Where are you originally from?

I’m very proud to say that I was born and raised in Brooklyn.

Where do you go to school now and what are you studying?

I’m currently a senior at Swarthmore College, a small liberal arts school in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. I am studying Art and English Literature.

Do you have a favorite piece or collection here and why?

I had so many over the years! Growing up, I remember loving the statue of a standing Ibis in the Egyptian collection as well as Albert Bierdstat’s A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie.

Kiki Smith (American, born Germany, 1954). Born, 2002. Lithograph, 68 x 56 in. (172.7 x 142.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Emily Winthrop Miles Fund, 2003.17. © Kiki Smith

I think if I had to pick a favorite though, it would be either one of two prints by Kiki Smith: Born and After Lewis Carroll: Come Away From Her. It was after seeing these prints that I started to become familiar with her work, and from there, became very interested in modern and contemporary women artists.

What has been your most interesting experience here?

I think developing and giving tours while I worked as a Museum Apprentice was definitely one of the most interesting and important for me. I think especially at that point in my life having that kind of autonomy and freedom to make decisions and work independently was so crucial—it was an incredible learning experience for me, personally as well as academically.

What is was your favorite thing about Museum Apprentice?

I have so many amazing memories. I wish I could go back! We all had so much fun working together and it was like we were a family. Developing our own tours and presenting them to camp groups was one of the best learning experiences. I loved figuring out how to tailor the tours for different age groups.

Do you recall your first visit to the museum?

I think I must have been too young to remember it specifically. I remember one of the Arty Fact lessons was looking at art with food and then going back to the studio and making art depicting foods.

What was your experience like in the Gallery/Studio program?

I always loved when we worked outside in the Botanical Gardens. I especially enjoyed drawing and painting in the Japanese Hill and Pond Garden. Combining my love of nature with art making was perfect for me. While a Gallery/ Studio Work-Study assistant, I was always amazed by how creative and smart younger children were. My exposure to children’s responses to artworks helped with my teaching in Museum Apprentices.

What projects did you work on while interning in with Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art?

I assisted with two exhibitions coming up at the time. For Healing the Wounds of War: The Brooklyn Sanitary Fair of 1864, I photographed and cataloged the doll and all of her accessories. For the Kiki Smith exhibition, Sojourn, I cataloged and archived images of the pieces included in the exhibition. I also researched and wrote the Feminist Picks of The Week for the Sackler Center Blog.

What do you want to do now that you’re almost finished with college?

I am really drawn to curatorial work and jobs that include a good deal of researching, writing, and closely engaging with art.

What advice do you have for teens interested in art or art history?

The most important thing for young artists and art historians is to go out and look at art, to get a sense of what kinds of images speak to you and inspire you. And if you don’t like everything you see, that’s okay too, but understanding why certain things spark your interest and why others don’t, and being able to articulate those reasons, is a great way to begin thinking critically about art. Visiting museums is especially important. They are the absolute best resources for learning about art and art history. I would also encourage teens to take part in art programs while in high school. There are some amazing programs out there and it’s a great opportunity to have a hands-on experience seeing and working with art.

Where are you originally from?

I was born in the Bronx and moved to Long Island at 6 months of age.

What do you do here at the Museum?

I assist the Deputy Directors of Administration and Institutional Advancement in their day-to-day affairs.  I am the facilitator for communications in the Director’s office – overseeing the grapevine, and those all staff e-mails. Additionally, I arrange meetings for the Director and act as a greeter for dignitaries and celebrities. I’ve met everyone from Farah Fawcett to Leonard Nimoy.  Artists such as Ron Mueck , Hernan Bas, Fred Tomaselli , Swoon, Murakami, Annie Leibovitz and countless others.  Judy Chicago certainly gives me a hug and kiss every time I see her.

How long have been at the Brooklyn Museum?

Just starting my eleventh year now, but as of this past September, I’ve cut back to 3 days a week.

Why just 3 days?

I am completing a Master’s of Social Work at Fordham University and am interning at a mobile soup kitchen providing social services to Brooklyn’s neediest.

Providing social services –you do a lot of that here at the museum as well. Can you give some examples?

I provide information to the staff and sometimes lend my ear to those who need me. I have been known to assist with everything from employee’s love lives to their diets.

Yes, I’ve heard you are partially responsible for an engagement and several births.

Perhaps.

Do you have a favorite piece or collection here and why?

I like the Egyptian Sculpture of Erotic Group. It’s nice to know the ancients had a sense of humor.

