Simply Amazing

by Ashley Rand

Another week with the Museum at Work and still learning something new each day. This week was quite eventful as we managed to finish all the framed pieces of art work, however, in the process I was able to learn how to store the works. This was by far one of my most stressful weeks because the art varied so much in size. Any normal person would just store the art back to back, front to front, but in a museum there are precautions in which one needs to follow in order to store the work properly. In fact, you do place artwork back to back or front to front depending on which way it is needed, although on top of that the work needs to span the other piece. "What exactly does that mean?" you might ask; it means that the when storing art you can't have a piece smaller than the one in front, behind because it will dig into the back of the work. The same goes for placing the pieces facing each other; you can't have a piece that the frame sets on the Plexiglas; it needs to be wider or taller than the original piece. "Why?" you ask; simply because you want to avoid the possibility of scratches getting onto the work. This was news to me and in fact took me an entire day to get the hang of it. Although it makes complete sense, I never would have known how to place art back in the vault.

While working at CAM, I often check local museums for exhibits going on and was beyond excited when I saw the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Pete having an exhibit on Andy Warhol. I was able to go see the show on Wednesday, and was absolutely amazed. However, while I enjoyed the show and the museum, I realized how much effort went into hanging each piece onto the wall. I know the dedication and hard work each individual went through to make sure every piece was hung at the exact place on the wall. I feel for the first time that I not only appreciated the exhibit, but indeed everything that went along with the art work. After working with the Museum at Work staff at CAM this summer, I know the dedication it takes to make a show successful. I would advise people to go look at this exhibit, for it was simply amazing.