I’m In a Crayon Box

By Kevin Gray, Arts In Education Coordinator at Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY

On November 14th, 2017 I and other museum professionals from central New York attended a lively and inspiring Creativity Incubator provided by NYSCA and the Greater Hudson Heritage Network at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. Lia Tamborra, presenter and member of Museum Hack, challenged us to select an artwork in the MWPAI and construct a two to three minute presentation around it that incorporated many of the elements of a Museum Hack tour: an ‘icebreaking’ introduction, a lively and engaging salvo of facts about the artwork and artist in as interactive a manner as possible, and a punchy conclusion that would leave a lasting impression. Each group had about ten minutes to research and plan their talk before delivering. No sweat! Our group (the names of my four or five partners have not lingered in my memory, but it truly was a team effort to put this together) chose the 1951 painting, Number 18 by Mark Rothko. What follows is a transcription of my wild and wooly presentation, recreated to the best of my memory with the conversational tone and sense of last-minute panic retained:

---

Read More