Sculpture of Erotic Group, 305-30 B.C.E. Limestone, painted, 6 1/2in. (16.5cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 58.13. Creative Commons-BY-NC

I’ve heard that you yourself have several collections. What are they?

Everything from Santos to chamber pots, but I think I’m most proud of my collection of the portraits of myself done by my artist friends. Quite a few of them even work here like Katie Welty (Registrar’s Office), Elaine Komorowski (Collections Management), and Jason Grunwald (Art Handler). One of the artists featured in 1^st Fans, Matt Held, did me as well.

Peter's collection of chamber pots.

What has been your most interesting experience here?

Working here on 9/11 was surreal. We all gathered in the 6^th floor window watching the smoke, not knowing what was happening.  No one really left work and I found it comforting being with others during that time.  I remember Arnold called us into the auditorium for an all-staff to brief us on what little we knew.  It took 3 hours to get home that night and most everyone came in to work the next day. I was proud that the Museum was open then – it was important to show that New York institutions would keep running.

What were you doing before you came to the Museum?

I was a stock broker and options principal on Wall Street for seven years while getting my Master’s in Art History from CUNY.  Previous to working on Wall Street I worked for a French Art Gallery and a Swedish Art Gallery which sparked my interest in the arts.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be an architect like Mike Brady from The Brady Bunch.  How funny is that?

I know.

So in the tradition of Brooklyn’s Finest, I have to ask: What is your commute like?

Although I live on Prospect Park in Windsor Terrace, there are no direct transit options. I take a ride when I can get one, I walk, and I’m seriously considering getting a bicycle.

Where are you originally from?

My family is from Malawi in Southern Africa but I was born in Los Angeles. So, questions of origin are part of my artistic search.

What do you do here at the Museum?

I am an audio-visual technician. My real specialty is sound which comes from being a musician.

How long have been at the Brooklyn Museum?

About 6 years, 3 part time and about 3 full time.

Do you have a favorite piece or collection here and why?

Right now I’m really interested in Sara Van DerBeek’s, A Composition for Detroit.  It is a series of four images on the fourth floor. She has managed to capture the severity of this moment in America in terms of urban decay and poverty without leaving the viewer hopeless.  The images tell a story.  You see Detroit and the crumbling of industry but in every image there is a human face. The faces are black even though the artist is white.  I love it when any artist is sensitive enough to move beyond the idea that race, gender or class must dictate who you can represent in art.  Human suffering is human suffering.

In the first image you see a profile as though the subject is unwilling to engage. In the second image you see can see a pair of eyes through a rear view mirror as if you were in the back seat making eye contact with the driver who again is not ready to engage.  In the third image you see the full profile of an elderly black woman who looks firm even in the midst of the decay. In the final image you see a half face that may be staring directly at you from the shadows. This seems to represent a reversal , it as if the portrait is now looking at you and asking you what you are going to do about all of this.  There is a newspaper clipping that says “Tragedy” right in the middle of image four.  So, the artist was not willing to let you miss the point which is that there are people catching hell right here in our country right now and we must become participants instead of just viewers of reality.

What has been your most interesting experience here?

That is a hard one! Just yesterday I met Randy Weston who did a concert for Black Brooklyn Rennaissance in the Auditorium. He is my favorite living jazz musician.  He was a protégé of Thelonius Monk.  He was explaining that the ancient Egyptians made musical scales from studying the sound vibrations that planets give off.

In the last month, I’ve gotten to do sound for Kara Walker, Women of SNCC and work with Osaro Hemez our other AV tech on the Jay-Z and Charlie Rose episode that was filmed for TV. The Women of SNCC panel was really powerful. I think SNCC was the most important organization in the history of America because they were young people who decided that they could shape the direction of the country through vision and collective work.

I guess what I’m saying is that there is a lot of amazing stuff that happens in the museum these days.

What were you doing before you came to the Museum?

I had been doing music in South Africa where things have been going pretty well since 1999. I have a group called Blk Sonshine. Here is a video clip from back then:

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a musician or the president of the United States. I decided to give Obama a shot though because he was definitely going to lose to a black man who could sing…

What is your commute like?

I live a couple stops away, so I often ride my bike which is an adventure in a city where everyone is trying to get everywhere as fast as they can.

Tell me more about being a musician?

