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Hi my friends here on the forum. I took over the "Question of the week"-thread from Marcia at our last board meeting. I have a lot of questions for you, but I had such a typical (for me) encounter today, that my first question must be:

 

Are you touching things in museums?

 

I have been at the Fine Arts Museum in Boston today. In the Korean Ceramics department I saw such a beautiful bowl standing on a pedestal, white, porcelaine, grainy surface..NOT behind glass. You know what comes next: spell bound, I caressed the inside of the bowl with the tip of my fingers and then - wuiwuiwui - the alarm went off and a security guard came running in and asked me why I touched the bowl. My answer, as always, was: I couldn't help it!

 

How about you?

 

Evelyne 

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That is one of the most hysterical encounters I've ever heard!!!! I'm glad that you didn't have to call me to bail you out of jail!!!

 

Ceramic objects, especially vessels, demand to be held, touched, caressed. When I have an exhibition I tell everyone to touch. Of course this is much to the chagrin of the gallery owner!

 

Bravo to you Evelyne for allowing your emotions to draw you to touch.

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Steven, I had half of a piece of cake left in my bag. That would have lasted me for a few hours... till you came to bail me out.... :D  Glad to have your phone number!

 

I'am doing "the touching" in museums quite often. Security doesn't like me around the world. You know, not for a second did I think that I shouldn't touch anything. It was, and always is, an impuls, a reflex. 

 

Evelyne

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Once I was in the Museum of Modern Art with a friend and as we stood in front of the 'Starry Night' canvas she says ... "I'm going to touch it." ... and I say NO, but she does. Now this painting has its own full time guard and he charges over and gives her a talking to. She apologizes and walks back toward me with a sly grin .., " I touched it." she says.

 

Not that I'm advocating touching stuff in museums ... I am the kind who has to keep both hands clasped behind my back in order not to touch everything I want to.

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Oh my. I don't touch things in museums as I was taught by my parents that way. I was taught that museums were like public homes, you did not go into a home to pick things up and handle them, why a museum? When I first walked in to Dwight Holland's house the first time and he announced that all of the pots were to be touched and caressed to enjoy-I was unable to bring myself to do it until much later in the night. Then I started going to everything touching, carefully lifting and really getting a sense of what the piece was all about. What a liberating experience!

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Steven, I had half of a piece of cake left in my bag. That would have lasted me for a few hours... till you came to bail me out.... :D  Glad to have your phone number!

 

I'am doing "the touching" in museums quite often. Security doesn't like me around the world. You know, not for a second did I think that I shouldn't touch anything. It was, and always is, an impuls, a reflex. 

 

Evelyne

 

Double violator  . . . touching the exhibits and carrying food into the museum!  Soon your mug shot will be sent to museum guards around the world with the admonition to "Watch for the serial toucher."  Hope they don't put you on the Don't Fly List . . . you'll be stuck in Boston forever (like the guy in the song on the subway). 

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I appreciate the sentiment...touching is so very tempting. However, the museum (and the security staff) are charged with the protection of the assets on display.  A well-meaning touch that ends up as a pile of shards would not make any museum (or visitor) very happy....and both, perhaps, poorer.  That security guard could not possibly look at you and know that your experience of touching is a sign of respect or empathy with the maker versus some idiot who had as much respect for the piece as he/she might have for a cheap plastic bowl.  I have actually asked about touching in a museum settings before...and to-date, I have never heard a yes.

 

Maybe with a piece of cake in my other hand, a security guard could be persuaded :rolleyes: (probably not).

 

-Paul

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Dear All,

I guess it boils down to : why museums are made only for the eyes ; why museums are NOT made for kids (like the luky Evelyne) ?

Paintings are addressed to eyes but most of other opere exposed are CALLING for the other senses to be interacting. For ceramics and scupltures or any other tridimensional objects, touching is the close next after seeing...

So much for the kids that we try to remain (Evelyne is obviously talented) ?

Well, the guards of the museums (and those of this world) will explain you that if everybody does it... and what about if you let if fall on the floor, ... and if thousands of people touch it, it will prematurely wear,...

