I apologize for my lack of posting; we’ve been hardcore adulting for the past three months. Real jobs, real schedules, and also a real puppy take up some time:
I know. We can barely stand how adorable he is.
In other news, I’ve now officially had my first 9-5 “adult” job as Program Manager of the Armenian Museum of America for seven months now \o/
Because I haven’t blogged about any Boston museums yet, I thought I might as well start with the one I actually go to every day!
So for those who may be unaware (I certainly was), Armenia is a tiny little country in the Middle East bordered by Turkey, Georgia, Iran and Azerbaijan (all of which have been getting copious news coverage of late).
Map for Reference
Fun facts that have nothing to do with the Kardashians (you know, in case it comes up at a trivia night or something):
#1-Armenia is mainly known for being the first nation in the world to declare Christianity as its official religion.
#2-Disciples Thaddeus and Bartholomew both took the Great Commission to Armenia as its first evangelizers and were also both martyred there, giving the Armenian church its apostolic identity
#3-Its capital is Yerevan, which is also known as the pink city (named for the pink volcanic rock most of the buildings are made of)
#4-Mount Ararat, the mountain where Noah’s Ark landed after the flood, is a national symbol for the country. Although the mountain officially became a part of Turkey in the 1920s, it still has a deep cultural significance to Armenians.
The Armenian Museum of America has a pretty substantial history of its own. In 1971, a group of Armenians in Eastern Massachusetts began gathering artifacts from their friends and neighbors in the community and started, what is today, the Armenian Museum, in the basement of a church in Belmont.
After eventually opening the collections to the public and then outgrowing the rented church basement, the Museum Board purchased a new space in 1988: a bank in the middle of Watertown, which is the center of one of the largest Armenian communities in America.
The Museum is five spacious floors of basement vault storage, exhibition and gallery space, and administrative offices. There are actually three other Armenian organizations (Project SAVE Photograph Archives, the Armenian International Women’s Association, and the Armenia Tree Project) with offices in the building mixed in among the galleries.
The main Museum that’s open to the public is on 3 floors: the first two floors are more “permanent” exhibitions, while the 3rd floor is almost exclusively dedicated to more contemporary Armenian artists and artwork.
The ‘Who Are the Armenians’ Exhibit is the very first thing you encounter when you walk in the front door (after the gift shop), which is super helpful since the majority of the Museum visitors aren’t Armenian and have little to no knowledge about them. It gives a great run-down of Armenian history, starting with the very beginnings of human civilization and the first Armenian kings, through the adoption of Christianity, the periods of conquering, incorporation and habitation by various empires like the Ottoman Turks and later Soviet Russia, the massacres and Genocide of the late 1800s and early 1900s at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, up to the country (the Republic of Armenia) winning its independence just 25 years ago, and modern Armenia.
Other exhibits on the first floor include the Bedoukian Gallery, which houses highlights from the Museum collections (which range from coins and metalwork, to ceramics and textiles), and the Karsh Gallery. Now, I definitely didn’t recognize the name Yousuf Karsh before I started working at the Museum, but if you’ve ever taken a history class, you’ve already been exposed to his work in one way or another:
Karsh was a Canadian-Armenian photographer who spent the beginning and end of his career in Boston and took *just a few* portraits of some of the most influential people of the 20th century. Some of his subjects that appear in the Armenian Museum’s gallery, donated by his wife Estrellita, include Ernest Hemingway, MLK, Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw, Walt Disney, Helen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Mother Theresa, and Jacques Cousteau. And as you can see from my quick google search above, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. He also photographed Dwight Eisenhower, JFK, the Queen, Salvador Dali, Castro, and many many others. Even if you’re not terribly interested in Armenian History in general (let’s be honest though, you should get interested), seeing a portion of this man’s work in person is absolutely astounding and worth a visit just by itself.
The second floor’s only permanent exhibition is one on the Armenian Genocide. This mass extermination of 1.5 million people makes some think they may have missed something in high school history class. Don’t worry; you didn’t. They don’t teach it. The United States doesn’t even recognize this tragedy as genocide (because we’re “friends” with Turkey, the perpetrators…). The extensive timeline of the Genocide on the second floor will make up for everything you weren’t taught about it in school.
Other than the Genocide Exhibit, the second floor is also home to a number of rotating exhibits. One example, which is on rotation right now, is a new spin on a collection the Museum has had for a number of years: the Garabedian Metal Collection. [Click the link below for a preview]
Like I mentioned earlier, the third floor gallery is dedicated almost exclusively to more contemporary artwork. Most of the time, the artwork is by Armenian artists, but for last month’s Genocide Commemoration event, we had 3 very special exhibitions made by and/or for women who have been affected by Genocide. [More awesome videos below]
So there you have it! A little stateside slice of Armenia where I get to go and work everyday. If you’re looking for more info on the Armenian Museum, you can visit the website: http://www.armenianmuseum.org or our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ArmenianMuseumofAmerica/.
Until next time (which I promise will be sooner than another 4 months), Բարի գիշեր/Bari gisher [good night]!
BarntoBeantown 