November 2, 2015 7:30 PM Scottsdale Ranch Clubhouse 10585 N. 100th St. Scottsdale, AZ
On Monday evening, November 2, Arizona Glass Alliance will host a presentation by Jan Smith, Executive Director of the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass in Neenah, Wisconsin. Jan has been the driving force in the transformation of Bergstrom-Mahler from a regional museum that did a little bit of everything (but with an interest in glass), to a museum which made the decision to specialize and focus solely on art made from glass. As a result, Bergstrom-Mahler has become a major resource in the glass art world. To learn more about Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass take a look at their website, www.bmmglass.com.
Jan began her career as a curator in 1989, and was attracted to art made from glass from the very beginning. Following her appointment as Executive Director of Bergstrom-Mahler in 2006, she has lead a series of strategic planning initiatives, culminating in a 2011 study which resulted in the decision to focus solely on art made from glass. Since that time the museum has organized exhibitions which featured the work of Harvey Littleton, Paul Stankard, William Morris and Lino Tagliapietra, to name a few.
An even more recent initiative has been the digitization of the collection which has enabled Bergstrom-Mahler to forge an online partnership with the Google Cultural Institute, one of the most cutting edge ways to enable people to access art in today’s technically driven society.
Jan will be speaking on both the process and results of the decision to create a specialized museum as well as the Google Cultural initiative. It will be fascinating to see into this window on how a regional museum can become a major resource by specialization, and to learn more about how we will all access art in the near future through technology.