Start of The End

 Hello, everyone!

This is Renee GueriWelcome back and I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season. My break had been a bit busy on the hunt for identification of the exact pigments and materials I wanted to buy. Since the goal of my thesis is looking at materiality, for the handmade pigments for the historical egg tempera paint, I wanted to make sure I chose reputable, quality-focused materials. I ended up using the website Natural Pigments because of the good reviews and summarization of their materials and sourcing. Additionally, I needed dried form animal glue as well to create the primer and gesso layer, so I bought 100g of fish and rabbit skin glue from Kremer Pigmente, as I have purchased materials from this site before and trust the quality it produced for past projects in bookbinding and on substrates like parchment. Now, it is a waiting game to see how long the materials take to come in! 

One of my main adventures that occurred during break was going to the local Lowes to find an oak panel as my painting substrate. My father came along to help as he has decades of woodworking experience, and can more easily identify good types of wood. We looked at a few samples, but I ended up going with a double sided, oak panel that had other layers of softwoods in between them as it was a sturdy, and affordable option, and is the same type of material as the original piece I will be referencing in my recreation. What I need to do now is sand the edges and cut the entire board to size. I am planning on doing a double sided painting with the different types of tempera in order to keep things precise and in order; when I initially cut the wood after the final painting is done to section them for exposure to certain agents of deterioration, I will create a labeling section to make sure pieces don’t get flipped around or misplaced. 

Finally, I finished gridding the piece of my recreation, The Vision of Saint Eustace by Pisanello, digitally and outlined everything into sections, and used this reference for my large scale drawing I first completed on tracing paper to later be transferred onto the gessoed and cut oak board. I’m very excited to begin the actual painting process, as I know it will take me a long time since I am doing it to scale, and am doing either two to three paintings, depending on my revisions and time constraints I decide on. This is all the updates for now! Very enthusiastic to keep on pushing this semester. Good luck to my fellow peers as well!

We're Back!

Hi everyone! It was wonderful to hear about everyone's updates in class. As I stated, I am feeling lost. Thankfully, this is temporary. 

My original title was: A Path Forward: A Proposal for a New Walkway at the Genesee Country Village & Museum. As I write, and ruminate about my topic, I find that the GCV&M is a pond of a bigger revenue. 

As I think about this, and edit the title and proposal. 

My focuses include: 

- Physical accessibility to museums 

        - the physical part of it (design, type of museum places as in historic village))

-What does accessibility mean? 

        - define what accessibility means 

May all of you find time to rest and reflect!

If you need someone to bounce ideas off of...feel free to email or text. 

     

Back from Break!

 Hello!

It is good to be back after a very much-needed break. I got to spend time with family, see friends, and generally shut my brain off after a stressful fall semester.

As the Spring Semester starts, I am looking back on the work I did and realizing that I have several parts I need to revisit and in one case, finish. I'm looking forward to seeing my thesis with fresh eyes and am especially looking forward to basically taking a red pen to it and really cleaning it up. I've got a few emails to write as well, as my survey hasn't had any responses, so I'm planning on reaching out to a few people to get the word out.

Lots and lots of writing ahead, and I'm looking forward to making my proposal into an actual thesis.

See you in the next update!

(Pete turned 17 last week!)

Welcome Back Everyone!

 Hello!

Today was the first day of MUSE 490, the beginning of a new era in my college life. I am thrilled to begin the in-person work for my thesis. 

Before the semester started, I visited my old high school (which holds the gallery where I am displaying my exhibition). There I collaborated with the art, history, and tech teachers along with facilities. In doing so, I created an updated gallery analysis that I wish to take part in my thesis, designed the gallery to scale in sketch up, and collaborated on potential project ideas. 

Working with the students reminded me of my younger years. Excited by the praise and potential of my stuff to be displayed and celebrated throughout the gallery. Although I wish to inspire the community to appreciate their surrounding environment, one of the main overall goals is to continue establishing self-validation and worth for these students. This can be done with or without a gallery theme, however adding the theme, Finding Balance: Exploring our Relationship with Nature transforms the exhibition experience. Since it now can validate students through the display of their work, but also advocate for environmental awareness. 

As always, a nice cat pic for the way. 

Finn

Needing Volunteers!

 Hello friends! 

