Holocaust Museum Houston - Rachelle Escobar, Week 4

 Week 4! 

   07/30

    Tuesday starts my last week at Holocaust Museum Houston. I feel really excited about my presentation at the end of this week, and I was given time to work on my presentation and complete my final project. 

While listening to an NPR podcast, I finished my slide deck and added pictures from Washington Week. I worked on adding my notes to the presentation and fleshing out what I wanted to say. I enjoy presenting and public speaking, and although I may not be the best at it, I know that my skills are adequate. Before my storytime last week, the Education team encouraged me to practice and told me to not feel anxious, assuming that I would be nervous to speak to an auditorium of people. Although I was worried and I did practice, I was proud that I had the self-confidence and experience to not be nervous while reading. So, as I start to plan this next presentation, I plan for it to go flawlessly. 

I also got two examples of my zines printed. They’re formatted to fit on a regular sheet of printer paper and have a muted gray color to encourage people to add their own color. The Spanish version of my zine was not formatted correctly so I had to go back and fix it. However, using the first two examples, I went to the Bak Gallery to see if my guides were successful. Here is one filled out:

I found some minor changes to make to them, but for the most part, they are completed.  I ended my day by writing more notes on my slide deck and heading to the Metro Red Line, which hates me and keeps leaving me and making me wait for the next train. The heat in Houston is dangerously bad and we get Excessive Heat warnings almost every day.

07/31

    On Wednesday, I began my day by finishing up my presentation notes and doing some research on Museums in Austin. I had a meeting with the Collections team this morning and learned about what their job entails. They taught me about the kind of education they have, what the most difficult parts of their job are, and what I should focus on learning if I want to work at a museum. We had an interesting conversation about appropriateness and Nazi artifacts. Throughout my internship, I have heard of odd visitors and visitors who don’t have the right idea in mind when talking about the Holocaust. The Collections team informed me that they no longer collect or select artifacts to do with the Nazi regime. They also discussed how some people come into HMH with the expectation of seeing visceral and painful depictions of the Holocaust. Some ask to see graphic images, and some misinformed people ask to see WWII information. When it comes to the Holocaust it’s important to realize that it’s more than just a part of WWII history, but remembrance of what genocide means and what we can learn from it. 

They also gave me a look into the archives and I saw several artifacts related to survivors of the Holocaust. I got to see a Star of David that was worn and owned by the mother of the baby who wore this dress: 

I was also able to see pictures from one of the Ghettos in Germany. They are part of a scrapbook created by the Jews that were liberated as a thank-you gift to the US troops. Parts of the cover were made from the uniforms they wore. 

I also got to see a second vault that held all of the archived Bak pieces. It was cool to see how they were stored, but also to see some pieces that I had read about. My favorite to see is this blue Ghetto Boy watercolor, which is similar to his self-portrait. 

After Lunch, I went to the Museum of Fine Arts. It was really great to see part of their permanent collection and their temporary exhibits. One of my favorite exhibits was Raqib Shaw’s Ballads of East and West. His pieces were incredibly intricate and beautiful, telling stories about his relationship with his culture and history. Here’s one of his coolest pieces.

"The Retrospective" by Raqib Shaw

08/01

Today I spent my morning practicing my presentation and adding more notes. After lunch, I welcomed some people I know from church to the museum and they told me some stories their grandparents told them from WWII. This reminds me of the Collections discussion that HMH isn’t a WWII museum. The Holocaust and WWII happened at the same time, however, they have different histories and different impacts on society. It was something I hadn’t considered before, and it was enlightening to know that this differentiation existed.

After my visitors left, I had the opportunity to go to the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston. It’s a lot smaller the the Museum of Fine Arts and is completely free to go into. They have two floors: a ground floor and a subterranean floor that houses two art exhibits. Since I had so much time I was able to experience both galleries fully, the first being “Theaster Gates: The Gift and the Renege” This exhibition focused on Houston’s Freedman Town, which was a mother ward in Houston created by newly freed Black People. It was a collection of construction and paper equipment repurposed into art pieces that created an atmosphere of respect for Freedman Town and what it stands for.  

The other Exhibit I visited was Olivia Erlanger’s “If Today Were Tomorrow” which focuses on exploring what it means to live on a planet. Four beautiful dioramas portray her idea of what the future may look like, and one of her short films “Appliance” is on display. Her work was really interesting to look at and exciting to witness her view of the world. Since I had the time, I stopped to read some of the book resources that were available at the exhibit. There was a book I found intriguing that Erlanger wrote about the history of appliances and what they symbolize. 

Once I left the Contemporary Arts Museum, I stopped by the Museum of Fine Arts Sculpture Garden. It’s extremely hot outside, especially on the pavement, so I was only in the garden for a little bit. I got to see the ‘off-brand’ version of the Bean (Cloudgate) in Chicago. It was cool to see how warped my face was in the reflection of the sculpture. 

08/02

    Today was my last day! I spent the morning talking to Laurie and going over my slides one last time. Laurie found something really interesting we talked about a few days ago. Because my project focuses on Samuel Bak and I've spent a lot of my time learning and researching him, Laurie figured it would be interesting to show me the Pinkus he drew in. The story behind this Pinkus, a cultural record-keeping book for the Jews of Vilnius, is that the elders in the Vilna Ghetto that Bak was inside of as a child decided to give him the Pinkus for safekeeping. They encouraged him to use the blank pages to draw and practice his art since his talent had already been discovered at this point in his life. Laurie had a presentation where pictures existed of the drawings he had made in the margins and on the blank pages.  

It’s so incredible to see this bit of history and juvenile sketches from Bak. The cultural significance of the Pinkas and the significance of Bak’s work is a unique look into this period of history. 

After Lunch, I started preparing for my presentation and helped Laurie set up the education classrooms for my presentation. My family came to watch my presentation and everything went smoothly! Here’s me with my fancy little microphone: 

I received plenty of compliments and Laurie surprised me with a cheesecake and award at the end. I mentioned in an offhand comment to Laurie that I liked cheesecakes so she went out of her way to get a cheesecake and ice cream for us to celebrate with. 

To reflect on the last four weeks, I feel grateful that the Education Team at HMH is full of welcoming and helpful people. I have learned a lot of new skills, not just history or art-specific, but also what it’s like to work in an office. I feel prepared and knowledgeable about what a professional atmosphere should look like and have built new connections with an incredible group of people. Thank you to everyone who has made this experience possible!