Exciting updates!

 

Hi! Long time no see... 

I've taken the time this past weekend to reach out to four of my friends who are passionate about Lolita fashion and also wearers of it! These are simplified, but I asked them three questions: 

1. Are you interested in being interviewed? 

2. Would you be willing to lend pieces to be put on display in the gallery?

3. Are you interested in participating in a potential fashion show?

Three have enthusiastically responded with yes, while I am still waiting to hear back from the last one. In any case, I'm very excited to have at least three participants willing to be interviewed, have their pieces put on display, and participate in a possible fashion show (which I should later discuss in more detail with Dr. Decker). 

My roommate, Alyssa, has also gladly agreed to lend her magazine to be put on display for the exhibition! 

I'm very glad this is becoming more of a collaborative process. I aimed to not only make it about the fashion, but the community and directly involving the people within it, with their permission. I am so thankful for them! They are so willing to share their different perspectives, lend pieces and art, and model for a show. 

See you next update!

- Carolyn

(Kamikaze Girls, 2004) 

 

 

 

 

Hello! Carolyn Lee

 

Hello! My name is Carolyn Lee and I am a fourth-year student in the Museum Studies major here at RIT with a minor in Literature and Media. I come from Phoenix, Arizona–my journey here was pretty much one extreme end of the weather to another, but maybe I will be able to survive any potential climate with this training, who knows!

I am currently working in the Story department for the Finger Lakes Virtual Museum Project partnering with MAGIC Spell Studios. During my time on the project, I have been learning, and am still trying to refine, the skill of researching a historical topic in depth and then trying to convey that information in a way that is educational, but still entertaining and precise. I believe this skill may aid me in my topic; a history that many are not particularly familiar with.

After wavering between two potential topic choices, I have decided to examine something I am personally interested in, the history of Lolita Fashion and its existence today. I will be enlisting the help of my fellow friends in the area who dress in Lolita, online EGL (Elegant and Gothic Lolita) communities, and my roommate Alyssa with her beautiful magazine she illustrated and wrote about the fashion. 

All of this will hopefully culminate to make an exhibition in University Gallery that conveys a meaningful experience about this fashion style originating in Japan that has caused some controversy with its name and style, invoking many misunderstandings. I aim to deconstruct and question these criticisms in my thesis. Thank you so much for reading; I'd love to hear your thoughts so far on the fashion and topic if you have any at cel9559@rit.edu :)

Below is a photo of me in my first ever coord! 

 

 

Progress Update! - Riley Mason

Hi all!

I’ve got a solid progress update to share! The first draft of my literature review is finished, and I’m already working on tweaking and improving the next version. I’ve got a good list of sources, and have gotten feedback and a handful of authors to include in my research. I’ve also started thinking about the structure of my final paper, using past theses from MUSE graduates as reference points. In terms of non-written developments, I’ve started putting together a list of contenders for the final 12-ish objects from the GCV&M’s Bruce & Susan Greene Costume Collection. A recent visit to the Wehle Gallery for the museum’s Agricultural Fair gave me the opportunity to get an in-depth look at the exhibit Becoming Gendered: Garment as Gender Artifact.

The most important part of my progress so far is that I’ll be able to create a physical exhibit as part of my thesis project! I’ll be aiming to display as many of my selected objects as safely possible, with replicas in place of those that cannot be displayed. I’ll be creating didactic labels for each object, as well as larger text panels that explore key themes of my project. I’m strongly considering an interactive element in the exhibit to connect with its modern fashion concepts, though I’ll have to do more research and brainstorming to determine what that might look like.

Once again, please do email me at ram3077@rit.edu if you have any feedback, ideas, or thoughts to share. Spooky season is also upon us, so please share any fabulous Halloween costumes you've seen with me! In the past few years I've been Cruella de Vil, Sarah Sanderson, and Lydia Deetz, and this year I’m working on an Edward Scissorhands costume.

Have a restful fall break!

Riley

Kaitlyn Troutman- My visit to the MAG

     Hello everyone! I am back to discuss my visit to the Memorial Art Gallery. In late September I went to the MAG to meet with Kerry Schauber, the museums curatorial research assistant and rights and reproduction. She has done the work to date on the provenance of the items within the Nazi-Era provenance list. When meeting with her, she pulled files on five of the thirty three items within the collection. I examined the information in these files, particularly the provenance research. I took notes on these items and paired particular attention to items that were noted by the Art Loss Register. The Art Loss Register is the world's largest online database of stolen art. The MAG submitted the items within their Nazi-Era collection to this database so further research could be done. Though items were noted for further investigation by the database, nothing definitive was resolved at the time. I would like to look more in to these pieces in particular and why the register noted them.

