Last week I traveled down to Sydney to do a couple of days work experience with the Powerhouse Museum. Before starting, I spent a couple of days soaking up some arts and culture while in Sydney including a trip to the White Rabbit Gallery in Chippendale and a self guided walking tour of the Rocks. It was great way of getting back in the "zone" as the last time I spent time in Sydney was the YRAS professional development days. On the first day at the Powerhouse, I completed their volunteer induction training and lucky for me I was the only one so could ask lots of questions about how they do things in one of the largest museums in Australia. After this, I was then taken over to the "beehive" where all the curators and staff work and most importantly where most of their collection is kept. From here i met with Glynis Jones, one of the curators of textiles at the museum and mentor for my work experience. I accompanied her on a copyright meeting with image department for an upcoming exhibition which was interesting to listen in on and the importance of making sure that you have permission to use certain images for marketing etc. I then accompanied Glynis down to collection to find suitable mannequins for the upcoming exhibition. We took a trip to the conservation department to see a 150 year old dress being restored and help choose the right style of buttons to be put back on the dress! unbelievable! The woman that owned the dress had lived in Tamworth and the dress had been worn to death, also being altered time and time again to accommodate pregnancy. I was given a tour of the research library just for STAFF! It is the size of the Glen Innes library and it is just for the Powerhouse staff! I was able to borrow some books to help in some research that Glynis asked me to complete while I was there focusing on the wedding veils, wedding photography and bridal dolls. It was amazing and so inspiring to be in that environment and be asked to do research for an upcoming exhibition!! It was great to see how Glynis worked with story boards, print outs of the collection items and stacks of books and files when research and curating a textile exhibit. It was great to see someone successful have the same work style as me! At the end of the day, it is Glynis's job to go and make sure the current exhibit is all fine.. so I got to tag along just with Glynis to double check all of the Collette Dinnigan dresses and readjust the way the dresses sat on the mannequins.. unbelievable! I was fantastic to hear what went into the curating the exhibit and the inclusion of a whole section of story boards was really inspiring. I will be heading back to the Powerhouse again to do some more work in the collection.. can not wait! So so fantastic and inspiring. I am finding as i continue on with mu scholarship that I am really loving the research and curatorial practices of museums!