Museum Display: Beauty
Research Project, Anth 2A Fall 2010
200 points
PHASE 1 (50pts)
The Display: Choose your Objects
Objects tell stories
Each of us owns treasured mementos that hold little meaning or appeal for other people. These objects help us remember significant
events and serve as symbols of personal or family milestones. The goal of this activity is to gain an understanding of how individual
experience influences the way we view the world. It also provides a forum for discussion about the value of diversity and of our capacity
to change.
Consider the emotional undertones of the word beautiful. An object that has personal or sentimental value may be “beautiful” to its
owner, even though someone else might consider it odd, unusual, or ugly. You will be asked to create a small museum display of an
object that you consider “beautiful” because of its connection to an idea, event, or person important to you. Your display must contain a
collection of at least three objects. Your may have a single, focal object, with smaller explaining objects, or a collection of small items,
all equally pertinent to your idea of beauty. Individual displays will be graded on how well your beauty concept comes through in the
arrangement of your objects, and the clarity/professionalism of your label. Please create a label that includes your name, and the name of
your object only. Further explanation of your display concept is for your Brochure to present. Your display must fit into an area that is:
7” wide, by 7” high, by 8” long.
Each 7”x7”x8” display will be assigned a place inside one of our two large classroom cases. On the class day after the displays are due,
you will tour the exhibit and take notes describing your gut reactions or first impressions of each object. Try to remain respectful, as if
you were in a real museum gallery. Owners should not explain their objects, and observers should not comment aloud.
During the next class day, you will be asked to explain the significance of your object by giving a brief 1-2 minute overview to the class
using your brochure as a guide. You may invite classmates to ask questions about each object and the story behind it. After the
individual presentations, you will be asked to form a group with other students to think about each other’s displays in regards to the
information you’ve just heard. Has your idea of this object’s beauty changed? How so?
PHASE 2 (50pts)
Educational Material: Brochure
A brochure provides the museum visitor with an overview of the display/collection while providing details and background information
that may not be noticed upon a visual examination of the object(s). For this phase, please create a museum brochure (leaflet/booklet/minicatalogue) that includes the following information:
-4 pages of text/publication materials (8.5x11 paper folded in thirds –demonstration to follow in class along with sample brochures)
-Image or sketch of your objects
-An overview of your object collection: What are they and why do you consider these objects beautiful?
-Background of the collection: The relevance of the collection as a whole. Why are they together? What is their relationship?
-Things an observer may not initially notice about your objects.
-Dates, provenance of your materials. How old are your objects? Where are they originally from and where have they been before they
came to you?
-How much, in 7 inches and a brochure, can you make your objects relevant to an outside observer? Why is this important? Why should
other people care?
PHASE 3 (100pts)
Research Paper: Comparison at a Local Museum
The final phase requires you to go to a Bay Area museum and look for an object (this can be a modern art piece or a historical artifact)
that, like your own museum piece, would have been considered beautiful to the person by whom it was owned or created. This paper
requires a Title page, 4 pages of writing, and a bibliography. Please see “A Beautiful Find” handout for full details.
Extra Credit (15pts)
On the day of the museum display party, you have the option of giving an extra credit presentation (5-10 minutes max!) on your museum
visit, and how it compares to your own classroom display. You could use visual art, poetry, storytelling, dance, food!, or other media to
illustrate the events and feelings associated with both your own, and your discovered objects. If you would like to give a presentation,
please notify me in advance, as your presentation will need to be slotted in on the schedule.
Research Project, Anth 2A
Phase III
A Beautiful Find
You are a Cultural Anthropologist
In pursuit of a rare, and very personal object, considered beautiful to the individual to whom it belonged. Your journey has taken you
worldwide through the museums of Europe, the Middle East, South America, Oceania, Africa, and even the Arctic, but your quest
remains fruitless. Finally, you try your luck in California’s Bay Area, home to a range of unique and fascinating museums. It is here,
while wandering through galleries laden with the personal items, artwork, and statues of cultures both living and dead,
you find it.
The clock is ticking, you only have a few hours before your plane leaves for home, and you must gather your information quickly. You
may never see the artifact again. In your haste, you create a brief report on the artifact’s whereabouts and its significance to the ancient
culture from which it came.
Choose the artifact you seek
On your title page: Along with your name and the title of your report, please provide the object’s identification number and name (if it is
an artifact) or title (if it is an art piece), the name of the gallery/room/display area, and the name of the Museum in which it was found.
Your object must relate to your own personal museum display piece(s). How it relates, is up to your report to provide.
Guidelines
1 title page
4 pages of writing
1 page bibliography
12-point font, double-spaced
In your report, record as much information about your object as possible. Let the below questions guide you in your musings.
Break it down as follows:
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Introduction
o Why were you seeking this particular object? Here is where you tell why this object compares to your own personal museum
display piece(s).
Body Paragraphs
o Who was the object’s owner/creator?
o Why was this object located in this particular gallery?
o Why was this object considered beautiful to its maker/owner/culture?
o Would this be considered an art piece in the culture it came from?
o Is this object a piece of religious or spiritual paraphernalia?
o By whom and how was your artifact used? Can you tell the rank or status of the owner from the object or its description?
Does this object indicate someone who was part of a specific age grade or class?
o What time period does this object come from and what was going at that time? What was the political situation like? Can
you tell if this object came from a Band, Tribe, Chiefdom or State society?
o Would it have been used in a form of reciprocity?
o Do you think this object was owned by a forager? A horticulturalist? Or perhaps someone who was part of a highly
advanced agricultural society? Why?
o Did this object belong to a family? A kin group? Was this object passed down through generations of family members?
o Does this object relate to language?
o What does this object say about the social position, gender, and/or personality of the individual who owned it?
Conclusion
o Does this object hold a lasting idea of beauty? Are there variations of this object in our modern world? Has it influenced
our thoughts, ideas, morals, values, commercial products, governmental structures, social practices? Can it be found in our
movies? Can you find it on the labels of popular products? Do we use it, or things influenced by it in our daily lives?
Bibliography
o Where did you get your info? (Cite case labels, gallery guides, audio information, docent interviews, books, magazines,
journals, etc.).
Bay Area Museums
For a comprehensive listing, check out SFSU’s list of Local Museums here:
http://www.sfsu.edu/~museumst/?q=node/68
Some examples:
San Francisco
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
California Academy of Sciences
California Palace of the Legion of Honor
Cartoon Art Museum
Contemporary Jewish Museum
De Young Museum
Exploratorium
El Museo Mexicano
Museum of Craft and Folk Art
Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD)
National Japanese American Historical Society
San Francisco Airport Museums
San Francisco Cable Car Museum
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
East Bay
CSU East Bay Art Gallery
Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA)
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, UC Berkeley
North Bay
Marin Museum of the American Indian
Napa Valley Museum
Sonoma County Museum
Peninsula/South Bay
Art Gallery at San Jose State University
Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University
Computer History Museum
Hiller Aviation Museum
Los Altos History Museum
Montalvo Arts Center
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
San Jose Museum of Art (SJMA)
San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles
Santa Cruz Surfing Museum
The Tech Museum