mestaton

As this is being written it is Friday May 29th and the end of my first week. This morning the officials at the Taubman unrolled the tapestry for us to look at via Zoom with the other interns. Although the tapestry is 11X12ft it din’t feel as big until we actually got to see it. Everyone was wearing masks and gloves to protect the piece and themselves. Seeing the tapestry fully rolled out and getting to look at all of the beautiful details and vivid colors was great. Even though the tapestry was extremely old there still were very vibrant colors from the dyed wool and silk threads. 

 

The Tapestry, as we are trying to research more about, has been connected to the Trojan war and the Seven Virtues. The Taubman has informed us that it is part of a series which also include other virtues. Based upon my personal research the possible artisan has done similar works about Greek/Roman mythology. I enjoy seeing all of my group members research along side my own and discussing our theories on the tapestries interpretation. Although most of the information regarding the artisan and the piece itself have not been easy to find, I hope to learn more by the end of next week.

 

Starting my first internship with the Taubman Museum of Art has been very interesting, I’ve gotten to work with students from Roanoke as well as schools like Virginia Tech and Radford. I was a little nervous since this was my first internship but I learned relatively quickly. It is great to do your own research and have group members (we were mostly split into groups of three) to bounce off ideas from. Not only are Ms.Beckner and Ms.King very nice but each day we have gotten to do interviews with various Museum staff and hear their stories of how they started to work at the Museum and what they do. On day two we did a Zoom meeting with the Museums volunteer group and got to make collages together, which was a nice break from constantly looking a a computer for research and typing up notes into a group google document.

I have really enjoyed the internship thus far as the focus of my research includes art conservation more precisely the conservation and upkeep of tapestries. This is my first time doing work with any form of embroidery or fiber art which is particularly fascinating in how these pieces are unkempt and prevented from any form of further damage. These tapestries are usually repaired and delicately washed before being hung for viewers. Everyone I have worked with both inside and outside of my group known as the “ Periwinkles” have been very enthusiastic and excited to know more about the tapestries meaning, history and conservation. The students that I am working with are not limited to History or Art History in fact there are fine arts students and even STEM students working with us . I am very excited to learn as much as I can about this tapestry:  The Virtues of Charity and Prudence.