Recently, I was interviewed by students in the Museum Studies Masters Program at Johns Hopkins University Advanced Academic Programs. Take a look.
This is an installment of the weekly interview series, on the Culture Comment blog. It’s called “Behind-the-Scenes.” Each week, we’ll discuss new facts and information about the people that make the Walters Art Museum tick. Now, let’s meet Amanda Kodeck.
Gary Vikan: What do you do at the Walters?
Amanda Kodeck: I manage the museum’s programming for students and teachers in grades Kindergarten through 12th grade. I make sure that everything we do at the museum aligns with the school curriculum. I am also responsible for teacher professional development as well as the online resources for this audience. The School Programs Department also includes homeschool programs, studio classes and outreach programs, where museum educators go to schools before students visit the museum on a field trip.
GV: Why do teachers enjoy working with the Walters?
AK: Teachers love the Walters because our collection aligns so well with school curriculum. For example, many sixth graders study the ancient world and the Walters is an ideal setting to bring the textbook to life. Teachers bring their students to the museum year after year since the curriculum aligns so well with the interactive and interdisciplinary nature of our school tours. We strive not just to talk about the art, but provide an engaging experience for students, empowering them to use their classroom knowledge and apply it to their tour.
GV: What else can students do at the museum?
AK: Many students extend their museum tour with a studio lesson. We have two studio classrooms where we add a hands-on component to the tour. This allows students to create art that directly relates to their tour and have something to take home with them. Last year, about half of the 30,000 students we served participated in a studio experience.
GV: How did you get the job as the Manager of School Programs?
AK: I stared as an intern in the Walters’ Curatorial Division. I liked my internship but realized I wanted to work in the Education Division so that I could work with children. When a job opportunity opened up in Education, I interviewed and received the position as an Outreach Coordinator. I spent a couple of years teaching lessons to students, prior to their museum visit. Eventually, I was promoted to the Manger of School Programs position.
GV: What type of training do you need for your position?
AK: When I finished college, I went straight to graduate school and received an M.A. in Art History. This degree helped me to learn about the art; however, I really wanted more training in education theory and best practices in museum education. I went back to school and received an M.S. in Education, Museum Leadership. The information I gained through this program has been essential for my job.
GV: What projects are you currently working on?
AK: I am really interested in technology and how to use it as a tool to enhance student learning both in and out of the museum. We are currently developing a fifth module for our arts integration website, which will focus on the arts of Islam. Integrating the Arts is a web resource that encourages visual arts teachers to integrate the arts into other disciplines or for non-arts teachers to venture into the world of art.
The site is designed around the science, math, language arts and social studies curricula. It is further divided by collection area, including works from our ancient, medieval, renaissance and Asian collections. Each year we train thousands of teachers on how to use this site and encourage them to use the museum in both traditional and non-traditional ways. It has allowed us to reach out to teachers who might not have thought about using the museum’s resources because they aren’t art teachers. Because we can teach about the math aspects of art, for example, non-arts teachers, like math teachers, they are more comfortable working with the museum’s art.
GV: Can you explain more about how this site is used?
AK: Teachers and students can use this site in two ways—by printing and downloading lesson plans for classroom use or by playing with our online interactives.
For example, in The ancient collections section there is an interactive that integrates science and art. Students learn about a large scale relief sculpture, which was originally found in an ancient palace in Mesopotamia. When the object was in the palace, it would have been painted in full color, but since that time the color has faded. Scientists have discovered small particles of ancient paint that once covered the alabaster carving. In this interactive, students analyze the paint particles and use that information to repaint the Winged Genius and restore its original appearance. This interactive highlights principles of chemistry and also shows students how science can be used in an art museum.
This is an installment of the weekly interview series, on the Culture Comment blog. It’s called “Behind-the-Scenes.” Each week, we’ll discuss new facts and information about the people that make the Walters Art Museum tick. Now, let’s meet digitization specialists Diane Bockrath and Ariel Tabritha.
Digitizing a manuscript, photo by Baltimore Housing
Gary Vikan: What do you do at the Walters?
Diane Bockrath & Ariel Tabritha: We are digitization specialists in the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books. We’re working on a special project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities to digitize the Walters’ collection of medieval illuminated manuscripts and make it available on the Internet. That means we capture a high-resolution digital image for each and every page in the books, using a 33-megapixel camera and a custom-built book cradle system that supports the fragile bindings. Then we crop and correct each image for color, perform quality control, and deliver the images to their long-term archival homes, along with their appropriate descriptive information, or metadata.
