Uncovering Museum Mysteries: Tiara

Posted on April 18, 2012 by mlane

Today’s Guest Blogger is Emily Felber an F&M American Studies major ’12 who is part of the Museum Mysteries Seminar Course:

Tiara, probably United States, 1930-60, stamped brass

Today, a tiara may be used for many occasions: from playtime dress-up to formal weddings, from Halloween costumes to proms. To the wearer it denotes a sense of being special: regality, individuality, and perhaps an attention-demanding presence. This tiara, however, was not manufactured for twenty-first century aspiring princesses. Although nothing is known of its history, this stamped brass tiara has pseudo gemstones of modest quality and an adjustable strap to fit the user’s head. This cheaply constructed and inexpensive hair accessory likely mimicked fashions of some high-style elites of the 1920s and 1930s. -Emily Felber ’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.

Artistic Anatomy: A Study of the Figure

Posted on April 17, 2012 by bbaksa

Today’s Guest Blogger is Salina Almanzar ’13 whose exhibition, Artistic Anatomy: A Study of the Figure is on exhibit in the Curriculum Gallery in the Phillips Museum of Art, Steinman College Center through April 27, 2012.

I started this study thinking that understanding every little muscle, bone, protuberance and bulge of fat would make the moment my hands molded the clay or my brush bent against the canvas that much more deliberate. It didn’t. What this study has taught me is that anatomy for the artist is not quite the same as anatomy for the general public. The dissection I take part in may inform me intellectually there’s a jarring moment where I leave behind the artist and enter the realm of the anatomist. My personal struggle became identifying where I stood in relation to both as a student.

I became captivated by the figure in Figure Drawing and my logical next step was to break the figure apart to its minutest parts to attempt to understand it. I quickly learned that breaking something down often makes it harder to put back together. Studying too often overshadows observation. Thus this year has helped me find the happy medium between both; A dance between my studying anatomical landmarks and muscle groups and preserving the purity of gestural form.

Discovering early on that artistic anatomy analyzes the figure as an interactive body informed the way I worked. Much of my appendage studies bear the brunt of that journey. I struggled for weeks trying to figure out just how far forward the patella sat in front of the tibia. I distinctly recall the moment I realized that maybe that didn’t really matter. Maybe my job as an artist is to analyze how that specific bone interacted and reacted with everything else around it. Maybe knowing the precise shape and measurement was in fact not the be all and end all of sculpting the figure. This moment, I believe, is where I made my most productive work. The latter half of my study consisted of mostly day paintings and large scale sculptures that hinged more on gesture than static anatomy.

A year later, I can identify a slew of bony landmarks and I can measure the angle of the pelvis in relation to the rib cage yet hands still fumble. This paradoxically superficial knowledge means nothing unless I apply it in such a way that it informs my art without detracting. This, then, is balance is what defines art. It seemed counter-intuitive to me at first, but my ‘job’ is not to tell you about the figure, but to show you.

Student Spotlight: Rachel Jones

Posted on April 16, 2012 by mlane

Rachel Jones '12 in Copenhagen, Denmark during Study Abroad, Spring Semester 2011

My name is Rachel Jones and I’m from the Eastern Shore of Maryland. When I first came to Franklin and Marshall College I wanted to become an astronaut. Shortly after the first semester I realized that science and math were not for me and I switched to an art history major. During the summer before my junior year I was offered the position of Graphics Intern at the Phillips Museum of Art. I had never taken a class about design and knew nothing about working with InDesign or Photoshop. Bonnie Halloran (the previous graphics intern) showed me a few pointers and then I was left to learn the rest on my own. It has been a challenging but rewarding process working with a wide variety of artists and faculty members throughout my internship.

My most challenging project was working on the catalog for the Zorach: Paint & Spirit exhibition last fall. I had never worked on a project this big and it was great to learn new techniques and styles for designing layouts for larger books. This was also my favorite exhibition because the artwork was so beautiful and my class curated the show!

After I graduate I’ll be moving to Copenhagen, Denmark to experience Danish culture for an extended period of time. I hope to find a job working in a museum or an internship with a design firm. Eventually, I would like to go to school for graphic design. I really appreciate all the time that I’ve spent at the Phillips Museum because I would have never have had the opportunity to work in graphic design.

Rachel’s Portfolio can be viewed at http://www.behance.net/rachelkapisak

Uncovering Museum Mysteries: Salt Spoons

Posted on April 13, 2012 by mlane

Today’s Guest Blogger is Marissa Sobel, a History major ’13 who is part of the Museum Mysteries Seminar Course:

: Set of 6 salt servers and spoons, Probably Czechoslovakia, Lead glass

“According to several etiquette books written from the 1920′s on, salt spoons were used at formal and informal dinner parties. Diners might share a set of salt and pepper dispensers with their dinner partners or use their own salt spoons to take salt from a communal dish or from individual salt dishes, such as the glass examples in the boxed set. This particular set came with its own glass salt spoons.

