The first in the series of posts following our “Golden Boy” on his way to the new building comes from Dr. Caroline Rocheleau:
In ancient Egypt, it was essential that an idealised representation of the facial features of the deceased be present on the exterior of the mummified body so that the soul might recognise its body after death. This tradition of external ornamentation of the mummy evolved greatly over the millennia, from the Old Kingdom plaster body coverings to mummy masks to mummy boards and cartonnage casings, and beaded nets to Roman painted shrouds and encaustic portraits.
During the Twenty-second Dynasty (circa 945-715 BCE), cartonnage casings became extremely popular. Cartonnage is a process similar to our modern papier maché, where strips of linen or papyrus were stiffened with gesso. Cartonnage casings entirely enveloped the mummy of the deceased, the head of the casing serving as a funerary mask. Strangely enough, cartonnage casings remind me of piñatas: the mummy is inserted within the papier maché case and it is sewn at the back, gessoed and decorated. The only way to get the mummy out is to smash it open (hence the piñata connotation). When cartonnage casings are displayed in museums, you can expect a mummy inside even if you can’t see it (a fact easily confirmed with x-rays). Read More »
Yes, the museum has orphans.
As we begin our migration into the new building the museum has been creating a number of orphans. Much of our case work that houses the Museum’s extensive objects collection is several decades old and is being updated, refurbished, and restyled for the beautiful new gallery environments. But out of an entire museum filled with cases this also means that somebody gets left behind.
The poor lonely things would be wasting away in our warehouse collecting dust, and there is nothing wrong with them except that they might be too big or small or we can’t re-tool them for a new use or new objects. So, we started an adoption program.
If we were to write a classified ad, it would read something like this:
Available for Adoption: Museum Quality Cases. Sound base structures and kick plates. No body dings, dents or fractures. Smooth surfaces ready for repainting. Expensive plastic vitrines/hoods unscratched with sound corners and seams. Leveling feet un-broken and ready for use.
Many of our orphans have found fabulous new homes in other state buildings, state museums, and the many historic sites around North Carolina. They have plenty of miles left on them and are now cherished by their new owners, and we are happy to oblige.
(Photos are from an exhibit developed by the Dept. of Cultural Resources at Aycock Birthplace with ECU students; the Governor Morehead School provided the artifacts. The NCMA provided the case work. )
These are exciting times for the works of art in our collection. So much is happening as we prepare to move the permanent collection into the new building–the conservation lab, photography studio, exhibition design, art handlers, carpentry shop and curators are running on all cylinders to get everything ready. There are some works of art that will require extra special attention…
Our “Golden Boy” loves attention–that winning smile and radiant face draw you in. (He’s one of only a handful of gold objects in the permanent collection, and certainly one of the most impressive.) He once covered a mummy in an Egyptian tomb, and now it’s time to prepare him for a new life in the new building. Stay tuned to the blog as we follow his progress: we’ll check in with the Egyptian art curator for the latest research, conservators will report on condition, design will need to create a whole new mount and custom casework, we’ll venture out to other museums to compare display techniques, and we’ll watch as art handlers carry our Golden Boy to his new home. Stick around! The adventure begins later this week.
I caught up with Conservation Technician Stacey Kirby in the galleries this morning, brush in hand, dusting the sculpture.
cw: How often do you dust the sculptures in the galleries?
sk: Every two weeks
cw: What is one of your favorite pieces to dust in the Contemporary Gallery?
sk: The Bob Trotman (Girl, 2003.1). It is a larger, uniquely-shaped piece that requires a bit of balance to successfully dust. Oh and one of my friends in housekeeping remarked that the Girl and I resemble one another. Not sure that’s a compliment, but…Some pieces on view collect dust more than others for a variety of reasons - location within galleries due to airflow, materials, etc.
cw: What is dust? (Here’s where I try to get all existential…)
sk: Actually, we’ve had NCMA’s dust analyzed and a good bit of it is carpet fiber and denim fiber…yes, from visitor’s jeans! We are interested to see how the dust falls in the new building, with the new air systems, hardwood floors and no jeans allowed. Just kidding about that last bit.
