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

Cassidy Ohol- Progress and Updates!

     Slowly but surely I am piecing together ideas and using research/case studies to build my thesis. Starting with the introduction of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), I will talk about how this act has affected Indigenous tribes along with museums. The act of repatriating items has allowed museums to uphold their values and allow proper handling of items. 

    This ties into human remains curation as a whole as NAGPRA led the way to a conversation of handling and repatriated remains from institutions and museum around the world. I will look into cases in the UK regarding storage of mummies and bog bodies along with the use of remains for artistic/educational exhibitions. 

    Taking a step into the world of archaeology, I will talk about the new and more frequent use of reburial practices to respect cultures and local villagers. All this ties together to respectful treatment of remains and taking measures to ensure proper handling of items. 

    I don't have too much left to say except good luck and keep going to my fellow classmates! It's a hard and draining process that will all be worth it at the end. 

Renee Guerin- Gathering Historical Context and Practicing Artistic Process

Hello everyone,

This is Renee Guerin, just presenting an update on how my thesis is going. As a reminder, my thesis is on the recreation of 15th-century Italian egg temperas to determine if there are noticeable differences with the pigment (usability, structurally, and further) based upon the ethical versus unethical sourcing of materials. As I have continued working on this process, I have been reaching out to faculty, and well versed individuals to help inform me on a little more in depth context and knowledge they have on tempera and painting, as well as historical aspects. I gained more historical information on the fall of egg tempera’s popularity from Doctor Michael Amy, which lived longer within Italy, but with the experimentation and success of oil paints from Flanders, and the spread and diversification of the upcoming media, tempera lost its appeal because of its properties as a rapidly fast drying medium. He also happened to inform me on Russian tempera panels from the 19th century that were exploding because of the substrates lack of durability to climate and environmental changes, and how their conservation efforts included scraping away the initial substrate to reach the paint layer, and transfer it, with the use of heat, to canvas; this, in turn, altered the original piece because of its invasive nature. One of my own text experiments proposes to look at possible longevity of pigments, maybe through exposing them to harsh environments, such as extreme cold or extremely hot weather, and then a mixture of both, alternating. It was a very insightful conversation and I would like to thank Dr. Amy again for taking the time to discuss my topic and its history further!

Continuing on, I have been brushing up on varying artistic techniques with other media that could contribute to understanding the skill egg tempera requires to be successful. I have been focusing on a mixture of micron pen, scratch board, and watercolor, in order to practice the idea of layering of colors, as well as cross hatching, hatching, and line work over all. Tempera painting is often thin and requires multiple layers, as oil does, but because of its drying time, it is not easily blended, and requires layers of hatching and cross hatching colors to get gradations of shades and tones to create a sense of depth. What I plan on focusing in the second half of the semester after fall break is looking further into master copy artists, finding a tempera piece I think is achievable and will push me outside of my comfort zone within the time frame I have for my recreation work, and actually begin the process of making egg tempera, and the collection of resources, while documenting everything as I go. Below, as examples of practice work I have been doing for fun and for some classes that are providing me with further experience. 

Thank you all for viewing! 

Have a nice fall break :)

Eliot Gavin- Beginning my interviewing process

 Hi all! I just finished the first draft of my literature review last night and I am so excited to start my project! I will be interviewing 3 Livingston County Residents about their memories and hopes for The Castle on the Hill. I sent out the flyer below to local historical societies and local nursing homes. So far, I am still waiting for someone to reach out but I am going to be advertising in person during fall break. Please feel free to contact me at ejg9342@rit.edu if you know anyone interested!

 

I am also happy to announce that I am the recipient of the College of Liberal Arts Student Research Fund! I am using the money from this fund to create a professional oral history kit and get processing software to make oral history transcriptions more accurate. I am so thankful to have received this award.

I am visiting the Livingston County Historian's Archives soon to get primary sources and memory aids for my oral history interviews. I am also creating my own oral history release form and procedures document. Next, I will have to connect with potential interviewees and create interview questions!

I am thrilled to start working with the community I grew up in! Please feel free to contact me with any questions at ejg9342@rit.edu! 

Hello All!

