Weitz Fellows Voices: Maya at Joslyn Art Museum

This is a guest blog written by one of our Weitz Fellows, Maya Keeney. This blog is estimated to take 3 minutes to read.

Hello! My name is Maya Keeney (she/her), and I am the Weitz Fellow at the Joslyn Art Museum. The Joslyn is located in downtown Omaha and exhibits a diverse collection of art, serving as an important cultural institution for the community.

While I have had the opportunity to collaborate with many of the teams at the museum, I work primarily with the Learning and Engagement department, assisting with community programming and event planning. One of my favorite events was Hallowteen, a free, after-hours party filled with crafts and eerie fun specifically focused on teen visitors to the museum. As a certified lover of all things creepy, I found working on Hallowteen a truly fantastic experience. There aren’t a lot of jobs out there where you get to bring joy to the community whilst also wearing a werewolf costume. This was one of the first programs I saw come to fruition, and it highlights the unique experiences this fellowship offers. Another program I helped facilitate was the series of Bison Bead workshops for the Dripping Earth exhibition from artist Cannupa Hanska Luger. A part of this exhibition was a large bison statue made up of clay beads created by members of the community. During this workshop, visitors would sit down and roll out some clay beads while contemplating the role of the bison in our modern American landscape. I was in charge of leading these workshops, including prepping the materials and facilitating visitors. Despite it being a fairly simple activity, I was surprised by how many people were so excited to contribute to this collaborative work. It was incredibly gratifying to see the Omaha community come together and create such a unique collaborative piece.

As a Studio Art Major, I have loved the opportunities I’ve gotten to use my artistic background to assist projects. Both my artistic skills and understanding of different mediums has come in handy multiple times throughout my tenure here. I create example pieces for our public studio projects, design advertising and instructional flyers, hang exhibits in the community gallery and enjoy dozens of other opportunities to inject some hands-on creativity into my work day. One of the main programs I assist with is the Kent Bellows Mentoring Program, an art program designed for high school students who are passionate about expressing themselves through creativity. Being able to work hands-on with these young artists has been amazing and has inspired me to continue my own artistic pursuits. I have had the chance to display my own personal work at the Joslyn staff show and also at the Joslyn Castle, and this warm welcome from the art community in Omaha was deeply meaningful. I have found that having the opportunity to express my creativity has become very important to me as I consider future career paths.

My capstone project for the fellowship was assisting with the development of our new Creative Aging courses. These were a series of free studio art classes designed for participants aged 55+. We wanted to work with one to three community partners for these classes, so I was tasked with reaching out to local organizations and explaining our program. This process revealed how headache-inducing planning something like this can be. I had to learn to roll with the punches and adapt quickly. This truly showcased how much behind the scenes planning goes into developing a program. Instead of going with three separate organizations, we decided on doing all three sessions of Creative Aging with one community partner, the Intercultural Senior Center, an Omaha-based organization centered on providing care to seniors across language and cultural barriers. This was a really great learning experience, showing me that quality is much more important than quantity. Rather than working with three organizations, we got to develop a much stronger connection to one, strengthening our relationship with a local organization for future collaborations.

While I am still unsure what my career path is going to look like after my time at the Joslyn. This fellowship has provided me with a clearer understanding of how my skills are best applied. While I like the idea of working in the museum field, I also think I would be happy working adjacent to the arts in any way. This fellowship has spoiled me for the diversity of my daily experience, and I am so incredibly grateful to have gotten the opportunity to gain hands-on knowledge of so many aspects of museum work.