For me, music is a vehicle to move people into the world of their emotions.  I am a songwriter with a deep love of poetry. I read up a little on Sara Van DerBeek and found out that she is into Walt Whitman’s, Leaves of Grass.   I think that is why her work moved me. She understands that there is always a story to be told with art and that the telling of that story should be poetic in nature. Good art in my opinion is an attempt to show the world that everything is intrinsically connected and interdependent.  That is what I attempt to do with music. This is a video that was filmed by my nephew Opiyo Okeyo and includes my children Jabulani and Aminata:

Blk Sonshine “Gliding” [Video] from Stellar Creative on Vimeo.

Are you performing anytime soon?

I will be at a new bookstore called Daddy’s Basement on the 30^th of December. It is bookstore started by two of my wife’s students from Medgar Evers University.  I like to support them because they are attempting to move the community towards literature in a time when folks are too busy paying the bills to read. I think that when we subvert the intellect in an attempt to pay the bills we begin the process of spiritual death which creates the automatons we see taking the train to Manhattan in the mornings. The one thing I love about working in the museum is that I’m always surrounded by creativity which makes it impossible for me to become a machine.

How did you end up on the Putumayo South Africa CD, for sale in the Museum’s very own gift shop?

My group Blk Sonshine was nominated for a South African music award in 2010 for our CD, “Good Life.” The nomination led to us performing at the Fifa Fanparks during world cup and performing at the biggest international arts festival in South Africa. One of the scouts from Putumayo came out to a gig and next thing you know we were got a request to have one of our songs on their 2010 South Africa CD. That has been really good for me too because Putumayo is well respected and they have pulled me in for interviews with stations all over America which has given our music a greater audience. Pick up the CD in the gift shop – it makes a great Christmas present in the year of the world cup.

How long have you been a volunteer here?

I’ve been here for 15 years and have always volunteered in merchandising. The staff in this department has always kept me very engaged.  Sometimes I do mundane tasks like pricing new merchandise or dusting or even folding gift boxes–wherever I can help out. But I also get to do more interesting things like writing product descriptions.   Products sold in the Shop are to be connected in some way to the Museum’s collections or exhibitions. So my test is to write a product description card that makes the connection…it’s kind of a personal challenge for me.

This is all a fascinating change from my first life as a school teacher. Teaching can be a very structured environment, and now I have a lot of flexibility and variety in my day-to-day tasks here in the merchandising department. Plus, everyone’s really open to new ideas so conversations are lively.

Where are you from originally?

I’m from the midwest, from a small farming town near Chicago. A really small town. I arrived in Brooklyn in the 1960s for my first teaching job and never left. Moving here was really the escape I longed for, to get away from the confines of  my small rural home town…New York City was just a big adventure and  I’ve had a great life here.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I always wanted to be a teacher. It was a common career for women in those days before liberation. You could work and have a family without sacrificing too much.   But also, I came from a big family and I was naturally bossy, so teaching was a good fit for me.

Why did you want to volunteer at the Brooklyn Museum?

While I was a Brooklyn teacher, before there was much of a school program at the museum, I used to bring my classes to fill out the study of Ancient Egypt, Northwest Coast Indians (remember those totem poles), African ritual art and other topics.  The Brooklyn Museum is such a gem and it used to be passed over by teachers who had to develop their own on-site experience.  When I retired from the school system, I called the volunteer office thinking I might do docent work, but the merchandising department contacted me and the rest is history.

What are you working on right now?

Right now I’m working on the Children’s Book Fair. A few years ago, Sallie Stutz (Vice Director for Merchandising) had a connection with a professional colleague who had been doing a book fair at the Portland, (Oregon ) Historical Society. They are locally famous for their book fair which make use of many volunteers, so we looked to their example and started planning to hold  a children’s book fair here at the Museum.

How long has the Book Fair been going on?

This is the fourth year. We started working on the first book fair a year in advance by looking for  authors  and illustrators to invite to participate. Our good fortune was to have contact with  two children’s book authors/illustrators who were on staff: one was Keith Duquette, who was interviewed for Brooklyn’s Finest, and the other was Sean Qualls who used to work in the merchandising stock room and has since gone on to be an important illustrator. They led us to other children’s book authors/illustrators who might be Brooklyn-based. So we started to develop a list of some twenty Brooklyn authors and illustrators. That was about the same year that the annual Brooklyn Book Festival started at Brooklyn Borough Hall and we looked at what they were doing and scoped our event to include only recently published children’s books.

How many authors participate now?

