Curator High 2025 Takes Flight with "Suspended in Air"
Curator High 2025 students with instructor Shannon Eakins.
This summer, in partnership with Jobs 253 (Tacoma Public Schools), Museum of Glass held its third year of Curator High, a program for students interested in learning more about the curatorial process at museums. Students worked closely with the Museum of Glass Education and Curatorial departments to design a display for the Grand Hall with works from the Museum’s Permanent Collection. These student curators met with every Museum department to gain a deeper understanding of the division of labor in a museum and bring their vision to life. In addition to determining the display’s topic and content, they also built interpretive content for the case, which is now on view in the Museum’s Grand Hall.
Together, the Curator High students developed the installation Suspended in Air.
We caught up with the Curator High participants to ask them about the most interesting or surprising thing they learned while working at Museum of Glass.
Mia Walker
“I found the Kids Design Glass program to be very interesting. Kids under 12 years old can draw their own art creations and then professionals take it and make it out of glass. They then get displayed so everyone that visits the Museum can see the artworks. The glassblowers make two copies of the kid’s original art piece, one to display which becomes part of the museum collection, and one for the child to take home. The kid’s colors, details, and creativity are captured so they get an exact copy of their artwork. Artists can find inspiration in this program as kids have unlimited imagination. Each art piece is unique and one of a kind —many leaving you with the curious question, “What is that?”. I personally feel that this program helps teach kids that their ideas do in fact matter and that art can come from anyone, not just professionals.”
Lyric Milligan
“It was interesting to learn about the design and creation of things in museums that often go unnoticed, such as the arrangement of objects in cases, the text labels, or the paint color choices for the gallery walls. So much planning goes into how each object is displayed, with every small detail accounted for, while the visitor’s attention is meant to be drawn to the art pieces themselves. This work is subtle, but creates an environment that allows the artwork to be better appreciated. I have started to notice more of these kinds of tiny choices in the world around me and appreciate that a person put a lot of thought into making them.”
Sammy Altamimy
“I enjoyed learning about how museums take care of their art collections. We were able to see the art storage at Museum of Glass and also take a tour of collection storage at the Tacoma Art Museum. It is very interesting to see how they preserve their artwork because, especially with paintings and drawings, they have to watch and record the room temperature. In the glass museum, they don’t have to worry quite as much because glass is less climate sensitive. While the art storage may look full and chaotic, everything was in a planned place. Every year, they inventory all the artwork and make sure it is all still in the right spot. Storing and caring for an art collection is part of the work at museums that I wasn’t aware of before.”
Suspended in Air installation in the Museum of Glass Grand Hall.