Post by Moon Seeker on Jun 15, 2009 14:36:17 GMT -5
Stamford Museum preprares for Native American exhibit
Baseball's league of nations
By Monica Potts
Staff Writer
Posted: 06/15/2009 07:08:44 AM EDT
Updated: 06/15/2009 07:16:02 AM EDT
STAMFORD -- On any normal Tuesday afternoon, especially with the weather as moody as it was last week, one could expect the Stamford Museum & Nature Center to be as empty of people as it is serene.
That's why it was a surprise to find a bustle of activity an hour after the dart hit the nature center on the map. Outside, it was as empty as expected, with ducks swimming in the rain-swollen pond. But inside the Bendel Mansion and Galleries, men and women were busy setting up for two new exhibits -- one on native American baseball players and another native American traditions.
"We are in a moment of intense activity," said museum curator Rosa Portell. "We're ramping up to do the behind-the-scenes stuff."
The last exhibit of Rodin sculptures had just come down. Portell led an impromptu tour through the galleries, rarely empty, to point out the native American baseball stars. She packed so much information into just half an hour, and seemed so excited to do so, that she barely paused to take a breath.
The exhibit items -- including old baseball cards, pictures and other memorabilia -- had already been selected and, mostly, prepared for the show. Items still needed to be put into place, and she had to re-evaluate decisions made long ago to see if pictures and stands fit in a way that would allow visitors to move around them. Portell said she had to make sure she was following her "script," that the pieces hanging in the gallery told the story she wanted to tell.
"It's really a multitude of micro-decisions leading to opening night," she said, comparing the production to that of a Broadway play. "It's not unlike, 'The show must go on.'€Š"
While a few of the pictures leaned against the taupe walls, nearly ready for mounting, most of the items were downstairs in the temperature-controlled, specially lit room where art and historical pieces are stored. Donning white gloves, Portell went through the visit as it would stand opening night, June 20.
"There are very few objects" native American baseball items, she said. "Most of it is ephemera."
She pointed out a glove from the baseball Hall of Fame, an entire table of Jim Thorpe memorabilia, and a sepia-toned photograph of men in uniforms in 1921. All of them sat amid the rolled-up Navajo blankets that are part of the museum's permanent collection. There were plenty of baseball cards, small and so thin and delicate they seemed ready to crumble apart.
Even the smallest piece was important for the exhibit, she said.
"Sometimes a story is advanced by very modest means," Portell said.
Then she pointed to what will be the final pieces in the exhibit -- photos of Joba Chamberlain, a native American player for the New York Yankees, and Jacoby Ellsbury of the Boston Red Sox.
"It allows me to complete my story," she said.
She held up another picture of Charles Bender, a native American pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics, chatting with John Meyers, a native American catcher for the New York Giants, during a down moment in the 1911 World Series. Their teams played against each another.
Portell pondered they might have been discussing how difficult it was to break such ground, to be native American baseball players while teams still used caricatures of Plains Indians as mascots.
"Two native Americans playing for two rival teams," she said, pointing out that the two sets of pictures told the same story. "And yet the story changes dramatically."
Though everything appeared organized, Portell apologized for what she called a jumble. No matter how miniscule and tedious the work would be the days before, it would be appear opening night as if human hands had played no role, Portell said.
"When it works and everyone comes in and it looks so seemless, like it fell into place, you know you've done your work," she said.
www.stamfordadvocate.com/ci_12589585
Baseball's league of nations
By Monica Potts
Staff Writer
Posted: 06/15/2009 07:08:44 AM EDT
Updated: 06/15/2009 07:16:02 AM EDT
STAMFORD -- On any normal Tuesday afternoon, especially with the weather as moody as it was last week, one could expect the Stamford Museum & Nature Center to be as empty of people as it is serene.
That's why it was a surprise to find a bustle of activity an hour after the dart hit the nature center on the map. Outside, it was as empty as expected, with ducks swimming in the rain-swollen pond. But inside the Bendel Mansion and Galleries, men and women were busy setting up for two new exhibits -- one on native American baseball players and another native American traditions.
"We are in a moment of intense activity," said museum curator Rosa Portell. "We're ramping up to do the behind-the-scenes stuff."
The last exhibit of Rodin sculptures had just come down. Portell led an impromptu tour through the galleries, rarely empty, to point out the native American baseball stars. She packed so much information into just half an hour, and seemed so excited to do so, that she barely paused to take a breath.
The exhibit items -- including old baseball cards, pictures and other memorabilia -- had already been selected and, mostly, prepared for the show. Items still needed to be put into place, and she had to re-evaluate decisions made long ago to see if pictures and stands fit in a way that would allow visitors to move around them. Portell said she had to make sure she was following her "script," that the pieces hanging in the gallery told the story she wanted to tell.
"It's really a multitude of micro-decisions leading to opening night," she said, comparing the production to that of a Broadway play. "It's not unlike, 'The show must go on.'€Š"
While a few of the pictures leaned against the taupe walls, nearly ready for mounting, most of the items were downstairs in the temperature-controlled, specially lit room where art and historical pieces are stored. Donning white gloves, Portell went through the visit as it would stand opening night, June 20.
"There are very few objects" native American baseball items, she said. "Most of it is ephemera."
She pointed out a glove from the baseball Hall of Fame, an entire table of Jim Thorpe memorabilia, and a sepia-toned photograph of men in uniforms in 1921. All of them sat amid the rolled-up Navajo blankets that are part of the museum's permanent collection. There were plenty of baseball cards, small and so thin and delicate they seemed ready to crumble apart.
Even the smallest piece was important for the exhibit, she said.
"Sometimes a story is advanced by very modest means," Portell said.
Then she pointed to what will be the final pieces in the exhibit -- photos of Joba Chamberlain, a native American player for the New York Yankees, and Jacoby Ellsbury of the Boston Red Sox.
"It allows me to complete my story," she said.
She held up another picture of Charles Bender, a native American pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics, chatting with John Meyers, a native American catcher for the New York Giants, during a down moment in the 1911 World Series. Their teams played against each another.
Portell pondered they might have been discussing how difficult it was to break such ground, to be native American baseball players while teams still used caricatures of Plains Indians as mascots.
"Two native Americans playing for two rival teams," she said, pointing out that the two sets of pictures told the same story. "And yet the story changes dramatically."
Though everything appeared organized, Portell apologized for what she called a jumble. No matter how miniscule and tedious the work would be the days before, it would be appear opening night as if human hands had played no role, Portell said.
"When it works and everyone comes in and it looks so seemless, like it fell into place, you know you've done your work," she said.
www.stamfordadvocate.com/ci_12589585