All the best,
Shanjun
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Farewell day
All the best,
Shanjun
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Do small things with a heart that's full of gratitude and joy ∩▽∩
Before starting the internship, I was being worried a lot. Even I was a little frightened. I encouraged myself so many times to knock the door of that institution on the first day. Since English is my second language, I really wondered what kind of tasks I would be given. Certainly, all the tasks the supervisor gave me were small and even sound boring(if you go through all of my posts, you can know what I did),but I would like to say that I was doing every task with a full heart. The reasons are simple: above all, I love working for art, and secondly, I am always gratitude for ** giving me this intern opportunity and valued it deeply.
I am a stubborn person - If I were indifferent to something, even if I was paid a large amount of money to do it, I would not finish it well. Last year, during my first intern at a photo shop in China, the boss had asked me to be a cashier. Unfortunately, I hate counting money and indeed I had once forgotten to charge a customer 15 RMB. On the contrary, this time was completely different; I felt like a fish in water ^ ^ I enjoyed doing any small thing that the curator and registrar gave to me. Some tasks, such as filing and reformatting CV, sound very tedious,especially for the other staff who has been working here for a long time. However, all of these things were utterly fresh to me. I always think it is essential to do these "trifles" well if I want to develop my career within this field. If I failed to do these small things, how could I finish more challenging things in the future? I never despited the routines, such as checking daily artist's mail by EMU. In the beginning,I didn't do it until the curator put the box in front of me, but after a few days later, I got a habit of checking the box everyday through EMU when the curator hadn't been arrived, and put every mail in the corresponding file. I knew that the curator was very busy and mail filing was a tedious load for her, but I would like to help and practice to be organised myself. Also, through frequently checking the file, I have acquired a lot of excellent information about Australian contemporary artists.
It is not because the language, I prefer "say less, do more", but I was not shy to chat with other staff and they are very friendly and polite. I am grateful to them all.
I had to get up very early to go to work on Mon and Tue, but I was full of joy and enthusiasm, because many things I am interested in were waiting for me to finish.
I probably wouldn't write any more until next week (the last day of my intern),and maybe one more post left. Hope everyone enjoy reading my experiences which would be my beautiful memories of studying abroad Y(^_^)Y
I am a stubborn person - If I were indifferent to something, even if I was paid a large amount of money to do it, I would not finish it well. Last year, during my first intern at a photo shop in China, the boss had asked me to be a cashier. Unfortunately, I hate counting money and indeed I had once forgotten to charge a customer 15 RMB. On the contrary, this time was completely different; I felt like a fish in water ^ ^ I enjoyed doing any small thing that the curator and registrar gave to me. Some tasks, such as filing and reformatting CV, sound very tedious,especially for the other staff who has been working here for a long time. However, all of these things were utterly fresh to me. I always think it is essential to do these "trifles" well if I want to develop my career within this field. If I failed to do these small things, how could I finish more challenging things in the future? I never despited the routines, such as checking daily artist's mail by EMU. In the beginning,I didn't do it until the curator put the box in front of me, but after a few days later, I got a habit of checking the box everyday through EMU when the curator hadn't been arrived, and put every mail in the corresponding file. I knew that the curator was very busy and mail filing was a tedious load for her, but I would like to help and practice to be organised myself. Also, through frequently checking the file, I have acquired a lot of excellent information about Australian contemporary artists.
It is not because the language, I prefer "say less, do more", but I was not shy to chat with other staff and they are very friendly and polite. I am grateful to them all.
I had to get up very early to go to work on Mon and Tue, but I was full of joy and enthusiasm, because many things I am interested in were waiting for me to finish.
I probably wouldn't write any more until next week (the last day of my intern),and maybe one more post left. Hope everyone enjoy reading my experiences which would be my beautiful memories of studying abroad Y(^_^)Y
I will miss you ( to my intern teacher- the registrar )
I don't know how to say farewell to you next week. It is really not enough to say a "thank you", if I did this, I would hate myself. All the goods will come to the end, and I still cannot accept that after next week I cannot see you anymore...Whilst my supervisor - the curator wants me to do things for her, you teach me as a true teacher who cares about me, so I would hate myself more if I were ungrateful for all your help.
