Position Type: Staff Full-time

Hours per week: 37.5

Weeks per year: 52

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday,8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Occasional evening and weekend hours

Salary: Starting at $52,057

Department Summary & Job Purpose:

The Mount Holyoke College Art Museum (MHCAM) is a dynamic learning resource for both campus and community audiences, serving as a laboratory for innovative interdisciplinary teaching. Founded in 1876, the Museum stewards a collection of approximately 24,000 works of global art and objects of material culture, including those of the Joseph Allen Skinner Museum. The Museum’s core program, “Teaching with Art,” serves the curriculum by supporting over 150 class visits across disciplines annually. The Museum mounts permanent collection installations and special exhibitions while hosting community-driven programming with campus partners, those at Five Colleges, and others. For more information about MHCAM, please visit: https://artmuseum.mtholyoke.edu/

JOB PURPOSE
The Assistant Museum Preparator is responsible for the physical retrieval, preparation, display, and handling of objects from the Art Museum and Joseph Allen Skinner Museum collections used to support the Museum’s Teaching with Art program, which the Engagement department manages. This position plays a key role in the Teaching with Art program during the academic year.

This position is also an integral member of the Collections Department. The incumbent works with the Collections team on installations and collections-related projects, primarily when classes are not in session. They will also assist with the organization of and entering data into the Museum’s Collection Database (currently MIMSY), including preparing database records for a planned migration to a new system.

Core Job Duties and Responsibilities:

Facilitates art and object handling for the Museum’s Teaching with Art program:

• Executes the safe movement and display of objects from the Art Museum and Skinner Museum for use in classes.
• Assesses object stability/fragility for classes and student viewings and works with Collections and Engagement staff for review and resolution.
• Determines object viewing methods, such as wooden or acrylic easels, hanging displays, special mounts, and object trays; fabricates display options (such as object trays) as needed.
• Handles fragile objects in various media for classes to create greater student accessibility.
• Works on class-generated exhibitions, including tracking objects via database reports; preparing objects for display based on accepted standards; and collaborating with Museum staff, faculty, and student participants during installation.
• Manages and orders supplies used for classes and maintains Carson Teaching Gallery.
• Sets up for all curricular activities involving furniture and objects, including the second-floor classrooms of the Art Building; consults with Engagement staff and faculty for complex set-ups.
• Serves as a security guard for classes during non-public hours (Mondays, weekday mornings before 11 a.m., and occasional evenings).
• Contributes to making the Art Museum an inclusive working and learning environment for students and visitors.

Performs administrative duties for the Teaching with Art program:

• Generates checklists for individual classes from the Collections Database, Completes location reconciliation, tracks object movement, and compiles statistics related to objects pulled from storage.
• Accommodates student research visits by tracking requests, retrieving and returning objects, and monitoring viewing sessions as necessary.
• Participates in weekly planning meetings with Engagement and Collections staff.

Conducts Installation & Collections work:

• As part of the Collections team, the Assistant Museum Preparator will participate in the overall care of the collection, including preventative maintenance activities and organizing galleries and art storage on a regular rotating schedule.
• Supports installing and de-installing special exhibitions; permanent collection and Skinner Museum rotations at the museums and occasionally off-site including installation of museum graphics, signage, and labels.
• In close collaboration with Museum Preparator, completes various exhibition preparation duties which may include painting, matting, framing, and the production of mounts and/or basic exhibition furniture.
• Creates temporary archival folders and archival matting for paper-based objects and fabricates housings for 3-D objects.
• Inputs data into the Museum’s Collection Database (currently MIMSY) in consultation with the Associate Director of Registration and Collections and generates reports from the system for use in storage, inventories, and during installations. Provides support as needed for future migration/implementation of new Collection Database shared by Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield.
• Assists Museum Preparator and Associate Director of Registration and Collections with incoming and outgoing artwork preparation, packing, and unpacking.
• Conducts inventories of collections in storage and on view in Skinner Museum.
• Works with the Associate Director of Registration and Collections to resolve collection documentation discrepancies.
• Accommodates faculty and outside researcher visits by tracking requests, retrieving and returning objects, and monitoring viewing sessions as necessary.
• Occasionally travel by van to transport objects to/from conservation labs, donor residences, storage locations, etc.
• Supervises Interns as needed.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree (preferably BFA, Art History, History) and two years of art handling or related experience
• Working knowledge of current museum standards and best practices for collections care and documentation
• Excellent organizational skills, problem-solving skills, follow-through, and attention to detail
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize tasks and meet deadlines
• Ability to communicate and collaborate effectively across departments
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team
• Flexibility and adaptability in a fast-paced environment
• Aptitude for spatial relationships and ability to work from drawings and checklists
• Proficiency in computing, including Microsoft and Google suites
• Some familiarity with Collections Management Systems (MIMSY preferred)
• Must have a valid MA driver’s license.
• Commitment to principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, and the ability and desire to work effectively with a diverse constituency

