Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Halloween Light Show

Wish I lived at this house... Light Show

Internship Week 8

This week at my internship I helped M gear up for her two exhibits opening this Fall. I edited all of her labels and opening paragraph for the Steve Jenkins exhibit. The shocking part was that I actually found an error in the labels concerning the medium used. Good thing I caught that! After I brushed up on my editing skills, I continued to research institutes that have touch galleries as well as found some foundations that deal with the blind population. I'm hoping to consult with the foundations about what visitors with visual impairments WANT in a museum experience. Also, I'm hoping that the foundations can give The Art Institute insight into how to make the touch gallery more innovative and new. As M said to me today while I was researching, " when we opened the touch gallery ten years ago, we were the museum that everyone was copying to start their touch galleries. NOW, we're outdated and we need to look into other institutions programs to make us current." Hopefully, I can help the education department accomplish this!

MOMA's Disability Programs

This week Julie guided us through the MOMA website. They have one of the leading accessibility programs for those with developmental disabilities. MOMA Accessibility

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Internship Week 7

Today was really all about finalizing my scripts for the 2011 Holiday Treasures and Tea at the Art Institute. In treasures and tea, the attendees (young children and parents) will visit four famous works in the gallery. Afterwards, they will be lead to a tea party with live music and more art activities! My job, was to write the scripts for what the docents will say at each piece of artwork. It was a HUGE challenge to write simple lingo that the kiddos will understand. For example, it's hard to use the word brushstroke because will kids know what brushstroke means? Learning how to take complicated language about art and relaying it to kids in a simple manner is not an easy task.

After going through three revisions of the scripts, it was finally ready. I'm so proud! I also wrote some activities for the guide book which will be given out in the beginning of treasures and tea.

A new project I started on today is researching for the new touch gallery that will be going up at the Art Institute. M has asked me to find museums that have been leading innovators in the field of accessibility. This is a great project for me since this is the kind of research I need to be doing for my thesis on developmental disability services in museums. Excited to be involved in the touch gallery process since I think it is an important for the Art Institute to be seen as a leader in the field of accessibility to disabled visitors.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The New Bill Cunnigham

Can't believe I'm just starting to catch on to this great street fashion blogger!

Click Here

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Internship Week 6

Today at work I learned some basic Adobe Photoshop tools. I came up earlier in the semester with the idea to create magnet animals for the family room related to the Steve Jenkins exhibition. We are meeting with graphics tomorrow to go over all the animals we want to use so they have to be the exact size and direction that we want them for the magnetic game.

Therefore today, I scanned the animals to photoshop, learned to resize, rotate and flip the animals. I also learned how to make them different colors. Yippee!! The main difficulty I had was learning how to delete an object within the picture. For example, I have an image of a parrot on a branch; and I NEED to get rid of the branch. I meticulously erased the branch with a small eraser. My hands had to be steady or else oops! there goes a foot... But by the end of the process I felt comfortable using photoshop and I'm glad I can say I'm an old pro. Well, at least at the lasso tool and the eraser. Hey, it's a start.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Make Space Blog

I stumbled upon this blog of a local artist. She interviews artists, records their spaces, and discusses issues involving the art community today. Check it out!


make space blog

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Internship Week 5

We finally got the work for the Steve Jenkins show! On Tuesday, I was able to go down with M and look at the work in THE vault. I was first given a red robe that reminded me of the ones I see art restorers/curators wear in movies. I was told that we would be doing condition reports; I would write and M would be the one handling the work. After we got on our robes, M carefully unpacked the the work. It was beautiful!!! Steve Jenkins must photograph his works for his books so they loose the detail of their texture and color. There were vivid blues, paper layered to make eyes pop out at you, and the most wonderful variations of handmade paper. My favorite cut paper piece was the mommy and baby anteater. They look so sweet and the mix of the peach and grey colors make it a peaceful composition. After tediously looking at each work and marking their scratches, folds, soil and taking down their measurements, we delicately placed them in a cubby. I am going in early on Thursday to help her move to a conservation room where we will have help matting and framing the pieces. It was exciting getting to see the ins and outs of the shipping process in a large museum. I can't wait to get the Steve Jenkins show up and running!

DMA Link

Oops! Forgot to include the link for the Dallas Museum of Art access program.

Click Here

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Access Programs in Museums

As some of you know, I want to write my thesis on disability services in museums. The Dallas Museum of Art has some great programs and even one for the autistic population which is great considering that's the population I hope to work with for my thesis!