    Hello, my name is Gabriella Smith and I am a 4th year Museum Studies major with an immersion in Legal Studies. I am from Gasport, NY, and during my time at RIT, I have truly fallen in love with museums and archives and the process behind them. I have been involved with many types of archive and museum work as a student and had an opportunity to catalog a collection at my local hospital in 2022. My undergraduate thesis will focus on creating a family archive, specifically the collection of my late grandfather Jerrold B. Smith. 

       When I was younger I found a random plastic bag filled with authentic Ray-Bans and didn't understand their significance as to why my family had them. Over the past few years that mystery to me has been slowly solved, they were from my grandfather, Jerrold. Jerrold was a student of the School of American Craftsman at RIT in the early 60s and a professor of the program in the 70s. Before he died in 1986, Jerrold was a true craftsman, constantly trying new things and experimenting with jewelry and glasses. He had an impressive career at Bausch & Lomb as one of the eye-glass designers, with his memory immortalized in the rendition of the Wayfarer glasses, called the Drifter. 

1987 Ray-Ban Drifter sunglasses advertisement

    My thesis will focus on the three parts of Jerrold's life: the Student, the Craftsman, and the Drifter, by creating an archive that will protect his story and history. I will document my process behind creating an archive and why it is important specifically to Jerrold's collection. Throughout this year I will be cataloging the collection, digitizing many of the objects, collecting oral histories from family members, and also rehousing them into new containers for storage. I will also be creating an exhibit to display some of Jerrold's work and his story. All of these pieces will tie together in my thesis regarding the archiving of the collection. 

    If you have any questions about my project, you can reach me at ggs5178@rit.edu. :)

Catherine Smith-Cole holding a photograph of Jerrold B. Smith and his co-workers at Bausch & Lomb. Image taken during Catherine Smith-Cole's Oral History Interview.

    

We're doing our best here (Von Stevens)

    For those reading this that don't know me, I'm Von Stevens, a senior Museum Studies student currently enrolled in Research Methods. Originally I came to RIT as an Illustration major that had transferred from Monroe Community College, but switched majors when I realized how burnt out I was.

    My capstone project is to create a cohesive narrative using exhibition design and make an exhibit about Cambodia's culture post Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979). I was adopted from Cambodia and the country means a lot to me personally which is why I am quite passionate and motivated about doing my capstone in the first place. It has both been hard and interesting to go through so many sources about Cambodia. "Hard" in the sense that it's truly difficult to even imagine the awful things that the people of Cambodia went through during Pol Pot's reign, a time of devastating genocide.

    I want to keep going and I want to make this project successful since it is important to me for many reasons. For majority of my life I've felt useless and unable to do anything successfully, but the Museum Studies program and faculty have made me feel good about myself and school. I feel as if I owe it to everyone to try my best. I struggle a lot with anxiety and depression and even as I write this right now, I'm struggling. I'm struggling but I'm still trying. I want to believe that I'll make it to the finish. If it is something I truly care about then I'll definitely find a way to pull through.

    Thank you for reading and I hope everyone remembers to eat well and stay hydrated.
    Also please enjoy this picture of my dogs! Orange one is Peachy, black one is Piper.

Kaitlyn Troutman- Beginning my Thesis

    Hello! My name is Kaitlyn Troutman I am a third year Museum Studies Major with a Legal Studies Minor. I am currently in the 3 + 3 program with Syracuse Law, and so I am currently working on my law school application as well as my thesis.

    I came into my senior thesis class with no real idea of what I wanted to do my thesis on, only that I wanted it to involve legal studies, museums, and art. This led me, with the help of Dr. Decker, to my topic "What can smaller museums, such as the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester (MAG), NY reasonably do to complete provenance research?" I will studying the Memorial Art Gallery's incomplete provenance research. The museum currently has 33 items with incomplete Nazi-Era provenance. 

    These pieces were flagged as they are missing ownership information around the time of World War II, (1933-1945). The Memorial Art Gallery is guided by the the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) and the Association of American Museums (AAM) in their mission to provide to establish a complete provenance for items within the collection and make the information publicly accessible. Since the establishment of the Nazi-Era Provenance Internet Portal by the AAM in 2003, new information and portals have surfaced.

    I will be working with the Memorial Art Gallery to explore this new information along with an examination of the collection. I will explore this path of research to see if any new information can be added to the provenance research of the items and possibly explore new digital avenues of making the provenance research more readily available to the public. I have recently examined some of the objects files of incomplete Nazi-Era provenance at the MAG, and have been reading journals involving provenance. I will discuss my findings in my next blog post. See you soon! 