When I saw you on the first day of my intern, I thought you were a little unapproachable, but this impression turned out to be a mistake when I assisted you in accessing a "stegosaurus". You has got a mild temper and infinite patience. I was very curious about why the label of every part of "stegosaurus" should be inside the small grooves. You told me that this was for avoiding the exposure of the label after the "stegosaurus" was constructed. You taught me how to correctly label an object with different materials and gave me a very useful handout - a simple guide to labelling museum objects. When working and communicating with you, I felt the time passed too soon...%>_<%
When we packed and unpacked the artworks, you introduced a lot of packing materials I heard from the textbook but didn't see before. You taught me to open the package always from the back and also told me how to stack artworks (face to face, back to back). I was a little shy to talk too much but you wanted me to remember the importance of communication during moving an artwork.
I would never find the charm of registration if I didn't meet you. The four steps of accessioning you taught me: inscription recording, measuring, describing and condition reporting made me love this work from the bottom of my heart. I am a person who loves to be organised and pursue perfection and through accessioning I found my talent for doing this well. Unfortunately, I was afraid of measuring things, and when you first time asked me to measure the width of a painting, I made a funny mistake, but from then on, I got more and more confidence to measure artworks of different sizes and never be fear of measuring anymore, and yes I did very well. But I think the hardest thing for me was to describe an artwork in a limited time. Thank you for leading me to practice this so many times and I made a big progress, but Sorry, as I am not a native speaker, I often experienced difficulty in finding a right word: I didn't know what the English name of the animal in picture was. Do you know? My favourite course is conservation, and I had tried to keep the glossary in mind, but I didn't get chance to use them in practice until you taught me how to check the condition with a torch. From the practice, I indeed found the limitation in my previous knowledge, but more important, I have known what a real "accretion" or an "abrasion" looks like. I made an obvious progress in reporting the condition and would never forget the method for doing it properly.
Working with you is the time I've always looked forward to, and now I still expect to help you next week. Almost every week you came upstairs and called me: "hi, Shanjun, how's going, do you have time to help me do some accessioning?" Sometimes, while searching some files, I couldn't help myself looking through the window and quietly saw you being busy downstairs #^_^# . You were always patient with me, but I've always feel really guilty at showing a very negative attitude one day before the Easter. On that day, you showed me how to handle a very large and unframed work, after that you told me to describe that aboriginal painting, but I said I wasn't in a good mood and didn't want to do it. Until now, I still feel very sorry about my grumpiness; I should't make you disappointed, although I indeed felt awful that day ╯﹏╰. On Monday in the following week, I went to work with a much better mentality, but I was heard of you had been sick for a whole week. I put a picture on your table I drew for you on Sunday and hoped when you saw it you would get better. That Monday I worked very hard with pretty enthusiasm. And I was very happy that you said the picture drown by me was very nice and cute ~@^_^@~
I really love the book you recommended: Museum Registration Methods 5th; I will read it carefully, because Ive become so fascinated with registration now ^ ^
I love speaking with you and watching the way you work, from which I gain so much more than the words can describe. I'll note everything you taught me down, keep them in mind, and bring to my country. I had a wish that one day I could become a good registrar, just like you =^_^=
Thank you and wish God bless you. Sorry that I don't want you to see this post; sometimes it is better to for you to know nothing.
I miss you. Hope one day I can see you again, and talk about registration again or talk about something else...When writing here, I am in tears.
