Under the FAC

One of my personal favorite things about working in the collections is uncovering. I use the word uncovering to avoid another word that wants to fall right out of the mouth due to its fun, romantic associations; "discovery." Technically, uncovering is a synonym for discovery, but I personally feel the term "discovery" has in many ways been tainted. In particular in association with a Mr. Christopher Columbus. This association is only heightened in the context of the photograph shown below. Ute Indian Camp, Garden of the Gods, Shan Kive. By Stewart Photography. Taken 1913 We recently uncovered this photo in our flat file space, and we were immediately taken in. It is incredible to be able to look at a photograph such as this one that so clearly shows our area, Colorado Springs, in the context of 1912. The physical setting is mainly given by Colorado Springs most famous landmark shown in the background, Garden of the Gods, our unique geological relic that is ac

Life is best in threes. Three intrepid museum professionals. Three museums visited. Three hours of traffic on the way home. Three out of three stars given to a wonderful day surrounded by wonderfully insightful museum professionals that took massive chunks of time out of their days to meet with us and show us a unique peak into their everyday jobs. Taken at the Kirkland Museum Stop one out of three was the Kirkland Museum of Decorative and Fine Arts. Conveniently all of our stops were so close that not only did we not have to move the car, we didn't even have to leave the block. Taken at the Kirkland Museum. Registrar Becca Goodrum on left This is thanks to the Kirkland museums recent move. The museum only recently (as of March) reopened their doors and we were lucky to be able to experience the museum in this time of transition. The people who made our experience possible were Chris Herron, the deputy curator, and Becca Goodrum, the registrar. We went in before the o

Though fashionably late, I have decided it is time to announce my choice for my current favorite artwork on display! This is Julia Fernandez-Pol's Glacial Rain . It is an oil on canvas creation that was made in 2008.  What first attracted me to this work was the fantastical combination of vivid and subdued colors. They pulled me in. It is the complex and varied textual work, however, that creates a unique visual experience that makes you want to sit in front of the piece for hours.  This textual work is Julia Fernandez-Pol's specialty. She describes her focus as the "emerging relationships between rococo aesthetic, fetishized surface qualities and a core curiosity in nature, science, and light to result in a visceral experience." The Rococo, for our unfamiliar readers, was a period and style of art that took place in the late 18th century. It began in France and eventually spread around Europe. It was characterized by wildly ornate and lavi

Last week, on July 5th, Jeanne Steiner's block B summer weaving class popped in for a visit to the FAC to admire seven textiles from our collection. The invitation had been in place for quite a while, and over the previous couple of weeks, we were tasked with learning proper textile handling methods, investigating weaving techniques and traditions of the American Southwest, and researching specific information pertaining to the seven textiles. Upon gathering this information, we organized a presentation for Jeanne's weaving students. Earlier in the summer we had invited Jeanne to come meet with us about what she would like us to share with the class and she encouraged us to basically talk their ears off. So that's what we did. We prepared for our talkathon through a variety of processes. First, we located and pulled each individual textile to get a better sense of the pieces themselves. To gather basic details such as the textile's locality, date, collector, d