By Popular Demand: Your Selections, Your Gallery - A Crowdsourced Exhibition at the Chrysler Museum of Art

Special thanks to Cheryl S. White, Curatorial Coordinator, Chrysler Museum of Art, for authoring this blog post for us!

It has been just over a year since I’ve been able to sneak out of my office during the Friday-afternoon lull and wander around the galleries. This was one of the perks of working at the Chrysler Museum of Art, but since our building is closed for the first major renovation in nearly 30 years, I find myself getting nostalgic about the art. At first I didn’t notice it much. I saw works moving from galleries to storage, being prepped for loans to local venues, or having behind-the-scenes conservation treatments. It almost felt like nothing had changed—until the first day I donned a hard hat and found myself walking through half-demolished galleries with exposed ceilings and not a work of art in sight. My heart ached a bit. 

Tiffany Studios (American, 1902–1932)

Spider and Web Electric Lamp 

with Mushroom Lamp Base, ca. 1910

Leaded glass and bronze

Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 

But then something beautiful happened…. I began to imagine the freshly painted walls glowing under state-of-the-art LED lights. I attempted to scale out the placement of paintings and pedestals based on our most recent floor plans. I walked into brand new galleries and the possibilities flooded my aching heart with excitement. All this new space was just waiting to be filled with all the art I had been missing for so long.

As the Curatorial Coordinator, I am lucky. I’ve had a front row seat to the process of selecting which works will be on display when we reopen on May 10, 2014. I scaled works of art to fit three-dimensional gallery models and cut and pasted tiny versions of Renoir and Veronese paintings until my hand cramped and glue sticks dried out. I tracked selections on spreadsheets and in databases as curators, conservators, and educators debated countless rounds of designs until the final plans emerged. And I’ll tell you a secret, they are nothing short of stunning. 

But, what about the works of art that just wouldn’t fit? The ones battled for, but ultimately cut? Those beloved works that the public seek out during repeated visits? Works that due to size or display limitations of the medium could not be included in this first round of installation? Aren’t these works of art equally worthy of display? 

These are just some of the questions that I, as a member of the Museum’s Community Conversations Committee, have been pondering. Comprised of 10 staff members, this group is dedicated to engaging the public in new and creative ways. In preparation of the Museum’s reopening we have vetted designs for new in-gallery response stations and have plans to launch a website where the public can upload their Chrysler memories. But, ultimately the Committee was responsible for determining the first exhibition in the Chrysler’s new Waitzer Community Gallery.  And while it would have been easy to curate a show ourselves, we saw this gallery as the perfect venue for a genuine community conversation.  Why not ask our community— who unknowingly have guided so many of our decisions this past year—to weigh in on some of those remaining, tougher-than-one-may-think art choices?

Thomas Hill (American, 1829–1908)

Early Morning, Yosemite Valley, 1884

Oil on canvas

Gift of Mr. Edward J. Brickhouse 

And again something beautiful happened: By Popular Demand: Your Selections, Your Gallery, a crowd-sourced exhibition drawn from nearly 40 works of art not slated for installation in our permanent galleries. Selections ranging from Tiffany Lamps to Warhol prints are up for election on the Museum’s website (www.chrysler.org/our-collection/bpd). Visitors can vote daily for up to 10 works and even provide us feedback on their choices. We envisioned this to be more than a popularity contest. It is an opportunity for our public to truly take the reins. We want to know how our community will curate. What interesting juxtapositions they will create? What will they find worthy of display?  Are seascapes preferred over cityscapes? Paintings over photographs? Will local artists triumph over Renaissance masterworks?  The top selections will be on view for our grand reopening on May 10, 2014. 

As an art-loving member of the community, I invite you to vote. I do regularly. And perhaps on a Friday afternoon in late May, I’ll bump into you in the Waitzer Community Gallery and you can tell me all about the works you voted to include!   

Choose your favorites for By Popular Demand at www.chrysler.org/our-collection/bpd. Online voting ends February 26, 2014.

VAM Circuit Riders Visit the Old Coast Guard Station Museum in Virginia Beach

“For foot candles, it’s a little high for paper, but not that bad.” – Jeanne Niccolls

If you know what the quote above means, then maybe your job has something to do with care and conservation of your museum’s collections. VAM staff members were privileged to accompany our Circuit Rider team of a curator (Jeanne Niccolls) and an archivist (Bradley Wiles) to the Old Coast Guard Station Museum (OCGSM) in Virginia Beach for their one-day mini needs assessment of the collections and storage areas. It was fascinating to see the process, and to hear about the challenges faced by those who are charged with the stewardship of museum collections.

While every collecting institution has its challenges, those at the OCGSM are unique indeed. I had this thought as I looked out from the collections storage area, enjoying the million-dollar view of the Atlantic Ocean, with its wisps of salty foam being blown around by humid ocean breezes. Humidity, variations in heat/cold, sunlight, salt, and sand- not to mention threats posed by tropical storms and hurricanes - are all part of the environment where the collections of the Old Coast Guard Station Museum are held. Theirs is quite a challenge indeed. As we walked through the museum and the collections area, I overheard museum staff (Director Kathryn Fisher, Registrar Leslie Small, and Educator Darcy Nelson were in attendance for the visit) and Circuit Riders discussing the following issues, to name just a few:

• Lighting and pest control
• Budget issues when different entities own the building vs. the collections that the building houses
• Accessibility of collections for monitoring purposes
• Collections insurance

The visit made me wonder – “Where do you begin?” with collections management. Apparently my question was not unique. Said Kathryn Fisher, director of the OCGSM, “I didn’t know where to start…. All I could see were the brambles, regardless of there being a forest beyond.” Well, one of the things that Kathryn started with was welcoming a visit from VAM’s Circuit Riders. After the visit, the VAM Circuit Riders provide participating museums with a detailed report that outlines recommendations for collections priorities and indicates simple - usually inexpensive - actions that can be taken immediately or in the next couple of years, and occasionally long term plans/suggestions that may require budget planning.

Find out more about Circuit Riders as well as the Old Coast Guard Station Museum in the upcoming Spring edition of the VAM Voice member newsmagazine. Interested in applying for a Circuit Rider visit? Find out more online at www.vamuseums.org.