New Front Desk

Due to a change in the electric panel, our front desk got a facelift! Seen here is the new top, and behind it our Gallery Attendants, Judith Brin, Stefanie Fendly and head of security, Justin Parrish. Being a gallery attendant is a particularly challenging job. It's kindof like sailing - periods of nothing alternated by periods of crowds and confusion.Not only are they responsible for the safety and security of art and visitors, but also for general visitor services -- directions, shop sales and the occasional reminder "not to touch the artwork."

It is hard to enforce the rules in a way that visitors can appreciate. No one likes to be warned, cautioned, or reminded. But these three do their best, and most visitors report a wonderful time!

Oops- we have a new painting coming in! Next blog.....

It's Lovely To See!

The exhibition, It's Easy Beading Green is up through June 1st! It is quite an amazing array of recycled beads, make from materials such as paper, yarn, puzzles pieces, medicine bottle, keys, corks, and more. the display is quite elegant, and we hope all the students and families who made the beads will visit and enjoy the exhibition.I know some have already come to see it.

Wildcats!

Just on the day when the Kentucky Wildcats are celebrating their Championship, there is a crew outside installing the new Wildcat Sculpture. It is indeed a regal beast, on Wildcat Alumni Plaza. We are happy that the new sculpture will draw visitors towards the museum and our growing sculpture garden, just beyond the plaza. The sculpture was created by Matthew Palmer of Friday Harbor, Washington.

Museums are so Glamourous!

Now that we have a new, vapor-barrier ceiling in storage, the installation staff and the registrar are cleaning the entire area. While they are moving things, they are taking up old carpet that is not ideal for a storage area. Underneath is glue that has to be removed with acetone. Here is Hubert Burton, our Preparator at work. Hubert is retiring April 13th. We will miss him very much! He is invaluable; very talented at lighting, carpentry, art handling, and other specialized skills.

"It's Easy Beading Green"

Sonja Brooks, our education outreach coordinator, is spearheading a community project on making beads from recycled materials. We've gotten over 2500 inventive beads from 503 student beadmakers, including 8 Kentucky counties and 2 other states.

The part that's not easy is stringing the beads to make them into an exhibition. Abby Taylor, an intern from Tates Creek High School, is helping to string the beads, as Sonja finds pleasing patterns to make a display. Stay tuned to see how it turns out!

Inventory control

Who manages the art museum shop? It looks simple, but ordering products, keeping them stored, rotating the Christmas stock all take time. Becky Hudson, our budget officer oversees this, but often needs help from the part time staffers. Stephanie and Judy took a day out to straighten things out and put the stock in order.
Sorting out cards, posters, books, jewlery and other products and keeping them easily accessible is an art form!

An art museum has many storage needs - not only art work, but entertaining supplies, teaching supplies, books and records, archives, object files -and store inventory! More later.

Getting the Humidity Right

Objects in the art storage area are covered with plastic as workmen replace the ceiling tiles with new ones that have a vapor barrier. This is part of a recent project to ensure a correct and consistent humidity of 50%.

Our registrar, Barbara Lovejoy, explains the importance of an ancient Peruvian textile to workmen who are replacing sprinkler heads.