Beyond the Museum: Celebrating the 2024 Staff Art Show

The Hood Museum of Art is proud to present the annual Staff Art Show, a unique exhibition celebrating the creativity of its team members. This year’s show highlighted a wide array of artistic mediums, from ceramics and acrylic on canvas to fiber arts, cinematography, and book arts. It supplied a space for staff members to step outside their day-to-day roles and express their artistic talents, passions, and personal experiences.

Unlike traditional exhibitions, the Staff Art Show operates with no bars to entry—any staff member, regardless of their artistic background, is welcome to submit their work. The objects on display thus represent both seasoned artists and newcomers in an environment fostering community and creative freedom, offering a glimpse into the many facets of the people who make the museum run.

This year’s exhibition featured nineteen people who work in various roles within the museum. From educators to preparators, each artist brought a unique voice and skill set to their creations, highlighting how art connects us all. In my own life, working with ceramics has been a source of deep solace. While being surrounded by fine art every day at the museum is a privilege, it can also distance me from the conviction that creating art is something we all have the right to do. This blog post is an invitation to my fellow staff artists to reflect on the power of making art as a way to find peace, meaning, and identity. After all, art is not just for viewing—it’s for experiencing. Most importantly though, art is for everyone.

Question 1: What inspired you to create the work you submitted for this exhibition?

Emory Marshall, Museum Preparator: “Nature is my main inspiration for most of the work I make. Whether I’m using shapes and thread to represent a setting sun or natural elements to create mythical flora like you see in my submission this year, the beauty of nature is a primary theme in my work.”

Sean DuMont, Visitor Services Guide: “This piece showcases a poem from Jos Charles’s feeld. I read the collection two years ago, and many of the poems stuck with me, but this one comes up constantly. I think I probably had it memorized even before I went through the process of setting type for it letter-by-letter and word-by-word. There is something striking about the near legibility of her language, which combines Middle English and internet speak. The reader is forced to be extremely active, negotiating interpretation with the poet because her language creates more ambiguity. The subject matter she writes about—the mortality rate for trans women—is one that people often turn away from. In this way, Charles demands engagement with a subject that is often actively ignored. I wanted to further that message and visually mirror some of the textual effects the poem achieves.”

Katie Coggins, Museum Educator: “I was inspired to get into book arts by attending a class at the Book Arts Workshop and signing on to a very effective Instagram algorithm. After the workshop, I followed some cool artists on Instagram who were rebinding their own book collections, so I thought I might try doing the same.”

Tala Short, Visitor Services Manager: “Black-and-white portraits have always inspired me. I am constantly on the lookout for unique and different portraits. When I saw this image of Jane Fonda, I knew it would make an interesting drawing.”

Question 2: How does your role at the museum influence your art?

Katie Coggins, Museum Educator: “I am a museum educator specifically working with our multi-visit programs, which bring students to the museum four times throughout the school year for a lesson and a connected art activity. I have the fortunate opportunity to test art project ideas for students all the time. Playing with different materials and thinking about how they could be used in the museum’s studio has brought me into contact with all kinds of creative people, ideas, and art forms that I otherwise would know nothing about—book arts included.”

Emory Marshall, Museum Preparator: “As a museum preparator at the Hood, I have the unique opportunity to interact with the collection in a more hands-on way than most people. Being able to closely study the details of a wide variety of objects fuels my creativity and desire to experiment with different artistic processes.”

Question 3: What medium did you choose for your work, and why?

Amelia Kahl, Senior Curator of Academic Programming: “I chose knitting for my piece because I really enjoy making things that are practical (such as this wearable shawl) as well as fun and playful. The yarn is very soft, which makes it enjoyable for both the wearer of the shawl and for me as I was creating it. Since the piece is meant for a child, I also made sure the yarn—a wool and acrylic blend—is durable and washable.”

Sean DuMont, Visitor Services Guide: “This piece was more guided by medium than anything else. When I first moved here, I started going to the Book Arts Workshop and have really fallen in love with setting type in general. I studied English in undergrad and have sometimes had trouble marrying that background with a meaningful visual arts practice. Setting type helps bridge this gap and has affirmed my belief in the materiality of language by giving me a way to work with words in the physical world. I spend a decent amount of time there outside of work, and everyone is really friendly and open to skill-sharing. I definitely feel I have a lot more to learn.”

Anna Patten, Communications and Digital Content Assistant: “For me, working with clay has always been a grounding experience. While I usually have a general plan when I approach the wheel, I often let the clay guide the process. There’s only so much you can control in ceramics—factors like the moisture of the clay or the amount you use can be managed, but creating truly identical pieces is nearly impossible. A single touch can transform the entire shape, not to mention the volatility of the trimming and glazing processes. This series is a testament to embracing that unpredictability while aiming for cohesion. Though the bowls and mugs aren’t identical, my goal was to create a series that visually and aesthetically feels like a unified set.”

Question 4: What does being part of this staff exhibition mean to you?

Amelia Kahl, Senior Curator of Academic Programming: “I don’t consider myself an artist. I started knitting during the pandemic, and it’s become a fun and relaxing hobby. However, it’s been really fun to be part of the staff art show, exhibiting alongside my (much more talented!) colleagues. This exhibition allows us to see different sides of our coworkers and express our admiration for their talents and skills that we may not see in our everyday work. It’s been a real honor.”

Tala Short, Visitor Services Manager: “A lot of staff members are very creative outside of work. The staff art show is a great opportunity to share that creativity. I enjoyed finishing this piece specifically for the art show. I started working on it in 2022, and the staff art show was the little push I needed to finally finish it. Daily life can sometimes get in the way of creative projects!”

The 2024 Hood Museum Staff Art Show ran from August 26 to August 30 in the Bernstein Center for Object Study. Though it has now come to a close, its impact remains as a celebration of the creativity and camaraderie within the Hood Museum of Art. Each work in the exhibition was a testament to the diverse talents of our team and the ways in which art informs both their professional and personal lives. I hope this blog has offered a glimpse into the meaningful artistic processes behind the featured works and a prompt to engage with your own creativity, whether as a viewer or a maker.

This post was authored by: Anna Patten, Communications and Digital Content Assistant

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Anna Patten joined the Hood Museum of Art in February 2024 as a Communications and Digital Content Assistant. In this role, she helps to drive brand recognition and audience awareness for the museum. Anna actively supports the implementation of content strategy across diverse digital platforms and fosters engagement with the Dartmouth and Upper Valley communities, both online and offline. Holding a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in religious studies from Colby College in Waterville, Maine, Anna brings a wide range of experiences to her position. Originally from Katonah, New York, she has garnered valuable experience through internships in public relations and content creation at esteemed institutions such as the Katonah Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.