Staff Connections: Sarah Blumberg, Coordinator, Institutional Giving

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Andrew

Running a museum takes a whole team of professionals whose different skills help make the Rubin Museum of Art one of the premiere places to visit. To get to know us a little more, and to explore different careers in the arts, each month we will be asking a Museum staffer/intern to answer six questions about their position at the Museum, their favorite artworks or exhibitions on display in the museum and other personal attributes.  As the fourth installment we’re going to be introduced to Sarah Blumberg!


RMA: What is your title and what do YOU do here at the Museum?

My title is Coordinator, Institutional Giving. Although I work as a part of the museum’s Development Department on fundraising and donor cultivation, my job is specifically related to the grants and sponsorship that the museum receives from a variety of different institutions – from foundations and corporations, including corporate membership, to the local, state and federal government.

RMA: Where are you originally from and how did you end up at the Rubin?

I grew up near Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and moved up north for college. I moved to NYC for a graduate program in decorative arts and design history in 2005, and it was during this time that I was exposed to grant writing and the whole fundraising process. I love museums and have always wanted to work for one, but the first development job I found after graduate school was at a small classical music non-profit. After three years of familiarizing myself with development work and being immersed in classical music, I jumped at the opportunity to join the staff of the Rubin, where I’ve been working for a little over a year now.

RMA: What is your favorite thing about your job?

I absolutely love working in an art museum, especially one where there’s so much going on, and it’s great to have a job that’s all about helping make that happen.

RMA: What is your favorite piece of art or exhibition in the museum and why?

I’ve really been enjoying the Modernist Art from India exhibition series, and am particularly impressed with Approaching Abstraction. Not only are the paintings incredible, but the layout, colors and overall design of the exhibition are absolutely gorgeous and work so well together. Plus, it’s in my favorite gallery – love that skylight!

RMA: What advice would you give to someone who wanted to follow the same career path?

There are so many different directions from which one can approach a development career, but it seems that most people who work in the field have a degree in either arts administration or art history. Of course, in terms of gaining experience and just finding out what the job entails, internships are a great way to start.

RMA: Do you have a secret talent or a hobby that you enjoy?

In addition to my love of all things art history and museum-related, I also spend a lot of my time making art. Glassblowing, in particular, is one of my favorite things in the world. I used to teach and assist glassblowing classes and workshops quite a bit, but the studio that I was working out of for many years recently closed its doors, and because it’s such an expensive hobby, it’s been a while since I had anywhere to work on a regular basis. I was also working out of a ceramics studio for a while, and I have experience making stained glass and mosaics, but nothing beats working with hot glass.

RMA: If you could travel anywhere in the Himalayas where would you go and why?

In terms of the Himalayas, Bhutan and India are both at the top of my list. Honestly though, I love to travel, and would never pass up an opportunity to see a new country, no matter how remote.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Tell Us More About Your Life as a Museum Educator.

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Marcos

I haven’t written about it too much on this blog, but I just finished my Ph.D. in Urban Education with a focus on art museum educators. For the past few years I’ve been delving deeply into how art museum educators perceive and understand their experiences with theory, method, and preparation. To do this, I had to ask a lot of questions about art museum educators’ lives.

During my research I was constantly surprised that art museum educators had a hard time talking about how they got to be where they are. I honestly think it was just because no one had ever really asked them to talk about why the work is personally important. I think we have to constantly explain how our work impacts students and teachers, but rarely how it impacts us.

During the AAM conference, I had the extreme pleasure in attending a session called Early Museum Educators as Muse, which provided insight into the lives of John Cotton Dana, Louise Connolly, Arthur Lismer, Hillary Rebay, Phillip Yenawine, and Albert Barnes. Their stories were incredibly inspiring and were told by a who’s who in museum education today: Wendy Woon (MoMA), Rika Burnham (Frick), Kim Kanatani (Guggenheim), Kelly McKinley (Art Gallery of Ontario), and Carol Duncan (Ramapo College).  At the end of the session I asked the panelists to discuss how they were capturing their personal histories as they were living, and now I want to pose that question to the universe.

I think that museum educator lives are fascinating. Personally, I’ve done everything from wrangling live alligators to organizing monks from Bhutan to perform pujas on artworks, and I don’t think that my story is that out of the ordinary for museum educators. I mean, how many of us have sat in our office with a bucket of sheep brains or cow eyes on our desk while eating lunch?

