On the plate for the final semester

Here is the rundown of my courses that started this week:

Exhibit- Plan and Interpretation: As far as workload goes, this will be a class in reverse. The exhibition that we have been working on since August goes up March 8, so our heaviest workload is right now. Once it opens we’ll have events to manage and tours to lead, but the bulk of the work will be done. There will be a bit of follow-up once it closes in April (yes, all this work for a one month show) tapering off to no work at all in May. Click here to see the press release for the show.

Modern Textiles: For our first week we visited a show at the Museum of Art and Design and talked about the questionable distinction often made between high art and craft. It seemed like a promising start. The interesting thing about this class is that our professor is the head of our rival program at NYU. That either proves that our program is superior somehow, or we are about to be majorly sabotaged.

Advanced Curatorial- Acquisition Theory and Practice: The funny thing about this class, is that it has almost nothing to do with the title. It should really be called Grab Bag of Things We Think You Should Know. That is not necessarily a bad thing. It sounds like the course was built around feedback from alums regarding knowledge and skills they wished they had acquired in grad school. The first part of the class will essentially be a crash course in Decorative Arts. The reasons being that A) Many of us will probably end up in small museums where we will be expected to manage more than textiles and clothing and B) Traditionally the study of dress has fallen under the umbrella of Decorative Arts, so future employers often expect textile people to be knowledgeable in that area as well. I think it is going to be fun. Our professor seems great and I’ve already been assigned a pink teacup to research. The dec arts portion only lasts until April, and then we get another teacher coming in to drill us on terminology that they think we should know. I’m not sure what that will be like, but I envision myself making flashcards to remember what a dolman sleeve looks like as opposed to a raglan one.

Advanced Theory- Professional Seminar: This is one I’m really excited about. Each year the class has a theme that everyone writes a paper about. Then we all present our papers at a symposium which we plan and organize. This year’s theme is “Fashion Mythbusters” –each of our papers with research and question some commonly held myth about fashion or fashion history. I will be taking on “The Hemline Index,” the supposed connection between the height of women’s skirts and the health of the economy (I can tell you right now—the theory is totally crap). Much like DDR last semester, I can sense that this is the one I will want to talk about the most.

Then, of course, I’ll be trying to fit in a much thesis work as possible. On Tuesday I went to the office of Grace Rose, John Doyle Bishop’s niece and the owner of a scrapbook full of clippings about her uncle. I had seen the scrapbook once before, but this time I confirmed that I was allowed to print the photos I found in it. So I am now officially authorized to share this with you

In case you are unclear, this is a picture of John Doyle Bishop surrounded by other pictures of John Doyle Bishop. How can you not love him??