The images are available under a Creative Commons license, which means that anybody can use them for any noncommercial purpose, for free. Everyone: serious scholars, art enthusiasts and casual visitors can benefit from our images. You can see some of the books we’ve digitized already on the Walters’ website and virtually turn the pages. So far, we’ve completed imaging the Islamic collection and have just started on the English, Dutch, German, Armenian, Byzantine, and Ethiopian manuscripts. By the end of the project, we will have imaged more than 200 manuscripts in their entirety, including the bindings.
GV: What are your backgrounds?
DB & AT: We have different but complimentary backgrounds. Ariel has a photography degree from the Rhode Island School of Design and I have a master of library science degree from the University of Maryland. It takes a lot of different skills to put together a successful digitization program: people knowledgeable about conservation, photography, cataloging, information science, computer programming, data management and the history of the book all contribute to this project.
GV: What especially interesting books have you digitized?
Books Both Large and Small
DB & AT: All kinds! Our system is very versatile, so we’ve digitized books large enough to warrant two people to lift and small enough to fit into the palm of your hand. One manuscript we really loved working with is a Book of Navigation, written by the famous Ottoman Turkish admiral and explorer Piri Reis in the 17th century. It was exhibited in the Maps: Finding Our Place in the World exhibition here at the Walters in 2008. The book has page after page of colorful, beautiful maps—it is really quite extraordinary. (It’s also a very long book and consequently it took a very long time to digitize!)
GV: What is the biggest challenge in your job?
DB & AT: Getting sidetracked by looking at the books for too long!
Ok, well other things, too. We’re working with what people like to call the cutting edge of digital imaging technology, which is great to boast about, but when something malfunctions there’s often not an easy, off-the-shelf fix. We’ve done a lot of troubleshooting to keep things up and running, which in the long run means you certainly learn a lot. It’s rewarding, too, when you find the solution.
This is an installment of the weekly interview series, on the Culture Comment blog. It’s called “Behind-the-Scenes.” Each week, we’ll discuss new facts and information about the people that make the Walters Art Museum tick. Now, let’s meet Senior Museum Technician, Mike McKee.
Installing a painting
What do you do at the Walters?
My official title is Senior Museum Technician. As the senior tech I supervise and coordinate the movement and installation of artwork in the museum. I oversee the packing and mount making for objects and when large heavy objects need to move I will work with our team of art handlers to rig the art to move safely.
What type of training do you need to be an art handler?
The museum has developed procedures and guidelines to insure the safety of the collection. There is a bit of “on the job training” where one has to be physically engaged in the art moving process to understand all that goes into the job. Art handlers require a certain calm demeanor, manual dexterity and a strong back, as well as patience.
What is the most unusual experience/project you’ve had worked on at the Walters?
One of the most unusual projects was when we took our mummy to the hospital to visit the CT scan. This is by far one of the most fragile objects in the collection and had not traveled since arrived. We had to pack her in a crate and drive her through the bumpy streets of Baltimore, and bring her back safe and sound. We were successful and the project gathered great amounts of information.
What projects are you currently working on?
At this time there are several projects going on at the same time, as is often the case. We have two traveling exhibitions that have returned to the museum. They total about 55 crates and will all need to be unpacked and returned to their designated place. Recently, we’ve been preparing for the arrival of the exhibition Treasures of Heaven. All the while art is requested by various departments in the museum for photography, examination or treatment.
When people ask you about your work, what do they most often want to know?
People are always curious about the value and extreme fragility of the works in the collection. I explain how the “value” is equal among all objects in my eyes. Every object receives the same care and consideration as the next. We have protocols and procedures for moving the art that insures safe transit; there is never any room for mistakes or miscalculations.
Staff members from the Walters Art Museum joined more than 400 other arts advocates for Maryland Arts Day in Annapolis, last Wednesday. The annual advocacy event, organized by Maryland Citizens for the Arts, brought together arts supporters throughout Maryland to the state capitol to meet with legislators and emphasize the importance of public support for the arts.
