Preparator - Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO

Preparator

Department: Exhibitions
Classification: Non-Exempt, Full-time
Reports to: Lead Preparator
Supervises: Temporary Prep Staff
Date: August 2019

Position Summary
The Preparator undertakes the responsibility of exhibition installation, which includes the scheduling, relocation, and presentation of artwork both in the Museum’s permanent collection as well as traveling exhibitions, long, and short-term loans.

Major Responsibilities
Exhibitions

• Work in concert with the Curatorial department to implement exhibition designs.
• Create appropriate lighting design, and help to control visitor experience of the museum through didactic material and determine strategies for a wide range of media.
• Install and de-install exhibition objects.
• Measure, cut, install, and maintain all exhibition signage/graphics.
• Recommend installation materials, equipment and mounting/framing supplies.
• Perform routine exhibition maintenance including conducting daily gallery checks, external exhibition spaces, and maintain exhibition lighting. Clean cases, platforms, and frames as needed.

Fabrication
• Fabricate and install exhibition components, including pedestals, platforms, supportive mounts, cradles, brackets, platforms, bases, vitrines, crates, etc. made of wood, wood composites, metals, Plexiglas and other materials according to proper museum standards for 2-D and 3-D objects.
• Perform carpentry for exhibitions and exhibition areas including demolition, wall repair, painting, and fabric wrapping.
• Recommend, assemble, install, and modify shop machinery, hand tools, shop and museum carts, materials handling vehicles, as necessary and within budget parameters.
• Maintain an organized working area within galleries and in Prep office to ensure objects being prepared for exhibition are safe and secure.

Department Administration/Management
• Assist with assembling, managing, and delegating to skilled part-time preparatory laborers.
• Ability to perform as department head in the absence of the Lead Preparator.
• Ensure an organized and orderly work space.

Key Competencies
Planning/Organizing: Prioritizes and plans work activities, uses time efficiently, plans for additional resources, sets goals and objectives, organizes or schedules other people and their tasks, develops realistic action plans
Team Work: Balances team and individual responsibilities, exhibits objectivity and openness to others' views, gives and welcomes feedback, contributes to building a positive team spirit, puts success of team above own interests, able to build morale and group commitments to goals and objectives, supports everyone's efforts to succeed, recognizes accomplishments of other team members
Dependability: Follows instructions, responds to management direction, takes responsibility for own actions, keeps commitments, commits to long hours of work when necessary to reach goals, completes tasks on time
Oral Communication: Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations, listens and gets clarification, responds well to questions, demonstrates group presentation skills, participates in meetings
Problem Solving: Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner, Gathers and analyzes information skillfully, develops alternative solutions, works well in group problem solving situations, uses reason even when dealing with emotional topics
Innovation: Displays original thinking and creativity, meets challenges with resourcefulness, generates suggestions for improving work, develops innovative approaches and ideas, presents ideas and information in a manner that gets others' attention
Judgment: Displays willingness to make decisions, exhibits sound and accurate judgment, supports and explains reasoning for decisions, includes appropriate people in decision-making process, makes timely decisions

Job Specifications
• Bachelor's degree in an art related field and relevant experience in museum or gallery work or the equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience with artifact handling, exhibition construction/installation techniques, and structural fabrication, including but not limited to framing artwork, stretching canvasses, and maintaining interior and surface integrity of large and small-scale works of art in a wide range of media.
• Demonstrated knowledge of basic carpentry tools, machinery, and safety practices.
• Demonstrates knowledge of Adobe creative suite, Sketch Up.
• Ability to drive box truck, scissor lift, and operate other material lifts.
• Physical Requirements include:
• Walk: The ability to move about on foot.
• Talk: The ability to express or exchange ideas accurately, loudly, or quickly by means of the spoken word, imparting information or detailed instructions to clients, to the public, or to other workers.
• Handle: The ability to seize, hold, grasp, turn, or otherwise work with hand or hands. (Fingers are involved only to the extent that they are an extension of the hand.)
• Reach with hands and arms: The ability to extend the hands and arms in any direction.
• Climb: The ability to ascend or descend ladders, stairs, scaffolding, ramps, poles, ropes, and the like, using feet and legs and/or hands or arms.
• Kneel: The ability to bend legs at the knees to come to rest on knee or knees.
• Crouch: The ability to bend the body downward and forward by bending legs and spine.
• Lifts Weight and Exerts Force: Lifts weight up to 50 lbs or exerts force by lifting, lowering, pulling, carrying, pushing, slapping, striking, kicking, pulling, or jerking.
• Vision: The ability to see clearly at 20 inches or less and 20 feet or more. The ability to identify and distinguish colors. The ability to observe an area that can be seen up and down or to the left and right while eyes remain fixed on a given point. Three-dimensional vision, the ability to judge distances and spatial relationships to see objects where and as they actually are. The ability to adjust the eye to bring an object into sharp focus. This is required when doing close work at varying distances from the eye.

Cover letter and Resumes can be emailed to employment@kemperart.org or you may mail hard copies to:
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
Diane Lambert
Human Resources Manager
4420 Warwick Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64111