EXARC Journal (Nov 2018)
From Gastonia to Gotha: My Thoughts and Impressions on doing Museum Work
Abstract
What I consider my first real museum work came from a message on my phone on January 9th 2018 from Ann Tippitt, the Director of the Schiele Museum in Gastonia, North Carolina. Gastonia has a sister city in Gotha, Germany and in 2017 the Museum in Gotha sent an exhibit to the Schiele Museum so this year the Schiele Museum planned to send an exhibit to Germany on the North Carolina Piedmont. Ann asked if I was interested in outfitting a Catawba Indian mannequin for the exhibit. She wanted a complete set of clothes, weapons and gear. Inside I was happy, but my mind was saying can you do this? The problem for me was that my good friend and mentor, Steve Watts, who worked for the museum, would have done this work. He died a little over two years ago so the Schiele Museum needed someone to step in and do the project. I studied with Steve for twenty eight years, so Ann asked me to help them with the project. I have replications in museums all over North America, but they are mostly single items and not large orders. Some of my items are on display, while others are used by museum staff for demonstrations. This project was going to be large. I find that three factors are concerned when doing museum work; money, time and understanding.
