Archaeological Digs
The Irish Archaeological Field school in Wexford, Ireland, was the most rewarding and worthwhile experience of my educational journey thus far. In 2018, I was fortunate to participate in the excavation of Ferrycarrig, the first Anglo-Norman fortification in Ireland, which had been forgotten by history. Originally, excavated in 1980s with little success, the site was rediscovered in the 2018 excavation. The goal was to determine if Carrick was indeed located at the site and to explore potential relationships.
In 2021, I was able to return to Ireland as a field school technician for the IFR at a little site in Clone, Ireland, known as Ferns or St. Aidan's Church. Both excavations fueled my love and fascination for archaeology and history. The field school taught me a variety of skills, including proper excavation techniques, site planning, mapping, documentation, cultural resource management as well as public outreach and heritage interpretation. Additionally, I participated in post-excavation finds processing, cleaning, photography and proper documentation of the artifacts being discovered.
For more information, visit the IFR website (linked below) to read more about Ferrycarrig, feel free to send me a message—I am more than happy to chat.
Museum Work
Exhibition Work
Mini-exhibit panel
As part of the Museum Management and Curatorship program at Fleming College, we have the privilege of partnering with the Peterborough Museum and Archives to access their collection, undertake inventorying, cleaning, housekeeping tasks, as well as filling out condition reports. I also took photographs of the objects and researched objects that have been backlogged.
Additionally, the program teaches other hands-on skills such as writing accession numbers on artifacts, mount building, annotating images for condition reports, as well as other essential museum skills.
Fleming College Museum Management and Curatorship 2024
Mini-exhibit: Betty Spaghetty Spaghetti for Hair: Mix & Match Her!
The final panel for Betty has lots of colour, movement, and even shows the creator Elonne Dantzer standing beside a large Betty.
As part of our program we were required to bring a personal object with us to curate our own mini-exhibit. I chose to bring my childhood doll Betty Spaghetty with me and introduce her to my fellow classmates and visitors. Betty is a doll from the late 90s early 2000s manufactured by the Ohio Art Company in Bryan, OH. My dad Smith Hurley Jr. worked at the Ohio Art and as such brought many Betty dolls home for my sister and I to play with over the years. My sister and I grew very attached to the brightly coloured dolls that had interchangeable parts, catchy commercials, and a multitude of accessories. As part of the project we had to conduct research into the object and I had the pleasure of connecting with the inventor, Elonne Dantzer, who was incredibly kind and helpful during the research process. Elonne even shared some of her early sketches and prototypes of the doll with me to further advance my research and understanding of the doll's history. It was a very rewarding and fun experience being able to curate a mini-exhibit on a beloved childhood toy.
Art Exhibit in Partnership with Carleton University Art Gallery April 2023
Anne Meredith Barry Force of Nature
I helped curate a mini exhibit on Canadian artist Anne Meredith Barry with two other classmates that was on display at Carleton University Library. We each got to select two pieces of Barry's art. I selected the pieces above titled Sky Fan and Star Fish (1993) which was a lithograph on paper and Starbright (1995) a silkscreen on paper. I was drawn by the colour in each of these pieces and thought they were beautiful.
This exhibit was unique because it was the first time these pieces had been on display since the Art Gallery acquired them after Barry's death. Force of Nature showcased Anne Meredith Barry's award-winning work, which captured the unique geography of Newfoundland and Labrador in immersive ways. Anne Meredith Barry's attentive depictions of the diversity, beauty and bounty of the landscapes echo the ways in which she engaged with and supported the local communities in which she worked. Barry's work carries an implicit call for us to pay respect and attention to the places we inhabit.
"Here, I live surrounded by an environment which is characterized by constant change...turbulent coastal weather, for dramatically different seasons, and the endless rhythmic migration of icebergs, whales, seabirds and sea creatures. Behind my studio the high cliffs, freshwater ponds and evergreen forests are home to the land-based animals and birds. My neighbors and I inhabit the space between these worlds, aware of and affected by both." -Anne Meredith Barry (1932-2003)
An overall image of the works we selected including the case to the right that houses three other works my classmate Michelle selected.
Hutchison House Exhibit March 2025- October 2025
Together From Apart: Stories of Immigration
Team: Graphic Design
I was part of the graphic design team and as such we were in charge of the colour pallet for the exhibit, panel design, interactives, and any visual elements that needed to be added including designing a virtual form for a cookbook. Below is a link to view our moodboard and renditions of panels at various stages of design for the exhibit.
