Thursday, February 25, 2010

Week 4

Exhibition Reception

The KRC hosted a reception for the community featuring the Vietnamese exhibit on Thursday, February 25.  The SunHerald covered the story, which can be viewed at their Web site:

 http://www.sunherald.com/2010/02/25/1983384/vietnamese-cultural-exhibit-opens.html.



    This week we changed out the Mardi Gras exhibit in our display space, and replaced it with the Vietnamese exhibit, which focuses on the culture of Vietnamese people who immigrated to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We had a great selection of framed photographs loaned to the KRC by the photographer, which were hung by one of the docents. I then made labels for all the photos from the artist's descriptions, printed them on clear sticky labels, cut them each out, and stuck them on the wall next to the appropriate photo. 



Framed photos in Vietnamese exhibit.




More framed photos in Vietnamese exhibit.




More framed photos in Vietnamese exhibit.




Sample of photo labels.




Center table display in Vietnamese exhibit.



I created a display using some of the items from her collection in a smaller display case . This case featured a Vietnamese woman who was featured on a cover of National Geographic as a small girl in a Tet celebration in Biloxi, MS, and a follow-up article on the same girl written by the Sun Herald newspaper. We scanned the original cover of the National Geographic and printed a color copy of it, then mounted in on black foam core for display. The original National Geographic was then opened to the article associated with the cover and displayed. I then typed up a text description of the display, printed it on card stock, mounted it on black foam core, and displayed it in front of the article and photos. ( Shugana had to pin the T-shirts to the wall above the case, since I was a bit too short to reach. :) )




Text description of display.





Small glass display case of Vietnamese girl on National Geographic cover.





Small glass display case featuring Vietnamese girl on cover of National Geographic.




We were also fortunate to have a collection of Vietnamese artifacts and memorabilia loaned to us by Linda Van Zandt, from USM's Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage, who shared her personal collection with us for display. The collection included photos, shoes, parasols, postcards, figurines, pottery, paper lanterns, and various other souverniers from her trip. I created a display of these items in one of our large glass display cases.




Large glass display case featuring items from the Vietnamese collection of Linda Van Zandt.





Top shelf of large glass case featuring Van Zandt Vietnamese collection. Overhead skylight created interesting reflections in bottom half of photo.




Top shelf of case in Vietnamese display.






Top shelf of Vietnamese large glass display case.




Vertical shot of three shelves in large glass display case.




Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Week 3

Our major project for this week was to replace the Shrimp Industry exhibit (in the KRC area that we put up that is displayed as part of the Smithosonian section of the Journey Stories exhibit) with the Mardi Gras exhibit. When I arrived on Monday, the Shrimp industry had already been taken down, and Dr. Nuwer had started on the Mardi Gras exhibit. 
I trimmed and adhered photos to black foam core to display, and assisted Shugana with placement in the exhibit. I also pulled several books from the library collection and displayed them on the center table.  Also, I researched the history of Mardi Gras as a holiday, and then the history of the Mardi Gras Indians, and wrote text for the exhibit which I then trimmed and mounted on foam core to display in the exhibit, as well.
On Tuesday, I researched addresses for supporters of the KRC so that thank you letters could be sent out.
I then spent time reviewing archiving techniques and principles using a CD supplied by Shugana.



Front entrance to Mardi Gras exhibit.




Right side wall of Mardi Gras exhibit.



Photo of Mardi Gras Indian in Mardi Gras exhibit.