Volunteer: Shane Smith

When were you a museum volunteer?

For a period of 20 days between February and May 2010.

Where did you volunteer?

I worked for Tameside Museums and Galleries Service in and around Ashton-under-Lyne: Central Art Gallery, Portland Basin Museum, and in Ashton Town Hall that houses Setantii Museum and the Museum of the Manchester Regiment and I also worked for a short time in Stalybridge at Astley Cheetham Art Gallery.

What inspired you to become a volunteer?

Becoming a museum volunteer went hand-in-hand with my university studies. I am currently partaking in the post-graduate Art Gallery and Museum Studies course at the University of Manchester and working in nearby Tameside offered an ideal opportunity to broaden my practical skills and experience, alongside the theoretical core of my degree.

What did you do as a museum volunteer?

Throughout my placement I was given opportunity to work within most of Tameside museums and galleries sites and to be involved in a broad spectrum of activities. I initially worked in a small team that photographed and catalogued the permanent art collection held at Astley Cheetham Art Gallery. I was given insight into the way such catalogues are formed. I was enlisted in the handling and moving of the paintings from storage so that they could be photographed. This taught me the skill of correctly handling expensive and delicate artworks. I was also charged with creating a 3D scale model of the gallery so that the art curator could better visualise how planned gallery alterations would look. 

I also helped to install the ‘Image 10’ exhibition at Central Art Gallery. ‘Image 10’ was the result of an annual photography competition between local secondary schools. For this assignment I worked as a team with two others to devise the layout of the exhibition. I was also given the task of painting over the picture mounts and having a go at writing the labels for the works. I was asked to write the introductory panel for the recently installed ‘Tom Palin Retrospective’ at the gallery. This was a very enlightening project and having not written a text panel since my first year as an under-graduate, and never one as important as an introductory panel, it was refreshing to be able to revive and improve upon rusty skills. 

I also undertook a project at Portland Basin Museum that centred on green issues. I was asked to devise a series of labels that highlighted the significance of climate change. Each label (twenty in all) addressed how the visitor might go about tackling their carbon footprint on a day-to-day basis, drawing on the museum’s permanent collection as the inspiration behind each suggestion. This exercise taught me to adapt my language to an audience through the medium of object labels.

The most long-running project I was assigned was based at the Museum of the Manchester Regiment. My project concerned the collection of sewn World War One postcards sent by soldiers of the Regiment to their loved ones. My job was to create a booklet that documents the collection for a dual purpose: to create a digital record of the postcards for the museum’s database, but also to advertise the presence of these postcards to visitors and help to interpret their often hidden meanings for visitors to learn from.

To this end, I photographed each side of every postcard and made detailed transcriptions of everything that was written or printed on them, from personal messages to postage marks. In the transcription process, I analysed the imagery on the cards symbolically in an attempt to uncover patriotic and other such meanings and I was able to make connections through, for example, the style of handwriting that tied postcards together in family groups. This project revealed an insight into the process of archiving collections and the necessity of museum databases.

What training and support did you get as a museum volunteer?

Encouragement and help was always freely and swiftly given. Probably the most enjoyable and supportive aspect of Tameside staff was their general and inclusive social demeanour. It immediately helped me settle comfortably into my role within the galleries/museums that I worked and made any problems/issues seem easily surmountable.

What skills and experiences did you gain as a volunteer?

Tasks:

• Handling/moving paintings.
• Creating a 3D model of Astley Cheetham Art Gallery.
• Installing the ‘Image 10’ exhibition.
• Writing the introductory text panel for the ‘Tom Palin Retrospective’ exhibition.
• Creating carbon footprint information panels.
• Photographing and transcribing WW1 postcards.

Skills:

• Learning to correctly handle paintings.
• Better understanding the practicalities of hanging an exhibition.
• Revisiting how to write engagingly and clearly for an extensive audience.
• Cultivating the balance, in visitor communication, between providing accessible information and dictation.
• Comprehending the process of collection archiving and museum databasing

What would you say to others thinking of becoming a museum volunteer?

The new skills I learnt and the rusty ones I honed throughout my time as a volunteer will certainly stand me in good stead for the future.

What was the best thing about being a museum volunteer?

The flexibility of the staff reflected the range of my projects. At no point was I working on just one particular project in one institution. Often I would have at least two projects running simultaneously whereby I would work in one museum on one day and continue with a separate project in another institution the following day. This was particularly favourable experience (and possibly unique to Tameside!) as it acted to alleviate the possibility of monotony and meant that I was usually fresh of mind and keen to re-engage with ongoing projects. 

Bearing in mind my ambitions to be an art journalist, I can happily say that the successful completion of those projects that involved looking at objects and writing about them, have served to justify to myself my own career ambitions and to strengthen my confidence in my ability to write engagingly and for a variety of audiences. Most prominent in this respect were the introductory panel for the Palin exhibition and the iconographical analysis as part of the transcription process in the postcard project.

What was the worst thing about being a museum volunteer?

This is traditionally where I would complain about the repetitive nature of the work I undertook, but I am faced with the conclusion that, from my experience, this simply was not the case. The approachable and sociable nature of the staff, the variety and flexible scheduling of tasks meant that I’m left with few if any grievances to air. 

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable and beneficial placement. I even got brown sugar for my tea towards the end (cheers Martin!).