From the Fort Wayne Museum of Art
Looking at, Talking about, and Appreciating Art
On August 24 Amanda Shepard, FWMoA COO, was privileged to judge the purchase prizes for the Kekionga Plein Air Paint Out. Though we all make private judgements of art, the stakes go up when we in the art world must select public winners from a group of highly competent artists. But who is Amanda to judge? Find out why she picked what she did, and the methods she taps into for coming to her conclusions in this "Reality Check".
Today marks the 50th anniversary of NASA's Apollo 11 lunar landing team returning to Earth. Wait, what does that have to do with art? Find out as Alyssa Dumire take us through some of her favorite pieces of space art that help us interpret these significant historical moments, even years after they've happened.
Does it ever strike you that two words, similar as they are, can have strikingly different meanings? When it comes to art, words that are commonly used interchangeably to describe creative work can actually bring us to a fork in the road on the path to meaning. Read on to spend a little time in the geeky world of art words.
Suzanne Slick discusses the world of forgery! Museums, not just those that house art, have to be extremely careful when acquiring new works to ensure they are authentic. Read on as Sue discusses what methods people use to trick collectors and how we can determine if a work is the "real thing" or not.
We asked our education intern, Laura Heirigs, to weigh in on a news story that had caught our eye, a competition in Switzerland to have a Picasso in your house for one day. Read on to get her thoughts on art and where it belongs: in our homes or in museums.
Why aren't all the museum galleries open when I visit? Why do museum galleries have to close for installation? Vice President and COO Amanda Shepard walks us through a vital museum operation, installing new exhibits, and the normal people who make it happen, without the help of museum elves.
Slow Art Day is this Saturday! You're probably thinking, what is Slow Art Day? Slow Art Day is when we challenge museum visitors to look at five pieces of artwork for 10 minutes each. Read on to see what Katy Thompson thought about as she looked at three of our pieces for 10 minutes as a preview to the big event this weekend!
After learning what Amanda Shepard "does" at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art as our Vice President and COO, she now follows up with the answer to the question she hears the most: Where do you get the art that you display?
When people learn we work in a museum, the first question we often get asked is "What do you do all day? Do you just get to stare at art?". The follow-up question is, usually, "Wait, do you get to touch the art?". It often comes as a surprise, therefore, when they learn that many museum jobs do not include handling objects at all! Therefore, I sat down with Amanda Shepard, our Vice President and COO, to talk about her background, what her job entails, and if she is ever disappointed that she doesn't get to touch the art.
In my role at FWMoA, I’m lucky enough to be inextricably linked to all our social media accounts, so every little thing people say about us is conveniently delivered to my inbox. Most reviews are positive, accurate, and heartwarming. Some stretch the truth, and others inspire my blog posts. A common set of complaints seem to bubble to the surface of our negative reviews: “It’s not as big as I thought it would be;” “There’s not enough to see;” “There were no famous artists like Degas or Renoir;” “It’s not like Chicago or Los Angeles.” Read on to see how our museum compares to others and what makes our collection unique.