The day-long session began with greetings and remarks from several Maryland lawmakers including Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, Speaker of the House Michael Busch, and Department of Business and Economic Development Secretary Christian Johansson. The keynote speaker was legendary political cartoonist and Maryland resident Kevin “Kal” Kallaugher, the international award-winning editorial cartoonist for The Economist magazine of London and the focus of a 2006 special exhibition at the Walters titled Mightier than The Sword; The Satirical Pen of KAL.
Maryland Arts Day attendees received briefings on the state budget, communication training, and advocacy strategies before meeting in smaller groups with members of the General Assembly in the afternoon. Arts advocates had a specific request for their legislators — please support the Governor’s recommendation of level funding for the Maryland State Arts Council for FY 2012. The arts play a critical role in an economically and culturally vibrant Maryland.
For more information about the event or to become an e-advocate at Maryland Citizens for the Arts, please visit www.mdarts.org.
This is an installment of the weekly interview series, on the Culture Comment blog. It’s called “Behind-the-Scenes.” Each week, we’ll discuss new facts and information about the people that make the Walters Art Museum tick. Now, let’s meet Will Murray.
What do you do at the Walters?
I am the lead maintenance technician at the Walters Art Museum. I deal with in-house events, set ups, rentals and meetings, etc. I’m the point person in our dept. for the Gala, Art Blooms, Jewelry fair and rental events as well. I also work closely with other staff members in their specific departmental set ups and events. I’m fortunate because my interaction with other staff members is pretty much unlimited, which gives me the opportunity to experience the diversity that exemplifies the Walters.
When I took the position in 1998, a high school diploma was required. My position hadn’t been created, at that point. My skills have fleshed out over time; I wasn’t computer literate when I started. I know that’s hard to believe in this day and age!
What we do now in terms of special events and rentals is a far cry from years ago when this sort of thing was nearly non-existent. The intensity level has definitely been raised.
What is the biggest challenge in your job?
We have a lot of things going on here simultaneously, so one of the biggest challenges is making sure everything runs as smoothly as possible. I have to be able to relate with a lot of strong personalities and make folks feel at ease. The main thing is for them to know I’m gonna give it 110% and I’m pretty good at what I do just as they are.
What is the most interesting project you’ve worked on in your career?
I once did a voiceover commercial for the D.C. police dept.
What is the most interesting project you’ve worked on at the Walters?
The Gee’s Bend quilt exhibition was the most interesting and rewarding. I researched this exhibition a little before it arrived and was pleasantly surprised to learn it was going to be shown here. The diversity and fact that it was running during the summer months was a bit of a risk. I’m not sure everyone knew what to expect but for some reason I thought it’d do well. The exhibition was off the charts; well attended and greatly appreciated!
What is your favorite art in the Walters’ collection?
My favorites in the collection are companion pieces: King Said Abdullah and the African Venus. The strength and nobility in their faces make me proud.
What is the most unusual experience/project you’ve had/worked on at the Walters?
We did a skit in the auditorium a few years back as part of our First Friday program. The voice of Henry Walters spoke through me! I’d say that’s pretty unusual; I asked folks before we started if they’d cleared this with Henry first!
What is your favorite story involving the Walters?
I semi auditioned for the voice of God during a staff meeting! I had a remote microphone so no one could see me. I spoke directly to Richard Leson (who directed the project) as the voice of God. We had thunder and lightning sound effects, no one knew where the voice was coming from and most people didn’t know it was me. It worked, I got the part!
When people ask you about your work, what do they most often want to know?
How can they get a job here!
This is an installment of the weekly interview series, on the Culture Comment blog. It’s called “Behind-the-Scenes.” Each week, we’ll discuss new facts and information about the people that make the Walters Art Museum tick. Now, let’s meet Eric Gordon.
Eric Gordon, In the Conservation Laboratory
Gary Vikan: What do you do at the Walters?
Eric Gordon: I’m head of painting conservation
GV: What does a conservator do?
EG: I’m the painting doctor. I make sure, along with my excellent staff, that the paintings in the museum’s collection are stable and reflect the intent of the artist, considering the paintings’ age. In other words, we don’t try to make a painting look like it just came off the artist’s easel.
GV: What do you like about being a conservator?
EG: I enjoy working on paintings as more than just materials. I like the creative process. I enjoy history and the artists and I enjoy seeing how all these fit together. I like the detective work and exchanging ideas with other art and museum professionals. Also, it’s great seeing art every day. I’m very lucky.
