MOA Brigham Young University The Museum of Art is a place where the heart and mind are brought together to seek knowledge and values, self affirmation and spiritual understanding. We hope your experience in the Museum will nurture a more reflective mind, a capacity for deeper inquiry, a stronger commitment to excellence and integrity, and heightened appreciation for others and their ideas. 1
My STEINHILBER Semester & Curatorial Internship I had the privilege of being Jeff Lambson s intern for the Fall Semester here at the MOA. Unfamiliar with contemporary art at the beginning of this semester, I had personal shutters, blinds, and windows closed tight, hiding contemporary art behind them. However, now I have sprung open the shutters and pulled up the blinds, and have personally opened up to an entire world of art that I discovered I greatly enjoy. I feel especially lucky to have been able to work under the creative and artistic mind of Jeff Lambson and take part in the memorable installation process of the Dan Steinhilber exhibition. Jeff has been extremely kind, encouraging, and a very delightful person to work under. Jeff was extremely inclusive and invited me to take part in many different levels of the process the curator has to go through in preparation for the installation with a contemporary artist. I enjoyed sitting in on meetings with various people in the arts community, collaboration meetings, and marketing meetings. I was able to do some research for a few other up and coming artists, as well as for the Dan Steinhilber exhibition and really grew to enjoy learning about the meaning and messages contemporary artists have to offer. Obviously focusing on the Dan Steinhilber exhibit, I was able to glean from Jeff s expertise and learn a great deal about the many pieces of art that created the exhibit. The weeks of installation for Steinhilber will be remembered as one of the most supreme highlights of my entire university experience here at BYU. The overall experience surpassed my highest expectations. I was delighted to work with the artist himself and help in whatever capacity was needed. I organized the student volunteer schedule for the week of installation and was able to personally come in to the MOA and help with the installation of each art piece. I enjoyed the hands-on experience and learning how an installation takes place. I discovered a new inspired joy in the installation and fabrication of artists work and the conceptual energy that fuels the creation process of each piece. As much as I have enjoyed the curatorial aspects of the museum experience, I found a new love in the artistic work of installation. I am grateful I had the opportunity to learn about various areas of museum operations. With this internship, I have learned that the entire success of a museum and its exhibitions relies on solid, supportive, collaborative teamwork. It was inspiring to see the teamwork of the MOA s staff in action and the skills from all different departments that are put into an exhibition. With the Steinhilber show open, and the semester coming to an end, I consider myself one of the luckiest interns here at the MOA. Now I only wish the internship was longer than one semester. Thanks to this experience, I have been inspired to seek out other internship opportunities that will hopefully continue to lead me to some form of a career within an art museum. I have made a commitment with myself to go forward from this museum experience and continue learning. I hope I have contributed positively as my position as an intern and again thank the MOA and Jeff Lambson for giving me this most beautiful masterpiece of an experience. 2
ARTICLE FOR MOA Magazine Generic plastic tarps, styrofoam peanuts, kitchen trash bags, and dry cleaning coat hangers are all mundane, ordinary objects we are exposed to in our modern lifestyles of consumption. We often use a plethora of prefabricated, materialistic objects on a daily basis and find no real value or additional purpose for their existence. Yet the artistic and distinctive work of contemporary artist Dan Steinhilber, utilizes such materials to create contemplative and visually appealing creations of art that examine life, nature, society, and our ever present obsession with consumerism. Steinhilber s large format sculptures and intuitive installations inherently express the natural essence of a simple object. From a stack of plastic boxes, to an intertwined entanglement of random balloons, Steinhilber does not manipulate the medium to something it is not meant to do. Rather, he takes advantage of the natural properties and beautifully illuminates the overly under appreciated qualities we too often title useless. In Steinhilber s own words, I am trying to adulterate the pure form to open it to the richness