Jessica Long

Hello! My name is Jessica Long, and I am an Art History major through the Honors Tutorial College, with minors in History, Studio Art, and Business Administration. Next fall I will be attending Case Western Reserve University, working at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and pursuing an MA in Art History and Museum Studies. Museums have always been sites of both peace and excitement for me, and I have known since highschool that I wanted to work in the museum field. I am the Assistant Preparator at the Kennedy Museum of Art, and my job is to take detailed records of the KMA’s large collection, update information on artists and artwork, and help plan and install exhibits at the Kennedy. I love being able to not only study amazing works of art, but have input in how they are displayed and engaged with at the campus museum. 

I love my position at the museum because it is a perfect balance between study and practice. Some days, I stay in the museum vault photographing, researching, or organizing the artwork stored in our collection. Other days, I am moving artworks to be displayed, painting gallery walls and pedestals, or installing exhibit activities. 

I especially enjoy being able to arrange works in the gallery. During the installation of the Burhan Doğançay exhibit, the intern team spent multiple days planning where and how to hang a large collection of photographs. During this process I played a part in choosing which photographs to display out of the collection, how to fit them into the gallery space, and where to place informational texts. 
 

I am deeply saddened that I will not be able to continue working at the KMA for the remainder of the semester, but am thankful that I will still be able to share my love for art and our collections remotely. In the following weeks, my fellow interns and I will be posting regularly about our experiences working at the KMA, as well as sharing some of our favorite pieces from the vaults. Stay tuned, and stay safe!