Image of my visit to the MAG, (one of the pieces that
 is listed on the Nazi-era Incomplete Provenance List)

    In addition to notes from the Art Loss Register, I noted the MAG's accomplishments to date on Nazi-Era provenance. The museum outlined these accomplishments within the files. This visit to the MAG increased my interest in my thesis topic. I will most definitely be returning to the MAG to explore more of their provenance files while I continue research on my own. That's all for now I hope everyone has great fall break!

Exhibit Progress and More

     These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of thesis work. While completing some background research to justify my thesis, I have also been working on the physical side of my project. I am preparing for my exhibit, which will be going up in the spring semester. Although my main purpose of the exhibit is to help justify why this archive is important to the collection I am creating, I am very excited to share my grandfather's work with the RIT community. 

    For the exhibit I have decided to split the narrative up into three sections; The Student, The Craftsman, and The Drifter. Each section represents a part of Jerrold's life and connection to the School of American Crafts at RIT. I am hoping to create a narrative that will connect the beginning and end of his career in the craft field and his story as an artist in Rochester, NY. Currently, I am in the process of finalizing the object selection for the exhibit and am hoping to represent all of the arts he participated in. His career was filled with creativity and innovation, and many have said that some of his work was ahead of its time, some pieces are relatively similar to the jewelry and sculptures we see today. 

    After I complete the object selection I plan on digitizing the objects I have selected. I really enjoy photography and am excited to practice my skills through this digitization. I also will begin preparing the text of the exhibit, along with its label copy and design. Once this is all complete I will be able to place my focus back onto my paper and get into the details about my thesis and its purpose. 

    Have a great fall break. I look forward to updating you on the progress of my thesis. If you have any questions you can contact me at ggs5178@rit.edu

    - Gabriella Smith

October Update! - Finn Bishop-Duford

 Hello again everyone!

Since the beginning of the semester, I have been working hard to research and write my thesis, but today I decided to give myself a small break. Today, I visited the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, New York with some friends. Although I was not technically "working" on my thesis or project. I consider this leisure experience a light, but necessary form of work.

The point of this blog post is to say, that while you are working on intensive projects like these, take some time for yourself. Enjoy the world around you. It may seem like you are taking time away from your project, but, trust me, you are not. Leisure time is important to everyone's everyday functioning. In fact, you may find some inspiration along your small self-care voyage. I was inspired by the art that surrounded me in the gallery. I was able to scrounge up some ideas in my hand-dandy notebook for layout designs, potential projects, and interpretation. Because I had leisure time it inspired my project and helped me actively work on it without much stress. So, immerse yourself in the world around you, take a deep breath, and ask yourself, "Where are my feet?" Taking some time to focus on the now instead of what still needs to be done can do wonders for your mental health.

Be well! I hope everyone reading this is enjoying/enjoyed their fall break.

Below is a picture of my cat Prismo!

Hello, again (Von Stevens)

     Hey, just a small update on some progress of my capstone. I have an inventory list of the objects I plan to use for the exhibit and I've made sure to have something that represents each of the aspects of culture I plan to talk about. I'm probably a little behind my peers but I'm still moving along. I had to get some new sources since some of the ones I originally had weren't as relevant once I had decided on my subcategories. Also, I had ordered a book which wasn't available online and it still hasn't come. BUT luckily, my mom used her status as a Professor Emeritus at U of R to access their library and helped me find some more sources (thanks mom!). One of which is specifically about one of the objects that I have, the krama. The krama is a piece of garment in Cambodian culture that has so many utilities. It can be worn as a scarf, bandana, belt, lower garment, face cover and head wrap. Krama are also used to carry objects and even as hammocks for small babies. So I'm very excited to keep going with my research. I won't post any pictures of my objects as I'll leave that as a surprise. But I think things are going okay, much better than I had expected. 

Have a silly picture of Peachy from this morning!

Progress, Progress, Progress!

 Hello hello!

I'm back again with a small update as I head into fall break (which I will be taking advantage of to do more work and sleep). A lot has been done since my last post, but there's not much to say on it. I've done my annotated bibliography, where I found and read around 17 sources, but I am continuing to find more as I find gaps. I've started a rough draft of my abstract, and writing this reminds me that I need to go over it again, and even settled on a research question and location! I will be using my exhibit in the GCCIS atrium as the focus of my visitor study, with a high possibility of a focus group being derived from those survey respondents. 

I've also started one of the largest parts of my thesis--- the lit review. I've got a very, very rough draft which is almost more of an outline, but I think I'm in a good place! I currently have three sections, but will be cutting one of those as it can be easily combined with the others. I'm planning on writing an introduction to my lit review, as currently it just jumps straight into what a visitor study is, and is a clunky transition as a result. My plans for the next couple of weeks is to revise my abstract (again) and finish my lit review and begin to revise that. Today (10/9) I plan complete my visitor survey so I can start gathering data, and so I have it prepared if I go to the MUSE 220 class so that they can fill it out. 

Hopefully, I'll have a lot done after the break, and I look forward to updating you on my continued work.

- Nic Feldman