Student Spotlight: Becca Frantz

Posted on December 10, 2012 by bbaksa

Becca Frantz ’13 Art History Major

Hi! My name is Becca Frantz and I am an Art History (and secret studio) major at Franklin & Marshall. I have been working as a docent at the Phillips Museum since my sophomore year. What I love about being a docent is the opportunity to watch and learn how a show takes shape as well as discover more about the meaning of the artwork. Also, one of the best aspects of being a docent is talking to the visitors and discussing the works with them. One memorable experience was when a little girl wondered in and became so enchanted with one of the pieces that she pulled her parents into the museum while shouting “This is awesome!”

Working at the Phillips Museum has also allowed me to explore the possibilities of what I can do with my degree. Being immersed in the artwork helps inspire my own projects as well. As an artist who uses numerous mediums (I am now just starting to explore video art), I have mainly focused on found art by looking to artists such as Edward Kienholz for his installations. Additionally, the recently concluded exhibition Uncommon Denominator: James Nestor and His Former Students, one of my favorite shows to date, opened my mind to new ideas on how I can integrate found material into sculptures and installations. In the portfolio I am creating for my application to graduate school in sculpture or new media, I will be taking ideas and inspiration I have had at the museum to continue to explore the ghosts that linger onto these cast away objects and therefore create new meanings for them.

Fostering 21st Century Skills at The Phillips Museum

Posted on November 28, 2012 by bbaksa

This year’s curatorial seminar class is taking an innovative approach to learning by utilizing skills such as collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking and applying them to a digitally curated exhibition using Historypin. The seminar is run by professor of Art History, Linda Aleci and is titled, Curating the City. Students researched themes such as breweries, cemeteries, brothels, and architectural ornaments. Working closely with the Lancaster Historical Society, the class dug deep into Lancaster’s history to recover stories that might have once been lost or forgotten. They will be sharing these stories on Historypin, a website that enables users to upload historical photographs in addition to audio and video content. The site allows other users to add to a story, allowing for collaboration and participation. Select members of the Phillips Museum staff were asked to consult on the class to help with technology issues as well as provide a supportive role as museum educators.

From the beginning, the class worked as a team to define what Lancaster means to them, and to the community in an attempt to create a conversation around these historical sites. Participating in a peer based learning activity, students were forced to think critically about how they would convey these images to their audience. They assumed a shared responsibility for collaborative work while articulating thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts. Taking a multimedia approach to learning, the students were introduced to new technologies where they were challenged to determine how to effectively communicate the content as it applied to their individual themes.

The skills mentioned are commonly referred to as the skills of the 21st century and are becoming increasingly essential to the way students are learning in the classroom today.
Research from the Institute for Museums and Library Services on 21st century skills state that museums can harness these skills as they have long been a place for education and learning. Museums are sources of knowledge with the ability to create powerful experiences. As an institution we can evolve to meet the learning needs of our younger audience by combining the skills of the 21^st century and new media in order to better prepare them for their futures in an increasingly technological society.

There are nearly 197,000 photos, videos, and audio clips uploaded from around the world to Historypin’s website. Prior to the start of the class, Lancaster City was nearly deficient of any content on the site and with the completion of the class project by the end of the fall semester, 50 or more pins will be created on Historypin for Lancaster providing an opportunity for sharing and exploration that did not exist before. There is anticipation that the community will continue to add to the map over time encouraging the exploration of the rich history that Lancaster has to offer.

If you have an iPhone, download the app for free and begin exploring or participating in the project by uploading a modern replica of a photo and sharing your story.

Resources
Partnership for 21^st Century Skills Framework
Museums, Libraries and 21^st Century Skills

Student Spotlight: Maddie Fye

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Julia Cinquegrani

Maddie Fye, ’13, Art History Major

I am Maddie Fye, a senior art history major and a Mellon Fellow here at The Phillips Museum. I have been working with the collection since the beginning of last year and love every minute of it!

I am currently in the middle of cataloguing the photographic collection and performing some research to fill in any gaps in their object records. I love getting up close and personal with the objects I am working with, whether they are the photos I am working with this year or the ceramics I handled last year. There is something amazing about connecting with the past through the things that remain. I especially love looking at the nineteenth century portrait photographs and wondering about what kind of person they were and the paths their lives took. But there is also something really nice about touching objects; really, what person doesn’t want to handle all the pieces in a museum?

The most difficult aspect of this job is the potential for monotony. Cataloguing works can be very repetitive, but it is also easy to get distracted and excited by some kind of research that benefits the museum as a whole. In this way, there is always something new and productive to learn!

Next year I hope to be in a graduate program studying Museum Studies in hopes of continuing with a career in collections work. I think that my experience at The Phillips has contributed a lot to what I have to offer other institutions in the future. I have a strong base of knowledge now that will serve me well, which I can build upon in the future.

