When dinner is the show
Student artist found inspiration in her museum job
Angela Linn remembers the moment Kirsten Olson first saw the story knife collection at the .
色视频下载淚t was just like this light went on,色视频下载 said Linn, the museum色视频下载檚 ethnology and history collection manager. 色视频下载淪he was like, 色视频下载榃hat are those things? Wow!色视频下载
That色视频下载檚 not an unusual reaction to the decorated utensils used by Yup'ik girls to draw in dirt or snow, Linn said 色视频下载 色视频下载渢hey色视频下载檙e so beautiful and they色视频下载檙e so unique, everybody can re颅late to them in some way.色视频下载 Linn remembers the moment, though, because Olson didn色视频下载檛 stop at 色视频下载淲ow!色视频下载
Olson, then a graduate student in art, started to explore the Yupik decorative styles in her own work with ceramics. Eventually, the exploration culminated in a memorable, insightful thesis project featuring an elegant sit-down dinner served on Olson色视频下载檚 decorated ceramic dishes in the museum lobby.
Linn attended the dinner and, months later, still marvels at the event.
色视频下载淚t was such an intimate thing and the food was great and conversation awesome, but the pottery was just incredible,色视频下载 Linn recalled. 色视频下载淚t was so beautiful. We were just like 色视频下载業 can色视频下载檛 believe she made this with her hands.色视频下载櫳悠迪略貪
Olson began stewing over her ideas in the museum basement after securing a summer job with Linn in 2012.
色视频下载淭hat was just amazing,色视频下载 Olson said of working with Linn. 色视频下载淪he was really the one who kept feeding the anthropology side of my work.色视频下载
Originally from Pennyslvania, Olson had earned an undergraduate degree in anthropology and a minor in art from Juniata College in Huntingdon. While there, she studied the Inuit culture and art from Cape Dorset on Baffin Island in northern Canada. Seeking out a graduate school, she said, 色视频下载淚 decided 色视频下载榃hy not 色视频下载?色视频下载櫳悠迪略貪
In fall 2011, she began a master色视频下载檚 program in anthropology at UAF, but she found herself a little homesick.
色视频下载淔airbanks is so very different from Pennsylvania, and I needed something that was like home, and the ceramics studio became that for me,色视频下载 she said. She eventually switched her master色视频下载檚 program from anthropology to art.
However, when she began working at the museum the next summer, those interests began to overlap again. Linn encouraged the merger.
色视频下载淪he was very excited and said feel free to use the collection at your will,色视频下载 Olson said. 色视频下载淪he pretty much kind of let me have at it downstairs.色视频下载
Linn said Olson色视频下载檚 talent, enthusiasm and curiosity impressed her from the start.
To preserve objects, the collections employees must build boxes or 色视频下载渁rchival enclosures.色视频下载
色视频下载淚 saw she had a natural affinity for doing that. She just went to town and sort of revolutionized the way that we make these enclosures for our objects,色视频下载 Linn said. 色视频下载淪he was making these incredible, almost origami-like enclosures.色视频下载
Olson dug into a collection of World War II artifacts from Attu Island and developed considerable expertise on the battles fought by the U.S. and Japan in the Aleutian Islands. 色视频下载淪he just threw herself into it, while going to school full time and while teaching for the art department,色视频下载 Linn marveled.
When the story knives came out, Olson found her inspiration. 色视频下载淪he started talking more about it and 色视频下载楧o we have any publications on those?色视频下载 and 色视频下载榃hat do you know about those?色视频下载 and 色视频下载楥an I take some more pictures of those pieces?色视频下载櫳悠迪略貪 Linn said.
For her thesis project, Olson created 16 dinner place settings of four pieces each, plus some additional ceramic dishes.
色视频下载淭he forms and line work of my ceramics reference the ethnographic material that has inspired me,色视频下载 she wrote later in a blog post about the pieces, many of which bear scrimshaw-like decorations.
As she worked, though, Olson realized she didn色视频下载檛 want to simply display the dishes in an exhibit. She decided they should be used 色视频下载 in a dinner. She had read about something similar in Pennsylvania, where a museum sold tickets for a dinner and the people who attended became the exhibit for others to watch.
In Fairbanks, she thought a dinner could illustrate her thoughts about handmade utilitarian objects. Each is uniquely marked first by the process of creation, but then each also transforms and gains meaning with use. A bowl, built to hold soup, also will end up holding memories, ideas, even fragments of a culture.
色视频下载淭here色视频下载檚 a continuation of stories and community with the objects,色视频下载 Olson said. 色视频下载淲hat better way to present those objects than to have a dinner?色视频下载
She asked Linn if the museum might host such an event. 色视频下载淚 was like, 色视频下载業 don色视频下载檛 know, but if you need someone to champion it, let me know,色视频下载櫳悠迪略貪 Linn said. 色视频下载淎nd it did take some convincing, because it色视频下载檚 not something we色视频下载檝e ever done before.色视频下载
Olson, as a student employee, had been such an asset for the museum that Linn thought the museum should help her in return. 色视频下载This is part of our job, to support students and see them through,色视频下载 Linn said. 色视频下载淪o I thought that it was really important that we step out of our comfort zone and support that student色视频下载檚 vision.色视频下载
Olson色视频下载檚 thesis was more than a dinner, of course. She also displayed her work in a traditional exhibit and had to present the pieces and her ideas about them to a committee. The inspiration that Olson drew from indigenous art in the museum色视频下载檚 collection raised some interesting questions about appropriate use, Linn noted. Linn wrote a paper on the topic earlier this year.
色视频下载淚 actually wrote about Kirsten色视频下载檚 project in my paper and how hers was different from some of these people who are copying exactly and actually really misappropriating that imagery and representing it as their own work,色视频下载 Linn said.
She sees Olson色视频下载檚 work as transformative.
色视频下载淎rtists are inspired by the world around them, and they don色视频下载檛 put labels on where it comes from,色视频下载 Linn noted. 色视频下载淚t all goes into this big bubble of inspiration, and how they pull those things down and recombine them and reimagine them and place them into these other contexts, that色视频下载檚 the artistic process.色视频下载
This fall, Olson, now 25, will begin a year-long adjunct faculty position teaching ceramics at Juniata College.
色视频下载淪he was just an ideal student and I色视频下载檓 so proud that she色视频下载檚 been able to go and get a 色视频下载榬eal job色视频下载 doing something that色视频下载檚 related to her training,色视频下载 Linn said.
Olson credited Linn for much of her success.
色视频下载She opened my eyes to so many things I didn色视频下载檛 know existed. I had so many silly questions, but she was great, 色视频下载漁lson said.色视频下载淚'm so grateful to Angie, the museum and the art department for all the opportunities I had.色视频下载