When I saw you on the first day of my intern, I thought you were a little unapproachable, but this impression turned out to be a mistake when I assisted you in accessing a "stegosaurus". You has got a mild temper and infinite patience. I was very curious about why the label of every part of "stegosaurus" should be inside the small grooves. You told me that this was for avoiding the exposure of the label after the "stegosaurus" was constructed. You taught me how to correctly label an object with different materials and gave me a very useful handout - a simple guide to labelling museum objects. When working and communicating with you, I felt the time passed too soon...%>_<%
When we packed and unpacked the artworks, you introduced a lot of packing materials I heard from the textbook but didn't see before. You taught me to open the package always from the back and also told me how to stack artworks (face to face, back to back). I was a little shy to talk too much but you wanted me to remember the importance of communication during moving an artwork.
I would never find the charm of registration if I didn't meet you. The four steps of accessioning you taught me: inscription recording, measuring, describing and condition reporting made me love this work from the bottom of my heart. I am a person who loves to be organised and pursue perfection and through accessioning I found my talent for doing this well. Unfortunately, I was afraid of measuring things, and when you first time asked me to measure the width of a painting, I made a funny mistake, but from then on, I got more and more confidence to measure artworks of different sizes and never be fear of measuring anymore, and yes I did very well. But I think the hardest thing for me was to describe an artwork in a limited time. Thank you for leading me to practice this so many times and I made a big progress, but Sorry, as I am not a native speaker, I often experienced difficulty in finding a right word: I didn't know what the English name of the animal in picture was. Do you know? My favourite course is conservation, and I had tried to keep the glossary in mind, but I didn't get chance to use them in practice until you taught me how to check the condition with a torch. From the practice, I indeed found the limitation in my previous knowledge, but more important, I have known what a real "accretion" or an "abrasion" looks like. I made an obvious progress in reporting the condition and would never forget the method for doing it properly.
Working with you is the time I've always looked forward to, and now I still expect to help you next week. Almost every week you came upstairs and called me: "hi, Shanjun, how's going, do you have time to help me do some accessioning?" Sometimes, while searching some files, I couldn't help myself looking through the window and quietly saw you being busy downstairs #^_^# . You were always patient with me, but I've always feel really guilty at showing a very negative attitude one day before the Easter. On that day, you showed me how to handle a very large and unframed work, after that you told me to describe that aboriginal painting, but I said I wasn't in a good mood and didn't want to do it. Until now, I still feel very sorry about my grumpiness; I should't make you disappointed, although I indeed felt awful that day ╯﹏╰. On Monday in the following week, I went to work with a much better mentality, but I was heard of you had been sick for a whole week. I put a picture on your table I drew for you on Sunday and hoped when you saw it you would get better. That Monday I worked very hard with pretty enthusiasm. And I was very happy that you said the picture drown by me was very nice and cute ~@^_^@~
I really love the book you recommended: Museum Registration Methods 5th; I will read it carefully, because Ive become so fascinated with registration now ^ ^
I love speaking with you and watching the way you work, from which I gain so much more than the words can describe. I'll note everything you taught me down, keep them in mind, and bring to my country. I had a wish that one day I could become a good registrar, just like you =^_^=
Thank you and wish God bless you. Sorry that I don't want you to see this post; sometimes it is better to for you to know nothing.
I miss you. Hope one day I can see you again, and talk about registration again or talk about something else...When writing here, I am in tears.
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Reformatting the artists' CV
In April, one of the biggest tasks I finished was to reformat many artists' CV. Our institution has its own CV format - the concise format can well fit into any exhibition or printed brochure, but a lot of artists' CV had overwhelming word counts and various styles.
The process of reformatting was tiring but I got a good idea how to arrange an artist's CV with a clear structure, and more important, I was really pleased with serving for the artist who needed our help.
After reformatting those CV, I was given several artists' names and required to send emails to the galleries representing them to ask for their CV, for our organisation currently lost their records. I firstly wrote down their names on a new word file and then searched all of them online in oder to find available CV. I sent out about five emails to the four galleries to ask for the detailed CV, but two galleries responded me with very strange ones of few information; although I request so many times, no replies any more. The artist David Thomson replied me the following week, and I reformatted all the CV I got from those kind-hearted galleries.
