Museum Studies » News

Appointment of Joseph Gonzales to Director of Museum Communication

Erin — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:48:34 +0000

Before coming to the University of the Arts, Joseph Gonzales was previously appointed to and served as the Manager of Research and Community Engagement Strategies for the Fleisher Art Memorial from May 2008 to July 2011. During that time he led audience research and institutional initiatives to increase and enhance arts engagement among underserved families in Southeast Philadelphia as part of a Wallace Foundation Excellence Award grant.

Mr.Gonzales has twenty years of experience in the museum field working in education and interpretation, community outreach, development, and exhibition development for art, history, natural history, children’s museums, and commercial agencies in Philadelphia, Texas, California, and Washington D.C. He earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Temple University where his dissertation, Complicated Business: Chicanos, Museum, and Corporate Sponsorship, examined the cultural production and politics in the making and touring of the exhibitions, Chicano Now and Chicano Visions.

He has served as a member of the board of directors of Raices Culturales Latinoamericanas and Taller Puertorriqueño, program chair for the American Association of Museum’s Committee for Diversity in Museums, and is the current president of the Museum Council of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.

UArts Graduate Student Receives Sappington Scholarship

jgonzales — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:16:48 +0000

Lloyd Frisone, MCOM, received a scholarship from the Sappington Foundation to support an object inventory project for the newly revitalized New Sweden Colonial Farmstead. In 2013, New Sweden will celebrate its 375th anniversary.

In April, 1988, to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the founding of the New Sweden Colony in America, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden came to Bridgeton to inaugurate the reconstructed small Swedish farm settlement as an open-air museum. The living-history site provides “on the ground” immediacy to visitors. It offers an engaging setting for reenactors to “be” colonial men and women–and children too–and take us a out of the present and back, back, back into colonial 17th- & 18th-century life.

UArts Alumni Have Big Impact at UPenn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

jgonzales — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:20:21 +0000

Four UArts Museum Studies alumni have played key roles in the new exhibition “Battleground: War Rugs From Afghanistan” at the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

The exhibition examines the work of rug weavers of Afghanistan, long renowned for their artistry, depict on their rugs the world that they see. Like television news, their rugs “report” current events. Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and throughout more than three decades of international and civil war, Afghan weavers have borne witness to disaster by weaving unprecedented images of battle and weaponry into their rugs. Flowers have turned into bullets, landmines, and hand grenades.

UArts alumni Lauren Duguid (MEPD), Allie Francies (MCOM), Kate Quinn (MEPD), and Kevin Schott (MED) continue to have a big impact on exhibitions and programming, following up on the hugely successful “Secrets of the Silk Road” exhibition.

Kate Roberts to speak with UArts Museum Studies Students

jgonzales — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:58:42 +0000

Kate Roberts, the Senior Exhibit Developer at the Minnesota History Center, will speak with UArts graduate students on April 14th about two recent projects.

What do we really mean when we talk about the power of objects in exhibits? In Our Minnesota, designed primarily for students on field trips, the central question is this: In an exhibit filled with multimedia presentations and hands-on experiences, is it possible to focus kids’ attention on artifacts in cases? In an exhibit marking the sesquicentennial of the U.S.-Dakota War, the central question is different: When the topic of an exhibit has the potential to evoke pain, anger, and guilt in visitors, is it possible to use original documents and artifacts to promote constructive, transformative communication?

Kate Roberts is Senior Exhibit Developer at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul. She was lead developer and project manager for Minnesota A to Z, the inaugural exhibit for the new Minnesota History Center (1992). She was also the lead developer for permanent exhibits at Mill City Museum in Minneapolis. Most recently, Roberts led the development of MN150, which marks the sesquicentennial of Minnesota’s statehood (2008). This crowd-sourced exhibit features 150 topics nominated by members of the public, chosen from a field of 2,700 submissions. Roberts is currently overseeing development teams for two major initiatives: The 1968 Exhibit, a traveling exhibit being developed in partnership with three other history museums, and Our Minnesota, a History Center exhibit targeted to school groups and drawing on current advances in the use of technology in the classroom.

Graduate Museum Project 2011

jgonzales — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:41:10 +0000

Museum Studies students in the Graduate Museum Project course recently got behind the scenes tours at Longwood Gardens from Jim Harbage and Jim Sutton.

In 1906, Pierre S. du Pont purchased the Peirce Arboretum to save its trees from being cut for lumber. Over the next nearly half century, Mr. du Pont developed Longwood Gardens into a magnificent horticultural showplace. Today, Longwood Gardens encompasses 1,050 acres of gardens, woodlands, and meadows. Visitors can enjoy over 11,000 types of plants, more fountains than any other garden in the US, educational and visitor programming, and over 400 performances a year.

MEPD Alumnus Kenneth Davis to present at National Park Service Leadership Workshop

jgonzales — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 15:41:14 +0000

MEPD alumnus Kenneth Davis will be presenting Removing Constraints, Creating Connection at the National Park Service’s 2010 Leading Excellence Interpretation and Education Workshop. The week-long leadership workshop starts on Monday, December 6th in Baltimore, MD. It’s not too late to register.

