From the Figge Front: Break Time

After two weeks of driving to the Figge daily we’re taking a break. The Chicago teams have returned to their land of Cubs and Bears, and Team UIMA is back at Menards catching up on other projects. And we’re not the only ones doing this: Now that the students are gone, Studio Arts (SA) construction workers are rushing to reconfigure the building before classes begin again. Want to know the difference in sound between sawing through concrete flooring and drilling into metal? I learned that the other day. I learned that right before I invested in ear plugs.



Some of the projects we’re working on at SA right now:

UIMA @the IMU (The Richey Ballroom): We’re identifying objects from our collection to exhibit in this newly renovated educational museum space, which will open to the UI community and the public in August.

African conservation prep: We’ve been fundraising to conserve some of our top African works and are now beginning to plan for a conservator to visit the Figge and work on those pieces that were identified pre-flood as needing attention.

Database entry: Now that we have a break, it’s time to enter all of the information we’ve been recording (re: object locations at the Figge) into our electronic database back at the UIMA office.

We anticipate resuming our eastern migratory patterns in July. This is when we expect the Chicagoans to return to these, our "Fields of Opportunities," and we will continue to welcome back our masks and textiles, our Goyas and Piranesis.

--Melissa Hueting, UIMA Assistant to the Director for Special Programs and Curatorial Assistant