Thursday, August 27, 2009

Through the Eyes of Others Travelling Show Preparations



By: Christine Olsen, Registrar
With the current exhibits in place for the remainder of the calendar year, the curatorial department at FAM is keeping busy behind the scenes getting travelling shows ready for the road. On August 28th our first travelling show, Through the Eyes of Others: African Americans and Identity in American Art, is being shipped from FAM to New York State Museum in Albany where it will be on exhibit from September 8, 2009 - January 6, 2010.

With the time for packing and shipping the show so close at hand, we find ourselves scrambling to make sure every detail has been accounted for. It really is an exciting yet anxious time yet I must confess that it feels good be part of an exhibition that will (hopefully) touch the lives of hundreds of museum visitors, and to know that each of us contributed our own personal skills and talents to making it all happen.
As you may recall from my previous blog, every loan incoming or outgoing must have condition reports done, insurance coverage in place, and packing and shipping scheduled. For this particular show there are 46 pieces of art (ranging from paintings and drawings to sculpture and historical documents) that have to make it from FAM to NYSM on time and without incident. This is just the kind of thing that keeps us up at night! A professional art handling company arrived on August 18th to start packing the objects, some of which are large and very fragile. We will be keeping our fingers crossed that it all goes smoothly… and that our measurements were correct! I must say that it is quite a sight to see when everything is all packed in brand new crates ready to be loaded on a tractor trailer (the crates will never be this perfect and clean again!), and even more so when the truck is packed like a intricate puzzle.
If you have the opportunity, you should definitely visit NYSM to experience this exhibition. It truly is an inspirational and visually rich show and we would love for you to see in person all of the hard work and dedication that went into its creation. And of course we welcome comments letting us know what you thought!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is exciting, I will have to visit the exhibit in Albany!

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