You know all this reasonable reasons adults tell to the kids...

So what ?

Well the museums exist more to keep things eternal and kids know nothing is eternal so museums are not for kids.

This is really a pity annd make the job of remaining a kid or retrieving such a state of mind quite difficult.

Pardon this rather heavy philosophy, Evelyne and my English too as I'm writing from the other side of the world (where people walk on their heads, you know? ;-)

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Hi my friends

 

Just arrived safely in N.Y.C., so I left Boston before I get stuck there because of the "serial toucher thing" :-) I like that nickname - serial toucher! You know, I would never touch a painting in a museum. But when it comes to ceramics, I just can't help it. We should wear a nametag with CERAMIST in bold letters on it and tell the security guard that we know what we are doing. I can understand that they are just doing their jobs in being mad at touchers, but I'am just doing my passion thing too....

 

And regarding the cake: I bought it in the museum coffee shop, but didn't eat all, so is that a violation or not? Hmmm, not sure... I should try that again and, yes, maybe tempt the guard to not be overly bad at me the next time.... And next time will be soon: there's that gorgeous MOMA just around the corner... (big serial toucher grin!!).

 

Vladimir: welcome to the forum! Glad you posted here and hey, we can digest heavy philosophy. Don't worry about your English, it is very good! I'am originally from Switzerland and will fly back there Easter Monday. English is not my mothertongue too. Don't be shy! Could you please fill in your profile page, so that we know where you come from?! Thank you. I guess "down under"?

 

Thank you all for answering my question-of-the-week! Keep the stories coming....

 

Evelyne

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where else will you go, evelyne?  do you stay in new york the entire time?  got to get to some of the places people make pottery.  the 92nd street YMJA has teaching facilities and often have interesting events, greenwich house and Parsons school of design are close together.  ask around if you have not yet filled every waking moment on your schedule.  have a great time.

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Somewhat related, too often I hear parents admonish their children to "don't touch the pottery" when they stop by my booth at a show.  My reply is, "That's okay, it's only clay."  So, we precondition our kids early on to be good museum lookers and not touchers.  (Although the Smithsonian museums have some great hand-on exhibits for kids to touch and hold.  Too bad they don't have adult rooms, too.)

 

Evelyne -- it was a choice of either "serial toucher" or "felonious fondler".  As this seems to be a habit for you, I opted for "serial toucher".  Glad you did not get stuck in Boston.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Jw_v3F_Q0&feature=player_detailpage

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oldlady: my schedule is full full full here in the city that never sleeps, but I have planed to look (stress on  l o o k ) on ceramics too... Thank you for the tips!

 

bciske: you are right, we shouldn't tell children always to "not touch" things!! On the other hand, there really are old or ancient masterpieces in museums and also limestone sculptures in churches which shouldn't be touched too often because of what Vladimir said in his post above. Thank you for the song!

 

Evelyne

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When I lived in Virginia, decades ago, the VMFA had Degas' The Little Fourteen year Old Dancer on open display. My daughter, about 7 or 8 YO I think, was just mesmerized, and approached very close-maybe to touch, I don't know. The guard pounced so fast and so harshly that she was literally terrified and burst into tears. I was so furious I wanted to smack him. The trauma of that encounter stayed with her for a long time, and she would not go with me to the museum until she was older.  

 

I understand and respect the reasons for not having a zillion transfers of skin oil onto art work, or risking dropping the 5000 year old porcelain, or rubbing the brass nose of some animal sculpture until it looks so shiny it's ridiculous, so these days I actually prefer a "do not touch" sign or a barrier rope any where there is an open display. It is just too, too tempting, and the guards tend to not have much empathy when one can not resist personal contact with some wonderful creation. They even get twitchy when you closely approach the doggone glass cases! 

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I understand and respect the reasons for not having a zillion transfers of skin oil onto art work, or risking dropping the 5000 year old porcelain, or rubbing the brass nose of some animal sculpture until it looks so shiny it's ridiculous, so these days I actually prefer a "do not touch" sign or a barrier rope any where there is an open display. It is just too, too tempting, and the guards tend to not have much empathy when one can not resist personal contact with some wonderful creation. They even get twitchy when you closely approach the doggone glass cases!

