Art history majors Sarah Hixson ’18 and Rachael Schader ’19 didn’t have to wait to graduate to get firsthand art curation experience.
When more than 1,500 pieces of art were donated by the family of Florence Putterman, former professor of art, Schader and Hixson were put in charge of researching the styles of each painting and the proper way to care for and store them.
Once the pieces were properly cared for, they used an online archival system called Omeka that catalogued each piece into an online database.
“I was able to further deepen my understanding of archival processes and software, as well as the different types of prints, handling processes and regulations regarding storage and such,” says Hixson. She adds the experience will help her when she takes on another archival job at Bucknell University in spring 2018.
In addition to online archiving, Schader was in charge of organizing the prints and getting them ready for archivalstorage?
“Over the summer I spent about 150 hours organizing the prints in 20 drawers. I took each one out of the drawer, measured and photographed a print from each series,” says Schader.
Each print was catalogued in a spreadsheet, listing the size, title, number, description and damage report. Schader also wrote a brief biography aboutPutterman and a few text panels to be hung with her work.
The work was displayed at an art show in Cunningham Center for Music and Art last year. It can now be viewed in Cunningham Center for Music and Art and in Weber Chapel Auditorium.
