"AN ARGUMENT FOR SOMETHING ELSE": CORRECTIVE ART HISTORY RIGHT NOW

Breaking the Glass Case | Alexandra Forand

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This summer the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) presented “Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artist.” Believe it or not, this exhibit was the first major showcase of indigenous women (I am intentionally using small "I" indigenous, because the artists range in location and community). The exhibit features 115 objects, that span 1,000 years including paintings, sculptures, textiles and more.

This exhibit took my Facebook and Twitter feed by storm. Every time I logged into a social network platform to mindlessly scroll through articles and memes for a couple minutes I would see friends and acquittances posting pictures, think pieces authored by magazines like Vogue, and scholarly articles mentioning this exhibit. Words, like “ground-breaking,” “awe-inspiring,” and “revolutionary,” were often affixed to posts about this exhibit. But it was one term discussing Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artist, that really caught my eye. This term was “Corrective Art History.” 

On now through August 18, the @artsmia is presenting “Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists,” the first major showcase to provide visibility to the indigenous women, both from Canada and the U.S. https://t.co/PC8kdfFj7l

— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) June 3, 2019

We’ll be going to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to see the Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists exhibit today.

Native community members get free admission to the exhibit!!

— YourFavRezCouple (@UrFavRezCouple) July 5, 2019

(1/2) Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, is hands down one of the best shows ever. If you’re even near Mpls pls go see! #mia #minneapolisinstituteofart #heartsofourpeople #nativeamericanartists #nativeamericanwomen #womenartists #itsabouttime #equality #equalityinthearts pic.twitter.com/KprcEwGWJc

— Ann Tracy (Áine Ní Threasaigh) (@anntracyart) June 18, 2019

Let’s back up for a moment. What is Corrective Art History? Corrective Art History is meant “to provide an affirmation for those who do not regularly see themselves portrayed in media or art.” Moreover, it is an effort to combat the lasting, damaging impacts of underrepresentation.

This term is often used to describe Kerry James Marshall’s work, who is both redefining the Western cannon and creating his own. He explains it better than I ever could: “My work is not an argument against anything; it is an argument for something else.”

Kerry James Marshall, Mastry, source.

Mickalene Thomas is another notable artists who could described as working within Corrective Art History. Thomas vividly and actively inserts black female bodies into art, a place she argues is traditionally white and patriarchal. Furthermore, there are many Indigenous artists who work within Corrective Art History. Arguably one of the most well-known artists working within this realm is Kent Monkman (Cree). Monkman’s Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience, is an epic revision of a Western colonial history that is still taught in schools today. If you want to learn about Shame and Prejudice, Sadie Macdonald wrote an exhibition review and you can click here to read it!

Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artist, is not the only Indigenous led exhibition which operates within Corrective Art History. More and more exhibitions are gaining attention in a post-TRC world. In the Spring of this year, an exhibition on the Poundmaker Cree Nation focused on the story of Chief Poundmaker, who was arrested after the colonial government of Canada failed to honour treaty promises. After six months, Chief Poundmaker was released from prison after contracting a fatal respiratory disease. For nearly 135 years the Western cannon wrote Chief Poundmaker as the villain of his story. The exhibition successfully sets the historical record straight and brings in First Nation voices to the Western cannon. While the state of Canada exonerated Chief Poundmaker on May 23, 2019, this exhibit shows that everyone from artists, researchers, and curators to ordinary everyday people can work against these harmful historical inaccuracies.

Chief Poundmaker,  Source. 

The exercise of Corrective Art History is important and necessary. As museum professionals we need to become uncomfortable with our own learned knowledge and let these exhibitions and art rewire our own inherent biases of history. We, like Kerry James Marshall, Mickalene Thomas, Kent Monkman, and the indigenous run exhibits, have to argue for something else.

Have you seen any of these exhibitons? What challenged you and how did you deal with these challenges? What are your thoughts? I really want to know! Leave a comment, send me an email (allyforand@gmail.com), or if Twitter and Instagram are more your speed my handle on both is @Ally_but_online.

THE MAGIC OF MUSEUM STORES

MUSEUM INNOVATIONS

BY CASSY KIST

Hello museum folks!      

I bet we could all use a little retail therapy right now, so this week I decided to check out what creative or “innovative” things museum stores are doing to enhance the experience of visitors.

National Gallery of Art store, Washington  D.C.

I may have been a little influenced by our first year classes… But according to research people don’t differentiate between time spent in the gallery and in the store or cafe; they are all “parcel” to the experience. And should visitors differentiate?

If museums are about the total sensory experience, then these components would seem vital parts to the larger institution. The museum store has a long controversial history due to the tension which has and continues to exist between its multiple roles including educator and money maker (Source). Since the 1990s it is believed that the precedence of education and the museum’s mission are winning out over money making (Source). As such, the museum store is becoming more of an extension of the actual exhibits and museum space by taking steps to become more integrated into the institution. 

According to Charles McIntyre - a specialist on consumer behaviour, to be integrated, museum stores should feature personal products that encourage personal transformation related to the learning process of museum visits (McIntyre, 2010).  He suggests that the store should be immersive, investigative, interpretive etc. One stellar example of a more “integrated museum store” is the store in Minneapolis Institute of Art, which has advocated these experiential components as part of its mission.

MIA Store

For instance, in a recent interview with Ryan Ross the head of retail at MIA, he emphasised that the store keeps products - even valuable jewellery pieces out on display and therefor open to touch (Source).

Staff even encourage customers to try on pieces. According to him, it is very important for visitors, after being surrounded by closed exhibit cases, to be able to have a tactile experience that can fulfil their desire for a bodily immersion at the museum which might otherwise be incomplete. This understanding and “counterbalance” of the store with exhibit space, suggests that both museum and store are capable of working together to provide the “parcel” experience.

Another aspect that embodies the mission of the MIA is its dedication to the stories behind the retail objects and their artists. In this way the store acts as an extension of the “investigative” and “interpretive” learning components of the exhibits. Customers want to learn about the products and where they come from and staff are fully trained, like gallery docents, to tell their compelling narratives.

MIA store

As another form of integration, it has also been suggested that the museum store have products related to the exhibits. Many museum stores are stocked with replicas or objects related to the exhibits but to different extents. The MIA in particular, states that many of their products connect not only to their special exhibits but also to their permanent collections and programming.

Spice products featured at MIA for their chef exhibit

A similar recent example of this, is the store within the National Museum of African American History and Culture. A news report claimed that the curators spent an extensive 2 years with merchants discussing objects in the collection to create products suited for the Museum store (source).

Museum stores have been referred to as liminal places, a place not fully integrated into the museum or fully separate, however, rather than this exemplifying a disconnect with the museum’s mission and its exhibits, I believe with this label specifically, it has the ability to be fully integrated into the museum.  

1920 styled gloves from the VA museum
 store for the "Undressed Exhibit"

“Liminal” is often a term used in relation to places of magic. As such, museum stores as “liminal” can be integrated into the museum experience by being an immersive, interpretive and investigative place where people can piece together self identity and create transformations.

For anyone wanting a bit of magic, retail therapy or Christmas shopping I would also recommend checking out the Royal Victoria and Albert Museum Online store.