Opening Week!

Finally, my class exhibition—which we have been toiling over since August—opened this past week. Since most of you won’t be able to see it, I feel I should avoid waxing rhapsodic about how wonderful it is, but I have to admit it is a pretty good show. Because I wasn’t one of the curators (or even someone with one of the larger jobs) I assumed I wouldn’t feel that emotionally attached to it, but the experience of seeing it complete has been almost magical.

To top it all off, the response we have gotten has been overwhelming. The museum staff they had never seen so many members of the press show up for a preview of a student show, and when the doors opened to the public there were people outside waiting eagerly. By Thursday all the gallery guides we had printed had disappeared, and every day we get an e-mail about the show being mentioned in another blog or magazine.

The opening reception for friends and family was fun, but the press preview was more exciting for me. Basically, members of the press checked in at a table and then were free to walk through on their own, get a tour or interview with the curators, and take photos or videos of the gallery. There were several people from the Museum as well as the media office for the college, but I was one of only four from my class. The curators were there, of course, and then otherwise it was just me and the project manager. As I mentioned, the turnout from was really good. I don’t think the curators ever got a break from interviews, and at one point there was a line of people waiting to talk to them. As a result I ended up answering a lot of questions and even gave a short tour to a woman from Forbes.

My big moment came with a news crew from China (we have gotten a lot of international coverage—don’t ask me why). They filmed an interview with the curators and then I ended up chatting with one of the reporters about the project. They hadn’t understood that there were many people working on the exhibition, and were fascinated by what I told them about the process. Eventually she turned to me and said, “we want to film you saying this.” So before I knew it I had a microphone clipped to my dress and a camera pointed at me. I think I spoke relatively intelligently, but I can’t be sure. Once I was done they wanted some background shots so they asked me to walk slowing down the hallway and look like I was looking at the exhibition. Then they had me talk to one of my classmates and point at things on the wall. I’m pretty sure that is the part that will be embarrassing when I finally see the video. They promised to send me a link when it is finally posted, so we call all look forward to that.