A List of Adventures

As luck would have it, the moment I recommitted myself to writing more frequently, the moment I came down with a crazy cold! I’ve been recovering for the last few days, and I should be back in full swing by the end of the week.

So what haven’t I been up to?! Let’s just make a list:

1) I completed the files for both Nicola López and Shinique Smith, I have begun to work on a file for Zhong Biao (in my “free time”), and I have briefed another intern over the entire process of creating these interpretive files. I have to admit that it was really nice to set up a meeting and actually be in charge of it!

2) Here and there I’ve been working on compiling some information about how to evaluate museum advocacy with adults between the ages of 18-35. This has proved to be a difficult endeavor, for there actually has not been a lot of research done on “museum advocacy.” However, there are many indicators of the development of museum advocacy, which have been what I’ve chosen to research. Hopefully, this will all come together! I’ve even tapped into the expertise of Elee to guide me a little on this investigation. I’m not too worried about the progress made here. It is an ongoing project, and it is one not completely related to the scope of my internship.

3) Last Wednesday I attended an AAM webinar called “Understanding the Life Stages of a Museum Visitor,” which I have responded to on my other blog: http://emily-lessonsinlearning.blogspot.com/ It seemed as if the stars aligned; they happened to spend quite a long period of time discussing the different characteristics of Museum Advocates vs. Core Visitors.

4) I delivered some reference materials to the Emily Griffith Opportunity School so that the teacher of the class we will be working with has some images/essays to share with her students. We are hoping that this will give them some sort of context for our project.

5) The administrative assistant for the Education department (Emilie), the other team member working on Rupprecht’s project, asked me to come with her to Emily Griffith’s Upholstery department to discuss possible ways in which we could produce the 250+ pillows Rupprecht wants for his installation. They proved to be extremely helpful, offering us free materials as well as extra (FREE!) help as the project moves into full force. I’m not extremely comfortable talking to complete strangers, but this internship is helping me develop that skill set. : )

6) The visitor response component of the Embrace! lounge has now come under my responsibility. Initially, we wanted visitors to be able to embrace their own section of the Hamilton building, using renderings of the spaces utilized by the artists as a springboard. We have now moved into looking at how our visitors can make 3D models of these architectural sites while also being able to create their own work within this space. My first task was to take pictures of the possible sites. From there, a team of staff members narrowed the 17 spaces down to 4. I’m now in charge of seeing how we can make this all happen! I’ve set up meetings with a couple individuals that have experience working with die cuts, etc., and now have enough information that I have scheduled my first meeting for today! It’s very exciting to have my own work on my own project to share with 3-4 staff members. Hooray for me!

7) I also facilitated one of the major public programs that the DAM offers for adult audiences called Untitled. Untitled takes a topic that develops out of the content of our permanent collection and/or special exhibitions, and offers more interactive experiences for visitors one Friday evening every month (6 month season). These events have proved to be quite successful, bringing in close to a thousand people. This past program centered on museum etiquette with a traditional Japanese tea ceremony taking place within the Asia Art collection (there were MAJOR issues between conservation and education staff concerning the moving of open containers of water in the gallery), dining etiquette lessons in the Western Art collection, a place to write a postcard for the Post Secret project, a theatre troupe performance based upon a painting in the permanent collection (Modern and Contemporary) and that night’s theme, and many other little activities. I assisted in running various components of the evening, as well as directing visitors, doing some evaluation, and having some fun!

8) I’m finishing up a Talking with Visitors paper that I will review with Sonnet next week and continue to develop from there.

9) I’m still researching here and there a couple of options for activities to be done at the next two Untitleds, including looking up a flash mob organizing group called Improv Everywhere.

10) Let’s see…I also wrote a letter to recruit volunteers to help us in fabricating those silly pillows! These pillows are such a pain!

11) Attended weekly meetings.

12) Some interesting tidbits: I will be giving a tour of the museum for a group of students from Emily Griffith next week. They will be documenting this, and I might end up in the catalogue for the show! Gosh, this internship is awesome.

So much is going on that it is hard to make sure I write everything down. Regardless of how scatter-brained/repetitive this blog is, I’m glad that I will have an opportunity to look back at all the work I did at the end of the summer! Hopefully, these notes will trigger some memories as time passes, and they will help me to synthesize all of the things I’ve done so that I can pump up my resume once again.