How The Tang Teaching Museum Perfects its Crafts
On Monday, a fleet of Skidmore interns took to the crafting table to test out the hands-on activities that'll be part of Frances Day, a community open house returning to the Tang next Saturday.
When Michael Janairo invited me to the Tang to preview the craft projects that’ll be available at this year’s Frances Day, I figured I’d stop by Skidmore’s teaching museum, take some photos, and leave. But when Michael, the head of communications, mentioned that I was more than welcome to actually do said crafts, I made myself right at home next to the Tang’s fleet of summer interns at the mosaic coaster-making station. And for these interns, crafting is serious business.
“I’m branching out color-wise,” Sophie, one of the interns, said matter-of-factly, reaching for more tiles to fit into her coaster.
“I’m so happy for you,” her roommate, who’s also named Sophie, responded without looking up.
Both Sophies—one from Denver, one from Boston—came to Skidmore in part for its robust arts offerings, including the on-campus Tang Museum. They’re excited to be spending their first summer in Saratoga working at the Tang and checking out SPAC and the track.
The real crafting breakthrough came about 20 minutes in, when a woman at the other end of the table had the idea to cover her design in painter’s tape, flip the tiles out of her coaster, apply glue, and flip the tiles back in, rather than glue each tile down individually. “Masking tape,” she said pensively, “is the solution.” Over at the caulking station, someone decided that glitter caulk might be overkill (not to mention messy), and no one would really miss it if it wasn’t there.
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This, it turns out, was the point of the afternoon: To troubleshoot the crafts so that when 300 community members show up for Frances Day, the interns, who’ll be manning the craft stations, know the best way to tackle potential hiccups.
First hosted in 2014, Frances Day is the The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery’s free, annual community open house held in honor of Frances Young Tang, a 1961 graduate of Skidmore College whose husband made a major gift to Skidmore following her untimely death in 1992. This year’s Frances Day returns to The Tang next Saturday, July 18, from 2–6:30pm, and will feature five crafts (the mosaic coasters plus clay pinch pots, stamped bandanas, felt-button flowers, and decorated glass vases), tours of the Tang’s current exhibits (including the only public tour of the Tang’s Collection hosted all year), and a live music performance by Troy-based rock group Great Mutations (hosted outside, weather permitting). While the interns will man the craft stations, other Tang employees will run the photo booth, and Michael will be in charge of the bubble machine. “It’s the most important job,” he told me.
Before the afternoon was over, I discovered that the Tang interns were more than just crafting guinea pigs—a few of the education interns had actually helped develop the flower craft, working with Skidmore’s IdeaLab to design and laser cut felt for the petals. And the crafts themselves, I also learned, are inspired by what’s currently on view at the Tang—the pinch pots by Assume Yes, a pottery exhibit by ceramicist Kathy Butterly, and the mosaic coasters by Duke Riley's 8x8-foot mosaic, Libertas Aut Mori.
“There’s a moment that you’ll see people of different generations all coming together to work on similar projects,” Michael, a Frances Day veteran, told me when I asked him his favorite part of The Tang’s open house. “You have this moment of creativity and community all coming together. That’s what I like. And the bubble machine.”
—Natalie