Set of 12 salt spoons in a linen case, Probably Norway, after 1920, Sterling silver with colored enamel inlay

This set of silver salt spoons, with unusual leaf-shaped bowls, has inlaid enamel on the fronts and backs, a decorative feature suggesting Norwegian manufacture. The number “925” impressed into one side of the spoon handle indicates sterling silver. Historically, English silver makers used the 925 mark for 92.5% pure silver. tarting in 1920, Norwegian silver makers adopted the 92.5% standard in addition to their 83% silver standard. A maker’s mark stamped into the other side of the handle has not been identified. Salt residue has discolored the bowls.” -Marissa Sobel ’13-

Student researchers are exploring some of the mysteries behind musuem 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.

Deconstructing the Human Form

Posted on April 12, 2012 by mlane

Today’s Guest Blogger is Dan Deibler ’12 whose exhibition Deconstructing the Human Form is on exhibit in the Rothman Gallery Atrium in the Steinman Student Center (ground floor) through May 12, 2012.

Legs, 2012, Under Copyright, Used with the permission of Dan Deibler

“I believe the most important element of my study to discuss is how I made the leap from discovering the viewer’s identity to discovering my own. Since the beginning of my study, I had proposed that peeling away layers of people’s skin (theoretically speaking) could reveal something about their identity that they took for granted. During the course of the study, I could never really elaborate any more on how, an idea that haunted me for a long time. To ease this feeling, I would simply tell myself to just keep painting, and the answer would reveal itself to me.

It took me up until the past month to realize that trying to force the audience to draw conclusions about their identifies using my representations was foolish. Each painting was, and could not have been otherwise, an extension of myself. Even with access to “scientifically objective” medical imaging, everything I made was always at least one step removed from the original source. That step contained predispositions exclusive to me no matter how accurate I tried to capture the subject. My finger prints are all over the paintings, both literally and figuratively. My project in its current state is trying to bridge the gap between my internal physiological self and the objects and ideas that exist outside my body. While I certainly hope for my audience to draw the same conclusions that I do, I feel that it’s too big of a stretch to expect each viewer to achieve such a revelation about themselves.

My favorite painting at the present time is Legs. The painting is covered from top to bottom in heavy brush strokes, palette knife slashes, ridges, smudges, and drips, and still looks like a pair of legs. I tend to hold these landmarks and artifacts of the painting process in high regard.”

–
Dan Deibler
Franklin and Marshall 2012
Digipen Institute of Technology
http://tunamatrix.blogspot.com/

Uncovering Museum Mysteries: Binnacle Lamp

Posted on April 11, 2012 by mlane

Today’s Guest Blogger is Cat Serpe an F&M History major ’12 who is part of the Museum Mysteries Seminar Course:

Binnacle lamp, probably northeastern United States, c. 1920, copper, brass, and glass

This unusual lighting device was most likely used on a ship to illuminate the binnacle, a stand designed to hold and protect a navigational compass for viewing by the helmsman. For nighttime navigation, a binnacle lamp was used to illuminate the compass. The binnacle lamp materials were specifically rust resistant and nonmagnetic, so as not to interfere with performance of the compass. The heavy collar at the top of the lamp suggests that it was securely held in place for use; the swinging handle suggests that it was removed for safekeeping in the daytime. A trapezoidal glass window directs light to the compass. A hinged door opens for access to a kerosene oil burner. Holes along the bottom edge of the lamp and a screw-off domed chimney provide proper airflow.

The tag attached to the lamp handle notes that the lamp belonged to the USS Tulsa, a United States Navy gunboat used from 1923 to 1946. How this lamp became part of The Phillips Museum collection is unrecorded. -Cat Serpe ’12-

F&M Students Explore the Art of Documentary Filmmaking

Posted on April 10, 2012 by mlane

Today’s Guest Blogger is Jeremy Moss, Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies at Franklin & Marshall College:

The moment that I was assigned to teach a workshop in documentary filmmaking, I immediately knew that I wanted my students to make portrait films. Actually, let’s go back – in 2009, when I began following David Lynch’s series of 121 portrait documentaries under the umbrella title Interview Project, I knew I wanted to teach a class structured around this type of filmmaking.

I am interested in the potential of portrait documentaries. They allow a viewer brief yet intimate access to the lives of other human beings by honing in on the specific, the seemingly minute detail(s). Portrait documentaries act as windows, glimpses – poems in place of long-form prose.

