When the Nasher Sculpture Center opened in downtown Dallas in 2003, it was hoped that its presence would be a spur to neighborhood development. According to The New York Times (“Dallas Museum Simmers in a Neighbor’s Glare”, by Robin Pogrebin, May 2, 2012), that development has come– but at the museum’s expense. Among the new structures going up near the Nasher is a 42-story building with a glass skin that reflects so much light that artworks within the museum’s galleries are threatened, plants in the museum’s garden are being destroyed, and museum visitors are blinded by the glare. The Nasher and the building’s developers are in a heated battle over who should do what to rectify the situation. As arts institutions are more and more being used by cities as “engines of economic development”, will other museums’ collections be threatened by new construction?
Month: May 2012
Outreach Session on K-12 Education – next Thursday at 2:30!
We’ve lined up a great panel of conservators, two local teachers and the Director of Education at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum to discuss how conservators can make an impact on K-12 audiences. As co-chairs of the AIC K-12 Working Group, we wanted to share a bit more with you about what we’ll be talking about and doing in this session than we were able to share in the conference program. We feel strongly that not only is it a lot of fun to work with elementary, middle and high school kids, but it gives us conservators a great chance to broaden their interests in art and in the sciences, and promotes value for our shared cultural heritage. What kid can’t tell you how acid rain is hurting the environment? Why shouldn’t they also be able to tell you what it’s doing to outdoor sculpture?
In this panel we’re going to focus mostly on the practical questions – what kinds of conservation-based topics translate well to these students? Who exactly is your audience and where will you encounter them – in your studio, in a gallery, in the classroom? How do you make inroads into your local schools, and find out who makes the decisions on what to teach? And how on earth do you fit this into your already busy work life? We’ll hear from conservators who have established tremendously successful programs, and hear directly from teachers and museum educators how they work – or would like to work – with conservators.
Then we’ll break up into focus groups, each one taking on a different age group (K-4, 5-8, and 9-12) and come up with some great ideas for topics, hands-on activities, and related explorations into other subject areas like history, social studies or math, so teachers can integrate these ideas across their school’s curriculum. These ideas will be further developed by the K-12 Working Group (and any interested volunteers, hint hint!) and be made available as lesson plans for conservators to take into their local schools, or for educators to use as springboards for working with conservators. The possibilities are wide open and we are excited to have a great and productive session. Please join us!
Details: Conservation and Education 1 Outreach Session, Thursday May 10th, 2:30-4, in Picuris/Santa Ana/Sandia
AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting – “Exhibiting ourselves: presenting conservation” Session
Exhibits are one (powerful) tool for displaying the range of conservation activities and engaging with the public. Exhibiting Ourselves: presenting conservation will explore issues related to the development and implementation of conservation in exhibitions as well as issues related to conservation outreach through exhibitions. This interactive session will feature audience participation in addition to presentations by the following speakers:
Tom Learner, Rachel Rivenc and Emma Richardson will present the various objects, hands-on didactics, video, online and published materials used to tell the technical story behind De Wain Valentine’s sculpture Gray Column in the exhibition From Start to Finish. This exhibition was organized by the Getty Conservation Institute to raise public awareness of the technical studies and conservation decisions that conservators routinely make with modern and contemporary art.
Christopher McAfee will share the outreach activities of the conservation team in the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, including signage, small exhibits highlighting preservation principles, public tours and videos.
Irene Peters will describe the benefits and challenges of working in a visible conservation lab and the solutions created at the Musical Instrument Museum to provide interpretation when the conservators are busy in other areas of the museum.
Cynthia Albertson and Anny Aviram will explore the efforts to include conservation-related content in the exhibition Diego Rivera: Murals for the Museum of Modern Art , as well as the various materials produced to accompany it, including audio and iPad application guides, website highlights, and materials for museum educators and family programs.
Sanchita Balachandran will examine the ways in which the conservation process has become an important part of the narrative of the new Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum. This narrative includes creating and maintaining a traditional museum display, encouraging and enabling physical use of objects for study, and providing public access to the “behind the scenes” functions and discoveries typically made by conservators.