At the North Carolina Museum of Art, things are always busy in the Curatorial Department. We’re writing catalogues and handbooks, performing research on the permanent collection, dreaming up potential exhibitions, and combing the art world for future acquisitions (and donors too!). Are you curious about the day-to-day aspects of a curator’s job? Do you have a question about a particular work you just noticed while browsing the galleries? Or do you simply want to know what a curator’s favorite work of art is? Ask a Curator, our new blog series, gives you that chance. Submit questions right here at Untitled in the comment section and be sure to check back for the posted answers.
A few guidelines:
- Feel free to ask about a specific curator, exhibition or project.
- Unfortunately, we’re not able to provide appraisals or financial estimates of our collection or your own.
- Be as creative as possible with your questions–we’re excited to read them!
Lucas Meachem, baritone
We are very excited about Casual Classics: Opera and Broadway in the Museum Park. This will be the first time the OCNC is performing outdoors and it’s a wonderful opportunity to sample opera. (You’ll be surprised how much of the music is familiar…okay, it may be because you heard it in Bugs Bunny cartoons or during a car commercial, but that simply means opera is not an intimidating proposition at all!) The program will be a mix of opera and Broadway favorites which gives OCNC a chance to try out a new rep (and whether you’re familiar with opera or not, who doesn’t enjoy a good show-tune?). It’ll be a perfect night for a family picnic, a night out with the girls, or a romantic date with good music at a reasonable price. (Come on, wouldn’t you like an alternative to multiplex theaters?) So there you have it, several great reasons for everyone to enjoy a unique Saturday night experience.
This is certainly an interesting experiment, bringing world class musicians and a 50-piece orchestra into an outdoor theater. If you’re a regular at the Museum’s summer series, you’ll enjoy this change of pace and if you’re a regular at the OCNC, we thought you would like to hear us outside for a change. But this is the classic “you got peanut butter in my chocolate–hey, wait-a-sec…” scenario where everybody wins! I have a feeling it is going to be a marvelous evening and the start of a great relationship.
And in the spirit of trying something new, we will even have a guest conductor…from the audience! A lucky winner from an auction this past February will conduct the orchestra in front of all you forgiving fans. Certainly we can cheer for Joan and help her through this amazing experience. (I wish I were as brave!)
If you just can’t wait for an amazing opera experience, there’s an opportunity to meet the singers and chat with them in an intimate setting. They’ll be at our Taste of Opera dinner at the Umstead this Thursday. The NCMA or OCNC Box Office staff can tell you more about it just call soon (919-792-3850).
There are people who point to a moment when they heard a piece of music as a child and it stayed with them for years, to be recalled later as a favorite memory. Here’s your chance to create that experience for your children and grandchildren…or create special some memories all your own. I look forward to sharing this fabulous evening with you.
Frank Grebowski is the General Director of The Opera Company of North Carolina. Casual Classics: Opera and Broadway in the Museum Park is on Saturday, May 30 at 8 p.m. Buy your tickets online.
It could be said that “new begets new” at the NCMA. The construction of our new museum building not only necessitates fresh casework and specifically designed lighting systems, but it also has provided us with a unique opportunity to commission original works of art for inclusion in our building and the Museum Park. One of the most striking sculptures, soon to be installed in the new building’s sculpture garden, is Roxy Paine’s Askew (see press release). Made of stainless steel and reaching a staggering height–taller than our new building!–of 43 feet, Askew closely mimics the shape of a barren tree, with snaking silver limbs and entwined branches. Paine refers to these sculptures as “dendroids,” tree-like forms that highlight a confluence between nature and industry.