of real life. I let what I am working with say what it wants to. Beginning in the 1990 s, Steinhilber began his journey through art as a painter of landscapes, then on to sculpture and installations. Moving to Washington, D.C. in 2000, his attention shifted to urban landscapes, and he became disgusted with the quantity of mass produced consumer goods. This influenced him to include in his artistic palette a variety of non-traditional materials acquired by the surplus of our current lifestyles. Featured at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Steinhilber s first solo exhibition, "Directions", debuted with displays of his trash bag chandeliers and a captivating sculpture of delicately dangling coat hangers. His work continues to be displayed in their permanent collection. In 2006, Steinhilber exhibited his work of dancing styrofoam packing peanuts choreographed by industrial fans and leaf blowers at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston and created a sitespecific installation with an ocean of blue plastic tarps at The Mattress Factory, in Pittsburgh. Rising in popularity and prestige amongst current contemporary artists, as well as becoming a greatly desired artist of prominent private collections, we are lucky to have Dan Steinhilber s works integrated into our exhibitions at the Museum of Art. Expanding upon the Museum s current Turning Point exhibit, which features the work of Steinhilber s wife, Maggie Michaels, his contemporary installation exhibition will illustrate how artists are currently influenced by modernist style in a contemporary context. The exhibition will display works directly borrowed or personally created on-site by Steinhilber, and will feature one to two new designs specifically for Brigham Young University s Museum of Art. This unique and historical exhibition at the MOA will be on view in the Conway A. Ashton & Carl E. Jackman Gallery on the Museum s lower level beginning in December 2008. - S. Langford 3
Sample Student Work Student Volunteer Coordinator Email Invitation Volunteer Schedule 4
EMAIL INVITATION TO STUDENT VOLUNTEERS DAN STEINHILBER VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY Next week, Dan Steinhilber will be creating his installations for the MOA. We are looking for committed volunteers who would like to partake of this artistic opportunity to help Dan and create, install, design, glue, tape, staple...etc. You have been invited to volunteer by Jeff Lambson, curator of Contemporary Art at the MOA and we hope you accept this exciting & fun opportunity. We need volunteers to commit to a minimum of at least two 4 hour blocks of time, next week between Monday 11/17 and Friday 11/21. If you can commit to more - even better! If you can only commit to 3 hours let me know and we will find a place to use whatever time you can offer. We will be working in the gallery from 9am to 6pm and taking a break around lunch time (at noon or 1:00pm). I am Jeff's intern at the MOA and will be coordinating the schedule of volunteers so we make sure we have enough help spread throughout the week. Please email me or call me with the time frame you will be willing to volunteer for and the hours you would like to come be creative by this Saturday morning! I've included some photos of the installations we will be creating! This is going to be great! Thanks so much & look forward to working with all of you next week. Sarah Langford (916) 616-2862 5
STEINHILBER INSTALLATION STUDENT VOLUNTEER SCHEDULE & CONTACT Monday Tuesday Wed Thursday Friday 9:00 am Meeting STEINHILBER Alison Sligting 3-6pm Ryan, Beccy, 9 1pm Marcie Ward 10:30 2:30 Brandon Bolton 1 6pm Alison Sligting 1 5pm Ashley Anderson 2-5:30pm Meredith Winter 9 1pm Emily Fox 12:00-4pm Brandon Bolton 1-6pm Ashley Anderson 2 5:30pm Ryan & Beccy 9 1pm Marcie Ward 10:30 2:30 Ashley Anderson 1 5pm Meredith 1:30 6pm Sarah Langford 9 12pm Marcie Ward 10:30 2:30 Alison Sligting 1 4pm Ashley Anderson 1 5pm Sarah Langford: Contemporary Art Intern Artist Assistant & Student Volunteer Coordinator (916) 616-2862 sarahinitaly@gmail.com Student Volunteer Contact Information Meredith Winter: mcarlile12@yahoo.com Ashley Anderson: ashleyuno@mac.com Allison Sligting allisoniebalogne@hotmail.com Jason Metcalf: jasonmetcalf.art@gmail.com Lindsey Christensen: lindseyannchristensen@gmail.com Chris purdie : chrisdpurdie@hotmail.com Ryan and Becca Neely @ Mode Boutique: www.modeboutique.net John Stephenson: johnstephenson3@gmail.com Aundrea Frahm: drea12smile@gmail.com Hannah Carr: ukhannahuk@hotmail.com *** Please contact Sarah Langford if you are unable to come in or need to make a change in the schedule. We are so grateful for your willingness to come into the MOA and help! Thanks! 6
Photo Documentation of Installation 7
Letters of Recommendation 8