Meet Mia: Q&A with Rebecca Shearier, Collections Manager
Meet Mia is a bimonthly series highlighting museum staff—the talented humans who help make Mia a community treasure. Watch for new Q&As in People & Culture.
By Tara Kaushik
February 23, 2026—Rebecca Shearier discusses the objects in Mia’s collection with the love and understanding of a parent. Her awareness of their needs is a testament to how much careful, attentive work goes on behind the scenes at an art museum. With a glance, she knows what each object needs, pointing out hairline cracks and signs of fading invisible to the untrained eye. She brings this attention to detail to her role as Collections Manager, tracking and caring for Mia’s vast, varied, and priceless collection.
Speedrun
- Role: Collections Manager
- How long you’ve worked at Mia: Seven years, in a few different roles
- Favorite artwork in the collection: Nellie Two Bear Gates’s Suitcase
- Go-to Eat Street lunch order: A grilled pork bánh mì with pâté and mayo from Lu’s. Or the Greek chicken salad from Christo’s.
How did you get into handling fine art?
I interned in the Learning department here at Mia after getting a master’s degree in Japanese art history. I did a lot of research and helped with creating guide programs. I also worked front of house a little bit. When Mia acquired the Clark collection, which was about 2,000 objects, I volunteered as a registrar a couple of times a week to help catalogue it. I got really familiar with that collection.
Then, right around the time that the project was wrapping up, Mia acquired the Burke collection. So I stayed on to help catalogue about 700 objects in that collection. Somewhere along the way of doing all this cataloguing, I realized I loved it. I love making lists. I love keeping track of things. I love handling art.
What does being Mia’s Collections Manager entail, day to day?
It’s kind of like a huge, constant game of Tetris. We’re always rotating what’s on view in the galleries so our visitors have access to the museum’s collection. We’re also constantly expanding the collection with new acquisitions, and we want to take really good care of everything in it. It’s our mission to do so.
So a lot of what my team and I are doing is continually rearranging our storage space to make sure everything is preserved and cared for as items rotate in and out of view. Different objects have different needs. Some objects, like textiles and photographs, are really sensitive to light, which can cause fading and damage over time. Photographs are usually only on view for three to six months. Then they come in and rest, which helps slow down their aging process and keeps them safe and preserved for future viewing. While those photographs rest, something else will go on view.
Can you tell me a story about a particular object?
There are definitely some things that are haunted. Not in a spooky way, but there are objects that have so much meaning or were such an important part of someone’s existence that you can feel it, like it’s palpable. There’s a cupboard up in G304, a painted cabinet that was given as a wedding gift. It was down here in storage for a few months. And it just felt full of life. Just imbued with this lively energy.
What was your first job?
I was a waitress at a mom-and-pop diner in Wisconsin. I was eating breakfast with my parents one morning, and I guess the place was short-staffed because the owner came up to me and said, “You have such a nice smile. Do you want to work here?”
What’s your favorite part of your job?
I love this collection. It’s eclectic and honest. It holds all the stories of the families who are and were donors to the museum, of the curators who sought out these works, and of all the directors past. The collection tells the history of our institution, of how tastes and styles have evolved over time, of what people in the community were interested in. We have a world-class collection, and we’re so lucky to be its stewards.
Whenever I work with an object, I’m reminded that I’m a part, however inconsequential, of that object’s history. Many of them have lived for hundreds of years. And here they stand in storage, and I get to be with them for a moment. It just hits me sometimes as I go about my day, like how cool this is. I’m surrounded by all of this human expression. I just love working with this collection. I love working for a museum. I love the smell of our storage area.
What’s something you’ve learned in your role?
Something we take a lot of pride in as a team is the work we’re doing around culturally sensitive care for the objects. We’re always learning, and we do our best to accommodate each object in a way that honors its historical significance and cultural context. For example, some objects in our Native American collection cannot be within each other’s line of sight. We take care to ensure that. We also have some immensely powerful items stored above the cabinets, as high up as possible, to represent their power. Or if an object was designed to be buried, we take care to keep it very close to the earth.
What would you be if you weren’t Mia’s Collections Manager?
A cobbler. I like working with my hands, and I think I’d like the pace, the quiet, and getting to work with and take care of things. That, or welding.
What makes Nellie Two Bear Gates’s Suitcase your favorite artwork in the collection?
It’s such a special work with an incredible history and such humanity. A couple of years ago, we arranged to have this object out for a student who was writing her thesis on this piece. She brought Nellie Gates’s great-granddaughter, author Mona Susan Power, who reminisced about their family experiences. It was so cool to be present for that moment, alongside a piece made with such dedication, love, and care—and all those teeny, tiny beads.
What do you get up to outside of work?
I play roller derby with North Star Roller Derby League, which is almost like a second full-time job. It’s a contact sport on roller skates. It’s chaos, and I have a lot of bruises from it, but it’s super fun. I have a dog and a cat. I read, and I like to garden when it’s nice out.
What are you singing at karaoke night?
I’m not. No one wants to hear that. But if it had to, it would be “Blister in the Sun” by the Violent Femmes. Or maybe “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon. Though I do not have that range.