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The Exhibition
Alliance
The
Exhibition Alliance (formerly the Gallery
Association of New York State) is a
member-based, non-profit service and resource
organization devoted to providing professional
exhibition support to museums, galleries, and
other exhibiting organizations to enable them to
better serve their public.
TEA has hosted several Field School fellows,
including:
In the fall of 2004, Nancy Miller,
'05, completed a
feasibility study on the possibility of
creating the Hamilton Regional Arts Center.
The Center would be a new home for The
Exhibition Alliance and would provide a wide
range of state-of-the-art storage options
for art collections from across the region
and state. The Center would also have space
for curation, teaching, a learning lab and
exhibition space. Miller’s feasibility study
shows that not only is there a need for this
type of storage in the region, but that
there is growing interest in such a facility
from institutions, artists and collectors.
Development of such a center has the
potential to create a hub of artistic work
and exhibition in the area. Working with The
Exhibition Alliance, Miller created a survey
for regional galleries and museums that
assesses the need for storage space and
other services. Miller says “the survey
results will help us recognize that current
art storage facilities are largely
inadequate and it is of particular
significance that work be done to rectify
this situation in order to properly preserve
collections of art for the continued benefit
of our communities.”
In the summer of
2005, Tim Hogarth, '06, worked with The Exhibition Alliance
in order to produce an educational DVD about
proper fine art storage. The production of
the DVD was in response to the results of a
survey conducted from January to May 2005,
which was another effort between the Upstate
Institute and The Exhibition Alliance. The
survey was sent to a large number of
organizations, museums, and galleries in New
York State to inquire about their existing
art storage facilities as well as their
current needs. The results showed that among
other things, there was a large need for
information regarding proper art storage.
In the summer of
2006, Tim will again work with The
Exhibition Alliance to create a DVD that
will train museum preparators, the
individuals who work in museums to handle
artwork and mount exhibits. He will review
program needs, develop an outline for the
training, identify speakers and sites for
the program, develop script outlines, set
program schedules and obtain necessary
permission, the film and edit the DVD.
In 2005, Tim traveled
throughout the state in order to do
on-location filming, and
the DVD includes footage of 10 registrars,
conservators, and collections managers from
various museums and organizations including
The MoMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
and The Corning Museum of Glass. Each
participant provided information on storing
the type of art that they are specialized
in, which range from paintings to textiles.
The DVD will be marketed to museums,
galleries, cultural organizations, and other
places that may have art storage concerns.
The information contained can be utilized by
small or large institutions, and
demonstrates many different storage
solutions for various types of budgets,
including ideal storage conditions as well
as best-practice under limited resources.
The information can be utilized by
institutions to update the knowledge of
existing staff, train new hires, or even to
help plan a new storage facility. In each
section of the DVD environmental conditions,
proper handling, and preventative measures
are discussed relative to the type of art
that is being discussed. Additionally there
is information provided on storage space
planning and practical solutions to common
storage space issues.
The hope for this
learning tool is that it will provide the
necessary information for any institution
that has a collection of art to be able to
better store, conserve, and handle their
works so that the lifespans of these
collections are extended. This will not only
provide better looking collections, but will
ensure that future generations are able to
view these works in good condition.
In the summer of
2006, Tim Hogarth again worked with The
Exhibition Alliance to create a
comprehensive training guide in DVD format
for preparators
those responsible for physically handling
works of art in any way for a museum, from
packing art for shipment to hanging shows.
To produce the second training DVD, Tim
traveled around the Upstate region to film a
variety of
museum professionals demonstrating and
speaking about different skills that are
important for preparators.
“The finished product is a 6 hour, 4 disc
DVD set that I can proudly say I produced,
edited, and directed. There is nothing else
like it available to the museum field, and
the hope is that these DVDs will help
institutions to better train their
preparators while also enhancing the
knowledge of existing staff. The Exhibition
Alliance received orders for the DVDs before
they were even finished and they will soon
be distributed on a national level through
the American Association of Museums,” Tim
said.
