ASU Art Museum - Week One [Brian Mecinas]

As I finish the first week of my internship at the Arizona State University (ASU) Art Museum, I am excited to continue familiarizing myself with the institution, collection, and amazing staff (one of whom is a YAP alumnus from 2012). I find it amazing that I have the opportunity to intern on the campus of the university I'll begin attending in the fall, I've already become familiar with much of the area in just one week!

The museum itself is very quaint and quiet due to most of the building itself being partially underground, which I found created an intimate environment that left most of the visitors alone and undisturbed with the exhibits. Compared to the Smithsonian's museums that we visited during Washington Week, with the relentless hustle and bustle of countless visitors, the silence of the ASU Art Museum caught me off guard. 

On my first and third day, I was placed in the Education Department, which handles public outreach, event planning, and is tasked with helping guests better appreciate the pieces in the museum's exhibits. One of my first assignments was directly related to the last of these. 

Exterior of the ASU Art Museum

Stairs leading down to the
courtyard outside the museum

Interior of the museum, nearly
all of which is concrete

In winter of this year, the museum will be working closely with the studio of artist Leo Villareal to create a piece specifically designed for the ASU Art Museum. Much of my first day was devoted to researching Villareal's background and the style of his art in order to best understand how to improve guest appreciation of the future piece. It quickly became clear to me that the piece he would be creating for our museum was going to be different from others he had done previously. His art overall focuses on an intersection between light and programming/coding as he creates his own programs that translate into stunning displays of light on screens. Some of his work includes "The Bay Lights", which is a permanent lighting addition to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. 

Planning documents and rendering of the space where
Leo Villareal's piece will be housed in our museum

The concept of the piece his studio will be implementing into the ASU Art Museum courtyard will utilize a video tour filmed through means of a 3D-scanning camera that will recreate a model of the entire interior of the museum. 

In trying to understand what additions could be made to the area surrounding the planned piece, I recalled our discussions from the Molina Latino Family Gallery Digital Prototyping Session during Washington Week. Many of us agreed that an integral part of planning the gallery was not just creating a space for visits to strictly observe and look at pieces, but rather, creating an experience that immerses visitors and allows them to connect their own life to the art. 

This is exactly what Leo Villareal attempts with his light-based art; the arrangement easily draws in visual attention and mesmerizes those who find themselves in front of his pieces. Moving forward, I found that sound is the best supplement to this experience and will be looking into how we can use it to help visitors better appreciate the piece itself.

Prior to starting work and research on this project, it hadn't occurred to me how much time and effort was devoted to the information many museums place adjacent to exhibits/stand-alone pieces of art. Whether it be small text placards describing the context of the piece, a handout that visitors can take, or headphones with audio to be listened to while browsing: the planning that goes into it is immaculate and relentless. I quickly learned that when it comes to trying to explain the message an artist is trying to deliver, there are no stones to be left unturned in the process: detail is key. If there is a cultural or spiritual aspect to a piece, it is essential that this is represented and not ignored. 

Outside of this project, I was placed with the Registrar Department on my second and fourth day. In Registrar, the primary task is keeping track, maintaining, and handling all pieces of traveling exhibits and the museum's own permanent collection. My project in this department is taking inventory of the vast collection of prints they have, which involves extremely careful handling of the pieces in order to prevent any sort of damage. Over the two days of my first week that I was in Registrar, I handled at over 50 different prints, at least. 

ASU Art Museum's
Jules Heller Print Study Room

Each cabinet has up to 6 shelves
with boxes that fit 6-12 prints

As I directly interacted with these prints, I had the chance to see some that were created by Latinx artists. The Washington Week experience allowed all of us to grow further connected with our Latinidad and empowered us to embrace it with great pride. It also pushed us to be cognizant of the great diversity in the Latinx community, appreciating the fact that each area and region's peoples have a distinct story and experience. Some of these prints expressed the plight of families struggling to survive in modern areas of Mexico while others expressed the outrage of indigenous peoples as their lands were infringed upon through the process of colonization. It was eye-opening to see that these prints, regardless of the artist who created them or the date of their creation, held stories that were being preserved in the same place. They both represent small chunks of the immense Latinx experience: an experience that is understood by few outsides of our own communities in the United States and appreciated by even fewer.

Workspace while taking inventory of all
the prints in the collection

With all of that being said, I'm looking forward to the remaining three weeks at the ASU Art Museum! I'm sure I will continue to explore new perspectives and experiences in my time here.


See y'all next week,
Brian Mecinas