It's me Mickey A

[philamuseum]

[nbcnightlynews]

Van Gogh paintings, stolen in mafia heist 14 years ago but recently recovered, going on display at Amsterdam museum. nbcnews.to/2mp6BrX

[hifructosemag]

Elisa Sanchez’s integrates notes of the human body into her “paper taxidermy” collection of insects. See more on HiFructose.com. 

[brooklynmuseum]

Have you ever taken a close look at the objects in the museum and wondered about the mounts that hold the artifact securely to the display? Mountmakers work hard to disguise them as it is not our intention to draw your attention away from the artwork. The mounts can be disguised by painting them to match the color, pattern, and tone of the object.  

Mounts serve many crucial purposes. Aside from holding an object at a particular angle that is best to view it, a mount can also serve as a way to secure an object from physical forces. These forces can include someone accidentally bumping into a case or pedestal where the object stands or even the possibility of an earthquake. When an object is being prepared for a traveling exhibition, conservators must research the locations the object will be exhibited to determine whether or not there is a high risk of earthquakes in that region. Another consideration for mounts is to serve as a security device. Sometimes objects are displayed outside of cases, and it is important for a mount to secure the object to the pedestal so that it does not fall or get disturbed.

Art conservators at the Brooklyn Museum work closely with the mountmakers to ensure that they are aware of the individual vulnerabilities of the object. They must work together to design an effective mount that is sensitive to the individual needs of the object while also being aware of the ultimate settings that the object will be displayed. Many mounts require metalsmithing skills and are finished with the addition of materials that can provide padding. These materials must be physically compatible with the surface of the objects being displayed.

Another consideration art conservators contend with is the possibility of certain materials in the mount and display cases off-gassing pollutants that could be damaging to the object. This is why every mount and display material is rigorously tested in an accelerated aging test known as an “Oddy test.” The Brooklyn Museum tests any material that will be used for display to make sure there is no danger of volatile acids or other pollutants that can cause damage to the object.  

Next time you are walking through the museum, take a closer look at the mounts. You will be amazed at the artistry, creativity, and science that goes into their creation.

Posted by Melissa King

[artsy-blog1]

“Sound doesn’t always have to be heard. Sound can also be created by how a pattern is set up on a surface- how it moves across the surface, how light reflects the surface [and] can generate a feeling. Sound can also be through feeling, through color, through texture.“—Nick Cave

[massmoca]

#nickcaveuntil #massmoca

[itsmemickeya]

T- 4 more days

It’s really hard to believe that this is my second to last blog post. This place really has become my second home and I really don’t want to leave! My mentor was out this week on vacation so I had another self-driven week, which was nice. It gives me the feel of actually being part of the staff, just with a very loose job description. I’ve been able to decide when I want to shadow when I want to work on my videos, when I want to work on my final video project (very high key worried about this), and when I want to really reflect on my time here. Also, side note, most of the week I was dealing with an infection where my wisdom teeth were taken out so I came in late a lot of the week.

Monday had a late start but I mainly shadowed the whole day. I attended a meeting with Mary to discuss the Aviation exhibition that will be going up later in the year, and about possibly having a plane in Huber Court. They started trying to narrow in details such as where it would be coming in at, how long it could be up for, and how to display it. Lloyd would love to have the plane suspended from the ceiling in Huber Court and have it up through the Armistice, however, there’s a wedding that week that has already been put into a contract so if the bride doesn’t want it, it has to come down that weekend before her wedding.

Tuesday I was supposed to shadow at the glass studio, however, they just had too much going on, so instead, I helped go through past rental contracts and keep the documents they needed. It was a lot of paperwork but it was kinda calming in a weird way. My intern sessions this week were on Education and Registration. Education was a lot like what I thought it would be, but I still loved learning about everyone’s path. It was really fun to see everyone’s personalities really show through with their titles, and they all gave really good advice for us to use in any field that we choose. Registration was fairly similar to what I thought it was about, but with a few other little details that I didn’t know. I learned that someone has to be with the art at all times, including international trips. I feel like this would be a really fun job for someone who loves to travel, but other than that, it sounded like a lot of paperwork and focusing on the little details and the big picture at the same time.

Thursday morning was very laid back. For the gallery host training, they showed me how to do an evacuation for the whole museum. It was mostly just a lot of checking every area and then going to whichever door you are assigned to. Someone will be out there with a checklist to make sure all of the areas have been checked and that every exit is covered just so no one pulls the fire alarm and tries to run out with a piece of art in the chaos. Since it was National Intern Day, Maegan got us all doughnuts. It was super fun to talk to everyone and everyone now wants to shadow gallery hosts before they leave. During the morning I was able to finish taking videos for my video projects and put in the cheesy background music. One of them I believe is completely done, other is about ¾ of the way done, and another just needs transitions.