GV: How did you get involved with conservation?
EG: I discovered conservation during my junior year in Italy. I remember seeing frescos in the streets of Florence and thinking they can’t be the real thing, outside? Wouldn’t they get rained on? When I went to the Uffizzi I saw Michelangelo’s Doni tondo which had just been restored next to an uncleaned Fra Bartolomeo altarpiece and thought, wow, look at the intense colors of the Michelangelo and the murky surface of the altarpiece. I realized that my perception of the paintings was totally influenced by their condition. Then, I met a young woman who was studying painting conservation in Florence and bing! A light went on in my head and I realized, this is what I want to do when I grow up.
GV: What is the most interesting project you’ve worked on at the Walters?
EG: Finding and restoring a lost painting. It was CSI: Walters. George Inness’s The New Jerusalem painted in 1867 disappeared in 1880 when a large tower in Madison Square Garden collapsed onto its exhibit hall, killing 3 people. Michael Quick, an Inness expert who had seen every Inness, thought that he recognized pieces of the painting as described in contemporary reviews in other paintings. He speculated that The New Jerusalem may have been damaged, reworked by the artist and sold as separate paintings and that the Walters’, The Valley of the Olive Trees, bought in 1897, was the largest fragment.
I brought all the existing pieces together to the museum and carried out scientific analysis to see if these paintings were the lost work. Not only did they fit like pieces in a puzzle, but having them together allowed me to restore our own very damaged section. It was a fascinating detective story, and I was able to turn our unexhibitable Inness into a beautiful painting. Kind of an ugly duckling story. The icing on the cake was a video we made on the project for Maryland Public Television.
GV: What projects are you currently working on?
EG: I’m treating a large Venetian, Adam and Eve that’s been in storage along with many, many other untreated paintings. I’ve been eying this painting for years. It was painted around 1600 and probably hasn’t been cleaned since the 19th century when additions were added onto all 4 sides. The varnish was so discolored that it actually looked green, like the painting was under water in a swamp. The additions have been removed, changing the entire composition, and I’m now retouching the paint losses. Big transformation.
GV: When people ask you about your work, what do they most often want to know?
EG: First, I hear, “You must have incredible patience.” I don’t know. When you’re focused on what you’re doing and you enjoy it, you don’t think about patience. Actually I’m a very impatient person (with animate objects). Second, they want to know where I trained and how can someone get into the field. I feel flattered that they think that what I do is interesting. When I went to a high school reunion, someone told me I did the weirdest thing. He owned a truck rental company.
This is the tried and true recipe for a kingly sandwich known as the “Elvis” – or, as some would have it, an “EP.” In the era B.E. (i.e., “Before Elvis”) this sandwich bore the prosaic name: “Fried Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich.” The sandwich has its name, as you may have guessed, because it was Elvis Presley’s favorite sandwich. I’m not sure if there is any place that serves this sandwich, here in Baltimore but there is a similar dish, the Elvis Pancakes, at the Golden West Cafe in Hampden.
Ingredients
- Two large spoonfuls of peanut butter, the kind with no nuts.
- One ripe banana, the kind with lots of brown speckles – or, better yet, all brown.
- Two slices of white bread, preferably cooked square – or, if necessary, squared off.
- Plenty of margarine (do not substitute butter).
Order of Service
- Mash the banana
- Spread mashed banana on one slice of bread.
- Spread peanut butter on the other slice of bread.
- Put slices together, spread side inward (this is crucial).
- Melt margarine in frying pan, over moderate heat.
- Brown sandwich on both sides, being careful not to burn it.
- Slice diagonally.
- Serve immediately, being careful not to burn your tongue.
Note: This is to be eaten with a knife and fork, not with the hands.
This is an “Elvis” as served at Graceland in August, 2009, during Elvis Week; please note that it has been cut one too many times, and that knife and fork are not provided. In 2009, this sandwich cost $4.95; in 1989 the price was $1.95.Elvis Sandwich
This shows what can happen if you eat too many “Elvises.” The name of “Little Elvis” is known but to his mother, who was just off camera.
This is an installment of the weekly interview series, on the Culture Comment blog. It’s called “Behind-the-Scenes.” Each week, we’ll discuss new facts and information about the people that make the Walters Art Museum tick. Now, let’s meet Meg Craft.