As last, I sent a small report to the curator, in which I identified the artists whose CV were successfully reformatted, whose CV were provided again by the galleries and whose CV lacked details and still needed the contact with the galleries.
I practised being more and more organised in every task. ~^o^~
About writing that two texts （ˇˍˇ）
My supervisor wanted me to write a text for a client. The artist's name is Stuart Watters. His painting looks like Vincent's starry night. I was a little nervous actually, for the computer in my office is not installed with any translator. As not a native speaker, I found this was not a piece of cake. The curator required no more than 500 words, but I know that the less, the harder.
I researched Stuart Watters from the file and the internet, and indeed got some useful information, such as his general style, but not too much. I established a new word file to take down all the information and references, and then I spent more than a half day writing this text. The curator was very satisfied with what I wrote and she gave me another one to write. But I had completely no idea how to write this one. The artist was a very emerging artist and I could hardly find any review about his general style. As this series I required to write was screen printings, I spent some time researching the aesthetic characteristics of printmaking.
I love writing art and I benefit much from a book called A Short Guide to Writing about Art, what gives me a lot of clues regarding how to analyse formal qualities. I ll soon show these two article I wrote, when I go to work next Monday.
The first
Reinis Zusters was a prolific painter who produced large landscapes, cityscapes as well as portraits. Absorbed in oil painting, he expressed his fascination with exploring nature and his inner world.
I researched Stuart Watters from the file and the internet, and indeed got some useful information, such as his general style, but not too much. I established a new word file to take down all the information and references, and then I spent more than a half day writing this text. The curator was very satisfied with what I wrote and she gave me another one to write. But I had completely no idea how to write this one. The artist was a very emerging artist and I could hardly find any review about his general style. As this series I required to write was screen printings, I spent some time researching the aesthetic characteristics of printmaking.
I love writing art and I benefit much from a book called A Short Guide to Writing about Art, what gives me a lot of clues regarding how to analyse formal qualities. I ll soon show these two article I wrote, when I go to work next Monday.
The first
Reinis Zusters was a prolific painter who produced large landscapes, cityscapes as well as portraits. Absorbed in oil painting, he expressed his fascination with exploring nature and his inner world.
Zusters bought an old house at Greenwich
Reinis Zusters OAM was born 15 October 1918 in Odessa ,Russia Riga Technical College Western Australia Australia , Japan and USA Japan and many other public and private collections in Australia Wentworth Falls
The Second
Stuart Watters is an artist who specialises in creating abstract work. He chooses succinct creative language to constitute a pictorial surface of formal rhythm.
His screen printings Fillet (1984) and Whisket (1984) show the strength and beauty of abstract form by the manipulation of shapes and colours. Fillet (1984) presents an attractive visual focus by the artist’s construction of the layered shapes, fresh and mute colours, whilst Whisket (1984) reveals a more succinct language to emphasise a beauty of a large blank which not only enhances the sense of light but also leaves us something to guess. The configurations of two works show fresh and strong visual effects. Stuart Watters is an artist who specialises in creating abstract work. He chooses succinct creative language to constitute a pictorial surface of formal rhythm.
Stuart Watters studies painting at City Art Institute, Sydney. Since 1984, he has had numerous solo exhibitions including the latest The Shape of Language (2010) in Kudos gallery, Sydney, and his work has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. He was a recipient of the inaugural Sir William Dobell Art Foundation Award and the artist currently lives and works in Sydney
Before the new library
When I came into the office a couple of weeks ago, I was surrounded by stacks and stacks of magazines. They were artist profiles, art crafts international, artlink, art monthly, and other interesting magazines. The curator was ill that day, but via email she asked me to check through all these magazines in oder to find the reviews relevant to the artworks in our collection. If I found these articles, she wished I could clip them out or photocopy them, place them into the corresponding artist's file and throw away these old magazines for the installation of the new library.
