March 31, 2020
Hi, my name is Alex Armstrong. I’m a senior studying French, and this is my third year working for the KMA. I really enjoy my job because a museum is a way to bring together the humanities—art, the record of human culture—with practical, hands-on work. I love art for its content, the craft that goes into it, and also the history behind it. Presented with, say, a watercolor, I’m equally happy just looking at it, putting together a frame for it, or researching it. When I took the job at the KMA I was under the impression that museums are about displaying art, but I quickly learned this isn’t strictly true. Museums are like mushrooms; you see a little bit on the surface now and then, but the majority of their substance out of sight, below ground. At the KMA this is literal: most of the vast collection is housed in the spooky old basement of the lovely former Asylum building. As we all look for ways to keep sane, entertained, and maybe even happy during this lockdown, I’ll be providing a rare look into some of the out-of-the-way corners of the KMA collection through the rest of this semester.