Lecture Series with Tom Klobe
Tom Klobe is Emeritus Professor of Art and former director of the University
of Hawaii Art Gallery (1977-2006). In 2005, he was recognized as one of
six “Living Treasures” in Hawaii by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission.
He is the recipient of the Robert W. Clopton Award for Distinguished Community
Service and the Chevalier de l‘Older des Arts et des Lettres, Republic
of France. In May 2006, Mr. Klobe retired from his long career as a respected
teacher and gallery director. Although his courses in art history (Medieval
and Islamic arts), graphic design, and museum interpretation were always
popular, he is best remembered and loved for his inspirational teaching
in “Exhibition and Gallery Management.”
Under Mr. Klobe’s direction, the UH Art Gallery established a local, national, and international reputation for impeccably designed exhibitions that consistently dazzled visitors and enhanced their experiences of the works on display. During his tenure the gallery won five national “Print Casebooks” awards for excellence in exhibition design, often winning over exhibitions from more nationally-recognized institutions with larger budgets. Many of Mr. Klobe’s students now work in museums all over the world and credit their interest in innovative exhibition design to the examples he created in the UH Art Gallery.
The UH Museum Studies Graduate Certificate Program is pleased to present
two lectures by Tom Klobe on different aspects of exhibition design. (Other
lectures are in the works.)
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Exhibition
Planning and Design: Writing with Thread (60 min.)
Lecture by
Tom Klobe (Educational
DVD, 2010)
Producer: Karen Kosasa
Director and Camera: Clinton Uyehara
Tom Klobe, former director of the University of Hawaii Art
Gallery (1977-2006), introduces crucial elements of a successfully designed
exhibition. For his case study, he uses the development of Writing with
Thread, an exhibition of traditional textiles from ethnic minorities in
southwest China. Mr. Klobe begins by describing his collaborative research
with Huang Yin Feng, director of the Evergrand Art Museum in Taiwan, and
a team of scholars and exhibition specialists, and their travels to several
Chinese villages. As he walks us through the conceptual and physical development
of the exhibition, Mr. Klobe discusses thematic concepts, spatial arrangements
of objects, color choices, lighting effects, selection of mannequins,
construction of specialized stands and bases, and the writing of signage
and labels. Viewers will enjoy a rare glimpse of the “behind the
scenes” process and the students and volunteers who helped create
this stunning exhibition of embroidered clothing and silver jewelry from
Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi Autonomous Region,
and Hainan Island. This lecture is an invaluable resource for designing
exhibitions on a range of topics.
| Chapters (lengths vary from 3-9 minutes) | |||
 Introduction (5:07) |
2. Research (3:18) |
3. Planning (6:06) |
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4. Color (3:42) |
5. Lighting (5:08) |
6. Mannequins (7:25) |
7. Stands (9:29) |
8. Signage (9:40) |
9. Closing (5:43) |
||
This program is supported in part by the State
Foundation on Culture and the Arts through
appropriations from the Legislature of the State of Hawai`i and
by the National Endowment for the Arts.
***
Keia
Wai Ola: This Living Water. (Educational
DVD, 60 minutes, 2008)
Lecture by Tom Klobe
Producer:
Karen Kosasa
Director and Camera: Clinton Uyehara
 Chapter 1 |
 Chapter 2 |
Chapter 3 |
Chapter 4 |
| All parts are 15 minutes in length. | |||
Award-winning exhibition designer Tom Klobe, former director of the University of Hawaii Art Gallery in Honolulu, speaks about the development and design of the inaugural art exhibition at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center in Kahului, Maui, in 1994. The exhibition, Keia Wai Ola: This Living Water, featured unique and well-loved objects from local families on the island of Maui—a favorite horse saddle, a Hawaiian laundry stone, an international collection of salt and pepper shakers, an automobile manufactured in Detroit in 1911, and a live taro plant. In his lecture, Klobe describes how the exhibition committee spent months speaking to people from communities throughout the island and hearing the heart-warming stories behind the objects.
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Getting Cultural Heritage on the National Agenda: A Case Study from Vanuatu (48 min)|
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Chapter 1 |
Chapter 2 |
Chapter 3 |
Chapter 4 |
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Chapter 5 |
Chapter 6 |
Chapter 7 |
Chapter 8 |
| All parts are approximately 5-6 minutes in length. | |||
The Honorable Ralph Regenvanu, former Minister of Justice and Community Services, Vanuatu, speaks about innovative cultural and economic initiatives in his country and the region that attempt to “mainstream” cultural heritage into national policy. For eleven years Mr. Regenvanu was the director of Vanuatu’s principal cultural heritage management agency, the Vanuatu Cultural Centre (1995-2006). He was also a board member of the Vanuatu National Cultural Council, a founding member of the Pacific Islands Museums Association and a member of its executive board (1997 to 2009). He worked on a number of UNESCO projects including a draft of the “World Report on Cultural Diversity” and the “Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.” Mr. Regenvanu addresses a range of challenges that face island nations and indigenous peoples in the Pacific including issues of sustainability, the promotion of cultural heritage as a part of development, and the protection of cultural resources.
The
Web and Indigenous People: The Future is Here
Lecture by Phillip Gordon, Australian Museum
Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawai'i
Co-Sponsors: Hawai'i Museums
Association, Bishop Museum,
and University of Hawai'i
Museum Studies Graduate Certificate Program
This lecture consists of an audio recording of the lecture, a few photographs,
and the Power Point program Mr. Gordon presented to the audience.
In this lecture, Phillip Gordon, Aboriginal Heritage Officer at the Australian
Museum in Sydney, describes innovative web-based projects involving Aboriginal
communities and museums or cultural organizations in Australia. Mr. Gordon,
a Goorang Goorang man from the area of north Queensland, Australia, has
been working at the Australian Museum for thirty years. He begins with
a brief review of Aboriginal history and troubling relationships between
Aboriginal peoples and white settlers. Throughout his lecture, he emphasizes
the importance of developing respectful working relationships between
museums and Indigenous groups in order to foster successful cultural heritage
projects and assist Aboriginal communities in gaining access to their
cultural heritage. Most importantly, these collaborative projects should
guarantee that the Aboriginal communities in question benefit in significant
ways.
One impressive project that Mr. Gordon describes is the Ara Irititja Project.
It is structured to assist the Anangu Aboriginal people living in remote
areas of central Australia in retrieving lost photographs, films, sound
recordings and objects. These items are digitized and uploaded to computers
in work stations located within Anangu communities. People within the
communities view the materials, edit them, and offer additional information.
Finally, Mr. Gordon urges museum professionals to work collaboratively
and respectfully with Aboriginal communities to develop cultural heritage
projects that are useful and sustainable for years to come.