It was definitely easy to find the name of the artists who in our collection by EMU, but the review articles on the specific artworks in the collection were very rare; thus I planned to clip out the article related to the artist who in our collection and his/her artworks were similar to the works that in out collection.
I spent solid four days working on these, but nearly the end I suddenly found that I forgot to mark the references on the top right corner of the article cut out. One significant thing I learnt from this magazine checking was that marking the reference was essential, because if the article could be used one day, it would be terrible that the reference could not be found. After checking them one by one through EMU, I classified every article according to the surname of the artists and then placed them back into their files.
Writing essays seems to be a daily routine of a curator. She/he needs a lot of inspirations and also references. That is a reason why the curator wanted to keep all the useful articles in file. Many clients require the article about the work he/she appreciates. Next I ll tell you the story that I wrote two articles for our clients. #^_^#
It was definitely easy to find the name of the artists who in our collection by EMU, but the review articles on the specific artworks in the collection were very rare; thus I planned to clip out the article related to the artist who in our collection and his/her artworks were similar to the works that in out collection.
I spent solid four days working on these, but nearly the end I suddenly found that I forgot to mark the references on the top right corner of the article cut out. One significant thing I learnt from this magazine checking was that marking the reference was essential, because if the article could be used one day, it would be terrible that the reference could not be found. After checking them one by one through EMU, I classified every article according to the surname of the artists and then placed them back into their files.
Writing essays seems to be a daily routine of a curator. She/he needs a lot of inspirations and also references. That is a reason why the curator wanted to keep all the useful articles in file. Many clients require the article about the work he/she appreciates. Next I ll tell you the story that I wrote two articles for our clients. #^_^#
Hello, does anyone want to invite me again?
My email address is actually maomao22266@gmail.com, but all of you presumably are informed of a wrong address. Does anyone want to invite me again? Thanks a lot.
Raining and Books (2) !!!!!!!!
Firstly, a hilarious conversation happened today:
A IT staff asked me: Excuse me, do you know where the restroom is?
Probably due to his special accent
I said: restaurant? Sorry, no idea.
When I wanted to say I brought my lunch, he said:No~X maybe down stairs?"
I said: Oh~you mean the canteen ^ ^
I found he was close to tears, and he said: the toilet
I said: yes, go down stairs. He went down, I followed him and said: turn right!!!
I finished arranging all the books on the new cases today and now I am extremely exhausted.We have a new library now ^ 0 ^ and the curator said that she had been waiting for this for five years = =! It was a hard work and required a lot time; maybe this was the reason why she didn't get started. Our new library is divided into several parts with different themes of books, but the bookcases are little tricky, caz they are identical cubes only with some could be adjustable. I changed my mind so many times to get every group of books fit in every case. Actually, it is hard to report this experience, but what the most important is I knows much better about how to keep all the materials in order. I used to arrange my bookshelf in my bedroom but never tried to arrange this huge case with a floor to ceiling size.
I feel so proud indeed; before leaving, I can make something new to this place I love. Next post I ll tell what I did before preparing the new book cases.
A IT staff asked me: Excuse me, do you know where the restroom is?
Probably due to his special accent
I said: restaurant? Sorry, no idea.
When I wanted to say I brought my lunch, he said:No~X maybe down stairs?"
I said: Oh~you mean the canteen ^ ^
I found he was close to tears, and he said: the toilet
I said: yes, go down stairs. He went down, I followed him and said: turn right!!!
I finished arranging all the books on the new cases today and now I am extremely exhausted.We have a new library now ^ 0 ^ and the curator said that she had been waiting for this for five years = =! It was a hard work and required a lot time; maybe this was the reason why she didn't get started. Our new library is divided into several parts with different themes of books, but the bookcases are little tricky, caz they are identical cubes only with some could be adjustable. I changed my mind so many times to get every group of books fit in every case. Actually, it is hard to report this experience, but what the most important is I knows much better about how to keep all the materials in order. I used to arrange my bookshelf in my bedroom but never tried to arrange this huge case with a floor to ceiling size.
