Timeline:
The timeline group gathered supplies to construct a tangible timeline and catalog the corresponding information in a chronologically ordered binder. This binder was kick-started for examples sake and currently has one important event logged and labeled in ‘red’ dots, the designated color for Harry Brorby. More events need to be logged, and dot colors need to be assigned to important people in relation to Harry. For this to work successfully, we envision dots to be displayed on a sheet for organizational convenience. Contact Amanda Bennick for any questions on this organizational strategy. Additionally, we contacted friends of Harry and his family. We received tips to these people from family friend, Mary Porter, who was interviewed in weeks past. Moreover, we are in the process of following up to an unanswered email with Don Hardy, a suspected friend of Harry with day-to-day insight on Harry from hanging out and fishing in West Michigan. We hope to meet with more people in person ASAP, as this information is useful for both archival insight and independent projects.
Provenance:
Week number seven sees us continuing our search through the archives. As the archives become more organized, more pieces of Harry’s are surfacing, as well as more information on their history. Initially we were left with a seemingly random compilation of images of notations of pieces of art – some with scarce notes to place the piece in context. It will be a challenge to bring together all of the parts, though we are excited to begin the process. We have reached the point where we have a large enough base of images to work from, and find it necessary to now begin their organization. The coming week will have us finalizing the organization system for the identification of pieces of Harry’s work, which will hopefully aid in connection to galleries, exhibitions, sales, and so on.
Organization:
Here in the archives organization group we just keep on, keepin’ on! It is still a slow process as we have been trying to switch gears a little to begin our individual research topics. However, we are still finding new, exciting (sometimes strange) information within the many boxes stacked in the small room. It may look like a mess to anyone who enters or even passes by, but it’s definitely organized chaos which we can hopefully reign in…
Here’s what a few of the group members have been up to this past week:
Mason: “I've been focusing mostly on my individual project, but as for archiving, we found some vinyl records that were home-recorded. Their subject matter is interesting. Two were made of cardboard, which is odd, and they had a voice on them, not someone singing, but talking. However, the cardboard was frayed and nothing could be made out. Another was broken to pieces, and one was labeled ‘Brorby Jam Session.’ It was some weird home recording of drum and recorder music. It sounded tribal, and I could tell it was improvised. Really no talent to be found on it, and it was pretty creepy.”
Erin: “I came across a box full of stuff pertaining to his classes at Hope, including papers from his students, and a box containing lots of gallery correspondences and material samples. I [also] found an interesting paper he wrote for an exhibition - sort of a personal biography/ “how I started art” kind of thing which was really interesting.
Monica: “Found two really old family photo albums from Brorby’s family. They were crumbling apart and some of the photos were really faded, but it was still cool to see the documentation.”
Rachael: “This week I worked on organizing Harry Brorby's personal photographs, and created a specific folder for them. I also continued with going through the boxes, organizing various things such as letters, newspaper clippings and notes. I lead a group discussion on Wednesday on the assigned reading from the Merewether text.”
Digitization:
As of now, the digitization group has temporarily dissolved because of an increased necessity to finish archiving. Even so, we encourage all to scan documents of interest. If other members of the class need assistance on digitizing things, Austin and I would be happy to help!
Brant: I personally focused on retrieving documents and images that revealed more about Harry Brorby’s interests in painting. It kept finding this recurring intrigue for non-objective painting. I would like to investigate the depths of non-objective painting both in its relevance to Harry, and the historical context surrounding him
The timeline group gathered supplies to construct a tangible timeline and catalog the corresponding information in a chronologically ordered binder. This binder was kick-started for examples sake and currently has one important event logged and labeled in ‘red’ dots, the designated color for Harry Brorby. More events need to be logged, and dot colors need to be assigned to important people in relation to Harry. For this to work successfully, we envision dots to be displayed on a sheet for organizational convenience. Contact Amanda Bennick for any questions on this organizational strategy. Additionally, we contacted friends of Harry and his family. We received tips to these people from family friend, Mary Porter, who was interviewed in weeks past. Moreover, we are in the process of following up to an unanswered email with Don Hardy, a suspected friend of Harry with day-to-day insight on Harry from hanging out and fishing in West Michigan. We hope to meet with more people in person ASAP, as this information is useful for both archival insight and independent projects.
Provenance:
Week number seven sees us continuing our search through the archives. As the archives become more organized, more pieces of Harry’s are surfacing, as well as more information on their history. Initially we were left with a seemingly random compilation of images of notations of pieces of art – some with scarce notes to place the piece in context. It will be a challenge to bring together all of the parts, though we are excited to begin the process. We have reached the point where we have a large enough base of images to work from, and find it necessary to now begin their organization. The coming week will have us finalizing the organization system for the identification of pieces of Harry’s work, which will hopefully aid in connection to galleries, exhibitions, sales, and so on.
Organization:
Here in the archives organization group we just keep on, keepin’ on! It is still a slow process as we have been trying to switch gears a little to begin our individual research topics. However, we are still finding new, exciting (sometimes strange) information within the many boxes stacked in the small room. It may look like a mess to anyone who enters or even passes by, but it’s definitely organized chaos which we can hopefully reign in…
Here’s what a few of the group members have been up to this past week:
Mason: “I've been focusing mostly on my individual project, but as for archiving, we found some vinyl records that were home-recorded. Their subject matter is interesting. Two were made of cardboard, which is odd, and they had a voice on them, not someone singing, but talking. However, the cardboard was frayed and nothing could be made out. Another was broken to pieces, and one was labeled ‘Brorby Jam Session.’ It was some weird home recording of drum and recorder music. It sounded tribal, and I could tell it was improvised. Really no talent to be found on it, and it was pretty creepy.”
Erin: “I came across a box full of stuff pertaining to his classes at Hope, including papers from his students, and a box containing lots of gallery correspondences and material samples. I [also] found an interesting paper he wrote for an exhibition - sort of a personal biography/ “how I started art” kind of thing which was really interesting.
Monica: “Found two really old family photo albums from Brorby’s family. They were crumbling apart and some of the photos were really faded, but it was still cool to see the documentation.”
Rachael: “This week I worked on organizing Harry Brorby's personal photographs, and created a specific folder for them. I also continued with going through the boxes, organizing various things such as letters, newspaper clippings and notes. I lead a group discussion on Wednesday on the assigned reading from the Merewether text.”
Digitization:
As of now, the digitization group has temporarily dissolved because of an increased necessity to finish archiving. Even so, we encourage all to scan documents of interest. If other members of the class need assistance on digitizing things, Austin and I would be happy to help!
Brant: I personally focused on retrieving documents and images that revealed more about Harry Brorby’s interests in painting. It kept finding this recurring intrigue for non-objective painting. I would like to investigate the depths of non-objective painting both in its relevance to Harry, and the historical context surrounding him