b'above:A video still from a time-lapse video showing the museums preparators installing Chandelier, 2015/2017, by Willie Coleinvolved. A lot of what I learned earning my BA in art his- gargoyles 30 feet high. I started at SCMA in 2015tory and my MFA in printmaking comes in handy with thisas part of the security staff before I moved into thisjob, but there are also a lot of things you dont learn inrole full time last year. My duties include collections school. I previously worked at the Art Institute of Chicagocare, matting the works on paper and managing the in the modern/contemporary art department and we hadTeaching Gallery. Matt does a lot of the building and a piece that required us to grow grass inside 100-year-oldcreative tech stuff. And Nik manages projectshes 28 leather suitcases. That meant sourcing sod that couldextraordinary at thinking ahead and keeping track of the grow in the shade since the gallery had very little naturalbits and pieces. But we all work together on everything. light, and we also had to make sure there were no bugsYou cant do this job by yourself. The community of in the soil, but if you sterilize soil nothing can growyoumuseum preparators is very collaborative and tight- get the idea. That same show featured art from Southknit, with people turning to each other for resources Africa including a taxidermied parrot that wasnt allowedand recommendations. into the country, so we scrambled for a replacement andI really enjoy the consultation and connection ultimately found one on Craigslist. with my colleagues. Even something that sounds as Art comes in many forms, so versatility is key.basic as mount making requires a lot of discussion and The job demands a lot of problem solving, patiencecare. Its very detailed work and you want to get it right and also the ability to learn quickly. Most of all you needthe first time so you test and check, and double- andto have a willingness to spend time doing ridiculoustriple-check. We have a lot of material in storage that things knowing that in a month or two, you will have towe can reuse and repurpose. I love it when I discover take it down and start again. things I didnt even know were there, like the other day when I found beautiful interleaving papergorgeous, Molly Hoisington, assistant preparator smooth, archival paper. Resources like these allow us to I went to art school for a BFA and an MFA in fine art. get really creative. My first museum job was at the Isabella Stewart Ga dnerNo two days are ever the same. Thats whats Museum as a collections maintenance technician so fun about ithaving a wide array of tasks and a there were three or four of us who literally dusted everychance to learn lots of different things along the way.object in the collection, from sculpture to upholstery to museum preparators'