The Keys to the Kingdom

The Main Gallery at the Toledo Museum of Art

The sliding door thuds into place as I close it behind me, turning off the lights and leaving the gallery. The Toledo Museum of Art closes its doors on Mondays, allowing time for those who work behind the scenes to get everything in order for the week ahead. But I wandered the halls all on my own, on a hunt for the 20 pieces that I have been assigned to look into, which I will narrow down to 6-8 that have related themes for my actual research. But for now, I have the keys to the museum. Granted, I couldn't necessarily access the museum with impunity, and walking its halls on a Monday should be no different from a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, but a feeling of elation swells in my chest anyways. Its the freedom, the sensation of being on the inside, behind the scenes where the magic happens. I've been visiting museums all my life and can't count the number of times I've visited TMA even with all my fingers and toes, but this experience is entirely new. This is the last part of my first day at the museum, beginning my three week internship during which I will be working on an exhibit called Global | Local scheduled to open Fall 2014.

So lets back up a little bit to the start of my day. After wandering around like a lost puppy, I latched onto another woman in the curatorial office who took me up to Adam Levine's office so that he could teach me the ropes. First we visited the desk in the curatorial office that will be my home for the next three weeks, then went to a breakfast meeting. Afterwards, I took my picture for my ID, got my keys, then sat down at said desk for an hour so that I could begin looking through the 108 objects that will be in the exhibit. Adam gave me a schedule of his meetings and pointed out the ones he thought would be interesting for me to attend, then I got back to work, this time narrowing in on the 20 pieces that I will be working from. At 2, I went to a meeting with Marketing about Global | Local with Adam, and afterwards I embarked on my great adventure: wandering the galleries on my own.

So far, I have met some really interesting people, though I probably don't remember half their names from the whirlwind of introductions, and started work on some very interesting things. Walking through the halls that I have roamed so often before, my keys jingling in my hand, thousands of years of history surrounding me, I began to feel as if I had finally made it to the other side, and might have a chance of discovering what I had come in search of, whatever that was.