The Coleman Museum

Museums have long served a purpose as cultural staples. For every museum, big and small, careful consideration is used in selecting its contents. When securing new items for a museum, it is most important to consider public appeal, educational value, and cost-effectiveness.

Being seen as a community leader in the offering of knowledge and learning opportunities, it adds value to the museum and forms a positive attitude among community members towards an organization.

One pleasant afternoon, my classmates and I decided to visit the Houston Museum of Fine Arts to begin on our museum assignment in world literature class. According to Houston Museum of Fine Art’s staff, MFAH considers as one of the largest museums in the nation and it contains many variety forms of art with more than several thousand years of unique history. Also, I have never been in a museum in a very long time especially as big as MFAH, and my experience about the museum was unique and pleasant. Although I have observed many great types and forms of art in the museum, there were few that interested me the most.

Cleveland has been fortunate enough to have become home several popular museums, including The Cleveland Museum of Art. The museum is filled with impressive masterpieces from the beginning of human documented time to today’s world. This free exhibit offers an exciting, enjoyable experience to those of all ages and those of all backgrounds. From the interactive futuristic portions of the building, to the delicate works of the past, there is something at this museum to please each person’s artistic mindset.

The St. Louis Art Museum has many intriguing pieces of artwork, but my eyes seemed to navigate towards Thomas Cole’s pieces. Research has shown that Thomas Cole was best known for his landscape art, but through the portal of America’s wilderness and it’s association of God. Nature, human life, and mortality were the key viewpoints

The museum representatives were very nice and helpful. Entering the Charles H. Wright museum, my fiance and I were stopped by a cameraman who worked at the museum. The cameraman was very welcoming, encouraging, and persistent. Entering the D.I.A, the representatives at the desk were very respectful and understanding. Admission was free to the D.I.A for all Wayne County residents; however; I forgot my state I.D at home and the lady was kind enough to accept an old check stub as proof that I resided in Wayne County. Both museums were very clean and quiet, with the exception of the kids who were enjoying the moment. Comparing the two, my most favorite exhibit would have had to be the slave ship I mentioned at the Charles H. Wright museum. The slave ship is more than an exhibit, it’s like two minutes in a slave’s shoes. Walking through the dark ship, I could slightly imagine and empathize the life of slaves on that ship. My least favorite thing was a picture that I’ve attached to the essay. The picture is of a black slave beating another slave while the Master’s watched. Though the image may represent the truth, I’m not a big fan of ugly truths - especially when they don’t compare to the bigger

One of those negatives is that the museum is misunderstood, so they have very few visitors. This is bad because the museum cannot present their works of art to anybody. Few people know about the museum, and the people who do know think it’s boring. This is because often people have the stereotype that only traditional people can go to museums. However, by creating advertisements, and by raising money for the art curator so that they can pick art that is more interesting for the neighborhood, people will be attracted to the museum. Also, as a student, my advice is that they need to make the museum more visible because before I did not know that there was a museum in Manhattan that represented the Hispanic culture. However, now that I am doing this work about the museum I have realized that the Hispanic Society of America is very interesting and an incredible museum to know, and because of that, we have to do campaigns and field trips to make the museum more

I hope to see museums make more concerted efforts to educate the public. Too many exhibits are of the “passive, didactic looking” than like the engaging Object Stories program (Dartt, Murawski). Exhibits should seek to tell untold narratives, and programs should be places of communication and cross-cultural encounters. For too long, difficult confrontations have been avoided, both inside the museum, and by dominant communities

The Polk Museum of Art is a fairly small but unique collection of galleries near downtown Lakeland. It has several permanent exhibitions containing over 2,500 works of art (“Mission and History”) and also features new collections and works of art that it rotates out. PolkMuseumofArt.org explains which exhibitions are currently displayed and is updated to include upcoming events, descriptions of collections, and artists’ bios and statements on their works, as well as classes, camps, and speakers that will be held or featured at the museum (“Upcoming Events”). The website is an extremely useful tool to learn about the art that can be found at the local attraction, and it lends insight for visitors who want to know background

I don't know if Gabrielle has told you, but I am involved in a Field Experience at the John Deere Field Engine and Tractor Museum for a history course at UNI. I was asked to find educators in the area that know how to look desirable for field trips and to find what the process looks like. The museum has just opened in the past year so they are trying to figure out what they need. We would love to know what you think.

There are opportunities though, and they are good opportunities. I was able to identify three that they should pay attention to and really hit hard on. In today’s economy, people aren’t wanting to spend a lot of money. The recession is making people be a lot more conscious about money. Good news, the museum is free. If marketed properly, this could be a huge way to gain new visitors. Plus, art museums have sophisticated connotations that make people feel smart when they go to them. What better way to spend the day than to go somewhere that is free and feel sophisticated? Another opportunity is that new exhibits could attract younger demographics, pending on the exhibit. This could be tricky though because they want to attract everyone, but older crowds are interested in things that younger generations aren’t. They have to be able to balance the attractions so everyone can relate to it and want to view it.

This was actually my first visit to this museum since I have gone to Kennesaw. My expectations were pretty high initially upon going, because I have heard so many things about it from my peers. Just by their opinions, and my love for art I have myself, I was actually excited about going in to take a look. I must say, I was not disappointed by any of the art work I saw in there. I really enjoyed the exhibit of work from some students from a high school around this area. It really shows that the college really supports the youth of the future and their passion for art as a whole.

Assessment must be done to determine the current strengths and weaknesses of the existing collection. Any proposed acquisitions should be able to address the limits in the existing collection or plug any gaps in the collection. The acquisition strategy should ensure that objects to be accepted or otherwise acquired for museum collection shall enhance and reflect the immediate and long term goals of the museum.

According to the American Alliance of Museums, community engagement in museums includes the use of this facility as “a center where people gather to meet and converse and an active, visible player in civic life, a safe haven, and a trusted incubator of change” (Long 141). Different museums

A greater number of educators are looking to museums to help them attain their educational objectives. Howard Gardner has identified Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood as the perfect environment for stimulating the natural curiosity of a child. Furthermore, in response to demands for new educational approaches, older children are using museums to develop their critical facilities in art and design (Campbell, 1992).