Last Week! Top 10 & 1 Great Quote

So these past eight weeks have been amazing, stressful, fun, and exciting. In order to organize my experience as a whole, I am going to list a top ten of Chicago:

1. Honestly, coming to the Art Institute of Chicago everyday for work! Being able to visit numerous times, become more than familiar with works, spend time with works I may not have noticed, and having conversations with so many different people that were all centered around art.

2. Learning from everyone. Not only were we able to meet so many different people from all around the museum, but we were also given the opportunity to learn from each other. By going on others’ tours, we were able to see different styles of gallery teaching as well as get to know so many works of art.

3. Hyperlinks was probably one of the best shows I’ve seen in a while. I visited it almost everyday and loved bringing groups of all ages. The works in the show challenged and questioned common objects and daily life in ways that were not only fun to think about, but also were wonderful to look at.

4. Walking (or boating) around the streets of Chicago and always being mesmerized by Chicago’s architecture. This city is beautiful and daring in their architectural choices; it is so balanced, giving each building room to breathe. I’ve been obsessed with architecture for a long time and Chicago is the perfect city to spend time examining and experiencing buildings of all types.

5. I was fortunate enough to have some people come to Chicago for a visit. My boyfriend Dave spent a long weekend, my mom Bridget stayed for almost a week, and this week my friend Eunjung from graduate school spent time with me in the Modern wing for an afternoon.

Cot with sheet walls

6. There are so many different fun things to do in Chicago, especially in all of the different parks. We were able to see one of my favorite movies, Grease and it was a sing-along! Also, all of the great free concerts over in Millennium Park were so much fun.

7. This 4th of July was definitely the most patriotic one I’ve ever had. From a dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence to a train-full of people singing the National Anthem, my friends and I were so excited about America!

Marv enjoying the comfy cot

8. Sleeping on a cot. It may not sound glorious, but it really was!

9. I was lucky enough to have two great friends and a special cat living in Chicago. Mary, Lauren, and Marv were the best roomies while living in the beautiful Ukranian Village.

10. Public transportation offered an easy route to work and endless opportunities for people watching.

 

 

 

BEST QUOTE:

While looking at Philip Guston’s Bad Times, a young girl asked, “What are those two penguins doing driving that car?”

Good-bye, Hyperlinks!

Throughout the internship experience, the Architecture and Design show Hyperlinks fascinated me and encouraged me to think of daily life and common objects in completely new and different ways. One of these works, Simon Heijdens’ Shade was certainly memorable. Every tour group that visited the kinetic work was fascinated by its ability to bring the exterior world inside. Shade became an “old friend,” a work of art that I visited daily and thought about even after leaving the museum. Seeing the work taken down was fascinating!

Taking down Shade, the kinetic window that reacts to Chicago's wind

Emily’s 7th Week

The second to last week at the Art Institute was a lot less busy than the previous six-day week. With an adult highlights tour and a couple student tours, this week ended with a visit from someone very special: my mom from Virginia!

Teaming up with Margaret once again, we led an adult highlights tour centered around the theme of couples. It was very important to remember that couples come in all shapes and relationships, so we visited royal couples, twins, parents with children, and a famous couple from the collection. Coincidentally, our tour group was composed of couples of all types: grandparents with grandchildren, wives with husbands, best friends, and siblings. We started the tour with Olowe of Ise’s sculpted veranda post depicting the king and his senior wife. The group described the various ways that the artist connected the two figures and the variations of style used when showing the shared power of the couple. Along with other works in the gallery all from the Yoruba culture, we developed our discussion about couples further. Specifically, we discussed the culture’s high rate of twin births and the reverence that comes along with them while looking at the Twin Commemorative Figures (Ere Ibeji). These figures were created and cared for to represent a deceased twin, because two are present we know that in this case both children died. Connecting the relationship between mother and child, we traveled to Cow Suckling a Calf from India created during the 9th century. While focusing on the work, the group described how the artist showed the tender moment and emphasized this with the depiction and composition. The next stop was William Glackens’ At Mouquin’s, a scene that shows a more controversial couple that expands as the viewer begins to study the reflections behind. As the grand finale, we visited the most popular couple in the whole museum: Grant Wood’s American Gothic. The time spent in front of this work invited many other visitors to join and discuss. We uncovered many facets of this work together, from its inspiration and creation to its life after it was created. This work is a “greatest hit” and everyone thought it was a perfect piece to end on. 

