Gaining Perspective Behind the Scenes

Today's blog post is by our summer intern, Mary Quinn, who shares what she learned working "behind the scenes" at the Museum. 

Not many of us realize how hard it is to give someone a tour of anything, let alone an art museum. Do you know how many questions someone can ask? Of course, you can read the descriptions on the wall and watch the videos, but frankly, so can the people taking the tour. When I first started interning with the PR & Marketing Manager at the Polk Museum of Art, I greatly appreciated the tour she gave me. Having been there less than two years, she had extensive knowledge of the Museum’s permanent collections and why you should not touch or photograph art. It’s always interesting to gain inside information. I have been fortunate to have access to the Museum’s greatest resources for information -- its staff -- but I wasn’t fully prepared when my dad came to visit one day and asked me to take him on a tour of the Museum. How hard could it be, right?

 I gave him a tour of the Museum, and its exhibits at the time included Albert Paley’s exhibit Sketches & Steel. I tried to recall my first tour and all the information Sandy pumped out. In Gallery II, where all of the sculptures were white, I asked him to stand at a particular spot.

“Notice how as you look past each piece you can see the drawing just beyond it showing the same angle. When hanging this exhibit, they placed these pieces purposefully so you could see how much the sculptures look like the sketches.”

“Looks like the Beatles’ White Album,” he observed.

Of course it does, Dad.

Overall the experience was quite astounding, and I came away with a much greater appreciation for the time and energy it takes to understand an exhibit and a museum’s collections. I learned that I knew a lot more than I realized, although my tour obviously was far from perfect. However, I was able to share some of the knowledge that had been passed along to me. It felt good, if not nerve wracking, to realize how much I’d learned, and the next time I take a tour I’ll appreciate those extra tidbits of information that I might never know otherwise.