Navajo Saddle Blanket

Welcome back to Textile Tuesday, where we’ve been following the fascinating goings-on in the basement of the UMFA. So far we’ve examined the why and the how–now it’s time for an introduction to the who.

Every Wednesday in the basement of the UMFA, a number of people are hard at work. These include members of our staff (Jennifer Ortiz, Collections Manager, and Carol Fulton, Collection Assistant), some of our docents (Harsha Acharya, Bernadette Brown, and Maria Villa), as well as some volunteers (Ruth Ann Gardner and Sabrina Sanders).

Ruth Ann Gardner at work on a textile

Ortiz first hoped to get docents involved by giving a presentation on the project, and many expressed an interest. As of now, the UMFA is able to offer morning and afternoon shifts on Wednesdays, and docents are welcome to give as much time as they can.

“I don’t want anyone to get worn out,” Jennifer Ortiz says. “It’s a very physical task.”

“You’re moving muscles you never get to move,” Bernadette Brown adds. “Lots of stretching and reaching.”

Volunteers work on a weekly basis, and are asked to give at least three hours.

Ortiz explains that some special skills are valued in those working on the textile project, including an ability to sew: accession tags often need to be replaced. One of the volunteers, Ruth Ann Gardner, assists the team by providing thread counts (the old-fashioned way, it is worth noting).

“There’s got to be an app for that,” Fulton jokes.

Gardner was kind enough to demonstrate her technique, leaning over a textile and counting the threads in both directions of a 2 inch patch. She explained that she acquired the skill during her time with the Embroidery Guild.

Fulton, who has worked at the UMFA for 2 years, was recruited for this project because of her skills with cataloguing the collection and writing condition reports.

“Someday I’ll have seen everything the UMFA owns,” she says, reflecting on her work here. “But… it may take five more years.”

The thing that Fulton has most enjoyed coming across during this project was a quilt made by the Wasatch Quilting Society for the 25th anniversary of the UMFA.

“It was just beautifully done. It was very intricate, and the design was so clever.”

“There were so many hidden things in it,” adds Gardner. “We were like, ‘is that an F?’ And it was then we noticed it spelled out ‘Utah Museum of Fine Arts.’”

“I remember when that was on view,” Brown adds, reflecting on her time as a curator at the UMFA during the 1990s.

“Utah Museum of Fine Arts 1970-1995.” It is signed, and says “Milestones c.1995 Utah Designed by Laura Tomita Lyons Pieced and Quilted by Wasatch Mountain Quilters 1975 – 1995”

The enthusiasm for the work on the textiles is palpable: everyone is here because they are excited about the project.

“It’s like Christmas,” says Brown. “you unwrap something, and you don’t know what it is!”

Brown is familiar with projects like this, not only from her time as a curator, but also from experience with caring for pre-columbian pots while still in school. Like the other docents and volunteers, her passion for art is clear.

“When I was a curator, I never got to see these textiles, so I had to see them in the computer database,” Brown explains. “This is going to be so wonderful because now the curators will have these photographs, and know what’s here. Plus, I finally get to see them!”

When I ask what her favorite thing might be that she’s seen so far, she and Fulton talk excitedly about a Chinese textile they saw just hours ago. The textile featured dogs at play.

“And we thought they were gold threads,” Brown says. “But Jen [Ortiz] explained to us that it was actually paper!”

Three dogs at play on a textile in the UMFA

Sabrina Sanders, who had previously volunteered elsewhere in the UMFA, is happy to be gaining collections experience before applying for a Master’s program in the field. She speaks in broken sentences about the textile project, as most of her attention is going toward sewing the correct accession number to a Navajo saddle blanket.

Sanders, who has been working on the project for one month, is thrilled to be at work in a museum. “I’ve never worked in a gallery before,” she explains, “but it seems like museums might have so much more to work with in collections, which is what my primary interest is. And they’re so educational.”

She reflects on a textile she’d seen, something that stuck with her: “I’ll call it a poncho, but it was a traditional dress with a sort of hole for the head. There were these needlepoint squares featuring different animals and figures. It was very interesting. Very different.”