This year we have 37 authors and illustrators. We have a core of author/illustrators who have retuned most years but each year we are led to invite new people. We have pretty specific guidelines: the participants must have published a new book within the last 18 months or if it’s an older publication, it must have a Brooklyn theme. Through the years we have brought together authors with the illustrators whose names appeared together on the book, but had never personally met each other.  The author Nancy Krulik of the Katie Kazoo adventure series was surprised to meet John & Wendy, who are the illustrators of that series.  They continue to collaborate and John & Wendy have gone on to get their own books published.  The success of the Book Fair has also led the way to our Eco Fair Event and author signings in the Museum Shop.

What do you like about this event?

It’s a free admission public event that coincides with the museum’s mission. The book fair is about reaching out to the community and over the years we’ve expanded to reach out to many ethnic groups and cultures. We’ve also connected with different Brooklyn neighborhoods and gotten in touch with individuals who bring their peers and community with them to the book fair and sometimes to the museum for the first time. All of this keeps the museum’s mission on education and community involvement in focus.  One author/illustrator who is a parent, publicized the event at his children’s school where he is a local hero and many families attended the book fair and experienced the Museum for the very first time.

What’s your favorite work of art here?

The Burghers of Calais series of sculptures by Auguste Rodin, which I’ve always admired since taking trips to the Musśe Rodin in Paris. I am also fond of any art work that includes the Brooklyn Bridge.

Finally, what’s your commute like?

I live in Carroll Gardens so it’s pretty close. It’s easy–I just drive my car into the parking lot.

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To meet more of our staff, visit the Brooklyn’s Finest Flickr set.

Where are you from?

I grew up in Republic, PA which is about 2 hrs from Pittsburgh. When I lived there, the town had about 2,000 people, so everyone definitely knew each other.

What were you doing before the Brooklyn Museum?

I was the Associate Curator of Film and Video at the Whitney Museum of American Art. That’s actually why I first moved to New York- because I got a job there.

In the evenings, I was doing some freelance set and costume design at the La Mama theatre and one of my designs won a Bessie award.   So the Whitney asked me if I’d ever thought about doing exhibition design, and I tried it out. One of the first shows that I designed was the Joseph Stella retrospective in 1994 and I continued to design shows like the 1995 Biennial and others, on a freelance basis while I was curating.

Then, I had a career “refocus” and decided to focus on design. You know, film curating is really time consuming (because it’s a time-based art).  So, when I first started working here, there was an entire year when I just didn’t go to the movies! This was after ten years of watching 10 or 12 films a week. I really loved doing it and loved making film series, but the reality is that people end up seeing one or two films from a whole film series…it’s not like an art exhibit…people rarely see the big picture.

What do you do here?

As Chief Designer, my biggest responsibilities are one, to design exhibitions; and two, to manage the design department and all of its activities: exhibition design, graphic design, and all print materials.

What exhibition have you enjoyed working on the most?

I always tell people, my favorite exhibition is the one I’m working on now . . . and right now that’s Tipi: Heritage of the Great Plains. Some exhibitions are easy, and others are more complicated. Where you end up at the end of the design process is one thing, and when the exhibition opens is another. You see it by yourself and it’s one perspective because you’ve been in this cocoon with the curator for so many months. But then you start to look at it completely differently when it opens because often the public has other expectations…

So by the end, I’m never really sure if an exhibition is a favorite because I’ve enjoyed designing it, or because the public had a positive response to it. It’s hard when you put a lot of effort into a show and it’s not well attended…it’s just hard to know what people will be interested in. You have to be a fortune teller almost.

You spent a lot of time working on Who Shot Rock. What was that like?

Who Shot Rock was exciting because I love music and I enjoy film and pop culture. I love working on shows that bridge the focus of my various careers. Yeah, I have to say, I really loved working on Rock.

When designing exhibitions, it’s all about the relationship between you and the curator. I really just love working on different topics. That was really appealing about coming to work at the Brooklyn Museum. I’ve traveled a lot (I’ve been to 45 countries) and I started traveling because I wanted to see art in person. I didn’t want to only be reading about it. And here, I get to work with different experts in so many different fields. It’s not just American art. It’s not just 20th century art like at the Whitney.

Tell me more about your travels.

The first year I moved to New York, I went to Paris, Milan and Venice . . . and I’ve been traveling ever since. I think of traveling as my continuing education.  A really well-known artist that I used to hang out with told me that you can either read about things, or you can actually go out and do them. That was really good advice.

