Beltane                                                                 Beltane Moon

Bees in the am.  Art in the pm.  Part of a small group of docents:  Allison, Jane, Wendy, Ginny, Carreen and myself (all class of 2005) who visited with David Little for an hour or so about the Sports Show.

This particular group is not shy in presenting their perspectives, so it was a lively time.  Carreen observed that many, most, take photographs for granted, as images that come into being perhaps with no intervening action, like parthenogenesis.  It’s important, then, that their be guides, docents, to help tease out the work of photography, to appreciate the choices made and the quality of the image achieved.

Allison brought us all together and offered stories of her tours like the guy who pointed out his company’s box seats visible on the first ever cover of Sports Illustrated.  Jane remembered a woman at the YA Tittle photograph who said, “Oh.  Big John! I delivered mail to him for ten years.”

Ginny talked about the OJ piece, how much she enjoyed showing it and the controversy it engendered.  I’m not remembering right now what Wendy said, but it will reappear at some point.

That this is an MIA mounted exhibition is important to the museum’s overall visibility, especially among other museums.  It’s content and it’s catalog should keep it in the public eye a long while, perhaps even increasing its visibility as time goes on.

The p.r., which included Time Magazine with single issue sales around 28000000 and TV exposure on all broadcast channels here and even more uniquely on their sports shows, also broadened the reach of the museum as a cultural institution in the nation.

Having a sit down with a curator after a show has never happened in my time at the museum and I feel confident it never happened before my time either.  Allison just asked.  It was a privilege to peak behind the scenes of curatorial thinking about an exhibition.  And fun, too.