The past few days I have been at the National Museum of the American Indian, working on a de-install of the Brian Jungen exhibit entitled 'Strange Comfort', and yes, it is called a de-install, I am not just using poor grammar. My first day there was pretty exciting, I really love this museum, I think the way it is built is beautiful, and the gardens outside are lovely and quiet. I walk into the closed exhibit and met Gail and Ann, Gail is the Collections Manager at NMAI, and Ann is a conservator for SI. Both women were lovely, lovely people. They were cleaning the piece called Carapace, which was made entirely of trash bins in France. When it was shipped over to America, the artist wanted to alter the piece and make it a different shape, so a lot of the bins were cut in half to make more pieces to play with. It took several weeks to install. I took pictures of it, but they are not up yet, but to describe it, it was sort of a circular shape with two small entrances on either end, the inside had what looked like seats running across either side. It was MASSIVE needless to say. As soon as Richard from my office arrived, we began taking it apart, piece by piece, trashcan, by trashcan. In the end, it took an hour and a half to take it apart. It came down QUICK, we had pieces saran wrapped together and ready for load in at around noon. It was a very speedy process and I was so amazed by how quickly we worked, and how quickly each piece came down. After removing the Carapace, we moved on to taking down a few totem poles, very carefully.Followed by a lunch break, and let me tell you the cafe at NMAI is outstanding, they serve traditional native cuisine, and it is soooooo goood, go there and eat lunch one day, you will totally love it. Not to mention they harvest vegetables from the garden outside to make food for the cafe, I really like that idea.
So our day ended at 3, and I went home to do nothing of any particular interest. I went back to NMAI the next day to finish up, we finished our work by 11AM.
Whoa.11AM, how do I spend the rest of my day?
Well, Gail invited me to come see them take down the whale sculpture at 3PM, they were going to make a big event out of it for donors, guests, important SI people, etc, etc....I could not help because of some silly rules, contracts....but I decided I would come back to watch anyways..but how the hell was I going to kill time?I've already been to all of the museums on the mall at least once, some 3+ times...agh!!!And, it was hot, I was lazy and didnt feel like going far. So Jared and I went next door to Air&Space where we checked out a Wright Brothers exhibit, and parted ways with a hug, a few 'good lucks' and he told me to
'do good'
I really love when someone says 'do good'-it is so simple, yet it means so much.
So, I actually wandered into the castle after that,wandered around a few museums for the 1000th time, and headed back to NMAI to watch their dog and pony show. I met the curator Paul who was wearing a RUN DMC shirt underneath a blazer, which pretty much made my day. I watched as their staff took down this massive whale sculpture and gently place into back into the crates it was shipped in. It was sort of like watching a ballet, everything was so precise, timing was everything, it was so cool to watch. My experience was fantastic at NMAI and I would totally be interested in working there. I think if I were to ever come back to work for SI, I would want to work at ONE museum, be out of this world awesome!!
Soooooo, now it is Thursday night at 1016PM, Nate will be here tomorrow morning.
Holy.Crap.
Im pretty much going to be high strung as crap tomorrow, I was for about 5 hours this afternoon until I drank 2 beers....and now, I am okay.For now.
oh goodness!!!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
the final countdown
thanks to arrested development and G.O.B for the inspiration for my title.
Well,one week until Nate gets here, only two more days of work, and those days are both downtown at National Museum of the American Indian to be a part of the deinstall of the Brian Jungen exhibit, holy crap I am excited about that. I loved the exhibit at NMAI and can not wait to check this out. Today was sort of our 'official' last day at OEC. They gathered all the interns into the conference room for what was basically a post-mortem, except this was not scheduled in a timely manner, which REALLY ticked me off. I am just going to say it on, the lack of scheduling they did over there drove me bonkers. Important things were also scheduled week of in an 'oh, by the way' manner. I suggested to them that this change, and as soon as possible. If you have something of relative importance, it can not be scheduled like that, end of story. That is the way I function, I don't mess around, I really do not have time for that 'oh, by the way' thing. Ragh! Anyways, because it overlapped with a meeting I had downtown, I could not stay for the entire thing and had to skidaddle. We were going to receive certificates or something like that, I'll be picking mine up on Wednesday.The hilarious thing about the certificates was that the interns were musing the day before about what we were going to receive at this meeting, because a token of appreciate was mentioned in the 'oh,btw' email. We joked about a few things, but in a serious manner, we were like, certificates, like any other thing in life. Later, when I saw the Graphics intern, Jamal, I asked him how the certificates were coming along. He looked at me in shock and said,
"That was supposed to be top secret"
Sike. So, moving on to my meeting. I had a meeting back down at Gallery Place at NPG to meet their lighting designer, you might be thinking to yourself,
"Betty, You sure are meeting with an awful lot of lighting designers, you don't really work in lights"
I have actually only met with 2, I met with a tech at American History by chance, and NPG/American Art are actual designers, these two galleries are attached to one another,and they could not meet with me on the same day due to schedules and such, so I met with them separately.Also, lighting museum objects/lighting paintings/sculptures etc-VERY DIFFERENT FROM ONE ANOTHER.
