![]() ![]() Here, Briget is cleaning the acrylic case covers amid all the typical accessories to an installation-crates, boxes, lighting supplies. The photo sitting on the case is a guide to positioning the jewelry. One of the British Arts and Crafts jewelry cases installed but not yet closed. This is the only photo I took of the inside of a crate, and my finger was over the viewfinder! The crates open upright and are filled with boxes which slide out and have compartments for the jewelry. A lot of closed casework means a lot of acrylic to clean.Ĭatherine and Andrew unpacking supplies for the installation. ![]() Once the jewelry was positioned in the case, we added the numbers that will dovetail with our labels, and we used brushes, tape, and a tiny lintroller to remove any dust or debris from inside the cases. Everything had its assigned place and Catherine and Andrew are both completely familiar with the show, so most of the jewelry was installed in about a day and a half. ![]() In truth, installing the jewelry was the most painless part of the installation. The second week of the installation we had our courier Catherine from the Driehaus Museum and our mountmaker Andrew in to help with the installation of the jewelry. You can see that we have casework and pedestals in place, but no objects yet. We opted to project directly on the gallery wall rather than use a screen, which would have created another object in the room. We wanted to bring Löie’s dancing right into the galleries. ![]() Her mesmerizing dance was a clear real-life analogue to the curvaceous female forms echoed in Art Nouveau art and jewelry. Fuller sewed metal rods into the sleeves of her oversized gowns to allow her to better control the movement of the billowing fabric. Dancer Löie Fuller created a sensation in the late 19th century with her pre-Isadora Duncan modern dance that involved sweeping, swirling movements in a flowing gown. One of the first things we did was test our video component. Meanwhile, the art handling crew was cutting lengths of conduit painted to match the walls to mask the many electric cords, testing the lighting in the cases, and doing some other preparation. We positioned the cases according to my installation plan, tested the lighting, and refined spacing. We had a week to “play” with the casework before the object installation began. (Museum fact: painting should be completed two weeks prior to object installation to ensure not simply that the paint is completely dry, but that it has adequately off-gassed although, thankfully these days there are safer paints available that don’t release volatile organic compunds.) A dark gray and medium blue were chosen to complement the colors of the incoming casework. But before all of that happened, the first step in the installation was painting the galleries. We also had a representative in from the Tiffany Archives overseeing the installation of their pieces. Mountmaker Andrew Talley has been traveling from venue to venue installing the jewelry in mounts that he crafted, and Driehaus Museum registrar Catherine Nguyen has been monitoring the condition of the jewelry. The exhibition was organized by the Driehaus Museum in Chicago and is toured by International Arts & Artists of Washington, D.C. The installation of the jewelry itself was also handled as part of the exhibition contract. I didn’t have to plan exactly where to put all 218 pieces-I simply had to plan where to put the cases and how to have visitors flow through the exhibition, and how I wanted the space to feel. First, I should say that this installation was a bit unusual-because installing jewelry is fussy, the exhibition traveled with is own casework. Let me take you on a walk through of what’s been happening in the galleries over the last two weeks as we prepare for Friday’s members’ preview day and Saturday’s public opening. It’s an exhibition that will delight the eye, but also immerse you in a fascinating period of history, when women’s roles were evolving toward a new century, when ideals of craftsmanship and beauty were often allied with political ideals, and when the idea of style was expanding to value personal artistic expression through clothes and accessories.Īs you might imagine, installing an exhibition of 200 or so pieces of jewelry is a fairly fussy proposition. There are fiery opals, twinkling aquamarines and luminous moonstones, rich enamels, baroque pearls, coral, malachite, lapis lazuli, sapphire, topaz, emeralds, rubies and a dusting of diamonds. Maker & Muse: Women and Early Twentieth Century Art Jewelry, with more than 200 splendid pieces of jewelry and decorative art, is perhaps even more of a “treasure chest” exhibition than usual. There’s nothing to quite match the first day of uncrating and carefully unwrapping objects. For me, every exhibition installation feels like I’m Indiana Jones and we’re opening treasure chests. ![]()
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