One of the most interesting travel experiences I had was a recent trip to Ethiopia. It was really eye-opening because I hadn’t ever been to sub-Saharan Africa, and I chose it because they have a lot of cultures that live as they have been for hundreds of years. There was a lot of camping involved…and I have to say, I’m not such a good camper. But at a certain point, I realized if I didn’t learn to camp, I wasn’t going to get to see certain things. I learned so much about people’s creativity there . . . especially with their appearance: hair design, jewelry design… Everyday it was like going to an Ethiopian Fashion Show. Let’s call it “Tribal Couture…” Now, that would be a great exhibition.

Omo Valley, Ethiopia, 2009

Do you have a favorite work of art at the Brooklyn Museum?

Oh, that’s hard. I like a lot of things, especially after being here so long. There’s a Songye figure in the African Art galleries which I love. I look at it all the time.

The Arts of Africa galleries were actually the first galleries that I designed here. I had never worked on anything like that before, so a lot of it was just learning about African history, architecture, and culture. There’s just something about those objects.They have this different feeling about them…maybe it’s because the art and sculpture is made for completely different reasons than why we make them. But they seem to have this spirit in them and a particular energy…it’s almost magical.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was little, I said I was going to be a doctor. My first year in college I was pre-med. I actually still find it interesting…I watch Discovery Health Channel all the time.

But I think the moment when my focus changed was as a pre-med student, I was required to participate in a lot of extra activities, and I worked for the school’s crisis hotline. It was really traumatic, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue doing that kind of work. I was always really good and two things growing up: science and art. So the next year, I called my mom and decided to do art, and eventually, majored in film.

I think if I ended up in medicine, I’d probably be a plastic surgeon or something…brow lifts, and what not. It’s the design part of medicine…

What’s the design aesthetic of your own apartment?

As far as furniture design, it’s all modern. And there’s really not much of it. There’s also no art on the walls. You know, I look at amazing art all day long, so when I go home I kind of need to clear my eyes.

And finally, what’s your commute like?

I live in midtown, so I have a reverse commute. It’s great because I always get a seat on the subway, and can drink my coffee and read the paper. Then, I feel ready to go when I get here.

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To meet more of our staff, visit the Brooklyn’s Finest Flickr set.

Where are you from?

I’m originally from Dallas, TX, and I’ve lived in New York for, let’s see… 30 years! Hm, I guess I can call myself an official New Yorker now.

What do you do here?

Essentially what I do is share information about the programs and exhibitions of the Brooklyn Museum with our community.  I share this information by attending street fairs, festivals, career days, community board meetings, and neighborhood association meetings, and I try to form collaborations with various community groups so they can have increased access to the Museum.

One thing I’ve done recently was to enroll the Museum in the Cool Culture program that captures families, such as early childhood day cares, low-income, or foster care families, and gives them free admission to cultural institutions in all five boroughs. It’s great because it allows us to invite non-traditional museum goers here and encourages parents to use the Museum as an educational resource.  Often, it’s social workers or PTA members who are trying to encourage these families to participate, but they’ve usually never been here, so we also host orientations so they can fully experience what they are offering.

Overall, I spend about half my time out of the office meeting with community leaders, and the other half here hosting events for different groups, such as the MTA hearing earlier this year or community board meetings, among other things.

And this time of year, you’re busy getting ready for the West Indian-American Day Parade.

Yes, it’s the calm before the storm right now…it starts on Thursday and continues for 4 nights of concerts, which all lead up to the big Labor Day Parade on Monday. During those four nights, there’s a steel pan competition where 15 different bands (each with 30 to 100 members) play a few songs and synchronize them … Then there’s the King and Queen Costume competition–people spend months and months making these huge elaborate costumes with sequins and feathers. There’s also a Soca and Calypso music night, featuring local and international artists.

All activities take place on our premises so my role is to help implement the activities around Carnival and ensure the safety of our community and the site.

Schawannah takes matters into her own hands on the Festival’s concert stage.

How did the Museum get involved with this event?

The West Indian-American Carnival Festival Association formed a relationship with the Museum 40 years ago because the celebration of West Indian culture centered here in Crown Heights. Brooklyn actually has the second largest Jamaican population outside of Jamaica (though in the Museum’s immediate neighborhood, it’s primarily Haitian and Trinidadian). The celebration started out small, but has lasted through many evolutions and challenges into what it is today. People now come from all over the world for Carnival: we have over 5,000 people here each night and about 3 million on Eastern Parkway for the parade. All of the West Indian island cultures are supposed to be represented during this event.