How are you keeping your stories for future museum educators?  Our Education Blog is one way to give opportunity to our Education staff to discuss things that are happening at the Rubin Museum, but there are lot’s of folks who are trying to talk about their lives in museums. I’ve started using Pinterest as a personal blog (or microblog depending on your definition of Pinterest) about my work in museums (Lifeworld of a Museum Educator). I find that looking for a picture on the web (or posting one from my phone) and writing a short blurb about something from my day has been really helpful with reflective practice.

Recently I’ve been reading  The Works at NYSCI written by my old boss Eric Siegel, Director and Chief Content Office at the New York Hall of Science. Even though his posts focus on work happening at the museum, it’s laced with his point of view- which I find fascinating.

If you’re reading this blog,  you’ve probably read Museums 2.0. Nina Simon, Executive Director of Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History has been a constant blogger, and is never shy about sharing successes or failures.

Seb Chan the Director of Digital & Emerging Media, Smithsonian, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum authors the blog Fresh and New(er) which I find to be a really intriguing dialogue about museums and digital technology.

I also find Paul Orselli’s blog ExhibiTricks to be provocative about discussions regarding low/high tech exhibitions in the museum world (plus lot’s of other fun things that Paul does).

Each of these blogs gives insights not just into the world of museums, but into each of these museum educator/administrator/developer life/work stoires, and it’s a conversation I think we should broaden.

Who else do you read/follow in the museum ed world? Whose museum life do you find inspiring? How do reflect upon your work? Let me know in the comments section here!

Posted in Museums | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Exhibitions in BETA

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Marcos

While visiting the Minnesota History Center during the 2012 American Association of Museum’s conference, I was lucky to see exceptional museum exhibition evaluation at work, and participate in two very unique prototyping experiences.

One experience was an incredibly tech-forward exhibition being planned called Our Minnesota, that will use iPods, QR codes, and immersive environments to tell the story of settlers arriving in Minnesota. The QR code integration was quite impressive as it provided opportunities for game based learning. What was more impressive was the use of cardboard boxes to create large scale environments that recreated huts and mines. It’s so hard to prototype a three-dimensional environment, but the exhibitions crew at MHC managed to accomplish a nice blend of real and box to give visitors a sense of what the exhibit might be like in the end. I felt a little like being a visitor to Caine’s Arcade, and visitors were just as interested in what was going on as if it were the real exhibition.

The second prototyping experience was with a text-based exhibition. The MHC put walls up, and simulated the entire exhibition and let evaluators (including cultural advisers) make comments about particular text panels and info graphics. This is an astounding move towards making exhibition text more inclusive, and I have to applaud the curators of the exhibition for taking the risk and letting others comment on their work to make it more accessible. Evaluators (including us outside AAM folks) were able to take a stack of post-it notes and make comments along our path. I found this to be one of the most interesting evaluation experiences, because how you navigate a space and read is different than how you read on a screen or on paper. There is no comparison between track changes on a Word doc and being there.

So Minnesota Museum of History, I applaud you. I hope that the evaluation works, and I hopefully (fingers crossed) we can try this out at the Rubin Museum.

Posted in Exhibitions, Museums, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Minnesotan Museum EXPERIENCE

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Marcos

I’ve just returned from the 2012 American Association of Museums Annual Conference and aside from attending some fabulous sessions on everything from  museum business models to docent technology strategies, I was able to visit a few awesome Minnesotan museums and participated in some amazing museum EXPERIENCES. I’m purposefully using ALL CAPS for the word EXPERIENCE, because like the extra-hefty portions of food served during my Midwestern meals, the two museums served up EXPERIENCE in healthy doses. While my stomach (and waist line) had a difficult time gulping down the food, my mind fully gorged on the Mill City Museum and the Minnesota History Center.

You may be wondering- Hey Marcos, why didn’t you go to any art museums? Well, I really wanted to (especially the Walker), but it wasn’t in the cards, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to see some out-of-field museums. I would have never thought to visit the Mill City Museum had not EDCOM (the professional network for museum education) hosted their annual reception there. The fine folks at the MCM opened their doors to us on a Sunday night, and after the general hoopla of awards and welcomes, we were able to explore this gigantic museum. The MCM is on the grounds of an old working factory, one that had a devastating fire in the 90′s, but through some amazing civic pride, was transformed into one of the most intriguing experiences I’ve had in a long time. As I descended downstairs to an area called the ruins, I was able to visit a giant courtyard that showcased both the beauty of a ruined site, but also the innovation of new and old construction. Inside the museum, I took a journey on an elevator that was unlike any museum experience I’ve had. A group of about 30 of us crammed into an old freight elevator, and it stopped on multiple floors. Each time the doors opened, we were privy to hear the voices of old mill workers and see activities that occurred through its history. It was a little like Disney’s Tower of Terror, except without the terror, and at the end we arrived at the top with spectacular views of the Mississippi.

