The Next Generation of Mountmakers
Lately in conversations with colleagues as well as new mountmakers a familiar subject comes up. As older master mountmakers are beginning to retire and step away from institutions and independent businesses, who is replacing them? Does this new generation have access to real and meaningful training to become master mountmakers?
This was also a problem for me coming up 20 years ago. Seeking out classes or books in a relative void. Benchmark would have a class every 4-5 years it seemed. Literature was laughably sparce, or 30 years outdated. I've even experienced my fair share of gatekeeping. Gross.
When talking to beginners the last few weeks, I hear the same complaints that I had 20 years ago. Recent searches for a master mountmaker that can do independent traveling gigs has bore such little fruit I'm officially being proactive about this gulf.
Before I begin to solidify fixes, I REALLY want to hear from the young mountmakers. Lets get a discussion going here about how I can help and what your needs are as well what roadblocks have you been hitting? But let's REALLY discuss it. Candidly and openly.
Would you be willing to come down to San Diego, for example, for some small group training? Do you want there to be some formal classes with targeted lesson plans? Are you willing to apprentice for contract gigs where you can shadow me?
I'm no spring chicken myself and if my 20+ years of craft dies with me, that would be a disservice to the industry. From what I've heard directly from the younger generation is that they are hungry for experience and tired of gatekeeping and lack access to advancement opportunities.
So how can I help? Let me hear your voices! Let's build a god damn army of master mountmakers so people can stop referring to us as "unicorns"! Who's with me?
Hi Eric. Yeah, I can definitely appreciate that. Coming from a museum, I was able to chip away at training for 16 years on their dime. Although I've had my share of unpaid "portfolio building" situations in the photography field when I was younger. And that sucked.
The perfect scenario you describe would obviously be optimal for you, but for me as a sole proprietor those situations would few and far in between. When I hire a second mountmaker, it's almost always because I need someone fast and experienced. It's a bit of a Catch-22.
Regardless, it has been on my mind. How to make this a practical (and lucrative) situation for everyone. There are sometimes projects that are a little more relaxed schedule wise. From those rare and few museums that plan ahead. For those projects, I wouldn't mind eating some profits for a good cause.
Cheers,
James