I feel so proud indeed; before leaving, I can make something new to this place I love. Next post I ll tell what I did before preparing the new book cases.
 |
| The New Library - by Shanjun |
Monday, 30 May 2011
A long day for artist's filing
I found that some artists' files were placed casually,and this probably make them hard to be found in the future.One day in April(sorry forget the date), I made a big decision - to arrange all the artist's files.I could not believe the amazing speed with which the new mails increased. With just a few weeks, the two boxes were full of new mails waiting for filing. Of course, before sorting out these two boxes, I had to check out whether the artists in collection by EMU.
It was strange that some mail in the "waiting for being sorted" box are not in collection after being checked; thus, I spent nearly two hours rechecking all those mail in "the waiting box". I was not overwhelmed by those leaflets, for this time I well used the method of classification to increase my efficiency, which was what I learnt from my first day. It took solid two days to finish arranging the files and I at last found all those artists whose name in the collection but whose files were not in the selves; I wrote down their names and the curators told me that most of them are new artists whose files have not been established.
My fingers tend to get some minor cuts during filing...this is not good...but I felt that I was easy to be absorbed in filing. From then on, the curator gave me more tasks to do. I' ll tell you in next posts, if you are interested in *^ _ ^ * good night...
() ()
( . .)
c('')('')
It was strange that some mail in the "waiting for being sorted" box are not in collection after being checked; thus, I spent nearly two hours rechecking all those mail in "the waiting box". I was not overwhelmed by those leaflets, for this time I well used the method of classification to increase my efficiency, which was what I learnt from my first day. It took solid two days to finish arranging the files and I at last found all those artists whose name in the collection but whose files were not in the selves; I wrote down their names and the curators told me that most of them are new artists whose files have not been established.
My fingers tend to get some minor cuts during filing...this is not good...but I felt that I was easy to be absorbed in filing. From then on, the curator gave me more tasks to do. I' ll tell you in next posts, if you are interested in *^ _ ^ * good night...
() ()
( . .)
c('')('')
Raining and Books (1) !!!!!!!!
Our new bookcase was built well during the weekends. Today the curator got quite excited; she has been waiting for this new shelve for such a long time. The office was so quiet as usual, but the outside raining frightened me, for I have never seen such a rain in winter before coming this country.
Time passed so quickly, and my internship is nearly the end (a little sad indeed), but I think my last intern task would make me have no time to contemplate too much.I hope I can arrange all the books in perfect order in this large and new bookcase. I feel this was a hard work but I suppose only me can do this well. I am a person who has a bit OCD and always want anything to be tidy and clean :) You may consider this a joke...but I still remember I used to spent about 10 minutes to tidy up my schoolbag every night before going bed. In all of my courses, I like conservation most and during intern I am fascinated by doing registration (and I like to annoy the registrar). I love the order and detail, and also I love books deeply. So, I guess and hope that I can make this library.
I don't know how many books we get now but they are substantial. Finding the oder is an excellent goal but the process isn't pleasant. Arranging them in the oder of surname is key, and when the two persons get the same surname I need to arrange the oder according to the next letter. Fortunately, I ve practiced this from mail filing, although the work load is huge. The curator ran away before five pm, whilst I finished arranging the case of aboriginal art, but unfortunately, a large number of other monographs turned up again after I though I ve already finished that part. Oh, Lord, help me...
Time passed so quickly, and my internship is nearly the end (a little sad indeed), but I think my last intern task would make me have no time to contemplate too much.I hope I can arrange all the books in perfect order in this large and new bookcase. I feel this was a hard work but I suppose only me can do this well. I am a person who has a bit OCD and always want anything to be tidy and clean :) You may consider this a joke...but I still remember I used to spent about 10 minutes to tidy up my schoolbag every night before going bed. In all of my courses, I like conservation most and during intern I am fascinated by doing registration (and I like to annoy the registrar). I love the order and detail, and also I love books deeply. So, I guess and hope that I can make this library.