What do you do at the Walters?
I am an objects conservator. I take care of three-dimensional works of art, as opposed to two-dimensional objects such as paintings. Taking care of objects can include hands-on treatment to repair broken, unstable or corroding objects; examination of objects to help determine the method of manufacture or to identify materials used in manufacture; research to help determine authenticity or extent of past restorations; and preventive maintenance activities, such as monitoring light, temperature and humidity to prevent damage.
What type of training do you need to become a conservator?
Most conservators have a master’s degree in art conservation. To be eligible for the graduate programs, you need a distribution between science, including chemistry, biology and physics, art history and studio art. Some pre-program experience in a conservation lab is required.
I have an undergraduate degree in chemistry and art history and a few studio art classes. I then studied for a Masters of Science degree in art conservation from Winterthur Museum/University of Delaware. It’s a threeyear program, including summer work projects and an internship in a conservation laboratory. Another way to become a conservator is to serve an apprenticeship, although this method has become less common with establishment of graduate programs.
What is the most unusual experience/project you’ve worked on at the Walters?
In 2005 right after the reinstallation of the Charles Street Building there was an incident in the Chamber of Wonders. Inventories of the time indicated that the Renaissance gentleman collector acquired insect specimens. So the curator gathered modern specimens as interactive material. We carefully arranged the scarab beetles, butterflies and moths on the bottom of the case. Children are encouraged to look at the insects housed in boxes on a table with magnifying glasses. All well and good, and very popular, but as the visitors leaned on and rubbed the Plexiglas tops on the insect cases, static electricity made the butterflies and bugs dance and hop up and down inside the case! So, with the bugs hanging upside down on the Plexiglas, we ended up having to glue the bugs down. In the museum where the general rule is the only good bug is a dead one, it was a funny twist trying to make them stay put.
What is the most interesting project you’ve worked on in your career?
a small 19th-century Russian enamel ladle or kovsh.
I am currently working on the cover of a 12th-century Gospel Lectionary with a Treasure Binding for the special exhibition Treasures from Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe that will open in February. This manuscript is a handwritten text on parchment that is bound with oak boards that are decorated with silver sheet and filigree wires, gilt silver, rock crystal and niello. Beneath the central rock crystal, a drawing on gold foil depicting the crucifixion upon which lies a relic, a bit of wood, supposedly a piece of the true cross. With museum scientist Glenn Gates, we have been studying and analyzing the different metals on the cover to discover if and when the decoration was altered and changed throughout the manuscript’s lifetime. Each observation and test has added evidence to story of the manuscript. Also, I’m cleaning the metal elements for the first time since the 1950s. The opportunity to collaborate with the curators, scientist and the manuscript conservator has added to the pleasure of working on the book.
What is my favorite piece in the Walters’ collection and why?
I actually have two so you will have to bear with me. Although not the biggest, most valuable or elaborate, I am drawn to a small 19th-century Russian enamel ladle or kovsh. Part of a recent gift to the Walters, the kovsh looks like a little cup with a handle and tiny beak in the rim and is used for pouring a fermented beverage made from honey. The kovsh is made from gilt silver filigree wire framework that is filled with transparent colored enamel—a technique called plique a jour. Sitting on the shelf, the ladle is colored and attractive but when held up to the light, it is dazzling, like stained glass. A hidden surprise in the center bottom is a lobster or crayfish. I love the dramatic change and the whimsy of the little lobster.
My other favorite object is a small round pierced gilded brass pendant that contains a very early pocket watch. In fact, the spherical pendant watch is the earliest known, dated watch. The watch is inscribed 1530 and as belonging to Philipp Melanchthon, who was a contemporary of the reformer Martin Luther in Germany. I am fascinated by the idea of personal time keepers and the innovation to miniaturize the mechanical works into an object of personal adornment.
Last Friday, I enjoyed my visit to the “Night of 100 Elvises“. Pictured here are The Graceliners. They are a group of women Elvises. They dance just like The King.
Gary Vikan, director of the Walters Art Museum since 1994, has been with the Baltimore institution for more than 20 years. A native of Minnesota, Gary received his B.A. from Carleton College in 1967 and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1976 before working as Senior Associate for Byzantine Art Studies at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C.