Come join us Friday May 11th in the San Miguel room at 9:30 am! Be prepared to cogitate, contibute and converse!
Helpful Tips to Consider Before Attending AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting
With the 40th Annual AIC Meeting rapidly approaching, ECPN would like to share some helpful tips on making the most of this event!
Familiarize yourself with the program
Read through the program list and highlight the events you are interested in attending. Some events may be scheduled at the same time as others. Take some time to create a schedule for yourself and decide which events you would like to attend and which presenters you would like to listen to or meet.
Update your resume or C.V.
Make sure your resume or C.V. are updated with all of your current activities. Have a few copies with you in case you meet a potential employer and want to pass it out.
Update your social media accounts
In addition to your resume and C.V., make sure your social media accounts are also updated with your current information. This includes a LinkedIn profile and a Twitter or Facebook account. If you are passing out business cards, people may go on to check out your LinkedIn profile while you’re at the conference and you want it to be up to date!
Your Twitter and Facebook accounts will also be helpful in keeping up with conference information. AIC will be using the Twitter hashtag #aicmtg2012 at the annual meeting. If you have a Twitter or Facebook account, tweet or post if you’re meeting up with a group from the conference for lunch or coffee. Maybe others can join you and you can meet expand your network that way.
Bring business cards
If you have business cards, be sure to bring them with you and distribute them as much as you can. You will also be receiving a lot of business cards. Make sure you keep them all in a safe place that you will remember once you are home.
Don’t have business cards printed out? Make a digital business card! Simply fill out the information that you want on your business card and download the QR code to your phone (or print it out on a slip of paper). When you meet someone else with a smartphone, they can scan your QR code and automatically save your information to their phone. This ensures that they won’t lose your contact information and saves you the time and money of printing business cards.
*In order to scan QR codes you will need to download an app. For Android phones I recommend Barcode Scanner, and for iPhones I recommend QR Reader for iPhone.
Network with people
Though this may go without saying, the AIC meeting is a great place to meet new people. Instead of staying with the same group of people you know, network and make new contacts. Take the opportunity to ask others what they think about the conference, what they are hoping to learn there, and why they decided to attend this year.
When you meet someone and receive their business card, jot down some keywords about the person on the back of their card. Once you get home and are looking through the stack of business cards you have collected, you will remember exactly who they are and how you met them.
Visit the Exhibit Hall
The exhibitors are truly an integral part of any conference. They bring their products and their staff for one reason – to meet us! If you are still a student, spending time at the exhibits is a great learning opportunity you won’t want to miss. For emerging and established conservators alike, this is a chance to see and try a wide range of products and learn about new ones. The exhibitors’ financial commitment plays a major role in the success of the Annual Meeting, so remember to visit with them.
Take notes
Be sure to take notes during the sessions. You’ll be surprised at how quickly the conference will fly by and you don’t want to forget everything you’ve learned.
Ask questions
The conference is a great opportunity to talk to other conservators and learn more about the aspects of the field that interest you. Asking questions during or after a talk is a great way to learn about a topic and network with the presenter.
Have fun!
Don’t get too wrapped up with networking and going from one talk to another that you forget to enjoy the conference.
Here are some helpful links to other aspects of conference.
Attire
The conference attire is business casual, including the evening events. Our friends at the Emerging Museum Professionals had a great post about how to dress for conferences – check it out!
For those of you volunteering for the San Miguel Chapel’s Angels Project, don’t forget to pack work clothes, a hat, sunscreen, and a water bottle!
Albuquerque in May seems to have a range of temperatures – from 80’s during the day to 50’s at night. Dress in layers and always have a sweater handy for overly air-conditioned rooms.
First-time attending a conference?
If you’re nervous about meeting new people at such a large event, check out Lisa Petrelli’s Introvert’s Guide to Attending a Conference.
Do you have more questions about attending a conference or recommendations to share with others? Leave a comment below!