Visitors often ask when planning begins for each year’s Christmas exhibit. Answer: almost immediately after the current exhibit ends. Scroll through the year to find out more about what happens behind the scenes.
— Bridget Retzloff is an assistant professor and visual resources librarian in the Marian Library.
Each year, the Christmas exhibit closes in mid-January. A moving company transports display cases and some of the Nativity sets back to the art collection storage area in Fitz Hall from the library and satellite exhibit locations. We retrieve 50 small Nativities that are on loan to public spaces on campus. Once everything returns to the storage area, we assess the condition of each piece then return them to their permanent storage locations.
As we’re putting things away and documenting their conditions and locations in our internal art database, we often come across ideas for future exhibits.
After reviewing feedback from the exhibit, we determine what went well and what needs improvement.
Once we select the theme, we gather ideas for potential objects to display, set the dates and write a description so we can begin to promote it.
Exhibit research continues. While campus is a bit quieter, we take the time to make some storage improvements.
We check in with satellite exhibit locations and identify the Nativities we want to include. We may set a sub-theme for each gallery space or start thinking of key objects that we want to build the exhibit around. We select Nativities for the on-campus loan program and prepare them for delivery.
After creating a detailed layout of each gallery space, we begin writing curatorial text and creating labels that provide information such as title, medium, origin, artist and additional context. We promote the exhibit through multiple communication channels both on and off campus.
Offices on campus begin requesting small Nativity sets to display for the holiday season. After completing the exhibit text and labels, we begin to pack Nativity sets and move them to the library.
Exhibit design begins. Some sets go to the library's digital lab for high-quality photographs under studio lighting. Schools and other groups begin planning their visits, and we send them a group visit guide with additional resources and guidance. We also create interactive opportunities for the exhibit, like an ornament craft and the popular seek-and-find. We deliver 50 small Nativity sets to offices on campus. We create a loan agreement form for each Nativity loan.
After library staff install the exhibit's labels on the walls, a moving company brings the display cases from the storage area to the library, and we set up the Nativities inside them. It takes about two weeks to set everything up in the galleries. The exhibit opens just before Thanksgiving.
We welcome visitors to the exhibit at the library; to accommodate the crowds, we add weekend hours in December. UD students, local schools, church groups, and families make the exhibit part of their Christmas traditions.