Thank you so much to everyone who tuned into our first Instagram Live! In case you missed it, our Creative Director & Senior Curator, Elizabeth Semmelhack had a fun chat with photographer, Ron Wood. Wood is a photographer and professor at OCAD University that has been working with the Bata Shoe Museum for years and […]
In Conversation with our Conservator, Ada Hopkins
By: Jessica Pollock, Communications Intern I recently sat down with Ada Hopkins, conservator at the Bata Shoe Museum, to learn more about her role at the museum and conservation at large. 1. What initially led you to be interested in conservation? I was always interested in art history and archaeology. When looking at different academic […]
From Function to Fashion: Platform and Wedge Footwear of the 1930s and 1940s
By Myriam Elyse Couturier, curatorial intern Platform shoes were first worn as beach footwear in the 1930s as the popularity of outdoor recreation and cruise holidays was rising, and were at the height of fashionability during World War II. At the same time, wedges – shoes where the space between the heel and sole in […]
Otzi the Iceman
On September 19th, 1991, Ötzi the Iceman was found in the Austrian-Italian Alps. He is the oldest, best preserved human body known to science at 5300 years old. Ötzi Man lived in approximately 3300 BCE and when his body was discovered he was still wearing one of his shoes, which are the oldest known preserved […]
Throwback to Lunching with John and Ruth Fluevog
By Sarah Beam-Borg – Exhibition Manager and Assistant Curator Popular opinion and Hollywood movies tend to box museum work into two very disparate categories. The field is thought to either be hopelessly boring and dusty, or tremendously glamorous and exciting. Like many professions the reality is of course somewhere in the middle of the two […]