I have enjoyed the discussion regarding museum labels-  It inspired me to go
out and look at the two art exhibits I currenlty have installed - One is
called "An Artist's View of the Plains" and looks at how different artists
over the last 150 years have viewed the high plains- I have an introductory
panel that is fairly small and often overlooked- most of the art label is
merely artist, date, medium- one or two has a bit more description, but it
is more fact/context "This piece was done by a German POW during WWII.  It
is all he could see of State Street from  the armory where the POWs were
housed"- this show is heavy on landscapes, horses, and bison- the other show
is called "A Sense of Place" it is  a one woman show from a former resident-
she sent me desriptors for each piece which were then used as the label- she
also wrote the introductory panel- this is a very non-traditional show where
the primary medium is hog gut/sausage casing- it is causing quite a few
comments in our very traditional rural town, however, once people read the
label, and understand what the artist is trying to convey or what part of
growing up in NE Colorado inspired the piece they are more appreciative and
are willing to discuss pieces rather than just saying "I don't get it" and
trucking along- both of these shows are in the same gallery and it has been
very educational for the staff to watch visitors and see how they interact
with the pieces and each other

We also have a short film playing that talks about one of Pat's largest
undertakings, it is in our little theater in the main galleries, it is often
zipped past when people get here, but then they go back and revisit the
movie after viewing her pieces.

Do I think this proves anything about labels in all art exhibits? Not
really, but it has been interesting for us to watch and learn- and we have
determined that for our primary audience they prefer interpretive labels for
non-traditional pieces and don't want the filter for traditional pieces.

Nikkie



Nikkie Cooper, Curator
Fort Morgan Museum

P.O. Box 184
Fort Morgan, CO 80701
970-867-6331
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