New Museum of Glass exhibits curated by UW Tacoma interns

Two new exhibits at the Museum of Glass are the result of a year of work for seven UW Tacoma students.

Since being selected as curatorial interns in the spring of 2012, the students have learned what goes into designing and orchestrating a major art exhibit — and earned a first-hand glimpse behind the scenes of one of the region’s most celebrated museums.

“We have talked and planned and discussed this for months,” said Margaret Lundberg, a senior in UW Tacoma’s Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences program and one of the interns in the program. “It’s so exciting to see it all come together.”

Lundberg and three other students helped create Northwest Artists Collect, an exhibit of art created and collected by seven Pacific Northwest glass artists, that opened on January 19 at the museum. Three other students were involved in the museum’s upcoming exhibit of works by celebrated glass artist Benjamin Moore, opening February 16.

All of the students involved will discuss their experiences as part of the internship at a panel presentation at 11 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 17 at the museum.

The new internship program was designed to give the students a crash course in creating and putting on an exhibition, according to museum curator David Francis, who worked closely with the interns. The group of students learned a bit about most aspects of curating an exhibit.

“Curating has a very wide range, everything from hanging a picture on the wall to selecting which pieces will go in an exhibit, working directly with artists and developing a curatorial vision for the museum,” Francis said. “Our interns did most of that.”

Students spent the first portion of their internship learning about the studio glass movement and examining how exhibits are put together. To create the Northwest Artists Collect exhibit, students met individually with the featured artists and talked over the selection of important pieces for the exhibit.

The Northwest Artists Collect exhibit is unusual for the museum. Although all of the artists involved are glass artists, not all of the works in the exhibit are glass. The art featured is from the artists’ personal collections, and some of it includes paintings, sculptures and other work by artists they admire.

After the pieces were selected, the interns were tasked with developing storylines for the exhibit and deciding how to fit each piece into the space. Then the students began to write descriptions for each piece of art, educational material for student tours and press releases.

Francis said the students put in nearly 2,000 hours working on the exhibit, providing valuable staffing for the museum while they learned the craft.

The UW Tacoma students will also poll visitors at the exhibit to assess how the work was received by the community, an important step in helping the museum shape future exhibits.

While some of the students have a background in art, their skills and interests are far-reaching. Lundberg hopes to go on to earn a master’s degree in creative writing, while senior Kylie Lanthorne is interested in communications. Both said the internship will inform their work as writers.

Other students, like senior Kelsey D’Andrade, hope to continue to study museum work and eventually establish a career in the field.

“The internship just seemed perfect for me,” D’Andrade said. “It has been surprising to learn the process and see just how interdisciplinary the museology field really is.”

Francis said having interns from a wide range of backgrounds is valuable the museum.

“Museums benefit from a broad audience,” he said. “When students come to a museum setting from different backgrounds, they're able to help us translate our work for the outside world.”