jemiller

Finalizing last weeks work on the George Washington exhibition I was joined this week by a fellow intern. Together we began the research process on an upcoming gallery that was to house works from prominent African American artists. The two artists that the museum asked us to conduct research on were Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence. I received Lawrence as my artist to research and began the research project.

The gallery, when it opens, will be showing two pieces by Lawrence specifically, The Prayer and Other Rooms. To begin my research I had to write an extensive biography on the life, influences, and artistic/historical culture that helped to mold Lawrence. Following the biography I had to round up books written by artists and researchers on Lawrence and add them to an artist’s document. Next I took the two pieces that were slated to be displayed and wrote descriptions for them, so that the gallery has a more user-friendly option for those who are visually impaired.

 

In the later half of my week working with The Taubman, I was placed in charge of two additional projects. The first of which involves the creation of a children’s activity surrounding the George Washington/Yorktown exhibit that I have been working on. This involved me combing through the museum’s prior activities to find the framework surrounding these writing and drawling activities I could work in for the exhibit.

The other part of my duties this week, alongside my main work of developing the Washington exhibit was to sift through the museum’s extensive collection of artwork and write descriptions for them (pictured below). The reasoning behind this was to assist the museum’s database in becoming more refined and accessible to those searching online. Adding these descriptions also was to help make the artwork more ADA compliant, so that those who may have a difficulty observing the artwork may have a better overall experience.