JFK University Museum Studies Student Wins 2010 AAM Muse Award

June 4, 2010

PLEASANT HILL, Calif. – Letitia Carper Long, a Museum Studies graduate student at John F. Kennedy University, won the bronze Honeysett & Din Student Award in the 2010 American Association of Museums’ (AAM’s) Muse Awards for her video project in partnership with the Asian Art Museum exhibition Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam & Burma: Conserving the Collection. Ms. Carper Long was honored at the AAM’s Conference in Los Angeles.

The Emerald Cities exhibition is from the permanent collection of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Most objects date from the 19th century and several had been damaged or deteriorated over time. Art conservators worked approximately 7,500 hours to prepare the objects for the exhibition.

The video, which was shown on a loop in one of the galleries throughout the exhibition’s duration, outlined three aspects of the renovation:

• A “behind-the-scenes” view of the process, procedures, and methodology of art conservation;
• An introduction to the art and culture of 19th-century Siam and Burma; and
• The story of the late Doris Duke, collector of Southeast Asian artwork.

One of the judges commented, “Overall, I believe this video to have greatly enhanced the corresponding exhibit. So many times, you visit a gallery and see the objects and read the labels, but with this video, you get to look behind the scenes. The quality of the video is outstanding, both in content and appearance.”

During JFK University’s Commencement Exercises on Saturday, June 19, at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, Ms. Carper Long will be honored as the Outstanding Student of the Year in the School of Education and Liberal Arts for her excellent academic work as a graduate student as well as her master’s thesis about Story Theater and history museums in the United States.