Nan Wood and Dr. McKeeby next to American Gothic

Once my mom arrived, we spent the afternoon in the museum after a delicious lunch at Terzo Piano. My mom and I spent much time in front of American Gothic. She was surprised how much better the work is in person. The story behind its creation also fascinated her, inspiring her to use it in her classroom during the upcoming year when she teaches American Literature. The weekend was jam-packed with tourist goodness: architecture boat tour, the Museum of Science and Industry (highly recommended by my grandfather), restaurants, and more! She hadn’t been to Chicago since she was about 10; needless to say, she loves it. She didn’t want to leave downtown just because the architecture is so memorable and arresting, definitely my favorite thing about Chicago too!

Emily’s 6-day 6th Week

Trying to think of everything that happened last week, I’m now remembering one of the most jam-packed weeks of this entire internship experience. Engaging with every type of audience as well as visiting with various departments, this past week was so intense it had to be 6-days long!

Kicking off the week strongly, we had two fascinating museum practice seminars: a curatorial walk-through in the recently installed galleries of African art and a guided visit through various aspects of conservation. Kathleen Berzock, the curator of African art, spent much time sharing the intricacies of the decisions behind the gallery. She pointed out aspects of organization, presentation, and attribution that were really interesting. I knew I loved the presentation, however, I couldn’t put my finger on just what was different. Through this walk-through, I realized that the glass on most of the cases goes all the way down to the floor, allowing the viewer to feel closer to each object while some objects have no separation from the view at all. The next day, we visited with conservation. This was one of the most unique experiences since the beginning of the internship. We visited both two-dimensional and three-dimensional conservation, and both were amazing! In the painting area, we were able to view a Monet from every side (even the back)! Picasso’s Mother and Child originally had a male figure on the far left, but it was removed by the artist. In the conservation room, one of the works they were working on was this extra piece! If you look extra hard (in person, of course) you can see the remnant of an arm reaching over the pair; come on over to the third floor of the Modern wing and see if you can find it!

Speaking of the Modern wing, on Friday Margaret Farr and I shared an adult tour on Modern Sculpture. We stayed on the second floor, starting with Robert Rauschenberg’s Short Circuit, 1955. This adult group was extremely engaged and had many contributions and questions in regards to the definition of sculpture, the evolution of materials, and the importance of installation. Our conversation carried us to Robert Smithson’s Chalk-Mirror Displacement where everyone was questioning the importance of the original site. With our next stop, Lee Bontecou’s Untitled, the group had many answers and feelings instead of questions. Definitely a work that must be dealt with, Untitled provided a wealth of conversation that shifted as more information was provided. Concluding our tour with Felix Gonzales-Torres’ “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), this group was intrigued by the differences of how the viewer is expected to interact with the work, a conversation that also evolved as more information was provided. Although the tour went slightly over the time allotted, many members of the group continued the conversation throughout the gallery, asking many more questions of anyone with a museum badge. One of which really stuck with me in regards to my internship experience, “Now, when you look at art, do you just know everything about it? Do you just immediately get it?” I’ve been reflecting upon this question since and it will probably always stick with me.

Kaleidoscope! Saturday filled the museum with eager families creating, looking, listening, and thinking about art. Marissa and I spent the day with a group from Albany Park. Spending time with a group that may not have ever come to the museum was a wonderful experience and it seems that they will be back soon. Starting with creating art, the day involved gallery exploration and a live music performance. Everyone in the group seemed excited to experience the Art Institute, as we were all excited for them to be there. A great Saturday at the museum!

Emily’s Millenium Park & Adult Tour

First off, I cannot believe that it is already the 5th week! This past week has been quite exciting for many reasons, specifically the family fun tent over in Millennium Park, the Spanish Painting adult tour with Kate, and a visit from my boyfriend all the way from Texas.

Millennium Park houses all sorts of exciting programming, particularly in the summer months. From aerial dancers to alphabet animals, the family fun tent was entertaining for a wide variety of audiences, including me. Inspired by the Artful Alphabets exhibition in the Ryan Education Center, the art activities dealt with text or letters in a creative way. We switched activities from day to day, including mysterious messages and imaginative letters. I was able to help out in the tent from Monday-Thursday, allowing plenty of time to get used to the activities and interact with people from all over the place. Some people were visiting from out of town while others visited the family tent throughout the summer. Converting single letters into animals or monsters really peaked the artists’ curiosities and allowed them to think of something familiar in a new and different way. Mysterious messages involved the classic watercolor resist technique with white crayons (one of the only times you get to use one) and a sponge contraption filled with watercolor. Seeing artists “discover” their messages was truly entertaining and exciting for all. The tables were always filling up with new artists, which definitely showed how many interpretations of each project there were.

