|
Aoife Pacheco
Coordinator of Education & Interpretation Resources
Rubin Museum of Art
Aoife (pronounced Eefa) grew up in a house of designers in Brooklyn, NY. Her mother is an architect/teacher from Dublin, Ireland and her father is a designer from Barranquilla, Colombia. She has a BA Degree in Sculpture & Art from Oberlin College , Oberlin, Ohio and is completing a Masters Degree in Elementary Education at Brooklyn College .
During her high school years Aoife worked as a work-study student at the Brooklyn Museum of Art . While attending Oberlin College she worked as the assistant to the education department at the Allen Memorial Art Museum for four years.
Aoife always had her eye on education. She wanted to be a facilitator of educational experiences and somebody who would share a love of learning with people. She came to the opening celebration of the Rubin Museum of Art and felt a strong connection to the innovative spirit of the founders, the space, and the collection. Aoife saw being a part of the establishment of this precious cultural institution as an exciting opportunity to share her passion and dedication to education.
Before working full time at the RMA, Aoife started as a part-time tour guide leading guided tours of the galleries for three years while also teaching in public elementary and pre-schools in Brooklyn. This path enabled her to build a strong knowledge base in the Museum's collection while continuing to build experience in the classroom.
She has always gravitated towards museums; however, Aoife says "It wasn't in my mind that I had to work in a museum, but it was only in my mind that I had be a teacher." As a tour guide, she realized she had come upon a classroom that was way more dynamic and empowering than a traditional school room. In her present job she has found a fantastic opportunity to create engaging learning opportunities for audiences at the RMA and beyond.
Aoife's current job is keeping all of the museum's educational resources in order and making sure they are working effectively for the visitors as well as the educators. Her job involves working with educators and curators to create exhibit-specific communications and activities for the galleries (informational cards, drawing and writing activities, images that enable visitors to see the art in context, videos that explore regions or the art work on display, and a "touch cart" with a collection of touchable objects that the museum's tour guides share with visitors). In addition Aoife facilitates the work of the artist-in-residence, and coordinates all the content for the education section of the RMA website.
The most enjoyable aspect of her job is being in a section of the educational community where there is the freedom to be creative, to be innovative and to bring new ideas to fruition. Finally Aoife loves the aspect of collaboration with almost all departments in the Museum, the curators in finding the educational goals of each show, the designers in determining how activities will be realized, the tour guides in how to implement and share the information, etc.
Aoife says the keys to success in her position are being a team player, being organized and creative, reflecting on her work and the work of other museum educators and inviting and accepting constructive criticism.
She says her biggest challenge is "not having enough arms". Especially because her position focuses on web content and there is so much innovative work going on at the RMA that she would like to share with the global community on the web.
Aoife says that the development of digital media has given museums and all institutions the ability to share information in a way they were never able to do before. "A museum is like a park, it's a public space for all to share and enjoy something precious. Now using the internet and other sharing platforms, museums are able to share lectures, tours and objects of art with people anywhere in the world."
In her spare time, Aoife creates pottery, which she has studied since the age of eight, and studies clay figure sculpture. Aoife believes it is a mistake to rely on the conventional values given to goods and services. She is a strong proponent of the barter system and chooses to trade her artwork to instead of selling it.
|
See her art!
Aoife is also involved with Prep for Prep, an organization that helps develop the leadership potential of able young people.
Aoife co-leads "Auspicious Stitches" a collaborative fabric arts class at the museum each Monday.
by
David Jackson
|
Ask a Fashion Expert!