I couldn’t take any pictures while in the elevator, but if you are ever in Minnesota, this experience is not to be missed. Other than the elevator, I thought the exhibitions were really elegant, and provided lots of memorable experiences including beautiful wooden sculptures of people who would have worked in the mill, and a giant Bisquick sign. I believe that all museums should have something to pose with, and my family sticks to Bisquick for all their southern baking needs.

On Monday night, I received a giant dose of Minnesota history at the Minnesota History Center. This museum had it all, including a touchable armored car, a walk-through house that showcased different families through time, and a real sense of innovation in front end exhibition evaluation (more about that in another post). One of the best experiences in the museum was a walk in basement that recreated the feeling of being in a tornado. Using oral histories of folks who survived a devastating tornado, we were cast as a family waiting out the storm in a cellar. The effects were great, the stories were moving, and I have a new appreciation for how scary it must be to go through the experience.

Not quite as emotionally moving, but physically moving, was an experience where I was grain going through a mill (Grainland). It was really refreshing to be in a history museum that valued full-body kinesthetic learning, and I learned something about how wheat travels through a mill.

Perhaps the strangest, but most fun experience I had was the most everyday experience possible. While walking through a house that was set up to showcase  how different families have moved in and out of Minnesota throughout the last 100 or so years, I ended up in a recreated backyard featuring Minnesota games- including drop the pin in the jar. You had to take 5 pins and drop them in a jar while leaning over in a lawn chair. I had never played this game in my life, but for some reason I was drawn to this simple experience (and so were countless others). After 4 tries I was able to get one pin in the jar, but I felt a little closer to Minnesota, and it was definitely an experience I won’t forget (and I think I’ll always remember the MHC because of that small experience).

There are so many interesting places that I didn’t get to visit in Minnesota, and it definitely requires a return visit. My father’s family lived in Minnesota before moving to Florida, so it was a great opportunity to connect with a family locale that I’m not as familiar with, and rekindle my love affair of museum EXPERIENCES once again.

Posted in Exhibitions, Museums, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Enabling People with Dementia through Creative Engagement with Art

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Lyndsey

Last Thursday I was fortunate enough to attend a talk at the Museum of Modern Art led by Richard Taylor, Ph.D., author of Alzheimer’s from the Inside Out. Richard is a former psychologist who has been living with the diagnosis of dementia for the past eleven years and he was able to shed light on the very important, and all too often overlooked, perspective on programming for people with dementia – that of a program participant.

His presentation, “Enabling People with Dementia through Creative Engagement with Art” provided an opportunity to gain insight into his perspective and was altogether affirming of Mindful Connections, our free tour program for people with dementia and their caregivers. He was funny, candid, and engaging and he provided suggestions to further enrich the gallery experience we currently provide.

One of the aspects of Richard’s discourse that resonated with me the most, was the opportunity our program provides for our visitors with Dementia AND their caregivers to be amongst, as Richard puts it, “kindred spirits” and “like minds.” He stressed that, while participants may no longer be able to express themselves as before, the desire for stimulation, both emotional and intellectual, as well as intimacy and contact never leaves. Mindful Connections enables participants to be challenged with new and unusual stimulus, allows them to freely express and be affirmed of their opinions, communicate with others, and meet multiple upper-level needs such as self-actualization, self-esteem, belonging, and safety.

Richard reminded us that the need for purpose is inherent in all individuals, and a trip to the museum provides a purposeful experience. He shared an anecdote about a man who rarely got dressed in “going-out” clothes more frequent than once a month. His wife had laid out his clothing prior to the museum visit, to which the husband responded, “I’m not going to wear that!” The wife was shocked and asked “Why?” And the husband said it wasn’t “dressy enough.” Key here is the fact that this opportunity provides an experience that reinforces self-worth and purpose worth getting dressed, and more importantly dressed-up for.

