Exhibition Design Assistant

The mission of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is to welcome all to celebrate the American spirit in a setting that unites the power of art with the beauty of nature. Founded by philanthropist and arts patron Alice Walton, Crystal Bridges is a public non-profit charitable organization.

Job Description:

Position Title: Exhibition Design Assistant

Position Type: Full Time

FLSA Classification: Non-Exempt

Division: Curatorial and Art Management

Department: Exhibition Design

Reports to: Head of Exhibition Design

Position Summary:

The Exhibition Design Assistant has the opportunity to participate in the creative process of exhibition design. Reports to the Head of Design and assists the Associate and Assistant Exhibition Designers for the Museum’s dynamic program of art presentations. Contributes to the design and coordination of production for engaging collection installations and temporary exhibitions at Crystal Bridges and Momentary galleries, on the museum grounds, and in other museum-related spaces. The role helps maintain design schedules, keep track of tasks and phases of the design process and support the exhibition design team in the development of design deliverables, templates, and the creation of design components.

The Exhibition Design Assistant helps the Exhibition Design Team create and share design deliverables, collect feedback, and implement design ideas. Coordinates with in-house staff, vendors and contractors, assists the Exhibition Design Team to gather and evaluate estimates, track orders, manage fabrication, construction, delivery, assembly, and installation of exhibitions components.

Principal Responsibilities:

• Work with exhibition designers, project managers, and others to help create, organize, coordinate, collect, and track design deadlines, deliverables, and document package submittals for review and revision.
• Assist designers in the execution of the design vision using Excel, Asana, Airtable, Sketchup, AutoCAD, Teams, Voyager and other tools to produce layouts, models, schedules, spreadsheets, etc., for artwork placement, casework, and other exhibitions components.
• Assist exhibitions designers create design presentations; gather specifications for supplies, materials, samples; place and track orders (e.g., paint, vitrines, case furniture, fabrics).
• Help Coordinate in-house staff, vendors, and contractors; gather and evaluate estimates, track shipping, manage fabrication, construction, delivery, assembly, and installation of exhibitions components.
  
  

Additional Responsibilities:

• Communicate verbally, in writing and through drawings with staff, contractors, and fabricators.
• Create and keep updated plans, inventories, schedules, and organized design plans of the permanent collections as they are being completed.
• Performs other duties as assigned.
  
  

Qualifications and Skills:

• Bachelor’s Degree in architecture, industrial design, interior design, art, or related field from an accredited college or university, or commensurate work experience, is required.
• Additional education and/or experience in exhibition design, fine arts, theater design, museum studies or related area are a plus, but not required
• Demonstrated interest in understanding, organizing and managing construction methods.
• Ability to communicate effectively in a collaborative professional setting, verbally and through sketches, renderings, models, and other forms of representation is required.
  
  

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Physical demands: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to travel independently within museum office and gallery spaces, construction sites and grounds. In the work environments described below, position requires verbal and written conversation with others, sitting, moving throughout the museum, trails, and associated buildings, reaching, lifting/moving objects up to 30 pounds, and use of hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls. The position requires the ability to focus and work at a computer for long periods of time, listening, analyzing and summarizing large quantities of information. Vision abilities required by the job include close vision and the ability to discern nuances of measurements, accuracy of detailed drawings, and nuances of color, and lighting.
• Work Environment: Work will be performed in an office environment, interior and exterior museum spaces and grounds, and construction sites. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is exposed to weather conditions prevalent at the time. The noise level in the office work environment is usually low to moderate. The noise level on construction sites can be medium to high.