I don't know how many books we get now but they are substantial. Finding the oder is an excellent goal but the process isn't pleasant. Arranging them in the oder of surname is key, and when the two persons get the same surname I need to arrange the oder according to the next letter. Fortunately, I ve practiced this from mail filing, although the work load is huge. The curator ran away before five pm, whilst I finished arranging the case of aboriginal art, but unfortunately, a large number of other monographs turned up again after I though I ve already finished that part. Oh, Lord, help me...
Monday, 23 May 2011
A long day and expecting new bookcases to be installed
We got several new bookcases coming in and they will be installed during this weekend. Before that, I spent a long time cleaning up some old books and magazines which looks messy...but good to see our new library :) I will help build this mini library next week.
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Hi Welcome back. More interesting or boring news = =
It is 10 to five now, but I am very tried after helping registration. I don't think my health condition is good currently, for I often feel exausted...being snowed under the assignments, my back tends to hurt almost everyday. I suppose today I won't write more because I am planning to get my thought clearer and then write recent stories of my intern. This post is just a "Hello Again."
Best wishes,
Shanjun
Best wishes,
Shanjun
Monday, 14 March 2011
About Accessioning
Ok, I wonder whether I can come up with an exciting title; maybe I can change it later. These days I tried to do some accessing work, which includes registering and cataluging. I don't know it is lucky or not, for I got a kind of feeling which it is very hard to describe. During my intern, I find that I still have a lot to know and need much more to practise. I am a person who is never tired of finding knowledge in books but now I know that learning from practice is more efficient and useful than learning from books, though we need to learn from books because acedemic theory can elevate our work to a high status. With respect to cataloguing, I had knew this word from one of my course, but I did not try this until yesterday. I think the most difficult part for me is describing the artwork and checking the condition, because my native language is not English. After seeing the registra done this, I tried to finish several artworks on my own, and I did make it, and I did very well in playing the torch.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Annie Leibovitz's Exhibition in MCA
Today I headed to MCA to visit Leibovitz's photography exhibition. It is amazing indeed (sorry about the boring word, but...).To be honest, when I visit an exhibition, I always tend to pay much more attention to the artworks themselves not the way they are displayed, although because of my major I should do and I indeed now care about it more than before. However, today's visit was not very comfortable. First, the air conditioning in MCA was too harsh (at least for me) to make me stay longer, so I only had time to see and hardly had time to think much. Second, there were so many people and I hate staring one label with a bunch of people (my bad eyesight actually). Anyway, at last, I really enjoyed those pictures, especially the one capturing the American swimming team swirling in an underwater circle. I cannot swim :( but watching this photo made me feel as if I had surrounded by cool water and could swim freely. I was also very appreciate those large-scale photos in this exhibition (like printed ones...not sure), and they reminded me of Chinese calligraphic painting, which depicts no detail but contains rich conception; also like Impressionists' momentary style, just saying the beauty of this moment.
Monday, 7 March 2011
My head is spinning & cannot write anything
Oh, I am so surprised someone has already visited my blog. The design of my blog is still so plain, and I do not know when I can get this done. My camera does not work well now so...:( no impressive pictures, very sorry. I will be back after one week when the information in my brain is arranged well. And by the way, I can log in KE EMU now (such a waiting), but I find I am a limited user and hard to add anything; hope my supervisor will get it sorted for me.
Monday, 28 February 2011
A Wonderful day
Today I ve got quite excited. There was a sculpture, a huge dinosaur, ready to leave for the client. I was asked to help the registrar to label and pack this work. This work is composed of many different parts and seems to be like a jigsaw shape. The registrar told me that each part should have its own number for its accessing and decessing. we completed all those numbers and labelled each part of the work. The process was quite complicated for sometimes if we got the number wrong the work would not be constructed. After finishing labeling, we cleaned carefully each part and got it packed. I really enjoy working on the collection, which reminds me of working at art studio. The registrar is a very responsible and very handsome.
