A Topic Has Been Chosen! | Sophie Abatiell Tommola

 Hello everyone, I hope you all are having a great start to the fall season! It's my favorite time of year, so I want you to enjoy it as well!

Since my last blog post, I have made my decision on what my thesis topic will be. It took about a week of introspective thinking and deliberation with friends and family, both within and outside of the world of museums, to come to a conclusion. After sitting with these thoughts, I have decided to go through with the oral history project on positive posttraumatic growth.

My reasoning for choosing this project path over the technical documentation idea has to do with the resources I will have available during my last year here at RIT. I am confident in my abilities to execute a technical documentation set for smaller institutions at a later point in my career, since I already have a great grasp on how those documents are made. I felt that the databases and faculty/staff connections I have access to this year are more valuable to the oral history project, so I decided to use my resources to the fullest while I still have them at my fingertips.

With my decision, I have jumped right into my research, and I have to say that I'm really happy with my choice! 

Best of luck to the rest of you!

Thesis Progress Update #1 | I Have A Topic!!

Hi again, everyone! Over the past few weeks, I’ve finally made some progress on my

thesis and decided on the direction I will take. I’m focusing on how institutions can

effectively exhibit and preserve time-based and performance art pieces. What excites

me most about this topic is the inherent ephemerality of the art involved, and the

challenge that comes with creating an exhibition after the original performance or

installation that still feels authentic to the artist’s original intent, while also creating

a meaningful experience for today’s audiences.

Drawing on Walter Benjamin’s and John Berger’s ideas surrounding aura, authenticity,

and reproduction, my goal is to better understand how museums and galleries

can balance honoring the artist's original intent behind their work and adapting

it for new audiences and contexts during the curating and conservation process.

Now that I’ve decided on a topic, I’m looking forward to delving deeper into my research!

⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆

Bella

Minor additional update

     I've been creating what looks like the inner monologue of a madman and just getting all of my thoughts on paper and what may be a layout? 

I'm not sure but I've started to make webs of all the things I'm looking to do with this exhibition space and seeing how they will interact and so far it's working out!

It's been helpful to have a general idea of the components and a concept on a tangible surface, it feels like it's no longer just in my head, but an achievable goal that will one day come to life. 

I attached an image of the mot recent scribbles if you want to take a look.

Getting the ball rolling

 Alright,

As some of us have talked about, it's time to start sending out emails and solidifying a space for exhibitions, which is scarier than expected.

I've been making a list of all the places and people to contact, and it's daunting. However, I feel like I'm finally in a place where I'm doing what it is that I love. Although this moment feels like a mountain, I've never been more ready to scale it.

Wish me luck, I hope you all get the answers you're looking for. Remember what Justin LeBlanc said and keep pushing for what you want.

-Lee

Update on thesis- FH

 I have recently narrowed down my research topic to focus more on RIT's Cary Collection's illuminated manuscript inventory and educational methods. I think the thesis statement is have settled on is, "How does RIT's Cary collection and other museums educate the public on medieval art and history through illuminated manuscripts."

My current abstract:

The paper examines how RIT'S Cary Collection and other museums educate the public on medieval art through illuminated manuscripts. In this paper, I consider how these institutions balance medieval history with explanations of the production techniques used at the time, such as calligraphy, painting, and gilding. Ultimately, my research paper argues that the Cary Collection's approach to teaching about medieval art and history through manuscripts preserves scholarly integrity on the subject and helps foster a broader appreciation of manuscripts as an art form. 

Thesis Progress Update :)

Good Morning Everyone!

    My thesis scope has shifted a bit since my last post. My research will be looking at graphic communication throughout American history, from 1776 to 2026, for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The question that informs this research, which is still subject to change minimally, is "In what ways have themes of resistance shaped graphic communication in the United States since its founding, and how can reexamining these often-forgotten works help contemporary grassroots movements convey their messages with greater force and clarity?" My hope for this research is a culmination in an exhibit that takes the viewer through a journey detailing a bottom up history of resistance in the United States by tracing how themes of dissent have circulated through both celebrated and overlooked works, this study underscores the power of graphic communication to preserve cultural memory while mobilizing people toward action. My hope is to categorize the exhibit into four overarching themes; Freedom, Peace, Solidarity, and Memory. Within each of these themes will be pieces from various resistance movements throughout American History as well as supplementary quotes from overlooked or underappreciated figures throughout American History that inspired those movements, and possibly photographs from rallies or marches led by resistance movements here in the US. My hope for this exhibit is to engage Americans with a history that is rather direct while pushing back against this idea of a resurgence of 1960s politics that we have been hearing a lot lately, it is my belief that dissent is a core piece of American culture that can be traced back to before 1776. However, since the founding document of this nation declared "...that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness..." the fight to make those words ring true across this land has continued to this very day and I believe that is something many Americans have not reckoned with or at least not beyond what they have learned in formal education settings.

Thesis Progress Update!

Hello, I'm back!

I am fully committed to the topic of "The Importance and Role of Museums and Archives in the Future." I like this topic because it is current and relevant, and all the reasons and facts I will include in the final paper are crucial for the future of museums and archives. I have also completed most of my annotations for my sources and have a working abstract that needs editing. I am also working on my topic, less "broad", but I'm still chipping away at that. In all, Everything is going well, and I'm looking forward to continuing to work on this project!

Progress Update 1!

Hello everyone! 

Since my introduction, there has been a ton of development on what my actual topic will be. I have learned through my research and work on campus that I am really passionate about education and how the way we educate children at a young age can affect how they learn for the rest of their lives. 

When I was a kid, my mom took my sister and me to probably every museum in NYC, and the ones that stick out to me still, as a senior in college, are the ones where we got to play, explore, imagine, and interact with the exhibitions and experiences. Her commitment to getting us out of the house and learning is the reason why my topic touches on how important incorporating museum visits is in a child's education. 

Through writing my draft abstract and finding some sources, I have realized that my original research question is too broad, so I am working on narrowing and specifying my topic. Now that I know that I want my end goal to be a project/exhibit, some next steps would be exploring potential spaces.

See you next time!

-Alice

Update #1

Good Morning,

As previously discussed, I will be working on a marketing campaign for MISHA on campus. I have met with the team and learned of a few of their marketing related needs, including assisting with an upcoming event. I have also completed research on marketing within museums to learn more about what those institutions highlight for their visitors, to gain a better understanding of what they view as important, as a way to understand how to market towards these institutions. Overall, I feel that I have a better plan for my project and will be able to move forward with research.  

Words from the Wise

     Hey everyone,

I wanted to pass along some wise words that were given to me recently, and it helped a lot with the overwhelming feelings. 

They said "it’s good at this stage to read a bit widely, find what speaks to you and helps sharpen your ideas, and put down what doesn’t. Dead ends are OK". 

So put down the readings that don't serve you, hitting a wall is a good thing. It means you're that much closer to getting out of the maze.

Good luck