This internship allowed me to explore the relationship between the San Antonio Museum of Art and its community. On one hand, the public is the museum’s most import support system as it dictates its agenda and acquisitions. In this sense, museums demonstrate democratic efforts. On the other, the museum is an institution historically rooted in wealth and elitism and is largely tied to the private sector. This is still evident in the structure of the administration, private donors, as well as the commercialization of museums.
The museum is staffed with nearly fifty employees and numerous volunteers including docents, event volunteers, and department aids and interns. The staff is organized into four sectors: Administrative (Museum Director), Collections and Exhibits (four curators, registrars, exhibits, project coordinator), Public Services (communications, development, education, volunteer, security, store manager), and Finance and Operations (accountants, personnel, operations, facilities). SAMA showcases over six thousand years of history in its permanent collections which include American, Asian (the largest collection in the southern US), Contemporary, European, Oceanic, and Western Antiquities. The Latin American collection is one of the nation’s largest and is divided into Pre-Columbian, Spanish Colonial, Folk art, and Contemporary.
For four months I interned with the Assistant Curator of the Latin American collection, Nancy Fullerton. My job consisted of assisting Nancy with daily tasks and primarily the opening of a new exhibition, Perspectivas Populares. Much of our work was done on the third floor where the idle objects from the Latin American collection rest, as well as a workstation and file cabinets for object records. Much of my time was spent cataloging artifacts, both new acquisitions and those in need of updated material. Objects must be well documented and clearly organized. The Latin American collection alone contains thousands of objects and when a curator needs information quickly and doesn’t have the acquisition number memorized, a well organized file system is crucial. The condition report must be very thorough, down to the slightest scratch, scuff, nick, discoloration, or break. Any marking, such as a previous museum’s accession number or the author’s signature must be noted. It is highly important to note the condition upon entry to the museum. Much of my time was spent writing these records, photographing and measuring objects, moving objects to and from storage, as well as recording accession numbers on the objects. In between working on our folk art exhibit, Nancy and I would perform these “housekeeping” tasks.
The highlight of my work with Nancy was putting together the Perspectivas Populares exhibit, which focused on four 20th century non-traditional folk artists from Mexico, Spain, and South Texas. Folk art represents an artist’s representation of his culture through the use of regional styles, techniques, and often subject matter characteristic of the shared values and perspectives, such as religion and myth. Non-traditional folk art, however, focuses more on the artist’s personal, idiosyncratic view. In Perspectivas Populares, the works are made of non-traditional material such as paintings on Masonite and imaginative figures sculpted from brick clay, cement, and tar. Most of the art was pulled from SAMA’s permanent collection courtesy of one of its biggest donors, Pete Cecere. Several objects were on loan by various individuals including board members, an art professor, and Nancy herself. I occasionally made trips to the lenders’ homes and offices with Nancy to access the objects and create loan forms and documentation. Once we had all of our objects we worked on a “mock up” of the exhibit in the gallery space. This includes planning the colors for the walls, panels, and cases as well object arrangement.
One of my main assignments was to help write the labels for the pieces in the exhibit, including a short biography and photograph of each artist. Much of my time was spent researching and writing these. As the artists are generally unknown, it took time to gather reliable information. Along with writing these, Nancy and I cleaned the objects, many of which had been sitting on shelves in Pete’s home and were covered in dust. Each piece was carefully cleaned with cotton swabs and a diluted soap mixture.
My experience working with Nancy was interesting in that every day was different from the last. There is always something new to be done – an upcoming exhibition, a new loan or acquisition, or changing out an object in the gallery. Nancy also brought to my attention the importance of being involved in the community as a curator. She always made an effort to show me San Antonio, particularly the art scene which has become such an important part of its culture. Keeping up with what’s going on in the community and making new social connections helps curators stay aware of the public’s changing interests. This greatly influenced my interest in understanding the relationship between the museum and the community.