Seeing the Museum Through the Eyes of Security Supervisor Michael Dean

Portrait of Michael Dean by Christie Newman

We recently met with Michael Dean, security supervisor at the Georgia Museum of Art, for a conversation and impromptu tour through the galleries. As part of the security staff, Dean has spent hundreds of hours in the galleries, which grants him a unique perspective on the museum and its collection. Read on for the compelling insights and joy he finds in working and living surrounded by art.

Interviewer: What led you to work at the Georgia Museum of Art in particular; had you worked for other museums or galleries in the past?

Dean: I’m a long-time Athens resident, and I was [previously] working on North Campus for the graduate school – a sit-down office job that involved staring at a computer all day. It could be stimulating at times because I was reviewing dissertations, but after a while I wanted something that got me on my feet and moving around more like a museum or library. Someplace where there’s some beauty, knowledge and interest.

What does a normal work day look like for you and the other guards?

What we do is pretty varied. I do a fair amount of paperwork, it’s still more or less an office job, but I get to get out on the floor as well. Essentially I’m a supervisor.

How do you stay engaged while working in the galleries themselves?

When I’m out there; if there are patrons, you’re required to be where they are to keep an eye on them without being intrusive, but if there are no patrons, I’ll typically look at the art.

As we walked through the galleries, Michael pointed out paintings; some because he enjoyed them and others for their value as talking points with patrons. We went to the Kress Gallery, which holds Italian Renaissance paintings of mostly, if not entirely Christian religious figures, for an example.

There are patrons for whom the presence of the guards makes them nervous, they don’t like being watched. So it’s nice to come up with conversation points to break the ice a little bit. One of them that I use is this work right here (“St. Paul and St. Augustine”). What strikes me about this work what I think sets it apart from everything else in the room, is that the artist actually used men of color. Everyone else in here is lily white, but there’s almost no chance any of these figures were caucasian. That work always jumps out at me because it probably is much closer to what those men looked like in real life.

"St. Paul and St. Augustine"

What is your favorite part about your job?

Being able to get up and move around and interact with people. At my old job, I was delighted when the phone rang because I got to speak to another human being, but here I get to be social every day.

Which traveling exhibition have you found the most memorable?

Actually, it’s up right now [through Sunday] – the Buddhist exhibition. I’m always amazed that I’m standing in there with craftsmanship and art that was created in the 3rd century. The age of it in and of itself is awe inspiring to me.

Which painting or paintings in the permanent collection are your favorite(s)?

Paul Cadmus's "Playground"

(In reference to Paul Cadmus’s “Playground”) I was a Cadmus fan before I even came here. I’ve always liked Cadmus because when he does these urban cityscapes and magical realism thing, every figure seems to have a story. There’s something going on with everybody in here. What I like is the variety of each figure and the notion that everyone’s got a narrative.

Jared French's "Music"

(In reference to Jared French’s “Music”) The first time I looked at it I thought to myself: these, to me, look like celestial figures. From the colors, I think of the center figure as the sun, the right as the earth and the left as the sea.

How does art fit into your life outside the museum?

I’ve always had an interest in it. I always used to confuse my roommates; in my first year of undergrad the poster merchants came through Tate, and all my friends would buy, say, Cindy Crawford. The first one I bought was [an Albert] Bierstadt print. I would put this up and whoever I was rooming with would always be confused because I had a Bierstadt landscape on the wall.

What’s the value of seeing works of art in person?

My first response to art is always immediate, visceral. Or it takes me someplace. When you work in a museum, and you’re around it every day, I think it broadens your appreciation. This is colored by my job because part of what we do is we’re meant to protect the art. Our old guard Ed [Tant] used to say, “our job is to protect art from art lovers,” because that’s the number-one threat out there. They want to get right up to the painting; it always breaks your heart a little bit because the people you usually want to correct are the people who love it the most. Yet, as for the value of being able to see art in person, there’s a star quality you could say. In a sense, you’re in the same place as that artist.

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Savannah Guenthner

Intern, Department of Communications