Sanders carefully sews an accession number onto a Navajo saddle blanket as Carol enters data in the background

As the docents and volunteers bustle around the room, sewing, entering data, and vacuuming, I join them in their examination of the saddle blankets laid out on the table.

“A lot of these textiles were used,” Ortiz says. “Some have human hair woven into them, some still have horse hair on them. It’s part of the object now.”

Navajo, Classic Serape Style Wearing Blanket

For more information on how to become a docent or a volunteer at the UMFA, and get a glimpse of things behind the scenes, visit: http://umfa.utah.edu/volunteer

A new hands-on, interactive exhibition at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) invites visitors to create the artwork themselves.

Drawing Lab, which opens today, is inspired by the idea that mark-making is a fundamental human impulse and that there is no wrong way to do it. Museum visitors of any age or artistic ability are welcome to participate. The exhibition, which also features a collaborative drawing by University of Utah art students, will be on view until August 25 in the Emma Eccles Jones Education Gallery in the UMFA’s Marcia and John Price Museum Building.

Join us tonight for a first glimpse into Drawing Lab! 

The cleaning, restoring, and documenting of the textiles in the UMFA’s care is such an important effort: our team is working hard to ensure a healthy future for these objects, and through this work, the UMFA hopes to bring our community in touch with these incredible works of art.

Navajo Saddle Blanket

When I first learned about this undertaking, some of the first questions that came to mind were about how this was going to be done. How does one take a textile–something that might be old and delicate, and certainly of historical worth– and properly care for it?

I was lucky enough to join Jennifer Ortiz and one of our great volunteer docents in the basement to get a glimpse of the process.

A glimpse into the process

When picturing object care in the basement of a museum, I had envisioned something more akin to a lab on CSI. Instead I was greeted with something much more familiar: a vacuum.

Simple tools give big results

It was explained to me that once a textile is removed from from storage and unrolled, the first thing is to carefully inspect it and fill out a “condition report.” This asks the team to document anything problematic on the front and back of the textile and to note any wear or damage (some examples of boxes that can be checked include: powdering, fungal damage, puckers and bulges, fading, holes, and, my personal favorite, wefts out of alignment). The overall condition is noted on a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor.

When I ask about these ratings, which seem to me to be rather subjective, Ortiz agrees. We are viewing an old condition report for a textile that is displayed only a few feet from us, and the condition report notes this textile is Excellent. Does she agree with this ranking, I ask?

“I am skeptical,” she answers. “I mean, I can see from here the tattered fringe. The rankings aren’t quite standardized, obviously.”

A careful examination of the textile is an important part of the process

I ask the team to walk me through the process: what happens after the textile is examined, and the condition report filled out?

Next, the textile will be cleaned, and, as I had seen when I first walked in, this is done with a vacuum. Over the vacuum’s hose is positioned a blue cloth, and I learn this is a bead mat, something sold at any craft store to aid in the jewelry making process. This functions as a barrier that limits the suction of the vacuum, and also allows the team to see if the textile is powdering: if pigment appears on the bead mat, they know to stop vacuuming.

You can buy your own high-tech bead mat at any craft store for as low as $2.00

Next, the textile will be photographed for our records, and then re-housed in new materials and placed in our storage. The textile is wrapped in acid-free tissue paper and then rolled onto an archival tube. It is then covered in Tyvek, a breathable, water resistant barrier.

A copy of the photograph will be displayed with the textile, so that the museum might readily see what we have and where.

Tell us below or on our Facebook or Twitter: What questions do you have for those working on this project?

For more on our docents and volunteers working on this project, check back with us next week!

That’s a pretty good Mother’s Day gift, the creation of a holiday in her honor. But we can’t all be Anna Jarvis, so allow me to make a suggestion: why not bring your mother to the UMFA? Not only is there beautiful art filling every gallery, but depictions of mothers are all around.

Here we see a painting of Mrs. Benjamin West (by Mr. Benjamin West) as she cradles their son, Raphael. (Her pre-married name, by the way, was Elizabeth Shewell).

“Portrait of Mrs. Benjamin West and Her Son, Raphael.” Benjamin West, American. circa 1770.