In January of 2006,
three students worked with TEA. Desiree
Abeleda, '06, helped to write content about
TEA's history and mission, drafted a
publications order form and created a new
site map that would make the organization's
website more intuitive an user-friendly. In
order to correctly portray the organization
on the site, she familiarized herself with
the organization and the museum exhibition
industry through a literature review and
informal conversations with the staff.
Abeleda said, "I will be returning to them
shortly when the new website goes "live" to
help my work and planning reach fruition.
Even though I was there for only two weeks,
the experience I gained will be helpful in
my future pursuits in public relations and I
am so happy to have worked with such a great
group of people."
Dan Welch, '06,
and Jill Ferris, '06, spent the two weeks of
the January field school working on a panel
display project for the Madison County
Historical Society through TEA. Welch edited
historical photos that will be used on the
panels, which will be displayed during
Madison County's Bicentennial Celebration.
Welch said, "I actually went into this
internship with quite a bit of experience
with photo editing, but after two weeks, I
felt I learned so much more. I'm already
practicing the skills I learned in my own
digital artwork. It was incredible to see
behind the scenes of various projects in the
design phase, especially when working with
people who are passionate about their work.
In
the fall of 2006, Athena Chen, '07, and
Sarah Hilzinger, '09, began work with TEA to
develop and analyze TEA's membership survey
of museums and to develop and implement a
marketing strategy for the organization.
Emily Rafferty
Steph Tanguay
Steph Tanguay and Emily Rafferty
are working with The Exhibition
Alliance to develop two
databases of possible contacts
for two traveling
exhibitions. Emily is locating
possible connections in the
education sector in the
Mid-Atlantic region for an
exhibition called Small
Towns, Black Lives. Steph is
developing contacts at the
country's children's museums for
an exhibition on Romare Bearden,
a celebrated artist/illustrator
who wrote a children's book
called Lil' Dan. Steph
and Emily will soon learn how to
design a marketing plan and will
work on another exhibition
called Lost Lives.
The Exhibition
Alliance
Anne Newton
My
participation in the Upstate Field School is
as an intern for The Exhibition Alliance in
Hamilton, NY whose mission goal is to help
museums create better exhibitions. Under
the guidance of Ted Anderson, I am working
on design programs such as Freehand,
InDesign, and Adobe Photoshop to create
exhibitions for clients. Initially I worked
on a project for the Enchanted Forest Water
Safari in designing a series of panels which
celebrates the rich history and foundations
of the park. These panels, consisting of
photographs and accompanying text are to be
installed consecutively throughout the park
in order to provide a sort of interactive
walking experience for patrons. The main
project that I am in charge of as an intern
at The Exhibition Alliance is the designing
of a traveling art exhibition for the
Madison County Historical Society in
commemoration of the Madison County
Bicentennial celebration which will commence
next year. The exhibition is comprised of
17 banners; one banner devoted to each of
the 16 towns/cities in Madison County, as
well as one title banner. The design of a
banner was chosen to allow for ease in setup
as the exhibition will travel around each of
the 16 towns/cities and will be displayed in
various venues. Each town banner includes
text supplied by the Madison County
Historical Society which documents the
history of that town as well as its
contributions to the rich background of
Madison County, as well as three key
historical photographs; chosen by historians
of each respective town and on loan to The
Exhibition Alliance through the Madison
County Historical Society. Handling and
scanning these original historical documents
in order to import them to their final
destinations on the banners have provided me
with an unsurpassed hands-on learning
experience, with the final traveling art
exhibition's goal being to convey this
visual and textual interactive experience to
visitors and residents of Madison County in
a celebration of the rich history of the
region. The Exhibition Alliance is located
on 12B just past the Colgate University
townhouses and can be reached at
315-824-2510 or at
www.exhibitionalliance.org.
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