My favorite part is seeing the excitement of the crowd during the Steel Pan Competition and the friendly rivalry between the bands. And one new thing I was introduced to last year was getting to try a shark sandwich, which is a Caribbean delicacy.

How long have you worked here?

I’ve been here for 10 years…it’s a bananas milestone!

What were you doing before coming to the Museum?

I was in TV and film for 15 years: I started at ABC news, then the Maury Povich show, and also HBO sports (working on World Championship Boxing was pretty exciting). I’ve actually had a lot of pretty crazy jobs…at one point I managed the bridal registry at Macys on 34^th Street…Oh I witnessed it all there: mother-daughter fights, crazy brides… one couple even tried to return china with spaghetti sauce still on it!

At one point I was also an assistant to Diana Ross, which was very cool. In the beginning, you’re in awe because you’re in the presence of an icon that you’ve watched on TV, but then all of a sudden you’re sitting in front of her having a normal conversation. She was actually pretty down to earth…I remember she liked to make her own salad dressing.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be an anchorperson. So I tried it, but I really did enjoy it. I just didn’t like all those people looking at me, and then I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that all these other people were out there looking at me too.  So that didn’t last too long…

Do you have any hidden talents?

I’m a fencer, though I haven’t done it in a few years. I wanted exercise and wasn’t so great about going to the gym so I thought this would be a good exercise outlet. Plus, it turned out that it’s a pretty great conversation piece. I fenced for 8 years and I really enjoyed it… I even managed to make it into a couple of tournaments (which mostly just let me know that I needed to take more classes).

We actually had a lot of diversity amongst the students… I fenced at the New York Fencers Club, and Peter Westbrook, who’s an Olympic athlete, runs a non-profit out of there that trains young kids in fencing and provides them with college scholarships.  There’s even a brother-sister team from Brooklyn who won the scholarship recently.

Finally, what’s your commute like?

Well, I’m now a proud new homeowner (yay!) in Harlem, so I take the train right from my corner and I’m here in about an hour.

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To meet more of our staff, visit the Brooklyn’s Finest Flickr set.

Where are you originally from?

I was born in Harlem, but lived in Jamaica for many years growing up.

How long have you been working here?

I’ve been at the Museum for 4 years: For the first three years I was a security guard on the floor and I’ve been operating the freight elevator for the last year. When I was offered this position on the freight elevator, I wasn’t sure about taking it. As a security guard on the floor I operated the Schapiro elevator from time to time, and I used to love meeting everyone. You’d have all kinds of visitors coming through, from all over the world. But I tried out the freight, and discovered a completely different and interesting mix of people: art handlers, contractors, maintainers, engineers…

What’s your commute to the Museum like?

I live in East Flatbush now so I have a very short ride on the subway and bus. But I take a cab several mornings during the week. It’s my one taste of luxury. And the same guy comes to pick me every day: Sebastian from Trinidad.

It looks pretty luxurious in the elevator as well. You’ve got quite the set up.

Well, in the beginning when I first was getting comfortable in the elevator, all I had was a chair (It was a regular chair. Not a fancy one like this one), and I had milk crates which served as a desk for my books. I kept bringing in more milk crates and set them up all over this side of the elevator as a desk, a coffee table…it looked like a studio apartment in here!

So one day, Filippo Gentile, Supervising Maintainer here, offered to get me a cart. The art handlers are always touting around these carts you know. Jason Grunwald, another art handler (and an artist himself) crafted this one especially for me, so I can have all my things in here with me.

Besides your mini library, you’ve got a considerable CD collection in here. What do you like to listen to?

I almost have a routine now: classical in the morning (Handel, Bach, Mozart), jazz in the early afternoon (Sonny Rollins, MJQ), and salsa and reggae later in the day.

What’s the most interesting experience you’ve had while operating the freight?

Last year, I was asked to work overtime for the Director’s Reception, which took place one evening on the fifth floor and in the sixth floor storage areas, and they used the freight elevator to shuttle the guests from one floor to the other. We don’t usually have passengers in here, but the guests came in and were all dressed up, and the elevator was packed like sardines. I had my music playing as I usually do, and it just happened to be so perfectly appropriate for the occasion. Everyone just seemed to be so charmed by the space.

