Make Your Own Art Museum
Art Appreciation Personal Project
WHAT IS A MUSEUM?
A museum is a collection of objects that go together for a reason, with spaces that put those objects on display in a way that helps the viewer understand the reason for that collection. Museums have exhibits. An exhibit is a group of objects that explore a particular idea. Exhibits are laid out (have a physical organization) that shapes the viewer’s experience.
Curators are the people that choose what goes in a museum exhibit, how to organize it and present it, and what information to put on labels which help viewers understand the ideas of the exhibits and collections.
EXAMPLES OF WORLD MUSEUMS
- MOMA (Museum of Modern Art), New York, New York Collection: From their mission statement: “a permanent collection of the highest order that reflects the vitality, complexity and unfolding patterns of modern and contemporary art” http://www.moma.org/about/index Exhibits: Moma’s permanent collection is grouped by time period. They also show temporary exhibits which are usually grouped by artist. http://www.moma.org/
- The Getty Villa, Malibu, CA Collection: Art from Ancient Greece and Rome collected by J. Paul Getty http://www.getty.edu/visit/villa/ Exhibits: Permanent exhibits are grouped by media (i.e. sculpture, pottery, jewelry, etc.), and by usage (i.e. portraiture of the wealthy, funerary markers, decorative sculpture, etc.), or by subject matter (i.e. historic stories, depictions of particular gods or goddesses, etc.) http://www.getty.edu/visit/exhibitions/
MAKE YOUR OWN MUSEUM
For this project you will be “making” (in theory) your very own art museum. Your museum collection can be based on absolutely anything you want it to be, as long as it includes examples of fine art. For example, the collection can be based on colors you like, subject matter you enjoy, things that remind you of your uncle Bubba, great depictions of romance, characters you admire…. in other words, ANYTHING. The only criteria is that you give a thoughtful explanation of your collection theme, why you chose it, and connect it to things you have learned in this class.
For example:
Not thoughtful: “my museum is all blue artworks, because blue is my favorite color.”
Thoughtful: “I chose artworks with various shades of the color blue, because it is a color with deep associations to emotions (like sadness) and sensations (like seeming cool to the touch) and I wanted to explore those relationships.
FOR INSPIRATION:
- Explore websites for any great, world-class museum. Here is a good list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_visited_art_museums_in_the_world
- Google Art Projects is organized by museums around the world and is a great resource for exploring museums. https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/project/art-project
- This is a great web-museum: http://www.wga.hu/
- www.SmartHistory.khanacademy.org, and www.wikipaintings.en are both excellent sources for finding appropriate artworks.
MAKE YOUR OWN ART MUSEUM: INSTRUCTIONS
NOTE: YOUR PAPER SHOULD BE ORGANIZED WITH THE FOLLOWING 3 SECTIONS CLEARLY MARKED AND LABELED IN THE TEXT.
SECTION 1: CHOOSE WHAT ARTWORKS YOU WILL COLLECT
- State your theme
- Choose your theme, the reason for your collection. Explain why you chose that theme. Be thoughtful and complete..
- list your artworks
- List between 12-15 artworks (paintings, sculptures, works of architecture) that you feel are great examples for that collection;
- choose mainstream artworks that are already in a museum collection somewhere. If possible, provide a thumbnail picture
- for each artwork, include artist, title, date, period, and current location (museum) of that artwork.
- for each artwork explain why it is a good choice for your museum. This is an explanation to me; it is different than the labels you will write for the walls of the museum (see section 3:B:b below).
- List between 12-15 artworks (paintings, sculptures, works of architecture) that you feel are great examples for that collection;
SECTION 2: CREATE YOUR SPACE
- Define the physical experience
- define what kind of experience you want your viewers to have. What do you want them thinking about? What do you want them to learn?
- define the layout of your exhibit.
- How many rooms will there be? What will be in each room? What order will the artworks be in?
- explain how the layout
- Why do it that way? How does it help the viewer experience the theme of the collection?
- Write the main label:
- This explains the idea behind your collection. If your museum has multiple rooms there should also be a main label for each room.
- the main label should state your theme, and guide viewers to understand it.
- write the labels for each artwork.
- Explain what it is about them that made you include them in your museum.. What part do they play in your collection?
- Help the viewer to understand these artworks based on things you learned in this class about how Form, Content, Context, are interrelated.
- These are labels for the public to read. They are different from the explanation you write for me (see section 1:B:c above). They should be written for a public that might be unfamiliar with art, or how to look at it.
- Write an exit label:
- This is a wrap up of your ideas and the viewer’s experience. What do you hope they learned about your theme? What do you want them to continue thinking about after they leave?