Zachery Sherman: An Introduction

My name is Zach and I am a 4th year Museum Studies major. The reason I chose this major boils down to my love for learning new information (in particular information about art history, marine biology, botany, chemistry, and the humanities as they apply to people of color/people of mixed heritage like myself) and sharing this information with others through an experience. To delve into specifics a bit more, I've always had a soft spot for art and a personal knack for watercolors as well as chalk pastels; my favorite artists include Lora Zombie, Hieronymus Bosch, Casey Weldon, and anyone belonging to the Post-Pop Surrealism or Grunge art movements. I've bred tropical fish and studied them as a hobby for at least the last decade: a hobby stemming from my childhood fascination with aquariums and marine biology shows on the Discovery Channel.

As for my experiences and interests in the museum field, naturally I have an affinity for working with aquariums and zoos as their living collections speak to my childhood curiosity and they are often common places wherein visitors from all ages coalesce. A perfect place to engage with visitors and teach them about the natural world in a really fun environment! I actually pitched an exhibition idea to the Seneca Park Zoo involving Tanzanian kilifish as a way to both engage and inform zoo patrons about the life cycle of vernal pool vertebrates in Africa (as well as the concept tying into the Ngorongoro Crater theme of the Seneca Park Zoo's African animals exhibition). I have experiences in and passion for both archiving and creating finding aids, object preservation, and in the interpretation of objects that have changed in societal meaning throughout time (my exhibition at the Wallace Center on Robert Bagby's commercial photography for The Stories They Tell is a great example of this). I have a wide variety of interests in the field and I have no idea where they will take me, but I am eager to bump into the professional environment and find my calling!