But it was good, because I got a really good understand of design for a gallery. Alex, was really great, also very passionate about his work, and a really great teacher. He talked about how lighting this gallery was a lot of architectural lighting as well, the building is very beautiful and one of the tricky things with lighting art is that there are conservation restrictions, so one of the ways they make the gallery inviting and draw interest to it, is by lighting the room itself. He has worked with artists when it came to lighting their work, which can be tricky when often times the artist may have painted under fluorescent light, natural light etc, and sometimes can change the way the color looks etc, etc. He says that halogen lamps are really the best choice when it comes to lighting color, because LEDs do not have all the color capabilities yet. I also got to see them installing lights for Americans Now, which opens August, where I saw one of the vitrines I had painted, waiting patiently to be completely installed. That was a COOL feeling, most of the work here I've done here I will not see come full circle, because the exhibits open after I leave, which is sort of a bummer. Maybe I will have to make some time to check them out later on. It was cool to see some of my work, actually in a museum,not quite ready yet, but still. It was awesome. Alex, even offered to get me involved in a hang/focus for Americans Now, but unfortunately, I do not have the time, which SUCKS, wish I had met with him earlier, that would have been really cool!
I really recommend going to these two galleries, check out the courtyard at night, also stand in either of the main lobbies, and look to your right, and to your left at the ceilings, and just notice the amount of lamps hanging from the ceiling in NPG compared to American Art, it is really quite something.
Excited for the weekend, volunteering back at Columbia Heights Farmers Market, this time we are doing live music, so we have a stage and sound equipment to set up. Super stoked to be involved this weekend, it looks like I'll get some sound experience in over my summer too.
So, this is pretty much farewell intern friends, we survived this madness, and it looks like everyone has their limbs, and hopefully you all will get a chance to rest your brains a little bit before you being your next big project. Hahah, it was good getting to know you, and eating lunch with you everyday while watching CNN. Wish I could have worked with some of you all more, but you all were in different units, dang. Have a good year!!
Here is a link to Brian Jungen, love it:
http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/jungen/
Well,one week until Nate gets here, only two more days of work, and those days are both downtown at National Museum of the American Indian to be a part of the deinstall of the Brian Jungen exhibit, holy crap I am excited about that. I loved the exhibit at NMAI and can not wait to check this out. Today was sort of our 'official' last day at OEC. They gathered all the interns into the conference room for what was basically a post-mortem, except this was not scheduled in a timely manner, which REALLY ticked me off. I am just going to say it on, the lack of scheduling they did over there drove me bonkers. Important things were also scheduled week of in an 'oh, by the way' manner. I suggested to them that this change, and as soon as possible. If you have something of relative importance, it can not be scheduled like that, end of story. That is the way I function, I don't mess around, I really do not have time for that 'oh, by the way' thing. Ragh! Anyways, because it overlapped with a meeting I had downtown, I could not stay for the entire thing and had to skidaddle. We were going to receive certificates or something like that, I'll be picking mine up on Wednesday.The hilarious thing about the certificates was that the interns were musing the day before about what we were going to receive at this meeting, because a token of appreciate was mentioned in the 'oh,btw' email. We joked about a few things, but in a serious manner, we were like, certificates, like any other thing in life. Later, when I saw the Graphics intern, Jamal, I asked him how the certificates were coming along. He looked at me in shock and said,
"That was supposed to be top secret"
Sike. So, moving on to my meeting. I had a meeting back down at Gallery Place at NPG to meet their lighting designer, you might be thinking to yourself,
"Betty, You sure are meeting with an awful lot of lighting designers, you don't really work in lights"
I have actually only met with 2, I met with a tech at American History by chance, and NPG/American Art are actual designers, these two galleries are attached to one another,and they could not meet with me on the same day due to schedules and such, so I met with them separately.Also, lighting museum objects/lighting paintings/sculptures etc-VERY DIFFERENT FROM ONE ANOTHER.
But it was good, because I got a really good understand of design for a gallery. Alex, was really great, also very passionate about his work, and a really great teacher. He talked about how lighting this gallery was a lot of architectural lighting as well, the building is very beautiful and one of the tricky things with lighting art is that there are conservation restrictions, so one of the ways they make the gallery inviting and draw interest to it, is by lighting the room itself. He has worked with artists when it came to lighting their work, which can be tricky when often times the artist may have painted under fluorescent light, natural light etc, and sometimes can change the way the color looks etc, etc. He says that halogen lamps are really the best choice when it comes to lighting color, because LEDs do not have all the color capabilities yet. I also got to see them installing lights for Americans Now, which opens August, where I saw one of the vitrines I had painted, waiting patiently to be completely installed. That was a COOL feeling, most of the work here I've done here I will not see come full circle, because the exhibits open after I leave, which is sort of a bummer. Maybe I will have to make some time to check them out later on. It was cool to see some of my work, actually in a museum,not quite ready yet, but still. It was awesome. Alex, even offered to get me involved in a hang/focus for Americans Now, but unfortunately, I do not have the time, which SUCKS, wish I had met with him earlier, that would have been really cool!
