Crazy quilts from the Folk Art New England display in Second Life
Yesterday I told you about the virtual quilt show at Folk Art New England on the Mystic sim in Second Life. After visiting the quilt show, I did an interview with Nicolo Anthony, the Second Life avatar of Paul D'Ambrosio, Vice President and Chief Curator for the Fenimore Art Museum.
When did the Fenimore Art Museum first come to Second Life and what prompted it?
We came into SL in November 2007, prompted by one of our staff members, a librarian, who had read about the Alliance Library System's SL activities in American Library Association magazine.
How did you come to be located in the Mystic sim?
The sim I originally associated the museum with had changed owners and was no longer suitable to our purposes. I went looking for another sim with a theme relevant to our collections and, since we have a large collection of American folk art from New England, took notice when I came upon SL New England. I contacted one of the owners of an art gallery here and she put me in touch with the estate manager. It was perfect timing as they were redoing some of the sims and wanted a major offering just across the water from Mystic Village. I came up with the idea of a museum called Folk Art New England showcasing our collection and offering changing exhibitions.
Applique quilts from the Folk Art New England display in Second Life
Has the museum's presence in Second Life had any First Life effects?
We have had an overall atendance of 10,000 at our exhibitions in SL (mostly here in Mystic) this year, but it's hard to say how many of those people have become fans of Fenimore Art Museum in RL (Real Life). The biggest effect has been to spark a New Media Initiative at the museum, which has resulted in Facebook pages, blogs, and a revamping of our main website.
What made you decide to do a quilt display in Second Life?
We have a lot of intellectual property from past exhibits that I want to share. We did this quilt exhibit in 2003 for the Great International Quilt Exposition in Tokyo, and our quilts were the centerpiece for a major exhibition at the Tokyo Dome that drew more than 300,000 people in ten days. The jpegs were right there in our files, along with the exhibit labels. So it cried out for an SL showing.
Crazy quilt and Log Cabin quilt from the Folk Art New England display in Second Life
How did you choose which quilts to display here?
I chose a range of styles and time periods, focusing on the best quilts in the 2003 exhibition and some of the icons in the field.
I see that the quilts are for sale for $400L. What does the museum use the Lindens for? (Note: 400L is less than $2 USD)
We have sold a grand total of five quilts, so we're not talking about many Lindens. All of the money goes towrd the rent on the Mystic lot as well as the costs of uploading images.
If people want to visit the museum and see the quilts in person, where can they go?
The Fenimore Art Museum is in Cooperstown, NY, and we always have some of these quilts on display. You can find them also on our Facebook page, under photo albums.
Is there anything else you'd like to tell me about the quilt display?
Two things:
First, the exhibit is sponsored by a local business in SL, Village Quilts, owned and operated by Jeanne Schimmer. She has been very generous in supporting the exhibition.
Second, the exhibition prep was part of an experiment in training museum professionals in a graduate program we co-sponsor with the State University of New York, the Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies. These students did all of the work and wrote up their evaluations of SL. I will present a session on their findings at the national meeting of the American Association of Museums in Philadelphia in April.
Cheers!
Kelly
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