On Monday we helped install the new exhibit in the Perkins Gallery. "Abusing Power" is curated by Neil McWilliam, Walter H. Annenberg Professor in the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, and several of his students in his course "From Caricature to Comic Strip." It coincides with another exhibit now at the Nasher Museum called "Lines of Attack: Conflicts in Caricature," on display until May 16, 2010.
We love working with Meg Brown, Exhibits Curator for Perkins Library. Conservation creates many of the book supports you see in the exhibit space. We also help install the exhibits, being sure the items are well supported and in good condition for viewing. It's great to work collaboratively in this way, and so much fun to see the new exhibit take shape. I especially enjoy seeing all of the students, faculty and staff stop to see what is happening in the space and what's coming next. Frankly, I just love getting out of the basement and into the thick of things for a change.I invite you to come by and see the wonderful display of 19th Century materials and learn a little about the evolution of caricatures as an art form. Be sure to check out Devil's Tale for more on this exhibit. The online images from the exhibit were made in the Digital Production Center.
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Beth, How are you working around the problem of the exhibit case (at least the one) being so close to the windows. I had the same set up at Northwestern and worked around it in different temporary ways until I was able to get the exhibit space moved (completed after I left).
ReplyDeleteLove the cradles by the way. Are they Vivak?
The cradles are Vivak (TM). For those non-cons out there this is a trade name for Polyethylene terephthalate glycol or PETG for short. It's inert and great for exhibits since you can cut it on your board shear (especially if you have an old shear that you can dedicate to the task like we do), and bend it in a job backer. The down side is it tends to be very static-y, so dust and fibers gravitate to it.
ReplyDeleteYes, light issues. Well, the good news is this is a somewhat temporary space. In the next phase of renovation we will have newer space that hopefully won't have so much direct sunlight. Meg Brown, Exhibits Coordinator, and I have tried to position the cases out of the direct paths of light as much as possible. We are talking with our building manager about additional options for shading the windows.
The biggest problem is that right outside that window is our beautiful von der Heyden Pavilion which is a big glass box. We get light reflected off those windows during certain times of the year. So we try to arrange the items within the cases to avoid any direct sun exposure. We also choose carefully what to put in there...anything very light sensitive goes into a different case, usually against the opposite wall, farther away from the windows. We are also embarking on some environmental monitoring in that space, light being one factor. That way we have some data to work with.