Help! Researching American Rock Poster Art

[jennygirl]

Hello,

I am currently pursuing my MA in Museum Management from Montclair State University in New Jersey and am researching American rock poster art for a semester long project in Exhibition Planning and Management. Music is an essential part of my life and I have had an interest in poster art for some time.

The assignment is basically to create a mock exhibition plan as realistically as possible acting as exhibition designer and curator. This includes choosing a theme and works to support the theme, finding funding information and creating a budget, and planning public programming and marketing.

I am contacting you in hopes that you may be able to steer me in the right direction as to where I might find specific information. As I said part of the assignment is to be as realistic as possible. I am looking to include 50 to 100 works that illustrate the evolution of the movement from the 1960s to today. Similar to the way the information is presented in the film "American Artifact" or in The Art of Rock books but much smaller in scale. Below I have outlined some general questions.

• Is it possible for public institutions to borrow specific works from collectors? If so what are the fees and who could I contact for specifics?
• What are the insurance policies in regards to transporting and displaying posters?
• Do you know where I can find links to previous exhibitions of American rock poster art?

Any information, tips, or general guidance is greatly appreciated!

-Jenny

[Andymac]

tip....just put up one post

[bmethe]

jenny -

contacting the artist themselves initially would be the best way to start, an artist would love to get publicity being in a show. you would look at artist websites or facebook to contact specific artists. insurance policies? um, that would be up to the artist or if that is in your budget or if the venue would cover it. previous exhibitions - Google - there are tons of shows every year. The Art of Musical Maintenance show has been an annual show for the last 7 years. hope that helps.

[squeegeethree]

[*]Is it possible for public institutions to borrow specific works from collectors? If so what are the fees and who could I contact for specifics?[*]What are the insurance policies in regards to transporting and displaying posters?[*]Do you know where I can find links to previous exhibitions of American rock poster art?

Please don't take offense, I assume you are just starting your program. These questions are answered in your Museum Management 101 textbook. You may have over looked them as they are on page 1 in the first paragraph.

[jennygirl]

Actually yes this is my first semester. Also I know that collectors lend to institutions in general. What I meant was more on the lines of, asking where can I find contacts for specific collectors of rock poster art. Thanks.

[slater]

For collectors expressobeans.com is a really good site.

[DenisMutter]

Jenny - you are in the right place, but you might also want to contact the American Poster Institute (API - American Poster Institute), API is an organization formed by working poster artists and poster aficionados to support the work of the gig poster community.

Many of the artists that create gig posters are present almost daily here. I would suggest you look around, explore posters you're interested in, and contact the artists directly with questions.

[SkatRadioh]

Here's a resource of sorts you might find useful. It is an example of a smaller museum who worked directly with a collector. The museum has some insurance policy and the collector should provide the value of everything on loan.

This particular exhibition is at the Tweed Museum of Art in Duluth, MN. It is titled Psychedelic Signatures:
Rock Posters from the Andrew and Victoria Olson Collection. The collection on display is curated in part by the collector in this situation because they had the expertise to focus on and highlight american rock posters of the 60s. It just so happens that the collector is from the area and knowledgeable enough to inform the audience making the exhibition come together easily. In this case the museum is a venue to display a considerable collection from one place in the neighborhood. Otherwise, you're likely to be searching for individuals who own a piece and asking to loan it on whatever terms you can agree to. Unless you have some kind of purchasing power.

The museum has programming the revolves around their exhibits. They approached me to do some upcoming demos with printing and offered to pay for my time/materials. There are family days where activities are organized for kids that come in and check it out. I thought about printing on shirts for people who brought them in and printing 'posters' that kids could also color in with markers/crayons.

More info on the event:
Rock Poster exhibition opens | Facebook

Write-up on the collection by the collector (the site itself has MANY interviews and writings on the topic and beyond):
Reader Cover Story

Press:
Psychedelic Signatures at Tweed Museum, Duluth - YouTube
WDIO.com - Psychedelic Posters Hit Tweed Museum

Be a reasonable curator, you'll need to be knowledgeable in what the work is and why it's important that it's shown together. Have fun with funding and a budget! :P

I wish I could put together a focused study on Chicago area posters n such of current day. That would be awesome.

[SkatRadioh]

Oh, and if you want to be truly realistic. Go to some museums and speak with the staff if you can. They can tell you what kinds of things they have to deal with. Use their current potential given their resources as a model to work with.

Find a gallery or museum to work/intern for. I've volunteered for about a year now at a gallery that started out of nothing. Having acted as many of the primary roles necessary for running the gallery I learned a lot about the operations of a gallery/museum for specific shows and exhibitions. You'll want to be sure that you are thinking about contextualizing work(s) when working from a museum standpoint.