Kenneth’s timely presentation will examine how history museums can sustain youth audiences, tell relevant stories, give voice to the unheard and build communities by incorporating a Hip-Hop approach to educational programs and interpretive media. Kenneth’s presentation will:

Explore the multidisciplinary aspects of hip-hop culture and how this relates to exhibit design.

Apply design principles to interpretation and park programming.

Explore how hip-hop culture serve as a vehicle for a youth driven experience.

UArts alumnae and students inside the brain.

jgonzales — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 20:30:53 +0000

On Friday, November 12th UArts Museum Studies students met with Michael Meister, Director of Exhibition Design at the American Museum of Natural History for a behind the scenes tour. But folks from UArts aren’t just spectators at the AMNH; UArts alumnae are the lead designers on two exhibitions currently on view at the museum. Cine´ Ostrow was lead designer for Brain: The Inside Story, and Katherine Powell was lead designer for Race to the End of the Earth.

The department takes bus trips annually, alternating between New York and Washington D.C., for special opportunities to meet with professionals in the field and to see the latest developments in museum and exhibition practice.

Sarah Asper-Smith, first year MEPD student, publishes with Sasquatch Books

jgonzales — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:36:26 +0000

We’ve all heard the common terms for groups of animals—a pack of wolves, a school of fish—but there’s so much more! After discovering that a group of ferrets is called “a business,” artist and first-year MEPD student Sarah Asper-Smith became fascinated with the intersection of language and the natural world.
Using bold prints overlaid on vibrant colors, Asper-Smith created Have You Ever Seen a Smack of Jellyfish?: An Alphabet Book (Sasquatch Books; January 2011; $16.95) to chronicle some of the surprisingly poetic words we use to describe the magnificent animal kingdom. From an “army of ants” to a “zeal of zebras,” Asper-Smith takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the alphabet with animal groups as her guide. Her bright, graphic illustrations will appeal to little ones and their parents, while both adults and kids are sure to learn something new about animals along the way!

Stephanie Reyer Named Vice President of Exhibitions for the National Constitution Center

jgonzales — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 15:30:46 +0000

Philadelphia, PA (October 26, 2010) – The National Constitution Center announced today the promotion of Stephanie Reyer to Vice President of Exhibitions. Since 2008, Ms. Reyer served as Director of Exhibitions, overseeing all aspects of the Center’s exhibition program, including the conceptualization, development, and evaluation of original exhibitions; maintaining the Center’s core exhibition; and identifying exhibitions for the museum’s feature exhibition gallery. She previously served as Associate Director of Exhibition Graphic Design for the American Museum of Natural History.

As Vice President of Exhibitions, Reyer will join the Center’s senior team, leading the organization’s efforts to produce and travel original exhibitions across the country. Reyer also will lead the Center through an upgrade and re-envisioning of its core exhibition.

“In this new capacity, Stephanie will be instrumental in helping the Center become a leader in exhibition development,” said National Constitution Center President and CEO David Eisner. “We look forward to growing our national brand as we create first-rate original exhibitions to tour the country.”

Since joining the Center in 2008, Reyer has led the development of the Center’s critically acclaimed original exhibitions, including Headed to the White House, Ancient Rome & America, and most recently, Art of the American Soldier. She also has brought to the Center such traveling exhibitions as Tavis Smiley’s America I AM: The African American Imprint, which made its world debut at the Center; NAPOLÉON, distributed by Exhibits Development Group; and Diana: A Celebration, produced by Arts and Exhibitions International, in association with the Althorp Estate.

First Person Museum- Exhibit Opening Friday, November 5th

jgonzales — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 14:26:04 +0000

Aaron Goldblatt, a member of the Museum Studies Faculty, has been working with the First Person Museum on a new exhibition and a series of lectures at the Painted Bride Art Center.

The things we treasure are more than just objects — they are vessels for our stories, memories and experiences. The First Person Museum is a multi-media exhibition and online gallery where objects and the stories behind them are shared.

The exhibition opens on Friday, November 5, 5-7 pm.

Free gallery talks will take place November 11-14, offering attendees an inside look at the making of a “Museum of the People.”

Thursday, 11/11, 7-7:30pm – Museum Voices: Who is the Expert? – Kathleen McLean, Museum Consultant

Friday, 11/12, 7-7:30pm – Our Objects, Our History – Graduate Students in Temple University’s Studies in American Material Culture class

Saturday, 11/13, 11-11:30 am – Looking at History Through Our Things – Graduate Students in Temple University’s Studies in American Material Culture class

Saturday, 11/13, 7-7:30 pm – Americans and Their Stuff – Julia Foulkes, Historian, New School University

Sunday, 11/14, 2-2:30pm – What Makes a Museum? – Aaron Goldblatt, Exhibit Developer/Designer and Museum Planner at Metcalfe Architecture & Design

Learn more at http://www.firstpersonmuseum.org/