 

I agree with this very well written statement for the reasons not to touch the openly displayed art work but I'm still very tempted to touch at times but just control myself. I don't know how it is in many other parts of the world but here in NYC the guards don't like to be touched either.

 

Paul

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Ha...when I lived in the city (plus the Bronx & Bklyn) I never once experienced the semi-punitive "tone" or the whiff of disapproval or the poised-ready-to-strike negative stance of any museum guard, in any museum, and I went to them all as often as I could, and got as close as I dared to the stuff. They were always polite and professional and nice; definitely void of the bad vibe I have felt from guards in other states. However, I must confess that I never tried to touch one. (Where in Kings County? I lived at Ave. U and Van Sicklen (Gravesend), in E. Flatbush, and the Gallo brothers territory (President St/ Carroll St.) back in the bad old days. 

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At the Portland NCECA in the 80s the was a fabulous ceramic sculptural form by a famous contemporary Japanese artist. It was a sleek porcelain form over 4ft long in a sensuous celadon glaze. There was a sign, do it touch and a guard standing next to it. And yet, almost every person walking through the door touched it. The guard just kept saying, do not touch...but we all did.

Marcia

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I was doing a festival and a woman came in with her children and said, "Touch with your eyes only" I thought that was a nice way of saying it rather than, don't touch THAT! lol I will admit to using it myself now when unsupervised children come in and begin digging through a basket of spoon rests energetically. During the holidays I have one basket full of paper mâché ornaments that I let the kids touch all they want and I tell the parents it's the only basket of non breakable ornaments in the tent. They generally look relieved as if to say, Finally something the kids can touch and I don't break into a cold sweat over it. I sell quite a few paper mâché ornaments.

 

Oh and I don't touch in museums but my husband almost got arrested for touching "The Hand of God". I do admit to carrying a camera it keeps my hands busy and I can take home an image of those items I am dying to touch. In stores and galleries I am horrible I have to touch everything and feel it's essence. I have literally bought something because I liked the way it felt in my hands.

 

T

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Hi again everybody, I had password problems here in the hotel. They changed the password and didn't tell the customers....

 

It is sad, Lee, that your daughter had to learn it the hard way. I think that guards should be more gentle to children. Explain, why it is better to not touch things etc. The "wearing out" of the objects is a strong statement of course.

.... and Paul: I would never touch a guard!! (unless he is made of clay...)

Marci: would that be Russel Fouts? That name tag idea is really funny!

Mark: you can do things that are "frowned on"!

High Bridge: welcome to the "serial toucher" club! (grin)

Pugaboo: in my eyes, you are not horrible to touch things in galleries, you are normal. Kudos to your husband!

 

I have been at the MET yesterday from opening almost to closing. And I never touched a thing. I learned fast, didn't I?! But I took a video of a few Chinese tripods and... oooops.... there's a hand in front of the lenses at the end of the video. Not mine, but the one of a guard, and you can hear him saying: "no videos alowed"... Awwwww, again a rebuke from a guard...

 

Evelyne

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I believe that all potters and sculptor have the impulse to touch because we are so connected to that materials we work with.  If I have a uncontrollable urge, I'll secretly touch the base of a sculpture.  That helps with my urge to touch with out actually touching the art work.  Our local art museum has a exhibit of touchable art it was originally for small children people with low vision, but I see a lot of grown ups in there including me.  I traveled with a sculpture group to view the Pieta that was on a tour with the pope, it was suppose to be the only Vatican approved copy.  None of us were Catholic so we visited the statue while everyone else was at the stadium watching the pope.  They had tape on the floor that you weren't suppose to step across, the Pieta  was so mesmerizing I felt like I would melt into it if I got too close.  It  kept pulling me in put I wasn't the one who set off the alarm that was the leader of our group.  She was behind the line but leaned forward, alarms went off and guards jumped out from both sides.  Denice

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