Great class today; I love seeing students get excited over material culture. My apologies to those of you who didn't get to pull your artifacts. I know some of you won't be available on Friday morning during my office hours, but if you are--and you want to go down to the Museum--we can check out your assigned pieces at that time. I am very excited over the exhibit concept that has emerged. (Check out Carrie's blog to see more about it. I actually thought I was commenting on her exhibit-related post, but see that I left my comment under her previous post--and I'm too pressed for time to fix it right now.)
I am furloughed tomorrow so I wanted to leave you with some thoughts:
1) I hope you can make it to the Maidu Museum and Historic Site opening this Saturday (see previous post).
2) We need an exhibit title. Brainstorm amongst yourselves (or individually). Blogs are very well-suited for this. You can think out loud in your own post, and/or you can comment on your classmates' ideas. I saw Nessa upstairs before Dr. Hens' osteology class and we chatted briefly about the exhibit title issue. Let me throw something out to get you started. Exhibit titles should be interesting and descriptive (the public needs to be intrigued at the very least, if not also vaguely informed about the content or nature of the show; titles have to do "work"). So, given the concept, I was thinking about something along the lines of "A Basket Biography" or "The Social Life of a California Indian Basket." There have to be 25 other/better titles. Who else has some ideas? Just toss them out there in the blogosphere and let others play off and with them. Truly--this is how the process works. Can you guys collectively agree on a title by Monday at 5? Oh good, glad to hear it! [ETA: I now remember that we are furloughed Monday--so new deadline is Wednesday 11 am; that gives you a couple extra days for online discussion.]
3) Everyone needs to participate in the exhibit design process. You've got a concept, now it needs to be fleshed out and translated into didactic panels, label copy, object selections, etc. You'll need to organize much of this among yourselves. Remember, this is part of your grade. One way I'll know you are participating is by observing you. Another is by seeing if you are actively discussing/contributing on your own and other blogs. I know you are excited about seeing and researching your objects, but most of that work will come later; for now, focus on the exhibit. Think about what you want people to take away and/or learn from the exhibit. How can you achieve that using objects and documents? An exhibit is not a book or article slapped onto a wall. An exhibit has material, aesthetic and pedagogic dimensions. Continue checking out exhibits on and off-line. Catherine posted a link to a great exhibit review in the WSJ--head over to her blog and check it out. Talk to each other about what you see and like (many of you have been doing an excellent job of this already). Toward that end...
4) Create an RSS feed if you haven't already. This is really important! Add everyone's blog to it so that you can see when new posts appear without having to check 16 different blogs. You'll still need to browse blogs now and then to see if comments have been left, but you'll know when new posts are up and most of what is under discussion if you've got us all on your feed.
Okay, over and out till Friday, when I'm back from furlough.
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