Monday Vibes

Happy Monday Friends! 

I hope your thesis research and literature review are going well. I am finishing up my literature review in light of tomorrow's class and feeling the senioritis. I am trying to get re-motivated on my topic, so I'm sure there are others feeling this way. 

Remember to rest as hard as you work and that your research matters! 

Cassidy Ohol Introduction!

    Hello and welcome to the beginning of my long journey! I would like to start by introducing myself and my topic. My name is Cassidy Ohol and I am a third year Museum Studies major with a minor in Archaeology. I grew up around Niagara Falls, New York and always had a deep appreciation and fascination for history. If I'm being so completely honest with you, Indiana Jones definitely had more than a little to do with why I chose this career path. 

    For my thesis, I wasn't quite sure what to do, but I thought back to my summer internship abroad in Genova, Italy and I thought about everything I saw. The cities and museums are filled with such history and beautifully designed architecture, it was like stepping into a new world. One memory that stood out was my trip to the Museo Egizio in Torino. In English, this translates to Egypt Museum and it is known to be the second largest collection of Egyptian artifacts in the world. Everything was fascinating and there was so much to see! There was an unsettling factor that I could not get over however, and it was the fact that so many human remains were on display, some being those of children. I further learned that some of the mummified remains were not even placed with the sarcophagus they were buried in. This made me very uncomfortable and I felt like Ancient Egyptian funerary practices and traditions weren't being respected. 

    After researching, I found out more about human remain curation and controversies surrounding it such as the ethics and issues of consent. This also led to me learning about NAGPRA, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. This act allows funerary items, remains, and more that are being displayed or kept in storage at institutions and museums to be returned to their original native cultures. Recently revamped, this act has allowed for more understanding and cultural respect on sensitive issues. The aim of my thesis is to explore the evolution of NAGPRA and how it has changed along with the improving guidelines on human remain curation.

I hope all who read this find it interesting and follow along with me on this journey! 

Goodbye for now,

Cass

                                                            Photo by me at Museo Egizio

Topic Introduction - Riley Mason

Hi all!

My name is Riley Mason, and I’m a fourth-year Museum Studies student with a minor in History. My home is ‘Oahu, Hawai’i, where I developed my love of museums (and their gift shops!). This is my second year as a student employee at the RIT Archives, where I’ve developed an interest in collections management, database management, and archival work.

Another significant personal and academic passion of mine is fashion history, which is where I’ve found my inspiration for my thesis project. I’ll be focusing on the GCV&M’s Susan Greene Costume Collection, curating a selection of objects and researching their construction, provenance, and cultural context. From this research, I’ll develop a set of “fun facts,” bite-sized, attention-grabbing pieces of information about each object that facilitate informal learning and make both fashion history and the museum’s collection more accessible and understandable to visitors.

This project aims to be a combination of the best parts of my experience as both a MUSE student and a museum visitor. As a visitor, I enjoy leaving a museum with both a broader appreciation of a collection and more focused snippets of information I can share with others and commiserate over. As a student and aspiring museum professional, I enjoy engaging with and activating collection objects, as well as deeply exploring their individual history and context. I am captivated by the finer details of collections and the novelty of a unique object, both of which can be used as tools to engage and convey information to visitors.

A secondary motivation behind my focus on the subject of fashion history in particular is its increasing relevance and frequent misinterpretation in American popular culture. The rise in popularity of the Met Gala in recent years and the inherently cyclical nature of fashion has led to an increase in the feature of archival garments on the red carpet and the catwalk. In addition, the rise in popularity and production ability of fast fashion has led to rapidly evolving trends and “vintage” styles that bear minimal contextual information about the extant garments and periods in fashion history that inform their silhouettes. Facilitating informal means of education to young visitors of the museum can promote a deeper understanding of modern fashion from a reliable source. This, in turn, can promote educated, well-informed decisions about clothing purchases and veer away from overconsumption and linear fashion practices.

I’m currently compiling sources to inform my research and selecting objects from the Susan Greene Costume Collection, but I enthusiastically welcome feedback on any part of this project. If you’ve got a favorite garment at GCV&M with an interesting history or any relevant insights, please share it with me at ram3077@rit.edu!

Looking forward to sharing the fun facts I find as I go along! :)

Riley