My favorite thing about the museum is the eclectic nature of the collection. We have samurai suits and African masks and beautiful art from the likes of Caroline Peart, Andy Warhol and Cezanne. I don’t always feel that the permanent collection gets the attention it should deserve, and so I am very excited about the re-opening of the Nissley Permanent Collection Gallery. Not only will more of the permanent collection be on display, but there will be places in which visitors can connect with works in some non-traditional ways. I hope everyone– students, teachers and Lancasterians– will come in and take full advantage of the fabulous resource that is The Phillips Museum of Art.

Director’s Corner

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Julia Cinquegrani

Dr. Eliza Reilly

The Language of Objects

In the course “Museum Mysteries” students study objects in the Phillips Museum’s collection with the goal of identifying and interpreting them for the general public. My colleague, Professor Zimmerman, and I like to engage in a bit of personification and say that the goal of the course is to help the objects “tell their stories.” But the more I think about this process, the more I have come to understand the idea of objects “telling” stories less as a metaphor and more as a literal description of the complicated exchange that is taking place between the researcher and the subject, and more generally, between people and things.

The eminent psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has noted:

“Man is not only homo sapiens or homo ludens, he is also homo faber, the maker and user of objects, his self to a large extent a reflection of things with which he interacts. Thus objects also make and use their makers and users. To understand what people are and what they might become, one must understand what goes on between people and things.”

What exactly goes on, and how can we better understand this profound and reciprocal relationship we have with the things of this world? In my last post I suggested that while things don’t “talk,” the way people do, they definitely communicate, especially if you make an effort to learn at least the rudiments of their language, which is conveyed not in words, but through vision and touch.

In the class we begin by exploring a basic grammar and vocabulary that allows for an “introduction”—materials (what is the object made of), construction (how was it made), design (a clue to when and where was it made), and function (what does it do?) Once these preliminaries are out of the way, our researchers can get to know their objects better and find ways to ask more subtle (personal?) questions: Was the object rare and expensive, or fairly common? What social networks did it circulate in? Does it show evidence of an easy life, or is it scarred by use? Did its status or function change over time? The answers to these questions will tell us as much about ourselves as about the things we are deciphering.

Most intriguing, and most difficult to discern, is the question of how objects shaped and organized the lives and behaviors of the people who encountered them. Forks, knives, and spoons have influenced the way people in the Americas prepare and eat their food, but we should remember that the vast majority of humans are in the habit of using other tools for the same purpose, like chopsticks or fingers, and they have developed a completely different set of etiquette and rituals as a result. Europeans came to prefer sitting on chairs to dine, write, relax, and socialize, while other cultures preferred cushions, mats, or stools for these activities—how did these preferences evolve, and what is the role of objects themselves in producing them?

Next blog: What do objects want?

Student Spotlight: Sheena Crawley

Posted on June 11, 2012 by bbaksa

Sheena Crawley, Studio Art and Economics '13

My name is Sheena Crawley and I am a double major in Studio Art and Economics.

I would have to say that my favorite artist is Pablo Picasso. I feel like his art walks the line of abstract art even though he was one of the most important artists responsible for the cubism art movement. I enjoy how I have to take time to analyze his artwork in order to appreciate and understand all of the elements that are working together. I see his work as visually challenging and I like a challenge.

My responsibilities at the Phillips Museum consist of maintaining the website, including setting up the website’s configuration, and adding all of the text and photographs. I am also responsible for using social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr to interact with our community outside of the museum. Lastly, I help to promote and document the exhibitions and events to the community through making videos from exhibition receptions, adding photographs from the exhibitions to our social media outlets, and making all information from past exhibitions available on the website in an organized exhibition archive. During my time here I have worked on the Outdoor Sculpture Map on Google Maps, archived all past exhibitions since the 2007-2008 school year on the website, created videos to recap receptions and gallery talks for exhibitions, and created web banners to advertise current ongoing exhibitions. Now that I am leaving this position, I have also begun to write a Digital Media Manual to help the next incoming intern when they begin to work.

My favorite thing about this job is that I am always busy working on something. I enjoy having multiple things to work on because I am able to take a break from one task and work on a different one. I also like how some of my responsibilities are routine, but then I get to work on various projects, which makes things exciting.

What I find most challenging is editing information that has gone onto the website. Often, there are small mistakes that are easily missed, particularly misspelled names and dates, so it is important to take your time in transferring information to the website and make sure you double check everything.

This job has definitely given me technical skills in learning how to use InDesign and learning more about Photoshop. I have learned that research before planning and organizing projects is helpful for the final outcome and that multitasking is an essential skill for any job. This job has also taught me that the work each employee does is very important in developing the museum to its full potential and that my input and opinion is helpful even though I am just an intern.

