From: rkassman@jewishmuseummd.org
Sent: 2/21/2019 10:54:09 AM Eastern Standard Time
Subject: JMM Insights: More than a Run of the "Mill"
Deputy Director Tracie Guy-Decker and Director of Collections and Exhibits Joanna Church collaborated on this month's edition of JMM Insights which, somewhat coincidentally, is all about collaboration!
Have you ever heard of "The Mill" at Stevenson University? Well until last year we hadn't either. That's when we held a new projects briefing for Will Backstrom, Senior Vice President for Client and Community Relations at PNC Bank. Will, who has been a great friend and supporter of JMM, stopped the conversation when we brought up the topic of Fashion Statement (the exhibit about the way in which clothing expresses personal and social identity) and Stitching History from the Holocaust (a traveling exhibit from Milwaukee. that celebrates the creative talents of a designer who perished in the Shoah).
Will, who keeps tabs on Baltimore's cultural scene, pointed out that just as our exhibit was closing next summer the Maryland Historical Society would be putting on a major exhibit of their extraordinary collection of clothing. He thought we might cross-market our projects. And then he had one other thought, "what about the Mill?"
The "Mill" it turns out, is a capstone course for students at Stevenson University with an interest in design. It brings together students from departments like Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Film & Moving Image, and Business Communications work together, almost as if they were a design and marketing agency, to work on solving a specific, real-world problem. With Will's help, JMM, the Maryland Historical Society, and Stevenson U faculty and students came together and we became “clients” of the Mill.
Stevenson students in the Mill are incorporating our project into a much larger endeavor: a public affairs campaign to reinvigorate the fashion industry in the city of Baltimore. They developed a name for the effort (Stitching MD Together), a brand (stitchingmdtogether.org), and a full plan to research, educate, engage, and, they hope, encourage a growth in the fashion industry in the state. They are even hoping that, when the Maryland campaign is successful, other states can use the same template.
As part of this collaboration, JMM staff have visited the Mill classroom a number of times, listening to student presentations, discussing the upcoming projects, and even presenting a unit on social media marketing. Students have also used JMM and MdHS for their research into the history of the fashion industry in Baltimore and in Maryland and are creating a documentary film. Their research proved interesting and productive in more ways than we initially anticipated!
Stevenson University students setting up for documentary filming in the JMM Library, October 26, 2018.
As part of the students’ documentary project, they came to the JMM to interview Joanna, and film some of our textile collections. To make sure those pieces got a good showing, Trillion and Joanna turned the library into a miniature photo studio and prepped a variety of outfits to a presentable display standard, ready for their respective close-ups. A handy side benefit of this process was that we were able to take some good photographs for our own purposes, in advance of the upcoming Fashion Statement exhibit.
This ermine coat (complete with tails sewn into the interior seams), made by Havelock and Selenkow, Baltimore, was a 35th birthday present to Alene Steiger Adler from her husband Charles Adler, Jr., in 1941. It will be featured in “Fashion Statement,” opening April 7, 2019. Gift of Amalie Adler Ascher, JMM 1989.167.30a.
The student film crew got some on-the-ground experience (not that they weren’t already quite skilled) along with the footage they needed for their documentary. In addition, they got the chance to take a close look at museum artifacts, and at techniques for interpretation and display. An article of clothing can tell you so much about the person who wore it and the times and culture in which it was worn, but people haven’t always given that idea much thought; sharing that insight, and seeing students’ respond to it, is a delight. We think this deeper understanding of the roles of clothing and fashion will help them strengthen their campaign.
Joanna talking with Grace Clark, part of the Stitching Maryland Together Communications team, prior to the interview.
In addition to the deliverables of the research and the documentary, we’ve also been partnering with Stevenson students for some of the details of the visitor experience in Fashion Statement, the JMM-curated portion of the double-bill opening April 7th. The interactive experiences in our exhibits are often among the most memorable to our visitors, and among the most complicated for museum staff to create. For Fashion Statement, Stevenson professors have helped us brainstorm interesting mechanisms for engaging visitors even as their students are helping us make those ideas a reality. We are working with several different Stevenson classes and individual students to achieve the interactive visitor experience. From graphic artists to aspiring fashion designers, the collaboration with the University is providing JMM with fresh ideas and talent as well as providing students with real-world, client-driven experiences.
All of these many positive outcomes have much to remind us about the power of partnership and collaboration. And with deep gratitude to Mr. Backstrom, whose eyes lit up when we told him about Fashion Statement, we reiterate the truth of the fact that one person has enormous power to make a difference: all of these synergies and win-win moments were made possible by a single conversation many, many months ago.
Curated by the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee
On view at the Jewish Museum of Maryland
April 7, 2019 – August 4, 2019
Paul and Hedy Strnad were trapped. The Nazis were closing in. In an attempt to escape, they sent Hedy’s dress designs to their cousin in Milwaukee to help them get to the United States. All efforts failed. Hedy and Paul perished in the Holocaust, but their memory lives on in a letter and sketches, which form the core of this haunting exhibit.
Stitching History from the Holocaust brings to life the innovative dress designs of Hedy Strnad. Hedy and her husband Paul originally sent these designs to Paul’s cousins in America as part of their effort to escape Prague in 1939. That effort ultimately failed, and these beautiful dresses serve not only as a unique memorial for a lost talent, but also as a touchstone for discussion of the human cost of the Holocaust and the plight of refugee populations.
The Jewish Museum of Maryland’s commitment to Holocaust education makes this exhibit an important one. Stitching History aims for visitors to see that each victim of the Holocaust has their own story that deserves to be remembered and that the Holocaust took not just lives, but also the potential those lives had and their future contributions to our world. At the same time our goal is to help visitors make connections between their own lives and histories and the stories of others.
The Baltimore presentation of this exhibit is made possible, in part, by our lead sponsor, The Herbert Bearman Foundation.
