name: Traci Tmmons location: Seattle, Washington (USA) marital status: Married (spouse: Paul Herrin) children: Yep! (daughter: Lorelei Jane - her namesake; son: Robin Thomas - he has three namesakes: here, here and here) occupation: Museum Librarian education: Florida State University (B.S. Interior Design, Art History), University of South Florida (M.A., Art History), University of Washington (M.L.I.S.)
anglophile
Although I am completely and utterly American, I am a lover of all (well most) things British. I love British literature, English football, British television, British film, British music, British art. Why I chose the British over other cultures, I cannot quite say. Maybe it was watching Doctor Who or Fawlty Towers growing up. Maybe it was watching The Young Ones or French and Saunders as a young adult. Maybe it was my life-changing encounter with British synth pop in high school. Who knows?
I am a die-hard Tottenham Hotspur fan. I follow manager Harry Redknapp around. It's a long story, but it started with the goal keeper from Portsmouth and has moved on (along with Jermain Defoe and, until recently, Peter Crouch) to a team that has brought the glory back to White Hart Lane. To dare is to do… come on you Spurs!
crafter
I resisted domesticity most of my life, but am now a sewer - an admitted amateur with a long way to go. Several years ago, I started making sock monkeys, in addition to collecting them. I also make other sock critters and have expanded the sock crafting to include baby rattles. This has taken on a life of its own and I am hoping to start my own Etsy shop soon. Stay tuned!
"music bigot"
This is what my husband calls me. I do love music and do have some pretty strong opinions about things. I like: indie rock, synth pop, alt country, trip hop, hip hop, trance, dj, those gorgeous Scandinavian bands, the new crop of bands out of Oxford, most of the bands that played at Sasquatch, most of the bands that played at Glastonbury, the seemingly endless stream of amazing bands coming out of my hometown: Seattle. I dislike:
Manufactured music - you know, where some producer finds some good-looking semi-talented person(s) and pairs them with a ghost writer and "creates" pop tunes - ack!
"New Country" - do they even call it that anymore? I prefer real country music about hard times by genuine artists. (Check out Swinging Doors).
Bieber and Miley - I have kids and it's impossible to avoid these two. I honestly don't remember having such poor pop choices when I was that age, but maybe I'm just old.
not-so-serious part-time scholar Cesare Vecellio
For my masters thesis in art history, I worked on Cesare Vecellio's Habiti Antichi et Moderni di tutto il Mondo (Venice, 1598), an early-printed costume book that kept me chained to a desk in the Special Collections Department at my university's library for nearly two years and resulted in a 200+ page thesis and a published article. I run a web site on Vecellio - www.vecellio.net. I'm pleased to say it's one of the top hits on Google if you search on the phrase "Cesare Vecellio." It's been picked up as an official resource for the author/artist on Worldwide Art Resources. It's also been added to Wikipedia as an official external link for the Cesare Vecellio entry and Margaret F. Rosenthal and Ann Rosalind Jones added my site as a resource in their book The Clothing of the Renaissance World: Europe - Asia - Africa - The Americas.
Portrait Images of Children in Photography
This is an area I am keenly interested in and a real departure from the 16th century Venetian focus. How do portrait images (staged) of children reflect on a particular time? What do they reveal about the life of the sitter? What role do children's images play in the history of photography? These are questions I look forward to exploring... Some photographers I am interested in include: Julia Margaret Cameron, Loretta Lux, and Holly Andres.
museum librarian
I am the head librarian at the Seattle Art Museum. One of the best parts of my job is coming upon and learning about the gems in our over 45,000 volume collection. You can read my blog at SOAP: The Blog of the Seattle Art Museum.
