Thursday, April 19, 2012

Unique seashell reference collection digitized by UH Museum Consortium

The University of Hawaiʻi Museum Consortium has completed the digitization of a unique natural science specimen collection from UH Mānoa's Anthropology Department's Archaeology laboratory.

"The collection is fairly comprehensive for much of the archeological shell midden material commonly found in the Hawaiian landscape," said Dr. Michael Thomas of the UH Museum Consortium. Beachcombers and citizen scientists will also find the digital collection useful for identifying more than 190 species of seashells found throughout the Hawaiian Island beaches.

The collaborative project was cross disciplinary and involved several curators, students, community volunteers, and the University photographer. Thomas added, “This initiative is an excellent demonstration of how digital technologies can be applied to increase public access to university collections and to add-value to an underutilized reference collection."

The Anthropology Department's Marine Shell Collection began decades ago as an avocational pursuit of Bertell E. Davis. In 1985 Mr. Davis bequeathed the collection to his son, Bertell D. Davis, then an archaeology graduate student in the department. The younger Davis (PhD, Mānoa, 1990), who was interested in documenting the impact of humans on the environment, further developed the shell collection as a reference and comparative resource for identifying shell midden from Hawaiian and Pacific archaeological sites.

The collection, which includes nearly 200 species of marine mollusks, was donated to support undergraduate education through various courses of the Anthropology Department's Archaeology program in 2005. The specimens are currently curated by Archeology Lab Manager Jo Lynn Gunness and housed in UH Mānoa's College of Social Sciences Anthropology Department's Archaeology Program.

The University’s Virtual Museum, established in 2008, offers a single web portal to various university Natural Science and Humanities collections. Currently, the University’s Joseph F. Rock Herbarium, Insect Museum, and the Historic Clothing Museum have digital collection initiatives underway.

For more information, visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uhmuseum/sets/72157616090546606/

Monday, April 16, 2012

Fiji Herbarium (Univ. of the South Pacific) digitizes plant specimen collection

The University of the South Pacific herbarium (SUVA) is collaborating with the development of a regional herbaria consortium in partnership with the Department of Botany of the University of Hawaii. The new regional network is funded by the National Science Foundation for 3 years ($1.4 million) and is assisting regional plant collections with digitally photographing and databasing plant and algal collections from the Polynesia-Micronesia biodiversity hotspot region.

The Polynesia-Micronesia hotspot is a center of plant biodiversity that harbors approximately 5350 native plant species. In addition to Fiji, other collaborating partners include institutions in American Samoa, Hawaii, Guam, Palau, Samoa, and Tonga. We are also working in collaboration with the National Tropical Botanical Garden and the Bishop Museum both in Hawaii,” said Dr. Michael Thomas, Curator of the Joseph F. Rock Herbarium, University of Hawaii.

Marika Tuiwawa, Curator of the USP herbarium added, “he looks forward to providing increased access to the collection by delivering content to the Internet for students, researchers, and the general public. Increased access to the digital data for plants and algae of the Pacific Basin through the Consortium of Pacific Herbaria will create new regional research opportunities to discover and use specimen collection data,” Thomas added. The project will help the public understand the various plants that grow not only here in Fiji but also throughout Micronesia and Polynesia.

The project is providing several USP students with employment opportunities as museum curatorial assistants and the staff at the South Pacific Regional herbarium have received training on specimen digitization.

In addition, the project will develop an authoritative plant checklist of latin and common names that will facilitate the research of biologists and work of land managers who monitor invasive and endangered species throughout the Pacific. For more information about the collaborative project, visit the web site
www.pacificherbaria.org

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Exhibition Planning and Design: Writing with Thread

Exhibition Planning and Design: Writing with Thread
(Educational DVD, 60 minutes, 2010)
Lecture by Tom Klobe
Producer: Karen Kosasa
Director and Camera: Clinton Uyehara

Tom Klobe, former director of the University of Hawaii Art Gallery (1977-2006), introduces crucial elements of a successfully designed exhibition. For his case study, he uses the development of Writing with Thread, an exhibition of traditional textiles from ethnic minorities in southwest China. Mr. Klobe begins by describing his collaborative research with Huang Yin Feng, director of the Evergrand Art Museum in Taiwan, and a team of scholars and exhibition specialists, and their travels to several Chinese villages. As he walks us through the conceptual and physical development of the exhibition, Mr. Klobe discusses thematic concepts, spatial arrangements of objects, color choices, lighting effects, selection of mannequins, construction of specialized stands and bases, and the writing of signage and labels. Viewers will enjoy a rare glimpse of the "behind the scenes" process and the students and volunteers who helped create this stunning exhibition of embroidered clothing and silver jewelry from Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi Autonomous Region, and Hainan Island. This lecture is an invaluable resource for designing exhibitions on a range of topics.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Fashion professor leaves stylish footsteps at UH


Marcia Morgado walked onto her old turf at the University of Hawaii's Miller Hall on Sunday afternoon, expecting a meeting with the school's dean. Instead, she was surprised with an intimate retirement party and exhibition of garments pulled from the UH Historic Costume Collection in her honor, comprising donations she'd made to the collection over 40 years.

