CAG on museums: Putting up the 'Material Connections' display

Iberian female votive figure 5th century BC

The ‘Material Connections: Spanish and Portuguese decorative arts’ is officially up and running. Having such a short lead-in time, it has been an enormous task to get everything ready and up to standard. Some of the biggest hurdles for curatorial work I think happen to be whether or not the aspects of the exhibition which you need to outsource (printing, conservation, design, etc.) can be done with the same expediency that you have to get your exhibition out in. This is when I learned that doing as much as I could possibly do on my own like photography, interpretation, install, mount making, and (some of) the design would make the process move much faster than usual.

 

19th century pistol holders to go over the pommel of a horse

Making plastizote cut outs for the pistol holders

Packing objects for transport

Although it has been a whirlwind of a job, curating, researching, and installing an exhibition is one of the most fulfilling things about curatorial work. There are a lot of other aspects of the curator position that aren’t really my favourite things, but you’re always reminded that you do those slightly trivial  tasks so that when you get to do the exhibition work it gives you so much satisfaction.

Facón knife Spain 1869

Gaucho in the Argentinian Republic with facón in belt 1868,
Library of Congress Courret Hermanos Fotografos, Lima Peru

Attempted 'professional' lead image with photoshop,
6th century BC Iberian belt clasp

Plastic covered wire holders for suspended belt clasp 

Cutting out plastizote for bronze mounts

Bronzes mounted and labelled

18th century Portuguese Appliqué pinned on
fabric covered plastizote block 

Pinning 17th century Portuguese silk panel to textile mount with student

Arranging textiles once installed in the case

Title interpretation panel

Installing leatherwork and bronzes

Install completed with interpretation

CAG on museums: Mounting textiles and conservation issues

It's always been my dream to display and research textiles, so getting to learn about them and the techniques for displaying them for the Vamos Festival exhibition has been an amazing opportunity. The exhibition will be about decorative arts, and includes textile fragments from the 16th-19th century.

17th century textile fragment, Portugal

I have been working with conservation on this project because of the age and fragility of these objects, and I can honestly say I have learned more about weaving patterns, silks, leathers, and embroidery than I've ever known. There is so much specialist knowledge that one has to have to deal with the conservation and mounting of textiles that I had not accounted for previously. Because the majority of the textiles in the collection are fragments, quite small, and very delicate, many of them can only be shown lying flat.

17th century Portuguese embroidered silk

Luckily, because these textiles are going in a glass display case this will still show some of their more intricate features. Mounting the largest Portuguese textile required finding a specifically well-padded, fabric covered mount that could accommodate the light silk and embroidery found on the textile fragment. The back of the fragment shown above actually grips quite easily to the mount found with very little pinning involved. Now that a mount and the technique has been solidified, the other environmental factors such as lighting, humidity, and temperature need to be taken into account.

Back of the 17th century Portuguese textile

I learned some interesting things about silks and assessing their damage in order to choose between appropriate textiles to mount. Because of the use of synthetic dyes, a certain pattern of early damage appears as geometric slit damage, as can be seen on the textile below. This is also the result of stress and pulling to certain fibers on the textile during its use.

18th century silk altar panel

Close-up of the geometric damage

Overall, although the preparation for this exhibition has been a lot of work requiring a lot of on-the-job training on how to handle textiles, their degradation, and how best to preserve them, I feel really satisfied at having the chance to demonstrate these textiles and showcase them for the Vamos Festival. As decorative arts these objects are very stunning, and from the more practical point of view, most of these textiles belonging to an art museum are very unlikely to be displayed any time soon. There's an intrinsic value in displaying these arts for the next month so that they can be enjoyed. Working on this exhibition has demanded a steep learning curve, but I've definitely really enjoyed the research. 

CAG on museums: Creating a decorative arts exhibition on Spain and Portugal

 

When the opportunity to create an exhibition arises you don’t say no. That’s why when I was asked to help organize a display on behalf of Newcastle University to promote their collaboration with the Vamos Festival (http://www.vamosfestival.com) I jumped at the opportunity. The Vamos Festival is on for a month in Newcastle and celebrates Spanish and Portuguese cultures. The festival promises to be very arts, music, and performance based –  the backbone of any really great festival! But putting together an exhibition from the museum’s collection to represent these cultures hasn’t been especially easy since I don’t actually have much background knowledge about Spain or Portugal – unless we’re talking about food.

Spanish facon with steel blade, 1896

Detail of walrus ivory handle and inlay

The museum also doesn’t have anything that particularly corresponds to the contemporary music and vibrancy the festival will present, but does have what many museums have, lots of historic objects. In an attempt not to be too boring with this display as it’s quite small and I want to draw an audience in, I have decided to pull together an exhibition that spans Portuguese and Spanish cultures from the 5th century B.C. to the 19^th century and focuses on beautiful and skillful artistry. This will allow viewers a glimpse of the long history of Spanish and Portuguese creativity seen in decorative arts throughout the centuries.

Textile fragment, heraldry from Spain circa 1545 or later

The title of the exhibition will be ‘Material Connections: Spanish and Portuguese decorative arts’, and will include textiles, ancient religious bronze offerings, and various elaborately decorated accessories of daily life. By focusing on the decoration and artistry in Spanish and Portuguese daily and religious life, this exhibition will bring the depth of the collection into focus and connect with the more academic contributions of Newcastle University and their collaboration with the Vamos Festival. Now… to get writing all about decorative arts and get everything else done by the 14^th of June.