Grays and Bays

February 10th, 2012 |

Today I’m indulging in my personal interests a little (something curators try not to do). Representations of personal interests tend to pop out at us. Whether you’re browsing at a store, or driving along in your car, or maybe even listening in on a conversation at a neighboring table in a restaurant. This happens to me while working in and visiting museums as well. My great love in life (other than museums) are horses. Ever since I was 10 years old, they have been a part of my life. So it’s no shock that I tend to gravitate towards objects in our museum collections that are connected to them; the high horse powered wheel at Burnside Plantation, a Grunewald painting in the Kemerer Museum showing a team patiently waiting for work, an old horseshoe in the Smithy, or even an embroidered image of a horse in a sampler in the Moravian Museum. This common interest helps me connect with individuals in the past, those who worked alongside (or maybe only dreamed of) and saw the changing role of horses in American’s lives. Has anything related to your interests popped out at you during a visit to our museums? Here are some of my favorites…