New Funding to Support Visiting Artist Residency Digital Archive
By Marie Williams Chant, Digital Archivist
At Museum of Glass, in addition to our collection of production, Studio Glass movement, and contemporary glass, we maintain a rich and robust archive of documentation from our Visiting Artist Residency Program, which dates to the Museum’s earliest years. This digital archive is an incredible trove of materials highlighting the processes and practices of our visiting artists. The Museum was recently awarded two prestigious grants from the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust and Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to support the stewardship of this collection and to bring these materials to museumofglass.org in a searchable database.
Blue Flat Topped Form being made at the Museum in 2009.
Tom Rowney (Australian, born 1971). Blue Flat Topped Form, Made at the Museum in 2009. Blown glass, cane, merletto, and incalmo techniques. 6 1/2 × 14 1/2 in.. Collection of Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington, gift of the artist. Photo by Duncan Price.
A Hybrid Approach
The Visiting Artist Residency Digital Archive acts as a hybrid collection, marrying together artist and institutional archives. Artists’ archives are critical resources that include primary source materials created alongside works of art to help contextualize their artistic practices. These include sketches, photographs, and audiovisual documentation. They can also include other materials, such as application materials, correspondence, exhibition records, and financial documentation. Institutional archives document internal histories of organizations and the legacies of their exhibitions, collections, and programs.
Though many nationally renowned institutions, such as the Archives of American Art (Smithsonian Institution), the Getty Research Institute, and Fales Library (NYU), collect documentation from the most well-known artists, few organizations have stewarded the work and documentation of early, mid-career, and well-established glass artists quite to the extent that MOG has. The Visiting Artist Residency Digital Archive not only documents the history of this esteemed residency program but also serves as a de facto artist archive for the residents, providing a framework and repository to document their artistic practices. By collecting objects created during visiting artist residencies in addition to accompanying documentation, MOG is able to record glass art history from initial creation to museum collection.
Blue/Black Partition being made at the Museum in 2009.
Laura de Santillana (Italian, 1955-2019). Blue/Black Partition, Made at the Museum in 2009. Blown glass; 19 5/8 × 14 1/2 × 3 1/2 in. Collection of Museum of Glass, gift of the artist. Photo by Duncan Price.
Born-Digital Maintenance
A critical aspect of MOG’s work with the Visiting Artist Residency Digital Archive is understanding that digital archival materials require different levels of care than other museum artifacts. Traditional archival materials, such as documents and printed photographs, if left in a shoebox in normal environmental conditions, can last for generations. Though there is a perception that digital files share this same level of permanence, they require ongoing maintenance to ensure that they will remain accessible over time.
The Museum has been documenting artists since the early 2000s, and, as such, many of these early materials were created using technology that no longer exists. MOG generates terabytes of digital artist documentation yearly during Visiting Artist Residencies and, though it all functions now and will likely function fine over the next few years, we need to take proactive steps today to ensure that it remains accessible in the coming decades. So far, we have taken steps to carefully document and inventory hundreds of terabytes of digital files. Starting preservation work now allows us to intervene and develop strategies to ensure that our archive continues to be a resource for years to come.
Winter Headdress being made at the Museum in 2010.
Patricia Davidson (American, born 1959). Winter Headdress, Made at the Museum in 2010. Hot-sculpted glass; 17 x 14 x 8 inches. Collection of Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington, gift of the artist.
Public Access to Collections
The most important aspect of this work will be the debut of a publicly available collections portal on museumofglass.org. This portal will allow users to search for their favorite artists, artworks, residencies, and exhibitions. Visitors from near and far will be able to connect with MOG and better understand its critical role in preserving the history of glass art.
Over the past 22 years, Museum of Glass has built a comprehensive collection of glass art documentation. Thanks to this critical support from the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust and Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), we will be able to share this work with you all in the coming years.