Exhibits
“Memories of Aunt Ava,” exhibit at the Ava Gardner Museum, 2020
“Ava’s Life Changed Forever: Pandora and the Flying Dutchman” physical exhibit at the Ava Gardner Museum, 2020
Led the curation of this new exhibit. Researched, selected artifacts, wrote exhibit copy and artifact labels, planned flow and layout, and installed a new exhibit about Ava Gardner’s role in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) and its impact on her life and career. The exhibit also shares how the film was marketed internationally and information about its recent restoration.
“Forged in Fire: Rural Blacksmiths” at the Tobacco Farm Life Museum, 2019
Researched, wrote text, conceptualized design, sourced images, planned & promoted opening reception. Exhibit provides context for on-site, fully functioning blacksmith shop, identifying basic tools and processes of blacksmithing, as well as explaining the connection to farm life to aid self-guided visitors. Read more here.
“Push and Pull: Russian and Eastern European Migration to the Cape Fear Region” at UNCW Randall Library and Pender County Public Library, 2014
At the Push and Pull Exhibit Opening at Pender County Public Library, October 2014. 
With my co-curators at the opening. 
Presentation on Push and Pull at NCPH conference, where the exhibit also won a Student Project Award. 
One of the artifact cases. This child’s suit was representative of the Starodubtsev migration journey and cultural differences. 
For Love or Money: Post-Soviet Migration. I curated this section of the exhibit in its entirety from research & artifact selection, through fabrication & installation. 
The interactive area and the case displaying the original suitcase that the interactive is modeled after. 
Suitcase Interactive Component. Visitors were posed the question of what they would bring if they left their home country. 
Exhibit opening 
Installing the child’s jacket on the custom mount. 
After installing the shelf it needed a few paint touch-ups. This area was the interactive corner I designed and fabricated. 
Sewing the body-shape to the padded hanger to create a mount for Anton’s suit. 
Mount making 
Designing object labels with Adobe Illustrator. 
Cleaning the cases after installation. 
Curators with Dr. Gordon. 
Dr. Gordon introducing us student curators. From left to right: Jayd Buteaux, Leslie Randle-Morton, Beth Nevarez (me), and Dr. Gordon. 
Making a padded hanger: Sawing a wooden hanger to make it fit a child’s suit. 
Presenting at Collecting Heritage Conference. My presentation title: “Russian Cultural Values in Migration: Artifacts as Witness to Family, Education, and Heritage in Transition.” This information about material culture informed the exhibit.