Friday was the day I spent with events for the most part. In the morning I did help open the galleries and checked a few to make sure that all of the pieces were there, but then I went to events. I love shadowing events because everyone is so different, yet they all follow the same formula. It’s really nice being able to connect with people and help them plan their weddings and such.

I’m really going to miss coming to the Chrysler after next week. This place has seriously become my second home and it’ll feel weird not waking up every morning and driving out to Norfolk. On to the last week :(

[rich-keough-deactivated20181117]

Another Spanish church has been hit with a botched restoration attempt

'I do not doubt the good will of both the pastor and the person in charge of desecrating this work of art through inappropriate techniques, but the negligence of both is very serious,' says town mayor

This is a crime against humanity. 

[jordi-gali]

Jordi Galí - Syncretism (2018)

[itsmemickeya]

The Turtle Week

This week I felt the same way as I did when I left for school the first time; I knew what I was doing and was capable of being alone, but I definitely still needed adult supervision. My mentor was out all week on a business trip so she assigned different point people to take me with them to meetings, give me tasks to do and to make sure that someone was directly supervising me. I was given a list of projects to work on for the week (and next) to keep me busy, and I am down to my 3 video projects. I’ve done a lot more shadowing this week, more work on my laptop, and helped out wherever necessary.

Tuesday was a fairly uneventful day. I worked on sorting wedding photos on portfolio, completing the order form for new gallery host uniforms, and shadowed a lot. It was just a nice slow day.

Wednesday was a little bit busier. In the morning, I went and had breakfast at the glass studio for the all staff meeting. Afterwards, the gallery hosts had their training on the glass galleries about what had moved/changed. It was really nice to hear the curator’s perspective on why certain pieces are on display and why others aren’t. I then shadowed and worked on more photographs until the weekly intern session. This week we visited the Hermitage Museum. We spoke with the garden curator and learned about her efforts to keep the gardens healthy and maintain what the original owners of the house wanted. I loved walking through all of the gardens and seeing the waterways, learning about the history behind the land, and about the types of events they do there. Inside, we learned about the family and why they had so much stuff. The wife would go on shopping sprees and just buy whatever she liked, which ended up being a lot of Asian art. This field trip wasn’t my favorite so far, but I would go again to see the gardens.

Thursday I shadowed Linda Baines for the first time. She is the receptionist upstairs. She mainly answers the phone, counts the money from donations and such to be deposited, sorts through the mail, and deposits checks. It was kinda cool to see her side of visitor services. Afterwards, I shadowed until lunch. After, I helped out with the Art Camp for about an hour. The kids were making wire and newspaper sculptures that they would then glue fabric on to, making little animals. The kids were adorable and super fun to work with, even the ones who burned me with the hot glue gun.

Friday was another day of shadowing and just busy work. It was a nice slow week that I definitely needed.

[hifructosemag]

The work of Margaret Curtis moves between provocative and quiet moments, each reflecting both on our current social climate and the act of painting itself. See more on HiFructose.com.

[itsmemickeya]

Hard at Work

My short little three day work week went very smoothly. I spent a lot of time actually being able to help people and not need someone to show me how to do something. I’m able to help the front desk when I see there’s a lot of people, I can answer some pretty basic questions, I can answer stuff about the Wonder Studio, and just a lot of little random things. It’s nice finally being helpful.

On Tuesday, we did user testing for the Wonder Studio. We had about 20 kids running around the studio, playing with the different interactions, and just having fun. I was there to take notes on what I noticed kids liked, what they didn’t, how they were playing with the colorscape, and how parents were reacting to it. The walls of the colorscape are curved, so we were ready for kids to slide down them but we were going to see how parents responded to it before we made a rule about it. Kids were literally flinging themselves into the wall and sliding down and parents were completely okay with it. I wrote in my notes that no one's life was endangered but band-aids should be kept close by. All in all, though, kids absolutely loved the studio. Afterwards, I went back to focusing on my monthly and yearly visitor reports. Since the fiscal year just ended in June, I finally have all of the numbers I need to finish it and I’m hoping to have that done by the end of next week.

Thursday was another fun work day. The gallery host training for the week was exploring the Wonder Studio so it was basically another chance for me to play in it. Later in the afternoon, I attended a meeting to talk about to details for the renovation of the porcelain gallery. They talked about the timeline, how it would interfere with cocktail hours for the reception, and what the status was for the different pieces, such as the new cases. They estimated that it would be about two weeks to get everything situated.