Morgado started teaching in the Apparel Product Design and Merchandising program in 1965 and retired on July 31.

Planning for the exhibition actually began a few years ago, when Linda Arthur Bailey -- who worked in the department before taking a job as Washington State University's professor and curator of apparel, merchandising, design and textiles -- returned on sabbatical leave.

"Marcia was talking then about how, when she retires, she would just lock the door and walk away, and we said, 'You're not gonna do that,'" Bailey said. She and Carol D'Angelo, professor and curator of the costume collection, searched for the pieces and "got (Morgado's) daughter in on it as well, hunting down the most important pieces," Bailey said. "We actually had it ready to go two years ago."

During the past few weeks, Bailey found herself uncharacteristically sneaking into and around the building to set up the exhibit, so as not to run into Morgado, who is wrapping up unfinished business and clearing her office before the new semester starts.

The exhibit will not be open to the public, due to space and time issues, but D'Angelo said they are working to have the pieces photographed and displayed on the university's virtual museum website, www.museum.hawaii.edu.

Clothes easily reflect the life stories of the people who wear them, and due to Morgado's lengthy interest and appreciation of fashion, the collection presents a neat snapshot of the evolution of fashion from the mid-20th century until now, including her move from rural Utah to the formality of a big city, and finally capturing the loose, casual vibe of sunny Honolulu.

Pieces range from a childhood Hopalong Cassidy cowgirl outfit to late 1950s cocktail dresses and a T-shirt that reads, "Fashion Sucks."

But don't take that message at face value. She's just keeping up with trends.

"One might think it's an anti-fashion statement, but one must think of it in the context of contemporary society's post-modern irony," she said.

Confronted with nearly two dozen pieces of her life story, Morgado said: "It's been fun dredging up the memories. Some of these pieces are particularly meaningful, some are not, but of those that are, I can look at them and remember where I was when I was wearing them and what I was feeling."

Some pieces, like a cute, sexy pink, pinup girl swimsuit reading "Aloha" from the 1980s, were never worn but purchased with the intention of donating them to the collection.

"It's my style. If it had been the right time in my life, I would have worn it. I'd even wear it today," Morgado said.

Eyeing a perfect specimen of an original 1960s bubble dress, complete with detached, drawstring petticoat (they weren't built into the hem the way it's done today), brought back the indignation she felt when she learned her mom had thrown out her favorite bubble dress.

"(The collection) could have had two, but my mother discarded the best. It was light green, of silk shantung, gorgeous beyond belief. It was very high fashion, so she couldn't stand that. She never threw anything else out!"

Seeing elements of the cowgirl outfit she wore as a 7-year-old brought back memories as well. She recalled details of the outfit, down to its snap-pearl-button shirt, original designer Hopalong Cassidy signature, double gun holster and leather wrist cuffs. For her, it wasn't just make-believe.

"I became a cowgirl," she said. "I really did wear pearl-button shirts. I had horses."

That was all before she moved to California to attend Mills College in Oakland. There, she met her husband, a Hawaii boy who was attending the University of California at Berkeley, and after graduating they moved to Hawaii, where he pursued a doctorate degree in physics.

Morgado had majored in merchandising, but in the 1960s was considered too educated by most employers. There were also few stores that could use her skills.

Liberty House was interested in hiring her, but needed assurance that money spent putting her through its executive training program would not go to waste.

Recalling costumer Edith Head's chutzpah in passing another student's drawings off as her own to get her plum job at the MGM movie studio, Morgado said she told the employers: "I'm going to be here the rest of my life," not knowing then how true that statement would turn out to be.

"I was there for many years, so they did get their money back," she said.

At Liberty House, she found herself in the right place at the right time. She worked as a buyer in several departments, including junior girls and sportswear, before launching a Polynesian department focusing on Hawaiian wear.

"At the time there was a phenomenal explosion of people interested in Hawaiian-looking merchandise," she said. "Hawaiian wear was sort of like the Roxy of its day."

Attire from local companies such as Tori Richard, Iolani and Surfline was prominently featured in national advertising campaigns by major retailers and magazines from Life to Vogue.

Divorced when her daughter was 3, Morgado realized that as a single mom, she could not keep retail hours "seven days a week, 363 days of the year," she said. That's when she saw an ad seeking a UH fashion department instructor that "seemed like something I could do," she said.

At the time she was hired, it was unusual for university faculty members to have practical experience, according to Morgado. Even so, she said, "that first semester I shook like a leaf while I was teaching. I had little experience as a public speaker, none in teaching, but I've been here 35 years."

Now that she's retired, she keeps busy training dogs and seems genuinely fearful of shopping.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to stop," Morgado said. "I'm a shopaholic. I just fall in love with something and have to buy multiple copies. Now that I'm retiring, I can't do that. I have to stay out of shopping malls."

But for others left to carry on the mission of training the next generation of fashion disciples, she feels promise in the air.

