Museum Confidential

Bruce Springsteen just turned 70. But The Boss shows no signs of slowing down. In his hometown of Freehold, New Jersey, there’s a new exhibition at the Monmouth County Historical Association. It’s called, quite simply, SPRINGSTEEN: HIS HOMETOWN. On this episode we talk all things Bruce with Eileen Chapman, Director of The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University.

Dr. Seuss: Lost and Found

Spoiler: Adam Lerner isn’t your average museum director. For the past 10 years, Adam ran the show at MCA Denver. His impact on the institution, the city, and in many ways, the industry, is undeniable. Adam recently stepped down to explore new adventures. We were asked to do an exit interview of sorts. Recorded live in Denver. 

During our summer break, we headed down to Atlanta to interview hip-hop artist and activist, Killer Mike. He’s known widely for his work with Run The Jewels, but this trip was to talk about museums. Specifically, Atlanta’s High Museum of Art. A little over a year ago, Mike became a board member at The High. We wanted to check in and see how it’s going. What follows is a chat with Mike and High Museum Director Rand Suffolk. Recorded in the studios of public radio WABE in Atlanta.

For our 2019 Summer Special we chat with photographer, actor, and legendary skateboarder, Jason Lee (Mallrats, Almost Famous). Lee spent a good portion of 2018 road-tripping through Oklahoma taking photos for his first solo museum show. On view at Philbrook Downtown until November 10.

For our Season 2 finale we headed down to the Big Easy for a live show to kick off the annual conference of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). We set up shop inside the beautiful and mouthwatering Southern Food and Beverage Museum for a chat with Don Wildman, host of the long running Travel Channel show, “Mysteries at the Museum.”

There are many examples of writers using paintings and other visual art as inspiration for books. Think "The Girl with a Pearl Earring" or even "The Da Vinci Code." That’s what Donna Baier Stein did when she decided to write a collection stories based on works by American artist, Thomas Hart Benton. The issues Benton dealt with still resonate today. We sat down with Stein to talk about "Scenes from the Heartland," how she landed on Thomas Hart Benton, and the one piece that inspired the whole project.

In our first show recorded in front of a live audience, we explore what it means to be a curator with Philbrook Museum of Art Chief Curator Catherine Whitney and Gilcrease Museum Senior Curator, Laura Fry. Your grandmother probably went her whole life without saying she “curated” something. And while so many people these days claim to curate this or that, the only ones that can truly own the title are actual curators. Featuring cameos by comedian Pete Holmes, exit signs, and the National Mustard Museum.

We recently stumbled upon a fascinating blog post written last year by Graham Boettcher, Director of the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama. The headline read, “DIRECTOR RECKONS WITH ART MUSEUM’S UGLY PAST” and looks at the museum’s troubling Jim Crow-era policies in the first dozen years of its existence. We sat down with Graham to discuss this and much more.

Museums have a problem. Too much stuff. But whereas you can take a few carloads to Goodwill or set up a yard sale, museums don’t have that luxury. Sometimes they end up building costly expansions just to contain the overflow. New York Times reporter Robin Pogrebin visited museums of various budgets and sizes to see just how big a problem museum storage has become.

Time for our annual round table chat with three experts from different parts of the art world. The roster includes Hrag Vartanian, editor of the popular arts and culture website Hyperallergic, Philbrook Director Scott Stulen, and artist Sharon Louden who is currently putting the finishing touches on a brand new installation in the Philbrook Rotunda. The installation will be on view through the rest of 2019.

What is Glenstone? It’s an art museum. It boasts over 200 acres of grounds. It’s private. It’s free. Kids and chewing gum aren’t allowed (that’s a little controversial). They only allow a few hundred folks at a time. No pictures. No phones. But don’t be easily distracted by those shiny objects. Founders Mitch and Emily Rales are after something different. On this episode we sit down with Emily (who also serves as Director and Chief Curator) to find out what.

For the #1 slot on his Best of 2018, New York magazine art critic Jerry Saltz selected an exhibition at the Guggenheim by Swedish artist Hilma af Klint titled “Paintings for the Future.” “The most magnificent sight in New York this year..." The show’s curator, Tracey Bashkoff, joins us to check in and see how it’s going. The exhibition closes April 23, 2019.

Art conservation: It’s sort of a magic trick. But there are immensely talented people using skills and techniques passed down over generations alongside the latest technology. On this episode we chat with Julian Baumgartner of Chicago-based Baumgartner Fine Art Restoration. Julian has taken his family business into the 21st century by embracing new media, becoming a bit of a social media star in the process.

Close your eyes. Imagine a museum. Open galleries, high ceilings, there’s a guard in the corner wearing a navy or perhaps maroon blazer. It’s quiet, it’s cold, it’s a museum. Those are the stereotypes of course, but you see where we’re going. Museums are, or at least, can be, much different. One of the places trying to change the way we interact with these spaces is The Underground Museum in Los Angeles. We recently sat down with the museum’s Director, Megan Steinman.