Friday was family fun Friday and it was exactly that for me. I shadowed Taylor, the acting supervisor for the day, and I got my very own Chrysler sweater! I helped out at the front desk, helped with the wheelchair lift, walked through the entire gallery, and did what I could to help everyone else out. It was super fun being on the floor and kinda having more freedom to roam and go where I think I should be.

Next week I will be here a lot more for different events and hopefully on the floor a lot more. I’m going to try to finish my reports and get more videos for my video projects. I really want these finished in two weeks so I have time to review them before everyone watches them. I’m also starting to put together my powerpoint for the final presentation in front of everyone, so hopefully, everything goes well since I’m starting early.

[modernizor]

ARTIST: VIK MUNIZ

[itsmemickeya]

So ready for this exhibition to open!

[itsmemickeya]

The Week of Field Trips

This week was a busy yet very calm week, a very concerning mixture. I had a lot of free time to myself to work on my projects and to start thinking ahead to the presentation in a couple of weeks. I got to go on numerous field trips, go around and handle myself with talking to different hosts and getting what I needed, and really just throw myself into my projects.

Tuesday was a fairly quiet day-pun on the fact that I still had no voice so I tried to be as quiet as I could. I worked on portfolio, a photo website used by the Chrysler, and organized thousands of wedding photographs. I loved seeing all of the amazing weddings that have happened here, and I might’ve picked up a few ideas for my own wedding. Amber taught me how to choose photos from the photographers album, upload them, name them, and how she would like them to be sorted. I worked on about 10 different albums throughout the week, plus organizing photos from the past 8 years. After a few hours of working on that, I went to a meeting where Education and Visitor Services met to discuss what Education would be needing out of the new software and how their website would need to be set up. It was a lot of back and forth about which numbers would be needed for reports, how things should be set up (should each grade be listed or should it just say elementary/middle/high), and what types of tours should be available for people to pick from. This last part was tricky since the tours are adapted for each group and they can request different types of tours as well. The meeting ended with a “let’s play with it and see where it goes from here.”

Wednesday was a very busy day. I started off with going to the Moses Myers House with Karen to help her do inventory while she was updating the computers. I learned a lot about the family, including that the man who owned the land that is now Norfolk Naval Base lived in the house. It was crazy to think that I was standing in the bedroom of the man who is essentially the reason I met my boyfriend (he’s navy). The house was also haunted which was slightly concerning but apparently she’s nice. After this, we took a bunch of files and paperwork to the library at ODU so it could be sorted through when someone has time. There wasn’t really a good place to sort through this at the house, so it was just easier to bring it there. After I returned to the museum, I worked on my training video project and started organizing videos to where I wanted them, and wrote up a little plan for what I want the video to look like in the end. After lunch, I went to the Hampton University Museum, which happens to be the oldest Black History Museum. My expectations for the museum were about average, just because I hadn’t heard of it before, but they blew me away. The staff was so friendly and knowledgeable, the collection was amazing, and the trip was just everything I hoped it would be. After this trip, I went to Macarthur Mall to see the glass exhibition, which was also amazing as always.

Thursday was another fun day. I started off by attending another “Meet the Wonder Studio” meeting and I actually got to look in and see the space. Afterwards, I went to the glass studio to take my first glass blowing class. We, the interns, made candy dishes and it was so fun. I chose blue and orange colors in a swirled pattern. The entire process was super fun and the staff was extremely helpful. They all knew what they were talking about, could answer any of our questions, and made sure everyone was going to go home with a candy dish. After the fun at the studio, I spent the rest of my day catching up on different projects.

Friday I was able to really pick what I wanted to do. I spent the morning organizing the remaining wedding photos on portfolio and I shadowed my first walk through for a potential bride. It was really interesting to see what kinds of questions they were asking, some I had never really thought about. The highlight of my day was being able to go to a glass studio demo. They made this adorable little pitcher with little lavender flowers on it. The two girls who ran it were very engaging and made my first demo really fun. After lunch, I shadowed gallery hosts for the remainder of the afternoon. I was able to actually answer questions by myself in the gallery, and I finally had to use the radio, something I’ve been dreading. It’s not as scary as I thought it was but it’s still weird to think that 30 different people can hear me talking. After a few hours of shadowing, I attended another wedding rehearsal and played the role of the event manager for a little bit, basically I was just there if they had any questions about chairs or anything like that.

[hifructosemag]

The murals of Tamara Djurovic, also known as Hyuro, don’t just work with the unique features of a wall: Each integrates its makeshift canvas for site-specific narratives. See more on HiFructose.com.

[itsmemickeya]

#TheNewLeaf florists sent me flowers this week

[itsmemickeya]

Third Thursday fun!