This semester, TDF364 Documentary Workshop has juggled rigorous study of documentary history, formal and conceptual filmmaking practices, as well as community building efforts. Students first met their subjects in early February - a Bhutanese, a Karen Burmese, and an Ethiopian resettled refugee. hey met twice without any equipment, recorded an audio interview on the third visit, and video on the fourth and fifth. Each student group engaged beyond the requirements of the course, it has been inspiring to guide and witness this process.

So here we are: near the end of the Spring 2012 semester, and my students have immersed themselves deeply in the documentary process. Three projects are now completed and ready for exhibition, looping on iPads side-by-side.

Please peruse David Lynch’s Interview Project – this class’ starting-off point:

http://interviewproject.davidlynch.com/www/#/about

-Jeremy Moss-

Outside In: Documentary Portraits of Resettled Refugees premiers on April 11, 2012 at 4:45 pm and is on view at The Phillips Museum of Art through May 12, 2012.

Outside In: Documentary Portraits of Resettled Refugees

Posted on April 10, 2012 by mlane

The Phillips Museum of Art is honored to premier the documentary film project Outside In: Documentary Portraits of Resettled Refugees by F&M students in the TDF364 Documentary Workshop under the guidance of Professor Jeremy Moss. The project will be premiered at a special reception on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 4:45 pm and can be viewed in The Phillips Museum of Art through April 11- May 12, 2012.

Director’s Corner

Posted on April 2, 2012 by bbaksa

Dr. Eliza Reilly

Learning from the Overlooked

I’ve always learned from my teaching, and consider it the most rewarding and energizing part of my work. But this year I’m involved in a course that has literally changed the way I think about “things” in general, or more specifically about the complex relationships among humans, things, and the history they make together. In this and following blog posts, I will sketch out some of the insights gained and lessons learned from this experience, which is still in its early phase as I write.

When Professor Alison Kibler proposed that the Phillips Museum of Art host a research seminar in material culture studies using items in the permanent collection, I saw the opportunity to tackle three goals simultaneously: document the collections, encourage innovative pedagogy, and advance student research. The timing was perfect, as a distinguished scholar in the field, Philip Zimmerman, had just been appointed our Mellon Fellow for 2012-13. Professor Kibler’s proposed title was “Museum Mysteries, “ which was pretty accurate, as I’d been telling her about the hundreds of unidentified objects in the museum’s vaults.

The museum’s permanent collection has over seven thousand objects, mostly of the type one would expect to find in an art museum: painting, sculpture, prints, photography, furniture, textiles, decorative and folk art etc. But there is also a stunning range of miscellaneous “stuff”–including coins, ladies fans, paperweights, tools, weapons, toys, apparel, and household objects. Students in “Museum Mysteries” were asked to take responsibility for an item or items in the collection that were truly “mysterious” and answer the questions: What were they made of? Who made them? What was their function? And perhaps most puzzling, how did they wind up in the vaults at Franklin & Marshall College?

Watching our students trying to pry the answers to these and other questions from their chosen objects over the last eight weeks, it became clear to me that it while things don’t “talk” the way people do, they definitely communicate, especially if you make an effort to learn their language.

Next blog: Learning the Language of Objects

Student Spotlight: Deena Gittle

Posted on March 27, 2012 by bbaksa

This week’s blog post is the first in a series that will be highlighting the student workers, interns, and volunteers of The Phillips Museum of Art.

Deena Gittle, Art History, Class of 2012

Hi, my name is Deena and I am a senior Art History major. I have worked at the Phillips Museum since the summer after my junior year. My first assignment at the museum was to catalogue a private collection that housed works that were going to be used in a future exhibition at the museum. My assignment was to use a program called, FileMaker Pro to classify this private collection that had over four hundred works of art. This was the first time I would be doing this type of work, which included handling the art, doing condition reports, and photographing the collection. I was fortunate enough to be taught by the museum staff how one would go about working with a collection like this to put it in a computerized database. The museum staff made it clear to me what fields of examination would be for each work and what would need to be observed in depth. They taught me the whole process to follow. I learned how to catalogue a collection through hands on experience that I would only be able to gain through my work at the Phillip’s Museum. Throughout the summer I catalogued most of the works that were in this collection. I ended with just over four hundred pieces of art in my database. After the summer ended I began to work at the museum as a docent. I am currently responsible for knowing about each current exhibition and being prepared to learn about future exhibitions being held at the museum. I have enjoyed working at the Phillip’s Museum and learning a lot of the behind the scenes work that goes on in a small museum setting.

The Phillips Museum of Art, Frames & Mountings

Tag Archives: students