Congrats on completing your proposals! 

Now that we move into a more active phase...I am looking for volunteers! 

What would qualify you? 

- you use a mobility aid

- you feel the need to express concerns over physical limitations and public offered events/activities

Feel free to text me! (if you have my number) & if not, email me - ars3575@g.rit.edu 

Thank you!!

Semester Wrap-Up!

Hi all!

It’s almost the end of the semester and things are wrapping up! We had our last day of MUSE 489 on Tuesday and submitted our final proposals this afternoon, both of which are bittersweet but ultimately very exciting. As I reflect on the work we've accomplished this semester, I’m so grateful for all the support I’ve received from the Museum Studies program and larger CoLA community on this project, especially from Dr. Decker and my thesis pals.

In other exciting news, I gave my final presentation on my MUSE 340 (Introduction to Archival Studies) Honors Option project yesterday afternoon and it went incredibly well! My project was centered around developing an evaluation framework for different forms of accessibility in archives at institutions in Hawai’i. Although I’ve completed this semester’s commitments to the Honors Program and to MUSE 340, I am planning on continuing this project into next semester (and probably after graduation!) with the encouragement of my advisor, Landyn Hatch, and MUSE faculty and staff. I received great feedback on ways to improve this project, which I’ll be integrating into a more usable product I hope to share with a larger audience sometime next year. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more or get involved with this project in any way, please email me at ram3077@rit.edu.

Over the break, I’ll be working on planning my exhibit and selecting objects from the Susan Greene Costume Collection as well as getting some much-needed rest. I’m very happy to be going home, but I’m so excited to see what the next semester holds for all our theses!

I hope everyone has a wonderful winter break and a happy holiday season! :)

Riley

Last Day of Thesis and Semester Recap!

     As this semester ends, I wanted to give some background into my project, highlight some of the work I have completed over the past semester, and look forward to my upcoming project plans. 

    My whole life has been surrounded by trinkets, collected from my family members over many years. When I was about 10 years old, my sister and I were rummaging through the random contents that filled the basement and found a gallon-sized plastic bag filled with vintage Ray-Bans. After taking turns trying each pair on, we put the bag back where we found it and didn't bother to touch it again until years later, but it was a constant thought in the back of my mind. Around this time last year, as I began to prepare ideas for my thesis, my dad was going through a bunch of the stuff in our basement and told me the story of his father, Jerrold B. Smith. It turned out that those glasses from all those years ago, and most of the random trinkets that were floating around the house were his. This was the spark that set off my project. I knew I wanted to tell his story as an artist, and my family was excited to finally have someone with knowledge of museums and archives to tackle this project. 

    After the first few months of this project, I recorded three oral history interviews of people with various relationships with Jerrold B. Smith. I have dug through the collections to form a concise history and story about who he was. And I have begun cataloging and photographing most of the pieces. I began some preparatory exhibit work, such as selecting my space and date, University Gallery from February 12 - March 8, and roughly drafting what I hope the exhibit will look like. 

Collections strewn about while recording Catherine Smith-Cole's Oral History Interview.

    Over the winter break, I am going to work with my dad to clean up and fact-check some possible loose ends I have in my research on Jerrold's life. With the help of COLA Student Research Funds, I will also spend my time purchasing some supplies I will need to continue this project such as protective containers and sleeves. I will also spend my time drafting together my exhibit, and if time allows I will also read new sources for my paper to prepare for the spring semester.

I hope everyone has a fantastic winter break!

- Gabriella Smith

    

        

Closing Sentiments

 Hello, Everyone!

I hope the end of semester is wrapping up nicely for you all, especially as the holiday season is rapidly approaching. It has been great to work alongside my peers as we have developed our literature review and thesis for review in the spring. Everyone has worked hard, gained a lot more knowledge, and are track for success as we continue into 2025. 

Having submitted my final draft of my literature review, I am especially excited to begin the recreation process over break and finalizing plans for my experiments against agents of deterioration. I am currently in the phase where I am looking and planning on buying materials in order to begin (I have many trips planned to Rochester's Fine Art Supply Store downtown)! What I plan to do over break is rest, but also get a jump start on my process and documentation. This is where the fun part seems to start.

I know we are all looking for some well deserved rest, and I wish the best holiday wishes to you all!