This Buddha, the Ushnisavijaya Buddha, is known as “the mother of all Buddhas“:

Ushnisavijaya Buddha

Within our European Art Collection you will find many different depictions of this very famous mother:

“Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John and a Goldfinch.”
Pierfrancesco di Jacopo di Sandro Foschi. circa early 1500s.

Now, this next image is not of a mother, but rather, of a child:

Positioned near Ganesha is his mother (and father). Who are they?

Depending on the Hindu text you adhere to, or its translation, the child Ganesha was either born or found. Either way, of course, his mother is still a mother, and she is displayed beside him in the UMFA.

Do you know her name? Come in to the UMFA and meet the family!

Navajo Saddle Blanket; part of the UMFA’s ongoing textile restoration project

Jennifer Ortiz, our Collections Manager, explains that a textile is defined as “any object that is woven of material, made with artificial or natural fibers.” There is no official definition that the UMFA uses to categorize textiles, which is why our collections team has come across some surprises during the processing of our rolled textile collections.

So, what’s down there? “Most of our textiles are usually flat, mostly blankets, rugs, tapestries, and some costumes,” says Ortiz. “Many of our textiles are of African origins, and they are made of very sensitive and friable raffia materials. Most of our textiles are made of organic vegetable materials i.e. wool cotton blend, bark, silk, and raffia to name a few.”

A textile of African origin

The UMFA has a large collection of 588 textiles, though it is worth noting that this number refers to anything that was catalogued as a textile when it came into the museum. “The textile project is only focusing on our rolled textile collection that needs urgent attention, and that consists of 278 textiles,” explains Ortiz. Rolls and rolls of textiles line a large section of our basement, looking not unlike taffy, just waiting to be unwrapped by our Collections team.

Textile storage in the Collections Department, located in the basement of the UMFA

There’s something else, though, that makes following this particular project even more thrilling: we don’t really know what will emerge when we unwrap some of these.

The UMFA moved into our current building in 2001, but our permanent collection did not move until 2007 and 2008, when the funding came through to build proper collections storage. The moving processes were therefore a little rushed, leaving the Collections staff without the time to adequately document the textiles as they prepared for the move. Now, all these years later, our staff isn’t sure what they might encounter as they unwrap some of these things, or in what condition they may find a particular piece.

Our Collections Department unfolds a mystery

When asked what the biggest surprise has been thus far, Jennifer Ortiz said “Some of the thangkas I have come across have been really surprising. These are religious teaching paintings mounted or painted directly onto a silk backing. They typically depict Buddha’s life and are Tibetan in origin….Because our records aren’t very thorough, I had no idea what we were opening at the time. I personally would never have catalogued our thangkas as textiles; they should be considered a painting because of their delicate nature and their oil based paints on paper. Unfortunately the two that I have come across in our rolled textile collection are heavily damaged as a direct result from rolling them. Robyn and I are working to mitigate the damage and to properly document them from here on out, but we unfortunately cannot do anything to rectify the current damage without sending them out to a paintings conservator.”

A thangka

You may be getting the sense by now that this is an enormous undertaking, and that’s probably because it is. But it’s a very important one: a primary duty of a museum is the proper care and maintenance of its collection, and intervening to save these textiles is crucial.  This textile project is a preservation-based project, specifically preventative preservation, with the hopes of ensuring a healthy future for these objects. A museum thrives on the trust the public puts in it to look after the objects in its care, to be a resource for our shared human history and knowledge.

This is also an important project because shared human history and knowledge is worth little unless, well, shared: by gathering information about each object, one by one, the museum is able to bring them closer to the public through photography, through posts like these, and perhaps, eventually, through an exhibition featuring some of these items.

Navajo Saddle Blanket; part of the UMFA’s ongoing textile restoration project

We at the museum are really excited about this project, and I am really excited about the chance to write about it. I hope you’ll continue to check back with Textile Tuesday on the blog for lots more information, photography, and secrets from the basement of the museum.

And come by the UMFA to see the amazing work our museum team has already done–on display in our galleries!

May Day can be marked in many ways, depending on where you live: with a maypole, a bonfire, or the exchanging of gifts.