The same evening, another staff member brought some Japanese guests on the elevator, and for them, the whole thing seemed like a big event. I still had my jazz playing and they were just fascinated with the whole experience. They started taking pictures of me and the elevator, and were really having a grand time in here. It was just one of those nights…

You know, after writing fiction, the whole world starts to seem like a procession of characters parading through your life, including yourself. It’s just like Shakespeare  said… all the world being a stage… and all of us merely players…

How long have you been a writer?

When I was in the army, I read a lot of Hemingway. He said that in order to be a good novelist, you have to be a good journalist. So I followed his advice after I got out of the army, and I went around to all the newspapers and eventually got a job at Time & Life magazine. Of course, you can’t just walk in and start writing, so they made me a file clerk…after a succession of jobs, I ended up becoming a reporter.

Rumor has it you wrote a somewhat controversial story on the Black Panther Party.

Yes, somewhere along the way, the magazine asked me to do a story on the Black Panthers, but I wasn’t eager to do at first. It seemed too similar to a story I did on the Blackstone Rangers, a street gang in Chicago, and I had a very bad experience doing that. The story went about in the standard Life magazine way with the interviews and photographs, but I was working with another reporter who had a nervous breakdown in the middle of it because it was so intense and dangerous to work with this group. They were gangsters and, you know, very dangerous. So I thought the Black Panthers was going to be a repeat, but I also didn’t want to turn it down. It was what they called a “plum story”- the chance to make headlines and also an opportunity for me to go to California for the first time. So I hooked up with a photographer out there, Howard Bingham…for months Howard and I followed them everywhere and conducted interviews: we went to their rallies, their church, and also to jail to see Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Party, who had been accused of murdering a policeman. This became a very big political case at the time, because it was essentially the politics of the Black Panthers that was on trial.

Eventually, I wrote something, but after many revisions and a lot of back and forth with the editors, they either just didn’t want to print it or they didn’t want to print it the way I had written it….When I realized it wasn’t going to be published in the magazine, I decided to take a leave of absence and devoted my time to writing a book which wound up being called A Special Rage.

What is A Special Rage about?

It’s about my experience trying to cover the Black Panthers, and the contradictions of being a black reporter while doing so.

Did you always want to be a writer?

Well, I was all set to become a black Frank Sinatra until puberty came along and ruined my voice. After that, I decided I wanted to become a writer because of an English teacher I had when I was living in Jamaica.

What were you doing between writing your book and working here?

I’ve had a series of jobs, all to support my writing. When you’re writing, it takes up all of your time and energy, so everything I’ve ever done has been to support that. At one point I was a doorman in New York and in Chicago at a psychiatric hospital, I taught English at Rutgers University and Livingston College…I’ve had a whole series of gigs that have allowed me to focus on my writing.

Can you also tell me about the Sugar Hill Historical Society?

In the 80s, while I was living in Chicago I became really interested in historic preservation…and after I moved back to New York, there was a big issue over the Audobon Ballroom building in Harlem. Way back in the day, the Audobon was the place you went to dance on a Saturday night with a hot date, but later on it became a space where there were a lot of political rallies… Malcom X used to speak at the Audobon and was assassinated there. Years later, Columbia University purchased the property and wanted to build a brand new facility. Of course, there was a big uproar not only because of the Ballroom’s historical significance, but also because of its architectural importance. So, I got involved and started my own group called the Sugar Hill Historical Society to help preserve these kinds of spaces (Sugar Hill is a part of Harlem). I wrote and published a newsletter for the group; in this way, I could also continue my writing.

Are writing anything at the moment?

I’m actually finishing up work on two books: one non-fiction, a memoir called Days of the Demon.  The other is a novel called The Flight of the Black Swan.

Is there a particular work of art here that inspires your own work?

I’d have to say The Philosopher by Jaques Villon.

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To meet more of our staff, visit the Brooklyn’s Finest Flickr set.

What do you do here?

I am the Library Preservation Associate. I am responsible for overseeing the physical care of the diverse and wonderful research collections of the Art Reference, Wilbour Libraries and Museum Archives. On a day-to-day basis, I do book repair and rebinding. I construct a wide variety of protective enclosures for the books, sketches, photographs and other formats in the collection. I am also responsible for constructing cradles and supports for any of the Libraries and Archives collections that are displayed in the museum and any of the collection that’s included in traveling exhibitions.

So what were you doing before you worked at the Brooklyn Museum?

I worked at the MoMA Library. My last job there was microfilming selected books and files.

What’s your commute like?

I am really lucky because I live very close to the Museum so it is a short walk.

Where are you originally from?