"I feel we're on the precipice of another big explosion and this is a wonderful place to nurture design talent," she said. "New York is dynamic and exciting all the time and I feel Hawaii has the same energy. This is the kind of place that inspires culture, people."

Star Advertiser, Aug 12, 2010 ....

Monday, August 16, 2010

Musings of Mystery and Alphabets of Agony: The Work of Edward Gorey

The University of Hawaii Art Gallery in collaboration with the University of Hawaii Library is pleased to present Musings of Mystery and Alphabets of Agony: The Work of Edward Gorey from September 26 through December 10, 2010. This exhibition highlights the work by celebrated, prolific American author and artist Edward Gorey (1925-2000) who is revered for his distinctly elegant, enigmatic, and eerie black and white illustrations. The press release is below and in the attachment.

You are invited to attend the opening program and reception for Musings of Mystery and Alphabets of Agony on September 26, 2010. Andreas Brown, Co-Trustee, from The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust, will be the keynote speaker at 2:00 p.m. The reception will be held from 3:00 to 5:00. Free tours are scheduled on Sundays beginning October 3. Details for more special Gorey events, including a Halloween family fun day, will be forthcoming.

We look forward to your visit!

Lecture: The Web and Indigenous People: The Future is Here

The Web and Indigenous People: The Future is Here

With Philip Gordon, Aboriginal Heritage Officer
Australian Museum, Sydney

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Bishop Museum, Pākī Room II
Free and Open to the Public. Free Parking at Bishop Museum.

Philip Gordon, Aboriginal Heritage Officer at the Australian Museum in Sydney, will discuss an innovative web-based project developed in partnership with the Wonnarua Nation Aboriginal Corporation. The project provides digital access to an important indigenous cultural collection held at the museum and a web-based platform designed to promote local intergenerational experiences of the collection. By delivering specialized new media skills (video production, web 2.0 programs), and by promoting the cultural transmission of intangible cultural heritage and supporting the development of local identities and community relations, this project was structured to facilitate social transformation in the Singleton region. It also offers high school workshops in which indigenous students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the āonline collection and engage with their culture through new media and the web.


About Philip Gordon:
Philip Gordon, has worked at the Australian Museum since 1980, where he is currently the Aboriginal Heritage Officer. He advises Aboriginal communities on Aboriginal museum outreach, and the repatriation of Aboriginal human remains and other significant cultural properties. In turn, he advises government agencies on cultural heritage issues and policy development. He works with cultural centers and Keeping Places on their development and planning practices, as well as on their training needs. Through his membership on several state and federal committees, including his chairmanship of the New South Wales Museums Committee, Mr. Gordon is widely respected for his ability to move between institutional spaces and local communities and facilitate interaction between them.

Other Relevant Experiences:

· Manager of the Australian Museum Aboriginal Heritage Unit and Head of the Division of Anthropology (2000-2004).

· Involved in the development of museum policy and procedures dealing with indigenous cultural issues, as well as indigenous public programs at the Australian Museum.

· Recently appointed to the Joint Federal and State Committee dealing with the Return of Indigenous Cultural Property.

· Member of the New South Wales Government Arts Advisory Council, State Committee

· Member of the Return of Indigenous Cultural Property Committee, Joint Federal and State Committee

· Member of Visions Committee (funding organization), Federal Committee


This lecture is co-sponsored by the Hawaiʻi Museum Association, Bishop Museum and the University of Hawaiʻi Museum Studies Graduate Certificate Program.

Please direct inquiries to museum@hawaii.edu or 956-7428

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Video available: Exhibition Planning and Design: Writing with Thread


Exhibition Planning and Design: Writing with Thread video now available online.
Click here...

Tom Klobe, former director of the University of Hawaii Art Gallery (1977-2006), introduces crucial elements of a successfully designed exhibition. For his case study, he uses the development of Writing with Thread, an exhibition of traditional textiles from ethnic minorities in southwest China. Mr. Klobe begins by describing his collaborative research with Huang Yin Feng, director of the Evergrand Art Museum in Taiwan, and a team of scholars and exhibition specialists, and their travels to several Chinese villages. As he walks us through the conceptual and physical development of the exhibition, Mr. Klobe discusses thematic concepts, spatial arrangements of objects, color choices, lighting effects, selection of mannequins, construction of specialized stands and bases, and the writing of signage and labels. Viewers will enjoy a rare glimpse of the “behind the scenes” process and the students and volunteers who helped create this stunning exhibition of embroidered clothing and silver jewelry from Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi Autonomous Region, and Hainan Island. This lecture is an invaluable resource for designing exhibitions on a range of topics.

NOTE: We would like to hear from you about this video. Please give us your comments (including how to improve it) by taking the “Survey Monkey” questionnaire by May 22nd, 2010. Thank you very much! Please return to this site to see the final version in early June 2010.

Exhibition Planning and Design: Writing with Thread
(Educational DVD, 60 minutes, 2010)

Lecture by Tom Klobe
Producer: Karen Kosasa

Director and Camera: Clinton Uyehara