January journal (V2, 4): Samuel Rowlett conducts an excellent interview with MASS MoCA curator Denise Markonish [continued at Big Red & Shiny…]

Above: Image of Denise Markonish’s office

In case you missed it, here’s Samuel Rowlett’s recent interview with MASS MoCA curator Denise Markonish in Big Red & Shiny. Read on for info about upcoming exhibitions, advice to artists and aspiring curators, great Ray Bradbury quotes, and more!