Exhibition

Cradles, Courtship & Coffins: Life's Milestones in Fife

Yesterday I helped tare down my exhibition. It is amazing that it took one day to tare down something that took months to plan. I am very pleased that our exhibition was one of the most successful student exhibitions at St Andrews Museum. I thought that you might like a few photos from the exhibition. In case you didn't know, the exhibition examined rites of passage of people living in this part of Scotland. We mostly looked at births, weddings, graduations, and funerals.

Here I am taking a break during instillation week.

Here's the whole team of student curators for Cradles, Courtship & Coffins during opening night! It was a great time with lots of people, stinky cheese, fudge donuts, and nerdy museum talk.

The student curators are very happy to add their memories to the interactive 'Rites of Passage' tree. The tree was absolutely full of memories when we took it off of the wall yesterday. Some of them were very moving to read!

Here I am with a Bronze-Age burial urn found near St Andrews. I can't believe I was allowed to hold something so old! Who says working in a museum sounds boring?

Here is my recreation of a lower-middle class Victorian parlor from Fife. It is decorated as it might look during a time of mourning. It had some terrific Victorian wall paper, a silk oriental rug, coffin, peacock feathers and all sorts of Victorian gaudiness. I had to use some poster board to cover huge painted flames in the fireplace. They looked a little tacky and inappropriate-- I wish i could have painted over them!

Here I am hanging a wedding flag from a Fife fishing community. Traditionally, the bride made the flag and the youngest member of the groom's party hung it on the groom's boat on the night before the wedding. If it filled with wind, the marriage would be successful.