In FLP102, our students installed their objects and labels in the hallway cases. They wrote up and interpreted some interesting objects, and it was a fun exercise to figure out how to display them. We’re also going to talk about why people collect art.
I spent some time working with the students in Creative Exhibits, helping them with the design of their upcoming Warhol exhibit.
I did some planning for our upcoming visit from Mohawk educator and craftsman DJ White.
On Thursday, the Museum held its 10th annual “Horror in the Museum” Halloween storytelling event. It’s maybe my favorite event of the year, and I’m delighted the campus has embraced it and that it has become a wonderful Hartwick tradition.
Good Things:
On Saturday, we went to the Iroquois Museum, an original and inspiring museum that combines archaeological ethnographic, and artistic objects from the Haudenosaunee past and present to tell an amazing story. They’re doing what I aspire to do, and I was delighted to see so much great indigenous art, and so well displayed and interpreted.
I finished reading SJ Shank’s “Our Lady of Holy Slaughter” a while ago, but it took me some time to write up my notes. It’s a short, fun, and grim novella about a troupe of Knights crusading through the medieval Balkans who find themselves facing off ensnared by supernatural forces in a swampy wilderness. I loved Shank’s brisk and thoughtful pacing, and his usual murky and ambiguous magic and cosmology are all shining through here.
Alanna and I watched “The City and the City”, the BBC adaptation of China Mieville’s novel. It’s visually and dramatically impressive, full of gorgeous and strange shots, and both cities are populated with well-acted characters, anchored by a morose and churlish David Morrissey as Inspector Berlu. It loosely follows the book, but its last episode veers away into a more conventional international intrigue plot.
It was Hartwick’s Fall break…but not for me, since staff are still required to work. I did some tidying up after last week’s reception, cataloged a few new pieces, and made plans for future programs and events, including “The Horror in the Museum!”
In FLP102, we took our students to the Oneonta History Center, and will also discuss the history of the Yager Museum.
This week, our artist-in-residence Melanie Printup Hope spoke to classes, hosted a beading workshop, and showed her completed work, entitled “My Ancestors in the Sky World” to a wonderful group of visitors at a Thursday reception. This inaugural edition of the Phil Young Residency for Indigenous Art has truly been a wonderful experience, and I’m already excited to do it again…though maybe with a little down time first!
In FLP102, we talked about Cabinets of Curiosity, registering for classes at Hartwick, and ran quickly through the history of Oneonta in preparation for our trip to the Oneonta History Center next week.
I was honored and delighted to welcome Melanie Printup Hope to Hartwick and the Museum as the inaugural artist of the Phil Young Residency for Indigenous Art. Melanie is doing an amazing installation project that combines beading, immersion, ancestry, and cosmology, which will open next Thursday. She is also hosting a beading workshop, talking to a ton of classes, and being part of Hartwick and the Museum’s life and culture for these two weeks. It’s a proud continuation of the legacy of Phil Young; I wish he was here to see it.
As part of Melanie’s visit, I put up some more of Phil’s paintings, including one that was graciously loaned to us by Phil’s family.
I assisted the students in Creative Exhibits in getting their upcoming exhibit on Andy Warhol planned and organized.
In FLP102, we talked about Baseball Card collecting and its ties to masculinity and nostalgia. We also had a visit from Hartwick’s Career Services office to help the students figure out how to build resumes.
In FLP102, we started on a small writing project, asking the students to write descriptive labels for some Museum objects.
I did a flurry of planning and advertising for our upcoming Indigenous artist-in-residence.
On Saturday, we had our opening reception for our newest exhibit “The Four Seasons.” There was also a selection of new acquisitions on display. I am very proud that the Museum can continue to show new and exciting exhibits.
We had a collections committee meeting, and accessioned a number of wonderful new pieces into the collection.
I finished reading Francis Spufford’s wonderful noir “Cahokia Jazz.” I have some minor issues with it, but overall I think it’s a fascinating, interesting novel that is conversant with the complexities of culture change and the legacy of anthropology.
After years of talking about it, Alanna and I got tattoos from Free Agent, here in Oneonta. We’ve been planning this for a long time, and Pinky (at Free Agent) made it a beautiful reality.
This week was a lot of forward planning for things, rather than the things themselves, including next week’s opening reception, the inaugural Phil Young Residency for Indigenous Art, and a bunch of other stuff.
Friday (today!) is Alanna’s birthday. I love you honey, and despite the busy and chaotic day and weekend, I’m delighted to celebrate you, today and every day.
The kiddos came back from Iowa and immediately started school. It was thus a long day of driving followed by some slow days as we all get mentally and emotionally ready for school.
Good Things:
Alanna and I finished watching season 1 of the Tunnel, a UK-French crime show about the investigation of a murder which takes place halfway between Folkestone UK and Callais France in the Chunnel. This strange and often bewildering show twists this straightforward mystery into a commentary on immigration, gender, inequality and neoliberalism, mental health, and more….too much more, if I’m being honest. After 10 episodes there were so many characters, and so many plotlines that just kind of ended that both Alanna and I felt a bit let down. Having said that, the show is held together by the intense, often funny, committed performance by Clemence Poesy, as Elise Wasserman, a brilliant detective for whom clues to a murder are easier to understand than the basics of human interaction.
I finished reading JG Ballard’s “The Drowned World.” It’s a legendary piece of climate fiction and gives the ecological forces of the world the seriousness and power they deserve. It plays the amazing trick of de-centering humans from our often arrogant location as masters of the environment, and instead suggests something much more ambiguous, strange, and wondrous about how the world acts upon us.
I also breezed my way through Gord Hill’s “500 years of Indigenous Resistance”. It’s a polemical manifesto, not a piece of historical analysis, but it is full of rich detail and fiery language. Most of all, it re-cast the history of the Americas as one of resistance, rebellion, and genocide, and out of the often neutral or hagiographic forms that history frequently takes.
It was the first week of classes at Hartwick, and we jumped right in. I am co-teaching FLP102, and we introduced ourselves, learned about D2L, and learned how and why to take notes (as well as talking about material culture).
I also spent a ton of time trying to get students hired to work in the Museum as gallery assistants, which was made more difficult by a backlog in the payroll department.
I finalized a couple of contracts for Indigenous speakers and events at the Museum. Lots of good stuff ahead!
Alanna and I finished watching “Deadwater Fell”, a dark and harrowing drama about a tragic family death in small-town Scotland, and featuring a wildly against-type David Tennant. We also watched Fantastic Four: First Steps which was charming and delightful.
On Monday, I dropped my kiddos off with my parents in preparation for a two week visit. So far they seem to be having a great time, and Alanna and I are adjusting (slowly and somewhat sadly!) to a house without kids in it.
Lots of prep work this week, as the opening bell of the semester creeps closer. I spent a lot of time on our syllabus for FLP102: Collectors and Collecting. I also assisted in the installation of our newest exhibit “The Four Seasons.” And I did some leg work on moving forward with future programming options.
Thursday, I drove up to the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation to return some material that we had repatriated to the Mohawk. It was exhausting but satisfying end to a long process, of which I continue to be proud and humbled to take part in.