Dance Around the Maypole. Pieter Brueghel the Younger. Flemish. 1625-1630

Have you ever wondered why the distress call (for ships at sea, for planes in trouble) is “Mayday“? I have, and I was inspired today to finally look it up. Turns out it is derived from the French expression venez m’aider, which means “come help me!”, and has nothing to do with this delightful holiday.

How many works on view at the UMFA remind you of spring? Come on in and count them!

We found this wood engraving depicting the poet Saigyo Hoshi (1118 – 1190, Japan) as he looks toward Mount Fuji.

Saigyo Hoshi (poet) Contemplating Mount Fuji. 1766-1788

I think this poem is perfect for any Utahn about to enter spring:

Not Stopping To Mark The Trail

by Saigyo Hoshi

Vanity is not cool! Mademoiselle Marie-Madeleine Guimard (Tête de femme au miroir) (Woman Looking in a Mirror). 1772

We’ve spent the month of April showing how to walk into our doors, making sure you know it’s okay to come alone and just hang out, talking about how important it is to see art in person, and providing some guidance to looking at modern and contemporary art. All of that adds up to a pretty good case for the coolness of the UMFA, and for welcoming the UMFA into your life.

Maybe you’ve noticed the tag line on our blog that reads “5000 Years of Human Creativity.” What does that mean? It means that the UMFA is home to objects from all over the world, and across human history. It means that the UMFA houses what 5000 years of cool people have been making, wearing, and thinking about. 

Cool style! Coclé, necklace with double bat effigies

The UMFA is not a static place: even if you visit regularly, something new will likely be out on view the next time you come. We are a place of change, but also a place where you can come to witness how humans have changed–or, perhaps in even more cases, remained the same– over the last 5000 years.

The UMFA is also a great place to escape a busy or hectic life: duck in alone or with a friend, come pass a little time between classes (free for students!), and let the calm air of our galleries provide a haven. Based on my experience, I’d be willing to bet that your day will instantly get better.

History is cool! vase; neolithic; 4000BCE-1500BCE

The UMFA is eager to welcome you into our galleries, and we also want you to visit for one of our outstanding events: an artist talk, an art opening, a film, a music event, or one of our many (many!) fun events that are perfect for families. It is during this time that the museum may most surprise you: the galleries are lively places of conversation and laughter, of interesting dialogue and a chance to learn something new. The stereotype of a quiet, boring museum is replaced by this active community center.

Global perspectives are cool!  Tibetan, 17th Century, Bodhisattva

If you let it, the UMFA will surprise you: we have an incredible, ever-changing collection of (5000 years of human creativity!) art on display, and there are often interactive stations and chances for visitor participation (stay tuned for our upcoming exhibition, Drawing Lab, as the perfect example of this). 

April flew by, and Museum Myth Monday is now coming to a close. I hope you’ve enjoyed this series, that maybe it’s done some good to dispel some of the myths surrounding museums. It is my belief that museums should not be intimidating places, but rather somewhere everyone feels comfortable and at home.

Tell us below: What would a perfect day at the museum look like for you?

As a complement to “Bierstadt to Warhol: American Indians in the West” the UMFA is partnering with the Utah Film Center to present three films from Native American filmmakers, whose work represents an evolution of the Native American storytelling tradition.

Tonight’s featured film is Grab. 

Wednesday, April 24, 7pm – 9pm

UMFA Katherine W. and Ezekiel R. Dumke Jr. Auditorium

The website for the film offers this synopsis:

Grab is an intimate portrait of the little-documented Grab Day in the villages of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, who annually throw water and food items from the rooftop of a home to people standing below. A community-wide prayer of abundance, thanks, and renewal, Grab Day exists at the intersection of traditional Native and contemporary Western cultures. Luther’s film, which is narrated by Parker Posey, follows three families as they prepare for the annual event, chronicling their lives for the year leading up to this day.

The joke, of course, is that these are common, safe subjects that are likely to be free of surprises and challenges. In many ways, it’s what we began with, from our earliest paintings on cave walls that featured horses, to our romantic embattled stallions; from our French allegories of ships to a rather antiquated idea of brave men. The joke is how this contrasts with where we are now as art makers, consumers, lovers: often, any where else.

