I have been at the Peabody Essex Museum on fellowship for the last 7 weeks and have learned an extensive amount of knowledge concerning how the Exhibit Design team along with Curatorial and Education create a visitor experience unlike any other. Initially, I began working on researching Japanese concepts of fashion for the future exhibit “Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion” and where I went on to use Photoshop to create silhouettes of some of the designs. I learned how Japanese fashion works against the Western model of form fitting clothing and acts as a way to complement and work with the human body. With this exhibit still in the back of my mind, I went on to assist in finding more research in regards to Impressionism, for our future exhibit titled, Impressionists on the Water.
Karen Moreau Ceballos, one of my lovely supervisors, sent me on a mission to find research that would assist in designing the exhibit and enhancing the visitors experience. Though very early on in the process we are looking at how this romantic idea concerning impressionism is also beautiful in how the artists incorporated technological change and painted for the first time in many instances the Parisian landscape of industrialization.An aspect of impressionism that does not come to mind, and Karen’s vision is quite remarkable, and if you have seen Faberge Revealed at PEM, you would agree. I will admit I felt like a little kid when I realized that I was working with paintings from Monet, and I got super excited, because as a child I would pretend I was Monet and even created my own rendition of the “Edge of the Cliff at Pourville,” so I was starstruck with out doubt.
From there Karen has been guiding me through Photoshop and I have begun to learn how to create and adapt font in InDesign and my guide to everything that there is to know is the manual!
It is actually quite nice to have a guide to understanding Photoshop and all the features it comes with. So my creative interests have been peaked at PEM and along with shadowing Karen in meetings I created a 3D model for the Interactive experience of Impressionists on the Water of an artists Studio Boat. Below are some pictures of what we have planned, and I was impressed! I feel more confident working with Google SketchUp and realize why a visual model is necessary for exhibit planning. A sketch on paper is a thing of the past!! An realistically this is a better way of understanding and conceptualizing an exhibit that you will not have in your hands till a mere 1-2 weeks before opening (though not all museums are like this, but is good to have!).
It was fun and I was able to provide them with a Walk-Through Video! It was nice to know that what I was taught could be utilized! Haha! Other than that, I titled this post “Prepare to have you minds blown” because together with the other fellows we presented short presentation on our selves and I opened with the phrase, and it has become a phrase many at PEM have associated me with, and I am fine with that!
Impressionists on the Water opens November 9, 2013.
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