在大唐博物馆获得自信和好奇

My first day at Skidmore started with frantically reapplying mascara, hoping the smudges 我的眼皮底下没有流露出我有多想家. 

Ready or not, I was bracing myself to leave my newly set-up dorm room for the first time. 我要去 上片, the optional (though highly recommended) introduction before school starts that gives first-year students a chance to connect with like-minded friends.

I had signed up for a program called “Behind the scenes at the 唐氏教学博物馆.” 和 while that day and the weekend that followed were a blur, one thing still stands out — how utterly impressed I was to be welcomed to Skidmore’s art community by three 自信且谈吐得体的大三和大四学生. 

These wise Skidmore experts made college life look so easy. 他们把探索变成了 museum where I was afraid to even touch things seem entirely natural. 他们让我 感到受欢迎和舒适. 他们让我意识到我正是属于这里的.

和 little did I know that four years later, I’d be just like them.

让我在火博体育与众不同

Art has always been central to the way I see and exist in the world. 在我的时间里 at Skidmore as an art history major, I’ve learned to think critically, decode culture and appreciate just how central visual material is to the human experience.

But by the time senior year arrived, I was yearning for more. 我想要亲身体验. 我想要职业课程. 我想通过艺术来学习和教学.

Luckily, Skidmore has a culture of “if you believe in yourself, and you ask for help, 你可以做到的.“所以，我去找我的导师， Katie Hauser副教授她把我联系上了 唐代博物馆; and soon I was crafting a custom for-credit experience as a Collections and Engagement 实习生.  

博物馆工作人员的生活

As an 实习生 at the Tang, I have a front-row view of the inner workings of museum life, from curation and registration to exhibitions and more.

I spend a lot of time working with the museum’s registrars. 我们负责照顾 for the more than 16,000 objects in the Tang’s collection. 每一天都像惊心动魄 作为艺术侦探进行调查.

With a magnifying glass in hand, we study, examine, track and record the conditions 珍贵的油画、素描和雕塑. 每次我处理一个微妙的 一块 — which I also learned how to properly do — my heart beats a little faster with 惊叹与敬畏. 

I’m also learning how to organize and care for an art collection, including finding the right materials and creative solutions for storing artwork.

I totally geeked out when I learned the difference between archival open- and closed-cell 存储泡沫. (In case you’re curious, closed-cell foam prevents gasses from potentially leaking, which could mess with certain materials the art is composed of. 这是很棒的.)  

生活作为一个艺术教育家

While I’m gaining priceless technical skills behind the scenes, I’m also pushing my 舒适的水平和增长我的信心在艺术领域.

One of the most exciting opportunities I’ve had is leading our “聚光灯系列”, guided discussions around a single object from the Tang collection that has never 展出过的或很少见到的.

The idea for the series came from an alumna, Monica 和rews ’19, who saw an opportunity to bridge the private and public spheres of the museum, engage both students and visitors and remove a little bit of the mystery surrounding complex artwork.

Once a month, I choose and research an object and facilitate a one-hour discussion about it with Skidmore faculty, staff, students and Saratoga community members.

I recently led a discussion surrounding two 一块s of jewelry made from human hair. Together we observed the structure of the 一块s and ended up connecting them to a larger idea of remembrance rituals, both antiquated and contemporary.

There is something so magical about spending an entire hour just talking about one 一块. 它是亲密而不寻常的.

和 when you consider that on average a person spends only six seconds looking at an object in a museum, it’s an honor to be the person opening the door for others 参与更深层次的联系和发现.

为火博体育之后的生活做准备

I won’t pretend to know precisely where I’ll be in a few months when I graduate, but I’m absolutely confident that this experience and the people who’ve guided and coached 一路走来的我都是独一无二的.

Skidmore and the Tang have shown me how to turn my passions into a career path. 和 when I think back to when I arrived at Skidmore, and the first time I stepped foot 在唐朝，我充满了骄傲. 我以我从未想象过的方式无限成长， 这在其他地方是不可能的.