One myth about museums, or about the art world, is how unapproachable modern and contemporary art can be. I’ve often felt this way, standing in front of a pile of candy or a cardboard chainsaw with the Chanel logo. I’ve thought, “Am I doing this wrong?” Thankfully, in each of those instances, there was a wonderful write-up beside the piece, and after I finished reading about it, it changed not only how I saw the piece: it changed me. Standing in front of that pile of candy, I cried.

But I’ve heard this before: wondering if you’re missing something, if you’re doing it wrong; wondering why it’s in a museum if you–or your kid– could have made it. So, for the purposes of debunking this myth, I turned to some museum staff to help us out.

I asked Annie Burbidge-Ream, our Art In A Box Coordinator, to speak about why contemporary art can sometimes seem so unapproachable:

I believe that contemporary art when taken from a traditionalist view challenges the viewer because of its lack of instant recognition and understanding as an art object. There are no longer any particular materials that are easily recognizable as being “fine” art mediums. Art is not only made from oil paint, creating a illusionistic two-dimensional picture window into a certain world. Today art can be made from a diversity of mediums from people, words, trash, multi-media installations and the internet. Even the most mundane activities like going on a walk or sitting on a chair, can be art. I think that a lot of people feel uncomfortable with contemporary art because at its very nature contemporary art is meant to challenge conventional ideas of what a work of art is.

Aeolian Processes #1; Emre Hüner

When I asked Whitney Tassie, our curator of contemporary art, this is what she had to say:

In terms of empowering viewers that may not be familiar with modern and contemporary art history, I like to reference Roland Barthe’s 1967 essay “The Death of the Author” which argues against emphasizing  the intentions and biographical context of an artist when searching for “meaning” in an artwork. He wrote that the essential meaning of a work depends on the personally informed impressions/interpretations of the viewer, rather than the objectives of the artist; “a text’s unity lies not in its origins,” or its creator, “but in its destination,” or its audience.

Jedediah Caesar
American, born 1973
“* |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ “, 2011
Remnants, urethane, pigment, stone

One of my favorite things about walking the galleries of the UMFA is that I will encounter art from many eras and countries. The UMFA has an outstanding collection of modern and contemporary art, and our galleries are always changing, which means there is often something new and exciting to see.

When speaking about the value of a museum collecting, caring for, and displaying modern and contemporary art, Burbidge-Ream said, “Not only are they important movements and practices in the history of art, but they also reflect larger cultural implications of happenings in the world at specific times. More importantly, museums are meant to be safe places to challenge and create spaces of informal learning and discussions where visitors can come and learn something new, find something they love or hate, or simply be exposed to new ideas and different modes of thinking, looking and approaching the world outside the Museum’s walls.”

Aeolian Processes #2; Emre Hüner; salt 6 exhibition at the UMFA

So, how can we look at contemporary art? To break it down simply: 1. Stop. 2. Look. 3. What do you see? 4. Why do you see that, and how do you know that’s what you see?

Burbidge-Ream, who works in our education department, offered this:

1. Be opened minded. Try to leave your preconceived notions at the door and approach a work of art willing to learn something new or see something in a new way.

2. Always work from the object. Breakdown what you see. Analyze the parts (color, light, texture, lines, space and depth, materials, movement, scale.) Don’t get too theoretical or intellectual, keep it simple when trying to interpret the art primarily, work from what you see.

3. Ask yourself what you wonder about an object. Can the object answer the question for you? If not, maybe you can do a little digging on your own. Think of yourself as an anthropologist searching and exploring for knowledge and information.

4. Have a conversation. Talk it out and have a discussion with someone. It doesn’t matter if you have a degree in art history, are a MD, or are a mom with a small child, discussion can be an important part of the art-viewing and art-enjoying process.

5. Try to have fun. People love to make art serious and staunch, intellectual and pompous. I believe art should be for everyone. Try to have fun. Find some humor in the experience. Art can be funny too!

6. If nothing else, ask yourself if you like something (judge the artwork). Strong emotions, positive or negative, are what makes art powerful.

So, tell us: how do you view modern and contemporary art?