Fieldwork at the Fabric Workshop and Museum
Semester: Spring 2024
Praxis Course: HART B420 Museum Studies Fieldwork Seminar
Faculty Advisor: Matthew Feliz
Field Site: Fabric Workshop and Museum
Field Supervisor: Christina Roberts
Praxis Poster:
Naomi_Lawrence_Poster_Final_S24
Further Context:
I did my fieldwork at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, a contemporary art museum in Philadelphia. Through its artist residency program, artists work together with the FWM studio staff to create exhibitions. FWM also has a screenprinting studio, which produces hand printed fabric for exhibitions, as well as providing an apprenticeship program that trains young and emerging artists. FWM’s permanent collection contains artist boxes from each artist who has done a residency.
Over the course of my fieldwork I mostly assisted in the studio, and worked on two exhibitions. The first was Risa Puno’s Group Hug, an interactive game installation exploring the dynamics of caring for others and being cared for. Visitors choose a path when they enter the exhibit, either
cared for (relaxing in a chair nestled in a giant coconut shell) or care for (playing a game of whack-a-mole to keep the chairs reclined as long as possible). For Group Hug I designed and made four paper butterflies, each with different motifs inspired by one of the artist’s grandparents. I also assisted with painting coconut shells, cutting felt plants, and stuffing and
sewing felt leaves. Group Hug opened on February 29th.
The second exhibition I helped out with was John Jarboe’s The Rose Garden, a maze of interconnected rooms that leads the viewer through the artist’s gender journey and is set to open on May 11th. The viewer will travel through the different rooms and interact with sculptural elements to uncover video art. One of the elements of this exhibit is a giant red snapper with a screen in its belly. I assisted with attaching and arranging scales on the fish sculpture, as well as decorating the fins and tail. I also helped arrange and attach dried roses to some of the walls, and ran some errands to get materials.
In between working on exhibitions, I developed a visitor questionnaire for Group Hug. The questionnaire covered some demographic questions, which are helpful to the museum for understanding their audience, as well as some questions about the visitors’ experience interacting with the exhibit. The format for the questionnaire can hopefully be used for future exhibitions as well.
I learned a lot over the course of my fieldwork. One of my main takeaways was the difference between making my own art and working on art for someone else. Working within a pre-specified set of criteria, with external feedback, and with some but not complete creative freedom, presents its own specific set of challenges. While I struggled at first and felt the need
to constantly check with my supervisor, I gradually learned to trust myself more and was able to work more independently. Finding a good balance of working independently, while seeking enough feedback to stay on track and make sure I am fulfilling the artist’s vision is an ongoing process. Another big takeaway for me was the importance of collaboration and delegation for
large creative projects. There are so many people working on each exhibition at FWM, with such a wide range of skills and expertise. Despite this range it’s still a small team for the scale of the exhibits they create, and so people have to work flexibly, taking on a number of roles throughout
the process. It would be impossible for one person to do all of the things necessary to complete one of these exhibitions, or even to have complete creative control over each decision, and so collaboration is central to the process. Overall I found the fieldwork seminar to be a very informative and enriching experience.