"Twitter Jay and the Re-Cyclists"
JHU's first entry in the Kinetic Sculpture Race, American Visionary Arts Museum, Baltimore, May 2, 2009.
Follow a dedicated team of students from Arts and Sciences and Engineering as they negotiate a challenging 15-mile course through Baltimore with "Twitter Jay," their kinetic sculpture with a electronic twist. With the unwavering support of Joan Freedman and the staff of the Digital Media Center, and the sponsorship of Museums and Society and an Arts Innovation Grant, this team took home one of the most coveted prizes in this year's race...watch the video to learn more.
And stay tuned....Twitter Jay may race again in 2010!
Next to Godliness: Cleanliness in Early Maryland
Homewood Museum, January 29-March 29, 2009.
The adage "Cleanliness is next to godliness" was certainly familiar to Homewood's residents, the Carrolls, and their contemporaries. Even without the religious context, they understood that cleanliness promoted health and that filth promoted disease. In fact, the very reason for building Homewood House was, in large part, to promote clean and healthful country living.
This focus show explored aspects of clean and dirty in the early 19th century including garbage, laundry, housekeeping, bathing, the issue of stink, shaving, tooth care, hair care, cosmetics, elimination, and even feminine hygiene. It was the result of research conducted by students in Introduction to Material Culture taught fall 2008 at Homewood as part of Museums and Society.
The course and the focus show were made possible by the late Anne Merrick Pinkard. Serious but with a good dose of humor, the show received strong attention in local blogs and papers, including the Baltimore Sun.
It's a Man's World: The Collections of the Male Garretts
Evergreen Museum and Library, November 1, 2008-March 31, 2009. This exhibition was curated by Matt Turtoro, '10, the second recipient of the Evergreen Museum and Library Student Curator Internship. It examined the collecting activities of three generations of men in the Garrett family, who owned and resided in Evergreen House, the Italianate mansion on North Charles Street that now belongs to Johns Hopkins. Turtoro studied the Museum's collections and archives, and scattered the resulting installations throughout the house. One room features a very unusual map of all the countries visited by John Work Garrett, Jr., during his life time: the map was painted on a floorcloth by Turtoro, with the assistance of Homewood House Manager Mary Plumber. Other sections of the exhibition highlight the Garrett's interest in coins, prints, and East Asian decorative arts, and exhibit artifacts from their travels and correspondance.
This curatorial experience allowed Matt to blend his fascination with history and the arts, to do in-depth research into the sources available at Evergreen, and to interpret them in an imaginive and engaging way for the public. To read about Matt in the Hopkins News-Letter, click here; to hear Matt talk about his work at Evergreen, click here; and to learn more about this curatorial opportunity for Hopkins students, click here.
On view in tandem with this show was also Evergreen as Muse, an exhibition of works by undergraduate student artists. They worked with Hopkins photography instructor Phyllis Berger and Evergreen Museum Curator James Abbott to produce a series of inspiring photographs inspired by the house and its collections.
Mapping the Cosmos: Images from the Hubble Space Telescope
The Walters Art Museum, February 2-July 27, 2008.
Mapping the Cosmos was curated by seven students in the fall, 2007 course "Behind the Scenes at the Walters Art Museum." Working closely with experts from the Walters and the Space Telescope Science Institute, as well as with their instructors, Elizabeth Rodini and Benjamin Tilghman, they researched everything from astronomy to museum audiences, designed the installation, and wrote all of the accompanying text--including wall labels, a cell phone tour, and an on-line interactive linked to Google Sky. A video produced by the STSci documents the class and the making of the show.
The exhibition was praised for its unusual blend of art and science, and drew large audiences of all ages. It received extensive coverage in the press, including the Hopkins Gazette, the Baltimore Sun, the Sun's OpEd page, and on the website of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Mapping the Cosmos is now set to travel nationally, but eight Hubble images will remain on view in the historic Palazzo of the Walters.
Welcome Little Stranger: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Family in Early Maryland Homewood Museum, January 17-March 30, 2008.
Curated by students in the fall course "Introduction to Material Culture," taught by Homewood Museum Curator Catherine Rogers Arthur, this exhibition explored the practices surrouding pregnancy and childbirth among families like the Carrolls of Homewood. Students researched the historical framework of the show, selected objects that would elucidate its themes, and organized the installation. This course and exhibition are an annual offering through the Program in Museums and Society, generously sponsored by the late Anne Merrick Pinkard.
Read more about student research for this project in the Johns Hopkins Magazine.
Printed Sculpture/Sculpted Prints
The Baltimore Museum of Art, November 14, 2007-March 30, 2008
Curated by Elizabeth Rodini and undergraduates in her spring, 2007 Museums and Society course, "Paper Museums: Exhibiting Prints at the BMA," this exhibition featured prints and small-scale sculptures from the BMA's extensive collection. The show explored the many and varied reasons sculpture was represented in printed imagery, from the sixteenth through early nineteenth centuries.
The ten undergraduate students met regularly at the BMA with Dr. Rodini to help select the works for the exhibition, research them, and organize the installation. Assisted by the BMA staff, they also planned programs and wrote the text for the exhibition, as well as for an illustrated brochure. The exhibition received a glowing review in Baltimore's City Paper.
Printed Sculpture/Sculpted Prints was generously supported by Chuck and Amy Newhall and the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences of the Johns Hopkins University.
Renaissance Men: Classical Form in Art and Anatomy
Milton S. Eisenhower Library, November 5, 2007-March 3, 2008
Curated by Museums and Society undergraduate students Gillian Maguire and Whitney Shaffer, this show featured works from the Sheridan Libraries Special Collections and the Johns Hopkins Institute of the History of Medicine. It was conceived as an extention of the student-curated exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Printed Sculpture/Sculpted Prints.
Feathers, Fins, and Fur: The Pet in Early Maryland
Homewood Museum, January 4-March 31, 2007
Students in the fall, 2006 undergraduate course "Introduction to Material Culture" used artifacts and objects to investigate early American history. The result was this exhibition, which was profiled in the Chronicle of Higher Education. This seminar-exhibition project is now an annual offering of the Program in Museums and Society.
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