I am most looking forward to being the new graphic design intern here at the museum. I believe this opportunity is very important in developing skills and experience that I will need in the future. I will accumulate great print pieces that I can add to a growing portfolio and I will finally get a real taste of what it is like to be a graphic designer.

Learning the Art of Connoisseurship

Posted on June 5, 2012 by mlane

Historia Naturalis, hand-colored engraving, 1657

Each year, The Phillips Museum of Art collaborates with faculty to provide hands-on object based learning experiences to students across the curriculum. When Professor Michael Clapper of the Art Department approached the museum with an idea for a new take on object-based learning for his ART 249 History of Printmaking Class, Museum Director Eliza Reilly saw it as an opportunity to advance the idea of the museum as a “laboratory for learning.” The students became active contributors to the museum, overseeing the purchase of new works for the collection that will be studied by future generations of students for many years to come. The class was given a $1,000 budget to purchase prints of the students’ choosing to add to the museum’s permanent collection. The purchase project allowed students to apply their connoisseur skills to the real world, taught them how to make intelligent decisions when making purchases on the web, and inspired the next generation of art collectors proving that young collectors can start a substantive collection of quality historical and aesthetically interesting works of art on a modest budget. The staff was thrilled when we saw their purchases and we are very excited to have these prints as part of our collection. The prints were on view as part of the class’ exhibition Studying Human Nature and the World: Prints of the Seventeenth Century.

Professor Clapper summarizes their purchases:

Jacques Callot, The Strappado, plate 10 of The Miseries and Misfortunes of War, etching, 1633. This is the first work by this important printmaker to enter the college’s collection. Callot is known for his technical innovations in etching and ambiguity and complexity of his portrayal of human nature. He invented new tools and techniques so that he was able to make etchings in the style of engravings. The refinement and grandeur of his style contrasts with his often farcical or tragic subject matter. The Miseries and Misfortunes of War, a series of eighteen images that portrays the pageantry and the savagery of war, is his most renowned work. This image features the strappado, a torture device with which a person is suspended by their arms tied behind their back and then sometimes dropped and stopped short of the ground, causing intense pain an injury to the arms and shoulders. The artistic and social import of this print turn on the contrast between this gruesome practice and military orderliness elegantly portrayed. Bought over the web from Christopher Mendez, a London dealer in old master prints.

Matthaus Merian, Butterflies and Moths, from Historia Naturalis, hand-colored engraving, 1657. This is a fine example of a natural history print. Since its invention, printmaking had been used as a means of making exactly repeatable images for purposes of scientific cataloguing. Publications such as the one from which this page comes organized and transmitted knowledge about the natural world. Natural history prints are now appreciated primarily for their decorative effect, but they are historically important as documents of an attempt at orderly, comprehensive understanding of the world. The fact that such works are as much science as art makes them under-represented in many art collections, including ours, while the scarcity and high value of the entire volumes from which such images are taken makes them rare even in special collections libraries and liable to be disassembled and sold as separate leaves. Bought through EBay from Daniel Good, a major UK rare book dealer.

View of the southern Italian city of Tricarico, from Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg, Civitates Orbis Terrarum, volume 6, engraving, 1617. This engraving comes from a six-volume city atlas that was a landmark publication in that its city views portray the actual features of particular cities, rather than fantasies or generic images. The first volume first appeared in 1572, shortly after the 1570 publication of Abraham Ortelius’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first true atlas, for which Hogenberg had engraved the maps. This engraving comes from the sixth volume of the Civitates, first published in Latin in 1617. In addition to their technical and aesthetic merits, early city views like this demonstrate a new commitment to understanding the world through accurate, specific topographical representations. Bought on EBay.

Student Spotlight: Erika Herrera

Posted on May 15, 2012 by bbaksa

Erika Herrera SP'12

I’m from Los Angeles and I am a studio art major with a focus in photography. I would have to say my favorite artist is Man Ray. I fell in love with his work after an artist presentation for digital photography and took interest in a lot of his work.

This year I worked as assistant to the preparator in The Phillips Museum of Art and have been involved in hanging the various exhibitions shown this year. One of my favorite exhibitions has been Colors of Greece – The Art and Archaeology of Georg von Peschke. Peschke is an artist I had never heard of and I found his work truly amazing.

The most challenging aspect of this job has been the amount of work that goes into getting a show ready. I really enjoy working with the museum staff because of everyone’s energy. It has been very hard balancing the museum and school work, and I am very fortunate to have worked with wonderful people.

After graduation I will be returning to The Phillips Museum to work as next year’s Mellon Post Baccalaureate Fellow. I am very excited to spend another year around the museum doing something I enjoy. Once the year is over I am considering pursuing an MFA in photography, but things can always change.