I really recommend going to these two galleries, check out the courtyard at night, also stand in either of the main lobbies, and look to your right, and to your left at the ceilings, and just notice the amount of lamps hanging from the ceiling in NPG compared to American Art, it is really quite something.
Excited for the weekend, volunteering back at Columbia Heights Farmers Market, this time we are doing live music, so we have a stage and sound equipment to set up. Super stoked to be involved this weekend, it looks like I'll get some sound experience in over my summer too.
So, this is pretty much farewell intern friends, we survived this madness, and it looks like everyone has their limbs, and hopefully you all will get a chance to rest your brains a little bit before you being your next big project. Hahah, it was good getting to know you, and eating lunch with you everyday while watching CNN. Wish I could have worked with some of you all more, but you all were in different units, dang. Have a good year!!
Here is a link to Brian Jungen, love it:
http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/jungen/
Monday, August 2, 2010
mid city dog days.
Surprisingly,its not that hot here as of late, as the term 'dog days' would usually imply. Not that that information about the weather here was that important to my blog, I am also not very good at keeping up with this blog either, I jot down things in my sketchbook that I learn while at work, but then the thought of transcribing them to another medium sometimes frustrates me, sometimes I wonder if what I say is actually exciting, well, it is exciting to me for the most part. I am not even sure what I have been up to lately, other than eagerly marking days off of my calender until my 2 week vacation starts with Nate.Hmmmmmm.....
Well, I met with another lighting designer, this time at American Art, his name was Scott, and he was SUPER STOKED to meet with me. No joke, this guy was really animated, and super in love with his work. Color is key when lighting a gallery, that is basically what he told me in a nutshell. When he lights artwork, he wants to light the most exciting part of it, and really make the color beautiful, and to my surprise NEW paintings are the ones you have to worry about the most when it comes to conserving them from the light sources, not OLD. Which I suppose makes perfect sense. Anyways, he was really great, and I really enjoyed taking a tour of American Art, and learning how he designed the light for each exhibit, piece, I also thought it was great he actually got to work with a few artists in the Modern Gallery on how to best light their work. I really enjoyed what he had to say, and enjoyed hearing him talk about how passionate he was about color. It always gets me excited to see someone else excited about something they love.
Back at HeadQuarters ( which is what I will refer to OEC as from now on to make life seem more exciting ) Lots of carpentry and painting, as usual, that is pretty much what goes on in my shop. I think I would have been better off in the model shop, it is a little more prop-y, and therefore; a little more my speed.
Last Thursday, we had our OEC Open House, which was hosted by the interns, and we held tours, showed stuff that we had been working on over the summer and held a Q&A session. It went well, my mom and twin sister drove up for the event, and then kindly dropped me off at my cousins house, and then turned right around and drove straight back to Norfolk. Making it a total of about 8 hours spent in the car for that day, what troopers.
: D
My internship is coming to a close fast, holy crap.
Well, I met with another lighting designer, this time at American Art, his name was Scott, and he was SUPER STOKED to meet with me. No joke, this guy was really animated, and super in love with his work. Color is key when lighting a gallery, that is basically what he told me in a nutshell. When he lights artwork, he wants to light the most exciting part of it, and really make the color beautiful, and to my surprise NEW paintings are the ones you have to worry about the most when it comes to conserving them from the light sources, not OLD. Which I suppose makes perfect sense. Anyways, he was really great, and I really enjoyed taking a tour of American Art, and learning how he designed the light for each exhibit, piece, I also thought it was great he actually got to work with a few artists in the Modern Gallery on how to best light their work. I really enjoyed what he had to say, and enjoyed hearing him talk about how passionate he was about color. It always gets me excited to see someone else excited about something they love.
Back at HeadQuarters ( which is what I will refer to OEC as from now on to make life seem more exciting ) Lots of carpentry and painting, as usual, that is pretty much what goes on in my shop. I think I would have been better off in the model shop, it is a little more prop-y, and therefore; a little more my speed.
Last Thursday, we had our OEC Open House, which was hosted by the interns, and we held tours, showed stuff that we had been working on over the summer and held a Q&A session. It went well, my mom and twin sister drove up for the event, and then kindly dropped me off at my cousins house, and then turned right around and drove straight back to Norfolk. Making it a total of about 8 hours spent in the car for that day, what troopers.
: D
My internship is coming to a close fast, holy crap.
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