Kate and I shared a noon adult tour on Spanish painting. There were some familiar faces in the crowd, as well as some new ones. I kicked off the tour with Bernat Martorell’s Saint George Killing the Dragon. This work is exciting and always elicits many questions and curiosities. It connected to the other works on the tour as a chronological example of how International Gothic informed later movements and styles, acting as a precursor to the naturalism of the Renaissance as well as the exaggerated styles of Mannerism and Tenebrism. Heading to El Greco and Zurbarán with Kate, this connection was further acknowledged and addressed. After visiting Zurbarán’s Saint Romanus of Antioch and Saint Barulas, I addressed Bartolomé Estéban Murillo’s Saint John the Baptist Pointing at Christ. These two pieces connected because Murillo was influenced by Zurbarán’s use of contrasts, however, in the Murillo the contrast is beginning to soften and become more natural. I enjoyed researching this work of art as it was a surprise to learn how this work came to be and to learn more about the artist’s life. It was commissioned by nuns who were involved in a friendly rivalry with the monastery near by. These nuns were deeply connected to St. John the Baptist while the monks were more aligned with John the Evangelist. Because of this, the convent commissioned a series of paintings displaying St. John the Baptist’s importance.

On Friday, I was able to give a very unique tour: one to my boyfriend Dave! He flew up from Austin, TX and arrived at the museum right a lunch. We wandered through the Art Institute for over 4 hours… he had never been to AIC before so there was so much to see. His highlights were mainly in the Modern wing, including Charles Ray’s Hinoki, David Hockney’s American Collectors (Fred and Marcia Weisman), Alex Katz’ Vincent and Tony, and Robert Rauschenberg’s Short Circuit. We went to the Hancock Observatory, caught some amazing music over at Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park and also went deep into space at the Adler Planetarium. For the rest of the weekend, we explored Chicago food and fun. Dave had his first deep dish (only my second!) as well as the pickle spear-adorned Chicago style hot dog.

ABC’s with Pre-K’s & Families on Free Days

Kicking the touring week off with a precious group of children, this week was our first experience with an ABC’s tour. These tours focus on the building blocks of art: line, color, and shape with interactive activities for younger children. We snaked the children around the Alsdorf gallery, pointing out different animals and creatures on our walk to a Cheyenne war bonnet where we used all of our fingers and both of our arms to show how the different feathers create lines. Once we showed all the different types of lines, we stood up and showed how lines can move, especially when you would imagine putting this bonnet on and how it would move if you danced or walked. After we left Amerindian, we headed to Van Gogh’s The Bedroom. Using a book on colors and fun color necklaces, Shannon guided the students to identify the different colors present in the painting. Relating the bedroom to their own, the students shared what their favorite colors are and how they’ve used them in their rooms. Finally, we left the bedroom and headed over to Stuart Davis’ Ready-to-Wear to discuss and identify shape. We used yarn and our hands to create different shapes, starting with circles and ending with rectangles. The students picked out shapes from the painting and created them with their pieces of yarn while also describing the types of lines and colors.

This past Wednesday was one of the museum’s free days, which meant there was a line wrapping around the building at both entrances! The galleries were packed with people cruising through the museum to see amazing works of art. The open studio in Ryan Education Center was buzzing with alphabet creating and journal constructing. The free family Wednesday was a perfect day for my very first family tour, based around the concept of how an object that may be based on something ordinary is transformed into something extraordinary for a variety of reasons. We stopped at Simon Heijden’s Shade (one of my favorite pieces to tour with any group), viewing it from multiple angles. Second stop on the tour was the Augsburg Cabinet made by Philip Hainhofer. At this stop, the group related their different cabinets and what they keep in them and speculated what might be in this cabinet. The rich detail allowed the group to investigate the cabinet from all sides, becoming more and more familiar with the imagery. Lastly, we headed to the armor room and checked out some of the weapons, particularly some of the weapons that were reminiscent of farming tools. As a group, we decided how each object became extraordinary, with many examples from observation. Thankfully, I have another family tour this weekend so I will be able to test this tour out again and see how multiple audiences change the way each piece is discussed. Using the same objects with a variety of groups allows me to be a co-learner with the members of the group and expand upon my perceptions and knowledge of each object. I would say this is my favorite aspect of any tour; the varied observations truly transform an object and my relationship with it.

Aside from touring here at the Art Institute, I’ve been enjoying Chicago parks. Specifically on the 4th of July, friends and I celebrated in Millennium Park with some free concerts. Thursday night was very special. There was a Grease sing-along under the stars in Churchill Park. Grease. Sign-along. It was amazing. Chicago has so many parks that offer a variety of lovely activities, Grease sing-along probably being the best.

First Week of Tours!

After two weeks of orientation, training, and mock tours, we were let loose to take over student groups! With students ranging from elementary school all the way up to seniors in high school, this first week was a great way to warm up to touring.

