Museum Studies Director's Blog

WIU – QC Museum Studies students Lacy Bettcher (Dubuque, IA) and Lauren Sciascia (Aurora, IL) at Care of Paintings at the Campbell Center. (Photo by Kristine Mullen)A new partnership between WIU-QC Museum Studies Program and the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation allowed 15 students to attend three to five day sessions this summer and into the fall. The Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies (CCHPS) has existed for 30 years at the former home of Shimer College in Mt. Carroll, IL.

Matthew Toland (Rushville, IL) attended several sessions throughout the summer including Making Storage Boxes, Mounts and Enclosures, Preservation of Archives and Care of Book Collections. He has stayed on as a volunteer to help develop an alumni association for the Campbell Center. “I believe in what the Campbell Center is doing and I want to give back in whatever way that I can” Toland said. “It is a great way to get hands-on experience with the types of materials and objects that we talk about and study in our Museum Studies classes. It is also such a great opportunity to get to work with museum professionals from around the world. They have teachers from the Art Institute of Chicago, The National Archives (Wash D.C.), The Field Museum (Chicago) and even The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. I can’t wait for next summer!”

Another Museum Studies student, Kristine Mullen (Dewitt, IA) spent three weeks at the Campbell Center this season. She has decided to complete one of the certificate programs offered at the center in Collection Management. Kristine said “I heard about the Campbell Center when I was looking for a graduate school and planning my continuing education. The hands-on and interactive sessions provide a knowledge base that is priceless.” Kristine will graduate from WIU in December and will finish her certificate at the Campbell Center next summer. She is planning on starting another certificate program at the Campbell Center after that.

Other partnerships are also in the works between Museum Studies and the CCHPS. GEMS, (Graduate Experience in Museum Studies), is working on a service project and a sponsorship project to take place at the Mt. Carroll campus. Also, there are talks about classes using the CCHPS classrooms as possible lab space for MS classes. Students are excited about the partnership and are looking forward to life-long connections with the Campbell Center well beyond their years at WIU.

Students are currently doing internships in our area and beyond. Anya Bishop (Cresco, IA) and Kristall Laursen are doing their internships this fall at Cambridge University’s Wolfson College where Anya is cataloguing and organizing a new Asian art collection and Kristall is working with development at Kettles Yard, the university’s 20th century and contemporary art museum.

Megan Crowley (Buffalo, NY) is interning at the Museum of Performance and Design in San Francisco where she if focusing on museum education, but also getting to work on exhibitions and other areas.

At the Figge Art Museum, Christine Deemer (Fort Madison, IA) and Liz Crooks (Iowa City, IA) interning in the development department; Kathy Miller (Moline, IL) interns for senior curator, Dr. Greg Gilbert, on upcoming exhibitions; and Lacy Bettcher (Dubuque, IA) works on special projects in collections.

At the Putnam Museum, Andrea Bobb (Milan, IL) and Catherine Litwinow (Bettendorf, IA) are working with collections.

Kelly Oates (Iowa City, IA) is completing her internship at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, IA.

Jolinda Parsons (Davenport), John Graham, and Peace Smith (Dixon, IL) with her little boy, Ryne. Jolinda and Peace were two of the students who were on the exhibition development team and they also installed the show under the direction of John Graham.

Students enrolled in sprint semester’s Introduction to Museums course participated on an exhibition development team to plan the current Art Gallery exhibition, “Master Prints: Concepts and Composition, Selections from the Collection.”

Student curators on the exhibition team included Gretchen Armitage (Milwaukee, WI), Liz Crooks (Iowa City, IA), Ashley Nelson (Cambridge, IL), Jolinda Parsons (Davenport, IA), Kristine Thomsen (Iowa City, IA), and Peace Smith (Dixon, IL).

Jolinda Parsons and Peace Smith installed the exhibition with John Graham, gallery curator, in August. Both students felt they gained a great deal from installing the show with Graham. Jolinda remarked, “There’s a science to installing an exhibition you don’t necessarily think about during the planning stages. John helped us consider the aesthetics of placing works on the wall and the science of measuring the space, hanging and leveling images, and lighting concerns – all very specific to this gallery space.”

Peace discussed how the concepts developed by the whole exhibition team are meant to stimulate interdisciplinary conversations. Both students agreed the exhibition installation process was a great experience and look forward to curating and installing future exhibitions. Jolinda summed up the experience, “We were so passionate about what we were doing during the installation process; it definitely showed we’re going into the right profession.”

A number of the museum studies students drove down to Macomb to attend the opening.

Back Row: John Graham, Lourdes (Maryam’s roommate from Ecuador), Miram Qaryqos (Iraq), Ann Rowson Love, Catherine Litwinow (Bettendorf, IA), Dr. Mary Hogg, Kelsey Picken (Montreal), Sue Quail (Davenport, IA), Kathy Miller (Moline) Seated: Peace Smith (Dixon, IL), and Jolinda Parsons (Davenport, IA)

We are very excited that our students are using their Museum Studies skills in positions in the field. Congratulations to the following students as they accept new positions in the field of Museum Studies.

• Lacy Bettcher, Assistant Registrar, Figge Art Museum
• Liz Crooks, Manager of Endowment Campaign, Figge Art Museum
• Kara Fedje, Museum Educator, Family Museum Bettendorf
• Joshua Terronez (MA spring 2010), Preparator, The Historic New Orleans Collection
• Matthew Toland, Volunteer Coordinator, Putnam Museum
• Dr. Peggy West, Manager of Curriculum and Instruction, Morton Arboretum

Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul:
June 29 through July 2, five museum studies students and director Ann Rowson Love presented at the International Conference on the Inclusive Museum in Istanbul Turkey.

Students gave a panel presentation entitled “Constructivist Museum Practices Across Departments: Researching Applications in the United States.” They conducted their research during a special topics course spring  semester 2010.

Ann Rowson Love, director of museum studies, presented “Facilitating Inclusive Curating: When Museum and Community Curators Collaborate.” After the conference, students traveled to Greece and Spain, where they focused on independent museum projects.

Meeting with Lora Sariaslan, one of the curators at Istanbul Modern Art Museum with Kristall Laursen, Megan Crowley, Lacy Bettcher, and Ann Rowson Love

We are thrilled to welcome new and returning students to WIU’s museum studies program at the Figge Art Museum. This will be an exciting second year of our program.

Current students are working on exciting projects at museums around the region. Interns at the Putnam Museum are working on an Oceania exhibition with curator Chris Castell. Another intern is working with the Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum. I hope they’ll check in on our blogs and Face Book sites to let us know how things are going.

We’ve also added new WIU and Figge Faculty this year. WIU-Quad Cities professor of Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration, Don McLean is teaching his RPTA cultural interpretation course. Many of our museum studies students are enjoying this elective.

Next semester, Figge senior curator, Greg Gilbert, will teach our exhibitions course and Figge registrar, Andrew Wallace, will teach collections management.

We’re planning trips for conferences and workshops. Stay tuned…
Ann