I grew up on Long Island, but I have been a proud resident of Brooklyn since 1983.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I was an impressionable child. At various times I wanted to be a pet-shop owner, an architect, a painter, an anthropologist, a cartoonist, a naturalist and a center fielder for fielder for the New York Yankees.

Did any of those come true?

In a way. I am the author and illustrator of seven books for children both fiction and non-fiction. But I have also been trying to free my approach to my drawing and painting and to find new audiences. So on April 21 last year, I posted a drawing and gave it a title on Facebook, and I have continued to do so on a daily basis since that day.

EEK! by Keith Duquette

I’m thrilled with the interactive nature of this posting: My friends’ comments are a joy to read each day. I also like how this project has made me investigate my own drawing archive. And yes, it has lead to me loosening up my approach. After I completed an entire year of drawing posts I decided to see what I could make of this in print. Just how do you show a year’s worth of drawings in a printed document? I experimented with different binding forms and came to the conclusion that an accordion book was a simple and wonderful way to do this.

These drawings are so charming and clever. Tell us more about the accordion book.

You can look at this book page by page, each page representing a week, or you can look at it in total as a year, in which case the book opens up to a 12-foot long document. I love the idea of finding different ways to deliver daily drawings to people online and in print, so I’m continuing to explore a wide variety of ways to do this.

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To meet more of our staff, visit the Brooklyn’s Finest Flickr set.

Nitasha Kawatra, who will now be Interim Membership Manager, will now be running the 1stfans program with Shelley. Those of you in 1stfans may already know Tash, since she’s usually at the Target First Saturday meetups and is a 1stfans member herself. In the spirit of an open transition, what follows is a quick interview with Tash, which we hope will allow 1stfans to get to know her better and serve as my official departure from the group.

Tash, tell me how you have been involved with 1stfans so far.

I’ve been helping manage the 1stfans groups on Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter, and often help out with the First Saturday meetups. That’s actually one of my favorite aspects of 1stfans because I really enjoy talking about the program with our First Saturdays visitors who are interested in signing up. It’s also been especially fun to get to know the 1stfans who come out every month because they are so enthusiastic about participating in all of our events, and it’s been amazing to see how their relationships have grown not only with our staff but also with each other.

You mentioned the meetups. Which has been your favorite, so far?

My favorite meetup was when we launched 1stfans with the Swoon interactive printing event.  I felt like I was already getting to know our new members pretty well because the materials they chose to print on were indicative of their personalities (the pizza box was particularly great). I was also just blown away by how many people came out to support the program that night.

Unlike me, you actually live in Brooklyn. What made you decide to move here, and what do you like most about your ‘hood?

It really was a quality of life decision to move here. After living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan for a few years, I was looking for a neighborhood that was a little more laid back but still has a lot of personality and Cobble Hill just seemed like the perfect fit. I live right on Smith Street so it’s really lively and eclectic, but I love that I can always duck onto one of the quiet tree-lined streets nearby (mostly to lust after all the beautiful brownstones).  I haven’t lived here that long, but have totally drunk the Brooklyn kool-aid.

What’s your commute like? This is my favorite question in “Brooklyn’s Finest,” so I want to be sure we have you on the record.

I’m fortunate to have a really convenient commute on the B71 bus, at least for a few more precious weeks (It’s one of the buses that got sacrificed in the MTA cuts). One of my fellow riders started a petition this morning to save the route though, so I have a glimmer of hope that I’ll get to stick with my above-ground commute.

As the most experienced “foodie” on the membership staff, what are your favorite haunts around the Museum?

Give me a fish taco from Chavella’s any day of the week .  The food there is so incredibly fresh and delicious there and the homemade hot salsa will bring tears to your eyes (which is a good thing, in my opinion). I’m also pretty attached to Cheryl’s Global Soul. Not only do they have the friendliest staff, but the fact that they were able to make a carnivore like me so addicted to their vegetarian chili is pretty impressive.

Lastly, anything you want people to know about your new role with 1stfans? And what do you like about membership work, in general?

From the beginning I’ve felt really privileged to be part of such an innovative Membership program with you and Shelley, and I’m looking forward to continuing to grow the program and connect more personally with all of our 1stfans. In general, Membership work appeals to me because I really enjoy coming up with ways to open up the Museum as much as possible to our most loyal donors—it’s important to me that our Members see exactly where their support is going.  Members can start to get to know me on Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, or get in touch with me by e-mail.

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To meet more of our staff, visit the Brooklyn’s Finest Flickr set.