Some tips that Richard provided include: “Re-enable before you enable.” He suggests the allowance of time before the program commences for the participants to become reacquainted with staff and one another to gain confidence and comfort which often diminishes with social isolation. He recommends, prior to content examination, to spend time reminiscing to get their attention and then bring them into today and impart new information.  The artwork can be used as a tool to build relationships and self-assurance. He stresses the importance of staying flexible throughout the tour program, highlighting that the process (acts of engagement and reminiscing) of the experience is more important than the destination (new content acquisition).

The Rubin Museum recently featured a documentary entitled Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory that captures the ways in which music, much like art, can reinvigorate and engage individuals with Alzheimer’s and other mental disabilities. To register for our monthly Mindful Connections series, please click here.  To read more about Richard Taylor, Ph. D. and his quest to share his story, please visit his website: http://www.richardtaylorphd.com/

-Lyndsey Anderson

Richard Taylor, Ph. D.

Posted in Gallery Tours, Museums, Outreach, Seniors, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Artifact Investigation Updates

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Marilyn

This spring, we have had the opportunity to work with a variety of school groups on the Artifact Investigation Workshop. From 5th grade students to seniors in high school, the workshop has been exciting and successful so far!

The students are divided into small groups to investigate Himalayan artifacts.

Investigating a Ritual Bell

Each student fills out their Artifact Investigation Worksheet, documenting their observations about the texture, shape, size, weight, important markings, and hypnosis of their artifact.

 

Ganesha Artifact Worksheet

Ganesha Artifact Worksheet

Next, each group prepares a presentation to their classmates about their artifact what they have discovered. Groups focus on describing their artifact, telling what it could teach us about Himalayan culture, and a hypothesis about the object.

Wrathful deity artifact worksheet

Finally, each group sees an image of their artifact in context as we discuss each artifact.


Posted in Art Making, Education Center, Gallery Tours, Himalayan Art, K-12 Schools, Museums | Leave a comment

Seeing the Museum as a Preschool Visitor

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Laura S.

When faced with the challenge of exploring the galleries from a child’s perspective, our Apprentice Museum Educators, Evan G. and Tarona H., not only physically lowered themselves to the height of a preschooler, they also used a camera as a viewfinder to document their findings.

They both discovered that with this change in perspective they were focusing on different aspects of the artwork and understanding the potential difficulties faced by this younger group in the galleries.

Staircase

 

artwork

Evan:

From my experience, the largest thing I took away was the immediate change in visual impact from lowering my perspective. Even the staircase itself seemed much larger…I found myself face to face with a part of the image I would not have previously considered as a focal point. Now, when initially engaging a piece, I direct students to take a close look, but also to take a step back and view it from a larger distance, to better take in entire work. I have found this often helps shift the conversation away from smaller details and towards discussing the piece as a whole.

Tarona:

When looking at a piece at a third grader’s height, the piece becomes different. When a group is too close to a piece, it makes it very difficult to direct their attention. This experience has influenced me to change pieces that I would normally use. I have found that using a simple piece will create a rich experience for young children. Sitting down with the groups allows me to understand what they are trying to communicate and view the piece the way they would.

Posted in Family, Gallery Tours, K-12 Schools, Museums, Teens | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Asian Studies Circle Meets with Dr. Karen Shelby

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Laura

The Asian Studies Circle met last Wednesday evening for a convivial Meet & Greet in the museum’s cafe followed by a lively gallery talk with Dr. Karen Shelby, Assistant Professor of Art History at the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at Baruch College.

Cynthia Wiseman (bottom left), Kim Hartswick (middle), and Maria Conelli (right)

During the evening it was a pleasure seeing old friends and meeting new ones, and exploring the galleries with Dr. Shelby, who provided some wonderful insights regarding object-based learning inspired by our collections. Thank you, Karen, for your inspiring presentation.

Our next meeting will be in late August/early September when we will be kicking off the 2012 Fall semester. We’re looking forward to seeing our members then!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

John Jay Essayists Explore Justice at the Rubin Museum

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Laura

John Jay College of Criminal Justice

At the third biennial Literature & Law Conference at John Jay College on March 30, four undergraduates, Janet Alexander, Rebecca Delgado, Bobby Lewis, and C.C. Riley, presented papers during a panel discussion “Justice and the Rubin Museum of Art” that explored works of art at the Rubin Museum through the lens of Criminal Justice.

Sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR), the student panel competition was conducted in conjunction with a second competition, the Rubin Essay Award contest. This second competition will award cash prizes for the top three essays devoted to the museum’s collections, and students were encouraged to participate in both competitions. The same students are eligible to be selected as winners from both contests. The Rubin Essay Award winners have yet to be announced.

Turning to the Literature & Law Conference, the OUR  offered a stipend of $750 to each of the four winning students. These funds provided the opportunity for the students to work with a faculty member to refine their papers for their panel presentations.

Janet Alexander

Janet Alexander’s paper, “Retributive Justice in Buddhism: Compassion of the Wrathful Deities,” examined Magzor Gyalmo as the both protector of the dharma and the embodiment “benevolent wrath.” Janet provided insightful examples of how Magzor functions as the beloved protector of Tibet, the teachings of the dharma, as well as a source of protection and inspiration for Tibetan Buddhist practitioners.

Rebecca Delgado

Rebecca Delgado provided an in-depth analysis of formal and thematic elements in Kattingeri Krishna Hebbar’s painting Hungry Soul (1952) on display in the Modernist Art from India: The Body Unbound exhibition, as a way of exploring economic hardship and social inequalities and they relate to injustice within Indian society and beyond.

Bobby Lewis

Bobby Lewis wrote about Dorje Drolo, a much beloved figure in Tibetan Buddhism, who represents a wrathful form of Padmasambhava, a great adept who helped to establish Buddhism in Tibet in the 8th century. As Bobby wrote, “wrathful deities are effective teachers and protectors of the dharma because they ‘terrify the terrifiers’ by adopting the appearances of what they are engaged in destroying.”

C.C. Riley

The final paper, presented by C.C. Riley, examined three works of art in the museum’s collection, Victory over Mara; Tara Protecting from the Eight Dangers; and Kings of the Mythical Lang of Shambhala. C. C. Riley took on a number of challenging topics, from symbols of fear and protection, to reincarnation and past lives, to the role of karma and death as a form of justice represented by large-scale massacres and genocide.

Janet Alexander, Rebecca Delgado, C.C. Riley, Bobby Lewis

After presenting at the conference, the students’ papers will be published in a special section of John Jay’s Finest. According to Jeffrey Heiman, an English Professor at John Jay, John Jay’s Finest is an anthology, that “recognizes the serious, thoughtful work our students produce to create a writing goal that other students can aspire to reach…”

We now turn our attention to winners of the Rubin Essay Award contest. With prize money of $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000 for first, second, and third prize respectively, there is much anticipation in the air. We wish everyone the best of luck!

Posted in Uncategorized, University Audiences | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Art of “I Don’t Know”

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Guest

As an Apprentice Museum Educator, I have the opportunity and privilege of leading school tours. Before I came to the Rubin, I never thought of museum tours as gallery experiences but instead I thought of them as, well, just tours. I would go to a museum, and a knowledgeable and friendly guide would impart their knowledge onto me. Since I started my work here at the Rubin I’ve come to appreciate tours as a chance to experience art with others and learn together, whether through observation, conversation or stories.

I led a particularly satisfying tour today with a very savvy High School group. I was incredibly intimidated going into the tour, the majority of tours I’ve lead have been 3rd grade-5th grade. I worried I wouldn’t have answers to their questions. Luckily, I had had very positive experiences with younger children in the galleries, when difficult questions were asked that I couldn’t answer, but only by the sweetest and most understanding of children. The process of finding an answer and exposing visitors to our resources is rewarding, but still, I irrationally feared a group of 15 teenagers wouldn’t be as understanding (flashbacks to my own High School days didn’t help).

To my pleasant surprise my worst fears didn’t come true. Our tour was chock-full of thoughtful observation and exciting discussion. I happened to also be presented with a wonderful opportunity; not one, but two questions to which I did not know the answers! I hope this doesn’t make me sound like a bad Guide to readers, I promise I do know my stuff, but this was my chance! I could really create a full experience for the group by following-up with the students after they left my brief, one hour tour (or rather, gallery experience).

I eagerly wrote down their questions and names, and approached the teacher for her contact information and when I returned to the office hurriedly began my research to answer their questions. It is a satisfying feeling to know that this brief one hour experience could be prolonged by creating curiosity beyond the museum’s walls.

I am now looking forward to my next unanswerable question with excitement, instead of fear. Bring it on!

-Brigitte

Posted in Gallery Tours, K-12 Schools, Museums, Teens | Leave a comment