Shannon and I changed up our tours each day and tested out different questioning strategies in order to find out the best ways to approach each object. With the overarching theme of Art from Many Places, Shannon and I tailored each tour to any requests made by the group. For the first couple of days we fit different objects in under the theme of Ordinary/Extraordinary.  The various groups decided whether or not each object was ordinary or extraordinary based on our conversations. The students had to defend their decisions with reasons based on observations. This theme allowed us to tie in many objects, often times ones that were at some point functional objects from many cultures. Our first high school group requested a tour including objects that had geometric shapes, architecture, and mood. This topic allowed us to interpret some of the same works from previous tours and research differently, giving each object a fresh set of objectives and goals for conversation. One of the most fruitful conversations that incorporated all of the requested elements was Simon Heijdens’ Shade in the Hyperlinks show in the Architecture and Design gallery. This piece touched upon everything requested and really seemed to amaze the students. We first viewed it from Griffin Court, where we began our tour. Ending in the Architecture and Design gallery, the group compared and contrasted experiencing this work from multiple viewpoints. Imagining how they would construct this window, the group decided that changing its color would also change its meaning and the experience of the viewer.

Another group requested a tour focused on Chicago and civic values. Shannon and I chose objects that were affiliated with Chicago in many ways: Chagall’s America Windows, Adler and Sullivan’s Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room, the Spider-Silk Textile (included because it’s just amazing), and George F. Harding’s collection of arms and armor. This tour was different from the others, with the common thread being Chicago. Because Shannon and I aren’t native Chicagoins, it was really an amazing opportunity to learn from our group and learn more about their relationship with the city where they’re growing up. Next week, we also have a tour that is studying Chicago and its many neighborhoods.

To finish the week off, we collaborated with the teen interns on a digital storytelling project that will last for a couple of weeks. Lily, Holly, Marissa, and I were interested in the Thorne Miniature Rooms. Using a couple of cameras and a notebook, the four of us observed and documented the goings on around the miniatures. That gallery in particular really forces people to spend time looking; it’s hard to breeze through without moving your body to see things closer.

Emily’s First & Second Weeks

WHAT a whirlwind! The first week was a crash course in commuting, the Art Institute of Chicago, museum education, and most importantly, getting to know each other. From meeting most of the museum education staff to exploring the majority of the museum’s galleries, that first week was exciting, inspiring, and overwhelming (in the best way).

Chicago is a brand new city to me, so getting to the museum each day is as exciting as being in the beautiful Art Institute. I’ve given myself over an hour everyday, allowing me to walk around Chicago and gawk at the skyline. I feel so fortunate that going to work means being in an art museum all day, and that the walk to work includes famous and influential architecture. While in the museum, specifically in the brightly lit studios in the Ryan Education Center, I am always reminded of the awe of the Chicago landscape.

During this first week, all of the interns really got to know each other by sharing our backgrounds and interests. A nice mix of undergraduates and graduates from both art history and art education, this group brings unique insights and specialized interests that will only make this learning experience deeper and more meaningful as we collaborate and share. During, the first few weeks of student tours I will be collaborating and team-teaching with Shannon. We have different backgrounds, however, we both bring a great enthusiasm for art and sharing it with others, which will hopefully be contagious to our tour groups. Choosing objects together, we will be taking students on a tour of the Ordinary/ Extraordinary, visiting works from many cultures and time periods and discussing ideas of innovation.

In order to prepare for these tours, each of us presented a mock tour during the second week. Beginning with the student audience of 6th graders, we conducted a tour for our peers and mentors from the education department. I chose Hinoki by Charles Ray, the first piece to be installed in the new modern wing; my tour focused around the idea of teamwork. For the adult audience, I developed a tour based on different types of couples depicted in art; Olowe of Ise’s Veranda Post of Enthroned King and Senior Wife (Opo Ogoga) illustrates Yoruba traditions and beliefs as well as the representation of a royal couple. The family audience’s tour theme deals with Ordinary Extraordinary, focusing on how ordinary objects become special for a variety of reasons, where we stopped at Wall Clock collaboratively created by Jean-Pierre Latz and Francis Bayley. Although the mock tours were extremely nerve-racking yet fun, the feedback from peers and mentors really informed us on our strengths and weaknesses.

Along with my fellow museum education interns, on Monday of the second week, we met all of the teen interns over cookies and fruit. Brianna, Lily, Kris Derek, and I traveled throughout the museum doing various fun activities that both broke the ice and encouraged playfulness in the galleries. We mimicked a Carrie Mae Weems photograph and also created a new label for a sculpture. With their eyes closed, I guided the three group members to Martin Puryear’s Sanctuary where I tried to describe it as fully as possible. Once eyes were open, I found out that my description produced a wide variety of interpretations of what this piece looked like, from a birdhouse to a twisting vine.

Overall, these first two weeks feel more like a month. My exposure to works in the collection during this short period of time is just amazing. To reiterate, I can’t believe that I get to come here for work everyday!