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Hi there!
My supervisor asked me to do some research on three artists: Trevor Turbo Brown, Lydia Balbal and Mattys Gerber. I googled them to get any useful information about them. It was sad that very limited information about emerging artists was available online. But hopefully my research could be practical. Through my own research, I found that artist Trevor Turbo Brown is a really talented and promising contemporary indigenous artist. His work contains true love for his land and its creature. I deeply love the way he depicts those Australian animals, which reflect his own innocent mentality. Here is an article worthwhile reading about Brown http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/05/21/1116533552808.html
Monday, 21 February 2011
I Love working on the collection
Today I have got my own computer logging but unfortunately I still cannot log in my EMU system. In the afternoon the curator asked me to give a hand to transport department in case I got bored. The registrar, a very kind-hearted man, patiently taught me how to mark the number of received artworks and how to unpack them as well as how to place them into storage place safely. I do know plenty of handling work already but today's practice gave me more useful information about it. The registrar taught me every part of the packaging of the work and its usage. Also he told me that the artwork must be faced down when placed on the table and ready to be unpacked; after unpacking, the painting must be reversed to let the image face your body in case the image got hurt during moving. The knife used to cutting the packing type cannot be extended too long otherwise the work might be cut all together. Before putting the work on the floor there must be a special sponge get ready, and it is OK to stack works vertically but stacking several together requires a foam plane to separate them. After unpacking and storing all those received works the numbers that have not been marked on the sheet must be checked on the computer. All of these are important things that I have never learnt from my textbook. From textbook I know that wearing rubber gloves are essential for handling artworks but today it was very exciting for me to wear a pair of rubber gloves to handling collections.
Sunday, 20 February 2011
A New Day
Today is my second day for intern. Because my computer logging is still waiting for be approved, I cannot get access to KE EMU system until tomorrow. The supervisor should have taught me how to get access to EMU today, it was a little shame indeed, but thanks to those reading material and the mini library at the back, I was not so bored today. I cannot wait for getting acess to EMU now as I know that it is a key system for managing museum and galleries. Hope I could enjoy this new thing tomorrow then.
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
My First Intern Day
Doing internship at this arts organisation is one of my luckiest things, and I suppose it will be challenging. Before commencement I had done a little research, including organisation's history and charter, as well as its recent reviews. Today when the curator (my supervisor) put a stack of material regarding this arts organisation, they are not quite hard to command (of course I could hardly concentrate on them because of this special environment).
Today my task was Mail Filing, which is significant to the arts organisation's research and archive. In the beginning, I could not understand clearly the procedure of MF on paper. This was something I had never tried before. After the curator told me how to do it, I asked whether she could show me an example. By her demonstration of MF, I knew that it was a much easier task than I had thought (it is always a good idea to ask). After daily mail about the artist (from galleries, museum,etc) is filtered by KE EMU system, by which whether the artist is already in collection can be checked, the mail is supposed to be in the artist's file. The mail files and the artists' files are both arranged in alphabetical order (their last names). Putting the mail into the corresponding file seemingly was a piece of cake, but actually it was hard to be finished efficiently and can be quite tiring. After finishing Mail Group A, I started to classify the Mail Group B(Group A & B were overwhelming) according to the letters of last names, and then found their file places more quickly. As over 3,000 artists' files on the selves, they were packed like sardines; replacing files after taking them down was a little troublesome (checking the letters made me annoyed), so I came up with an idea that slightly pulling out the file next to the one waiting for be replaced.
I finished till Mail Group R today; it was very tiring but very rewarding. Filing should be treated seriously for every file is not some paperwork but exactly one artist; each file is responsible for their growth and update, and even part of art history for our generations. More importantly I got to know that every work can be constantly perfected during practice.
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