2009 Rallies & Events
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The Helmet Project
Story by Wendy Manning, Photos Courtesy of The Harley-Davidson Museum and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design
The Harley-Davidson Museum and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design partnered up this fall for The Helmet Project, challenging art students to deconstruct the conventional notion of a helmet and re-envision its function and meaning. Vivian M. Rothschild, Director of Communications at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design said, “The project was under the leadership of Harley-Davidson Museum Curatorial Director Jim Fricke and involved a hundred art and design students, ten faculty members and museum staff.”
The exhibit took place at the Harley Museum’s Garage, the first undertaking of its kind, and covered the dynamic history of helmets and the debate surrounding the helmet in relation to motorcycling through a multi-media display.
Students created the show from exhibit fabrication and installation to exhibition graphics and marketing. Jim Fricke said, “We were familiar with the impressive caliber of MIAD student work, so this exhibition idea was expressly developed to create an ambitious college-wide project.”
In developing the concept for the project, the Harley-Davidson Museum hoped to challenge MIAD Sculpture, Integrated Studio Arts and Industrial Design students to react to and extend the rich history of helmet design, and Interior Architecture Design and Communication Design students to design, fabricate and install the exhibit. The students worked both in teams and as individuals through a juried process.
“This unprecedented collaborative effort, unfolding over two short months, was intense and inspiring,” Jim said. “The reward is in the creation: both the collaborative act and the resulting exhibition, which was informative, provocative and beautiful.”
In addition to Jim Fricke and the museum’s curatorial, archival and marketing staffs, principal jury members providing guidance and input throughout the project were Michael Davidson, artist, design consultant and great-grandson of Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company co-founder William A. Davidson; and James Donnelly, multidisciplinary designer and principal of Milwaukee’s The Design Office.
MIAD Provost David Martin said, “Our students embraced this intensively pedagogical experience, which is broadening not only their skills and real-world experience, but also their well of inspiration as related to art and design, and to the Harley-Davidson cultural and historical phenomenon. We are proud and gratified to have been chosen to be a part of the museum’s first feature exhibition and to build on the growing relationship with Harley-Davidson, which began three years ago with the Industrial Design PowerSports course developed with the Harley-Davidson Stylists from the Product Development Center.”
The Harley-Davidson Museum and its “Garage” exhibition space are located at 400 West Canal Street. For more information visit www.harley-davidsonmuseum.com or call 877.436.8738.