WORKSHOPS AT MPMA'S 2010 CONFERENCE

Workshops are held Monday and Tuesday during the conference. 

To register:  Download program and fill out registration form.

Scroll down for complete descriptions and presenter names

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Monday, September 13, 2010

1. Cleaning Museum Artifacts - all day
2. Research Techniques - afternoon
3. Your Vision - Your Exhibits - afternoon

Tuesday, September 14, 2010
4. The Exhibition that Keeps on Giving - morning CANCELLED
5. Carving the Future for Area Teachers - morning
6. Interpretive Writing - morning
7 Insurance 101: Protecting Your Collection - morning
8. Can't you get a Volunteer to Help? - morning
9. Inexpensive, Quick Custom-Made Mannequins - morning
 

Full Workshop Descriptions

Monday, September 13, 2010


Full-Day Workshop 9:00 am – 4:00 pm


W1 Cleaning Museum Artifacts: What’s Right and What’s Wrong?
This workshop is designed for collections staff from any type of museum with little or no formal conservation training but
who are often faced with “sprucing up” collection artifacts  for storage or exhibition purposes. The workshop will include
a PowerPoint lecture, discussion and hands-on demonstrations of assessing different types of artifacts for the potential of
simple cleaning, followed by a discussion of the use of common commercial cleaning products that can be harmful to artifact materials. A variety of safe (and often inexpensive) cleaning products ranging from simple pure solvents to microcrystalline waxes, etc. will then be introduced through hands-on demonstrations. Participants will come away knowing when simple cleaning procedures may be used and when a professional conservator needs to be called. A notebook of technical leaflets with recipes and directions for the use of safe cleaning agents will be provided for each participant. Lunch on your own. *The discounted cost of this workshop is a one-time special offer for MPMA delegates.

Presenters: Elisa Redman, Associate Director of Preservation Services, and Neil C. Cockerline, Director of Preservation
Services, Midwest Art Conservation Center, Minneapolis, MN

Half-Day Workshops 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

W2 Keeping the Lifeblood Flowing: Research and Research Techniques in Museums
If your museum doesn’t do research, it’s as good as dead. Research is critical to a museum’s basic operations, ranging
from exhibits and public programs to collections management. Yet many museums neglect this most important
component of their operation. This workshop will demonstrate how research can be a justifiable part of every
museum’s operation as well as show how it can be specifically applied to programs, exhibits and collections management.
It will include techniques for object research as well as tips for research in general. The presenters will each bring their
unique perspectives on doing research in various aspects of museum operations and at a diversity of museum sizes.

Chair: Steve Friesen, Director, Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave, Golden, CO
Presenters: Elisa Phelps, Director of Collections and Library Division, Colorado Historical Society, Denver, CO; Peggy
Schaller, President, Collections Research for Museum, Denver, CO; Henry Crawford, Curator of History, Museum
of Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

W3 Your Vision – Your Exhibits
This fun, hands-on workshop provides a rare opportunity to interpret and design an exhibit for your own museum or
cultural center. Learn about the design process from concept to completion and come away with an understanding of how
community partnerships and involvement can enrich the integrated design process.

Presenters: Bianca Message, President, and Amy Willson, Designer, André & Associates Interpretation & Design Ltd.,
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Half-Day Workshops 8:00 am – 11:00 am

W4 The Exhibition that Keeps on Giving
Extend the reach of your exhibitions into your community and in other museums. If your visitors love it, then run with it in new and various ways. Make the exhibit research, planning, programming and implementation available in numerous forms,
both physical and digital. Then market these elements using the new media. You’ll create new audiences as you reach for “infinity and beyond.” Together, we will think through how some of the tools we all have can be refocused to squeeze more value out of our creative work. You may bring exhibit information to be used in activities. Please consider
ahead of time an exhibition developed by your institution that was either enormously successful and popular with visitors OR one you feel could have been so with some tweaking. By the end of the workshop, you will have an outline of development
steps to take back to your museum. Bring your wireless laptop and work as we go.

Presenters: Maureen Ose, Communications Coordinator, International Quilt Study Center & Museum, Lincoln, NE; Marin Hanson, Curator of Exhibitions, International Quilt Study Center & Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE

W5 Carving the Future for Area Teachers
Informal educators provide quality curriculum based activities for students and for teachers. As education standards evolve and changes are made, teachers find themselves looking for Continuing Professional Development credits. Learn how to become a certified provider of continuing professional credits for teachers in your area.

Chair: Susan Rowe, Education Program Manager, Lubbock Lake Landmark/ Museum of Texas Tech
University, Lubbock TX

Presenters: Anne Lewis, Non-Point Source Pollution Information & Education Project Coordinator, South Dakota Discovery Center & Aquarium, Pierre, SD; Emily Arellano, Manager, Education Programs, National Ranching Heritage
Center, Lubbock, TX

W6 Interpretive Writing
This workshop features the tenets of interpretive writing as they apply to museums. The basics of writing are presented through advanced concepts, and all within a fun learning environment. Participants will learn how to create clear, dynamic
and concise texts that can reveal meanings and provoke visitors to care about resources. Through interactive activities, participants will develop new skills, be challenged to write about an artifact and will learn how to deliver compelling messages.

Presenter: Dr. Alan Leftridge, Writing Consultant, National Association for Interpretation, Swan Valley, MT

W7 Insurance 101: Protecting your Collection
This workshop is designed to offer participants all of the resources and materials they need to understand and implement all types and levels of museum insurance. Topics covered include what to insure, policy exclusions and conditions, insuring loans, deductibles, certificates of insurance, bidding, terms and claims. Discussion will include some of the more “exotic” coverages including terrorism and earthquakes. Handouts and other materials will be provided.

Chair: Victoria France, Managing Director, Fine Art Division, Robertson Taylor Insurance Brokers, Sherman Oaks, CA

Presenters: Mark Janzen, Registrar/ Collections Manager, Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita KS; Pat Roath, Registrar /Collections Manager, Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, MT

W8 “Can’t You Get a Volunteer to Help with That?” Ideas for Improving Your Volunteer and Internship Programs
What can make your volunteer/intern program satisfying and beneficial for staff, volunteers and interns? How can the quality of your volunteer/intern training program be improved? Do you have a volunteer/intern training program? This workshop will
summarize best practices for these programs and provide the tools for participants to figure out how to improve their own volunteer and intern programs. Participants will also receive samples of useful orientation, training and administrative materials that they can take home.

Presenter: Marne Bariso, Volunteer and Intern Coordinator, Chicago History Museum, Chicago, IL


W9 Inexpensive, Quick, Easy-to- Make, Reusable, Artifact- Friendly, Custom-Made Mannequins
Historic clothing requires properly sized mannequins to achieve the appropriate look while supporting the garment. Here’s the rub: commercial store mannequins are often the wrong size, shape and material; purchased, custom-made mannequins are expensive; and most museum-made mannequins require time and talent to create. Solution for those doing an exhibit with a tight budget and schedule: the pole mannequin. This mannequin is easily made from everyday materials that your museum may have and/or can purchase at local hardware and fabric/craft stores. Participants will make a scaled mock-up of a mannequin to take home.

Presenters: Jenny Yearous, Curator of Collections Management, and Bryan Turnbow, Preparator, State Historical Society
of North Dakota, Bismarck, ND

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