Uncovering Museum Mysteries: Pocket Bottle

Posted on April 27, 2012 by mlane

Today’s Guest Blogger is Karen Thomson, an F&M Anthropology and Spanish major ’12 who is part of the Museum Mysteries Seminar Course:

Pocket Bottle Attributed to the Henry William Stiegel glassworks (1764-75), Manheim, Pennsylvania, Nonlead glass

Pocket bottles held medicines, alcohol, or other liquids. This amethyst-colored example stands out for its visually appealing color and design. The combination of deep purple color (created by adding manganese oxide to the molten colorless glass batch), rounded shape, and particular diamond-daisy pattern characterizes bottles manufactured by German-American Henry William Stiegel (1729-85), who constructed and operated a glasshouse in Manheim, Pennsylvania, from 1764 to 1775. Glass historians have not found evidence that any other makers used the distinctive diamond-daisy pattern in the late 18th or early 19th century, which allows confident attribution to Stiegel.

To make this bottle, the glassblower blew his “gather” of glass into a partial-size or “dip” mold that imparted the diamond-daisy pattern. Next, the glassblower blew the bottle to its full size and flattened the sides to create its final form, a process that distorted the molded design. -Karen Thomson ’12-

Student researchers are exploring some of the mysteries behind museum objects to reveal hidden histories. Objects from the Museum Mysteries seminar course will be on view in The Nissley Gallery at The Phillips Museum through May 11, 2012.

Student Spotlight: Judith Stapleton

Posted on April 23, 2012 by bbaksa

Judith Stapleton, Art History, Class of 2012

Hello. I’m Judith Stapleton, a senior Art History major. I’ve been working at the Phillips Museum for two years now. I’ve known since before college that I wanted to be an Art History major and continue my studies in this discipline into graduate school and beyond. My advisor suggested that having work experience at a museum would be invaluable, and so I started volunteering at the Phillips Museum during my junior year.

As a volunteer, I worked with a collection of drawings by a Polish émigré artist Zdzislaw Czermanski. Born in 1900, he lived in London, Paris, and New York. The museum had acquired some of his political drawings through a donation by his widow, but they had yet to be cataloged. Making descriptions of the objects was fascinating. While practicing concisely describing art, I did research on London coal companies, Polish army uniforms, Parisian cafés, and world history in order to accurately describe the art objects.

My experience at the museum helped me get an internship at Palazzo Vecchio when I was studying abroad in Florence, Italy. On my return, I was awarded the Mellon Pre-Baccalaureate Collections Cataloguing Fellowship. Since the summer, I have been making object files, digitizing our collections records, and adding new items to the catalogue. I’ve gained experience with museum terminology and resources. I’ve also been privileged to work with local artist and former F&M professor Bill Hutson, as I continue to catalogue the exhibition posters he has collected over his long career. My experience at the museum has exposed me to a wide range of art objects and time periods, while giving me the tools I need to work comfortably in a museum setting. Who knew that so much went on behind the scenes?

From the Collection: Caroline Peart

Posted on April 20, 2012 by mlane

Today’s guest blogger is F&M Art History Major, Megan Cohen ’12. Megan has been researching works by Caroline Peart (American Painter 1870-1963), from the permanent collection of The Phillips Museum of Art, which is the primary repository for the artist who resided in Lancaster County through various periods of her life. Megan has designed an exhibition of small works from the museum’s permanent collection, on view through May 12, 2012:

These small oil sketches were made by Caroline Peart (1870- 1963), a Philadelphia artist who studied with Cecilia Beaux at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. At the age of 18 Peart traveled to Italy, Spain, and France. During her travels she made dozens of small paintings on “academy boards,” which were an economical and lightweight alternative to traditional canvases. Originally designed for use by art students, academy boards were adopted by professional artists to make oil sketches while traveling. Many of the boards displayed here were purchased by Peart in Paris at the art supplier G. Sennelier, 3, quai Voltaire, 3 that still exists today.

Caroline Peart was one of 25 students chosen by noted American painter Cecilia Beaux for her advanced portraiture class. Beaux was the first woman to have a regular teaching position at PAFA (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts).

This 1890′s oil is believed to be a portrait of Cecilia Beaux. Peart used an academy board to first paint a rough sketch of the full-scale portrait displayed here.

Sketch for Woman with Violet Corsage

Peart became interested in a professional career around the same time that Beaux began teaching at the Academy. In Peart’s diary entries she writes that Beaux, her mentor, advised her not to pursue a career as a professional painter because of the hardships placed on women artists at the time. -Megan Cohen ’12-

The Phillips Museum of Art, Frames & Mountings

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