We embrace diversity and are committed to building a team that reflects a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, experiences, and skills. Research shows that women and individuals from underrepresented backgrounds often apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. If you believe that you could excel in this role, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet all of our qualifications.

Preferred Qualifications:

License/Certifications:

Compliance Requirements:

Physical Demands:

Physical Demands/Work Type

• Medium work: Exerting up to 50 pounds of force occasionally, and/or up to 30 pounds of force to frequently to move objects.

Physical Activity

• Climbing: Ascending or descending ladders, stairs, scaffolding, ramps, poles, and the like, using feet and legs and/or hands and arms. Body agility is emphasized. This factor is important if the amount and kind of climbing required exceeds that required for ordinary locomotion.
• Stooping: Bending body downward and forward by bending the spine at the waist. This factor is important if it occurs considerably and requires full lower extremities and back muscle motion.
• Kneeling: Bending legs at knee to come to a rest on knee or knees.
• Crouching: Bending the body downward and forward by bending leg and spine.
• Reaching: Extending hand(s) and arm(s) in any direction.
• Standing: Particularly for sustained periods of time.
• Walking: Moving about on foot to accomplish tasks, particularly for long distances or moving from one work site to another.
• Pushing: Using upper extremities to press against something with steady force to thrust forward, downward or outward.
• Pulling: Using the upper extremities to exert force to draw, haul, or tug objects in a sustained motion.
• Lifting: Raising objects from a lower to a higher position or moving objects horizontally from position to position. This factor is important if it occurs to a considerable degree and requires substantial use of the upper extremities and back muscles.
• Fingering: Picking, pinching, typing, or otherwise working, primarily with fingers rather than with the whole hand as in handling.
• Grasping: Applying pressure to an object with the fingers and palm.
• Feeling: Perceiving attributes of objects, such as size, shape, temperature, or texture, by touching them with skin, particularly the fingertips.
• Talking: Expressing or exchanging ideas utilizing the spoken word. Those activities in which they must convey detailed or important spoken instructions to other workers accurately, loudly, or quickly.
• Sufficient clarity of speech is required for employees who can discern verbal instructions and communicate effectively in person and by telephone.
• Employee talks in front of large groups of people on a daily basis.
• Employee speaks with students and other faculty daily via telephone, e-mail, or person.
• Hearing: Perceiving the nature of sounds at normal speaking levels with or without correction. The ability to receive detailed information through oral communication and to make discriminations in sound.
• Repetitive motion: Substantial movements (motions) of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers.
• Non-Repetitive Tasks: The employee is required to perform mechanical or skilled trades tasks that are non-repetitive, such as those performed by carpenters, technicians, service people, plumbers, painters, mechanics, etc.

Visual Acuity

Working Conditions:

Environmental and Atmospheric:

• The employee is not substantially exposed to adverse environmental conditions (such as in typical office or administrative work).
• One or more of the following conditions that affect the respiratory system or the skin: fumes, odors, dust, mists, gases, or poor ventilation.

Hazardous:

• Proximity to moving mechanical parts, moving vehicles, electrical currents, working on scaffolding, and high places.