Askew marks a collaboration between Paine and NCMA’s curatorial and planning departments. Paine visited the Museum in April of 2007 to get a feel for the environment and prepare for his site-specific work. He brought his ideas back to his rural studio in Treadwell, New York, where he built the sculpture in sections, over the course of a year. (Check out this Flickr set for more images.) In November, the sections will travel to the Museum, and Paine will assemble the piece in its permanent location in the gardens surrounding the new building.
In case you can’t wait until later this year to experience Paine’s work, check out this recent installation, entitled Maelstrom, currently adorning the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. (Catch the artist talking about his work in this great audio slideshow, as well.)
Saturday May 9th was Art Day at the Museum. Art Day is generally held once or twice a year and allows the public to bring for curators and conservators to look at a maximum of three works of art about which they would like more information.
This year, curatorial study stations were set up in the Museum auditorium where guests could watch curators in action while they sat and waited for their sign-in number to be called. Generally, the art brought in occupies the European art and American curators more than the others. Nonetheless, all curators are trained to look at art with a keen eye and those of us with different expertise can also help decipher signatures and dates, and assist with other tasks-like leading guests to the conservation and library stations.
Conservators will also examine works of art and offer advice if guests have restoration queries or want to know how to display their art properly in their home. Safe display will increase the longevity of your favourite artworks, no question about that. Should guests have questions about artist’s signatures, our Museum librarian has access to databases and signature catalogues that help identify the person who created the painting as well as auction catalogues to figure out what similar works have brought in at auctions. Lists of appraisers in the area are also available (due to conflict of interest, the Museum cannot give appraisals).
Egyptian art is very rarely brought in at Art Day, so I was the person documenting the event for the blog, going from station to station, talking to the public, and offering an opinion here and there. You can view my photos of Art Day 2009 on Flickr.
As I walked through the crowd, I heard several guests murmur to each other in astonishment when they realised that curators look at the back of a painting as much as the front of it. Sometimes, we even have to take the work of art out of the frame. A tiny inscription, a gallery label, even the remnants of an old shipping tag on the back of a frame can provide the key to unlock a work of art’s history. I tried to document these fascinating aspects of a curator’s job with the photographs.
The gallery installations and the opening of the building will keep curators and conservators very busy for the next several months, so another Art Day has not been scheduled yet (information will be updated as soon as a date is set for Art Day 2010). In the meantime, you can visit the Museum’s Art Reference Library (Tuesday to Friday between 10am and 4pm) to do research and find out more about the works of art you own.
In 1977, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) created International Museum Day to “encourage awareness about the role of museums in the development of society.” Ever since that day museums around the world have been celebrating International Museum Day on or around May 18. Each year a theme is chosen by ICOM and the one selected for 2009 is Museums and Tourism.
Museums–big and small–celebrate this special day in numerous and varied ways, and in certain parts of the world the entire month of May is dedicated to museums! As an example, take a look at the Ontario Museum Association’s May is Museum Month website (and if you are wondering about yet another shameless Canadian plug, I have to admit that I worked at the OMA when I was in graduate school, notably promoting museums and archaeology to young people during the month of May).
While International Museum Day is a day for museum professionals to emphasise how important the heritage in their care is to a community, it is also a day for museum visitors to say thank you to these same professionals for doing such a fabulous job at preserving and presenting this same heritage.
So come celebrate International Museum Day at the NCMA this weekend: visit the galleries, stroll through the Museum Park, and be sure to wish a happy IMD to any staff member you meet.
Mention International Museum Day at the Museum Store this Sunday and receive a 10% discount (not to be combined with other discounts or sale items.)
The Bain Project is the talk of the town this week in the Triangle. For the next two weekends, installations and performances by 12 local artists will be on view in the abandoned E.B. Bain Waterworks–which some have called “the foremost Art-Deco style building in Raleigh.” (Some great photos here and here.) Two of those artists have their day jobs here at the Museum: Jen Coon coordinates tours for the Education Department, and Stacey Kirby works as a technician in the Conservation lab. I was eager to ask them a few questions about their art… Read More »
