Internship Journal i keep for myself (unedited)

April 23rd, 2012

I came to the museum in the morning and the sun was just over the mountains. the museum is set into the hillside up above the highway and above town and set across from the elk refuge. the museum’s exterior looks like it is made of indigenous rocks and fits/matches the landscape in which it is set. everything is quiet, you can’t hear people or cars. The view is beautiful with the bright sun and the yellow grass and the winding stream/river that has perfectly rounded bows as it flows through the elk refuge. Bronwyn Minton, the Assistant Curator of Art, introduced me to everyone we could find. Everyone is so friendly and kind.

My desk is in the library with Bronwyn. The library has this gorgeous wood, wooden cabinets and shelves, a large beautiful wooden table, and dimly lit lights. It feels like someone should be sitting in the leather chairs smoking a cigar. I love it in here.

I worked most of the day with Ron Gessler, the Chief Preparator, as we took down text panels from one gallery, then later more text panels and the actual artworks from another gallery (Kuhn?). It was amazing to handle the actual paintings and sculptures, although it made me the most nervous I’ve ever been. I spent a lot of time in storage watching/helping replace the paintings (Ron calls it “playing tetris”), returning the sculptures (also tetris, or rubiks cube), learning about how he cares for the art, his priorities, how to handle it, etc etc

At the end of the day Ron and I were given sheets of paper with a layout of the new exhibit of Carl Rungius’s art. Each page had a wall (north, south, east, etc) with works and their layout. Ron and I unloaded the artwork from storage and placed each piece in its respective order and corresponding wall. The curator and assistant curator then came in and fixed what didn’t work. They moved so many pieces, cut pieces, and changed their organization a bit. The idea was to have several of Rungius’s oil sketches that correspond to the larger finished canvas. It is really beautiful. One of the paintings I recognize because I grew up with a print in my house.