As promised, pictures of me painting in oompa loompa gettup:

 The walls look pretty now in all white, though!


In other news, my birthday was a few weeks ago. In related news, Jacob has become aware of my obsession with Thor (so gorgeous).  The result of these two statements is below:

Yes. He will be going up on a wall in my apartment when I get back to Colorado, and maybe eventually in my own office whenever I get a full-time job!  

In an exhibit related comment: this particular poster was the inspiration for the final text panel I designed on my own the first week here.  So to be given a copy of the same poster was also an awesome reminder of my work thus far at the museum!  I am very excited about this exhibit, and I hope every can take time to see it this fall and winter.  The exhibit Up, Up, & Away opens October 20.  

Good Morning! I just downloaded new pictures from the past few weeks. The pictures are from the Up, Up, & Away exhibit as we construct the layout and build cases. This was the week I learned how to use power tools!!! (I am very excited about this if you can't tell.)

First project of the week was to construct walls. Why are we constructing walls, you may ask. Well, each exhibit that goes into the changing gallery has a different layout. In order to change the layout we have to tear down or construct walls. In fact, many of the walls in the galleries are temporary walls. Now I have constructed some walls before, but usually with the help of several guys. So Jacob was kind enough to let me construct two walls with little to no help from him.
Here are pictures of the first wall I built:

This first wall, and the second wall you see below all had to be anchored into the wall. We do this by screwing it into the wall.  For the first wall we did not have to put weights on it to weigh it down because of the weight of the wall it is attached to.  The second wall, however had to have that small piece attached to it to help it stand up straight, and then weights were added later to anchor it.  

The third week, was the actual painting of the walls.  I had an awesome time walking around barefoot (in the gallery only) so I was sure not to track paint onto the carpet.  I also got to wear a painting outfit to keep paint off my clothes.  The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie kept going through my head, and I was singing Oompa Loompa Dobidoo all day.  The staff had a great kick out of it.    Here is a rather rough pictures from that.  I will attach the oompa loompa gettup picture in a little while.  

With the gallery walls built and painted, it was time to move onto building cases.  We bought MDF (medium density fiber) to cut and stain as the backing to the cases.  This particular task introduced the most terrifying power tool in the shop: the table saw (dah dah dum).  After a non-to-brief safety lesson in which many horror stories were told, I decided to either stand on the other side of the room while the saw is being operated or to help move the MDF through the saw but from a distance (MDF is very heavy and very big, so it was a two person job).  Maybe one day I will build up the courage to use the table saw, it just probably won't be this summer.  

Below is a picture of the case backings after the cutting process was complete. 

Ok that is enough writing for this post! The blog is now up to date, and I will explain more about the case construction we are doing this week in my next post!  Have a great day everyone!!

-Christina

Hello HMOM Intern Diaries readers!

I am glad you have returned to read up on all the exciting things going on at the museum.  Since I am having to play a little catch up, this particular post about my first week of work which was the first week of June.

That week was a particularly exciting week as I was reintroduced into museum work at HMOM.  One of the first things I got to learn was something I have never done before, graphics.  The main exhibit I am working on is Up, Up, & Away, opening up in October. (It is going to be awesome, be sure to check it out!)  The highlight in this learning experience was when Jacob (our Curator of Exhibits) gave me a blank slate and told me to develop the final text panel.  It was so exciting!  It took about two days because I had only been introduced to Photoshop the day before.  But the final text panel is now done, and I believe it compliments the rest of the objects on the wall very nicely.

Sorry, but no more details about the graphics, you will have to come see the exhibit to see it.  But I promise it will be worth it!

-Christina

Hello!  My name is Christina and I am the exhibits intern for the summer of 2012 at the History Museum of Mobile (HMOM).  I will be posting about my adventures as an intern at least once a week throughout the summer.  The intent of this blog is to give everyone a look into the exciting things that go on at HMOM on a regular basis, and into what I do as an intern.
I have been working at HMOM since the beginning of June, so I will post a few this week to catch up for missed time.  But for now I will let you know a little about me!

I am originally from the Eastern Shore and went to the University of Alabama for undergrad.  I am now a double masters candidate at the University of Colorado at Boulder.  In August I will start my final semester in the History Department where I have a focus on Tudor and Stuart England, but with various research interests in the Atlantic World and conquest histories in the Caribbean.  This August will also start my final year in my second masters program, Museum and Field Studies with a concentration in Exhibit Development.
Yes, I know. I am a glutton for punishment.  But I absolutely LOVE what I do! I am getting both Masters degrees because I love the research I do in history, but also enjoy the project and people aspect of exhibits. I originally volunteered at HMOM back in the summer of 2007, and got my first look at exhibits.  I shadowed all of the curators at the museum, but exhibits spoke to me the most. The experience at HMOM and a later internship at the Handel House Museum in London, UK, directly influenced my decision to get a second masters in museum studies. I stayed in contact with Jacob, the Curator of Exhibits throughout the rest of undergrad and into grad school. When it came time to complete my required summer internship for my program, I talked through several options I was pursuing with Jacob, but eventually settled on HMOM as the best place to get the most out of my internship.

With my background, I am styling myself as an exhibit developer.  This includes research, writing, and outlining the storyline and flow of an exhibit.  Basically everything but the actual design and art portion of the exhibit, which is exactly what I am seeking to learn during this internship! So be warned, I will be learning about all the fun stuff, Photoshop, building, painting, designing, and -my favorite part- power tools!! And I will be blogging about all of this (with lots of pictures of course!).

So stay tuned for exciting updates on what I have been up to thus far!
 (and I promise this will be the longest post)

 Me at Disneyland this past Christmas

-Christina