By Morgan Coffman

By this point, class is now officially over. It’s been a long semester with many hurdles along the way, but the end products that everyone has been producing have been well worth the trouble. It’s been very exciting to see everyone’s finished products, and the last class brought with it the last few satellite display presentations. 

Danielle Dukes and Abigail Zepick present their team’s proposal for a Satellite Display at University Library

These presentations were those that are going to be featured on campus, located at the Ruth Lilly Law Library, the University Library, the Campus Center, and Cavanaugh Hall. As part of our curatorial process, we invited some stakeholders from these areas, notably representatives  from the Law Library and the University Library. Our classmate Bryn also wore a special hat, in their capacity as the curator for the Cultural Arts Gallery in the Campus Center. The feedback from these guests was very valuable for the insight they provided into the structure and feasibility of their spaces.

It was especially interesting to see the different ways that these groups utilized their spaces to create an exhibit that would interest and engage fellow IUPUI students, such as the choice by the Law Library group to feature objects and stories related to the law. Because these exhibits are so close to home, I’m looking forward to seeing them in person next semester when they finally go up. 

Dražen, Olinka, and Charlotte, who joined us by Zoom, also provided feedback on the Satellite Display proposals. After the presentations, we additionally discussed the layout of the exhibit at Herron Galleries. Before class, each student was asked to submit a draft of object groupings to aid in planning and visualizing the setup of the items submitted from Indianapolis. Determining thematic groups for this exhibit has been challenging, especially with so many voices involved. This week Laura created a proposal that synthesized the various interpretations into one vision this gallery. The MBR team provided their feedback on our work, and the exhibit is moving closer to being finalized.

While this might be the end of in-person class, there’s still some work to be done. It was a great experience to actually create products that we can visit in person and to know that we’ve really made our mark through this collaboration with the Museum of Broken Relationships. This collaboration will continue next semester for anyone taking the Museums and Audiences course, which will delve into the evaluation process to assess the exhibits we’ve created and the programs students in Museum Education developed.

Morgan Coffman is a second year graduate student in the Museum Studies program at IUPUI.