Carmen Devine Curatorial Experience I have a broad range of - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Carmen Devine

Curatorial Experience

I have a broad range of curatorial experience, from working off-site as a curatorial assistant in graduate school, to traditional exhibition planning in a museum setting, to collaborative work as a member of a small museum board.

Spoleto Festival USA

Charleston, SC, 2002

While in Graduate School I worked as the assistant to independent curator Mary Jane

• Jacob. My efforts focused on the ongoing

program entitled Evoking History which engaged with Charleston's deep historical roots, illuminating the community‘s changing landscape from a colonial capital with global reach to a cosmopolitan locus of contemporary cultural. I aided a group of leading international artists as they produced large-scale public art installations throughout the city of Charleston, SC.

Artists: Yinka Shonibare (Nigeria), Nari Ward (Jamaica), J. Morgan Puett (United States), Marc Latamie (Martinique), Kim Sooja (South Korea), and Kcho (Cuba).

John Michael Kohler Arts Center

The Arts Center is a nationally acclaimed visual and performing arts complex devoted to innovative explorations in contemporary American visual art. The institution includes ten galleries, theatre, interdisciplinary performance space, and studio-classrooms. My work at the Arts Center reflects the diversity

• f my own interests, as well as my dedication to

promoting the work of Women and Minority artists. In my years as Assistant Curator at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center I curated 15 group and solo exhibitions. The Following slides present an overview of these:

The artists in METAMORPHOSIS, through a variety of media, suggest that the once far-fetched sci-fi world is now close at hand. From practices used to grow a better tomato or breed a more beautiful dog, to scientists and doctors possessing the technology to clone a human being, the advances in genetic science have pervaded the minds of many artists, making for visually arresting work.

Artists: Ming Fay, Daniel Lee, Chris Hipkiss, Holly Rittenhouse, Marianne Lovink, Karen Rich Beal, Michelle Samour, Jim Toia, Catherine Chalmers, Bryan Crockett, Marc Dennis, Heidi Fasnacht, Mara G. Heseltine, Tony Matelli, Michelle Segre, and Eva Sutton, Linda Cordell, Yuriko Yamaguchi, John Grade and David Kroll, and Kimberly Richards.

Metamorphosis

January – May 2004

I led gallery talks tailored to The Arts Center‘s diverse audiences, including the general public at exhibition openings, arts patrons at fundraising galas, and students who visited the Arts Center as part of a ―careers in the arts‖ program.

• I also prepared the volunteer docents

for their tours, guiding them through the gallery and sharing as much detail as possible about each work.

Engaging the Audience

The Persistence of Growth: Barbara Cooper

February – April 2004 As Illinois sculptor Barbara Cooper shapes her large-scale sculptures - laboriously constructing

• rganic forms from small scraps of wood - she

recreates the incremental process of growth and reflects the passage of time. Cooper hopes that, through "the persistence of growth" evoked in her large-scale sculptures, we come to understand

• ur own place in the greater context of our

ecological and spiritual environment.

Curating Solo Exhibitions

When curating a solo exhibition, I worked closely with the artist to decide which works to include, modes of display, and the

• verall message the exhibition meant to

convey. Working so closely with artists gave me the

• pportunity to move beyond artists‘

statements and even telephone interviews – to engage in in depth conservations about their work , visit their studios – and bring that depth to our audience in the form

• f gallery talks and didactic materials.

In these instances I aimed to act as a conduit, using wall texts and handouts to explain and clarify the artist‘s work and ideas without editorializing.

18 Holes: An Art Course by Gerhard Mayer and John Powers

May – Sept. 2004 18 Holes was a unique large-scale art installation framed around the concept of a golf course. Mayer's enveloping drawings and Powers' complex sculptures are obsessively detailed. Unlike a more straightforward interpretation of the game of golf, this 'art course" emphasizes the philosophical aspect of this time- suspending journey and offers visitors a completely unique opportunity to enter into the art of Mayer and Powers.

Visiting Artists

During my years at the Arts Center I had many opportunities to work directly with artists who came to install their works, or who created their work on site, such as Gerhard Mayer whose ink drawings dazzled viewers in the exhibition 18 Holes. On several occasions visiting artists were in town long enough to attend an opening, or for me to organize a symposium, giving artists and audiences an opportunity to engage directly.

Project 20 involves a series of wall-size ―coloring book‖ drawings that require the participation of visitors in order to become fully realized. A unique drawing is tailor made to fit in each space involved in the Project series. For the Arts Center the artist designed a

• zoo. Over time scaffolding was added, giving visitors an opportunity to color in the entire

surface.

When I came across Jun‘ya Yamaide‘s works – or ‗projects‘ as he prefers to call them – at the Julia Friedman gallery in Chicago, I knew I had found an excellent

• pportunity for a professional artist to

collaborate with the community. Generally the ―Connecting Communities‖ Department, or the Education Department prepared community art programming, with the Exhibition Department staff sometimes helping to designing the display. When I approached them about trying a new type of programming Yamaide‘s project was well received and provided our departments with a chance to collaborate,

Interdepartmental Coordination

New York artist Daniel Rozin explores the realm of new media with a series of interactive computer-mediated works focused on the concept

• f mirror images.

Rozin constructs motorized sculptures which reacts to viewers presence through sensors and computer software written by Rozin

• himself. His works often

evade any evident manifestation of technology, foregrounding a dialogue between everyday materials, and audience members‘ own reflections.

Mirror Image

Daniel Rozin

Aug – Dec 2004

Art 2.0

Museum visitors are fascinated by works utilizing new technology. Yet, these are some

• f the most costly to exhibit. Providing appropriate equipment was sometimes a

budgetary challenge, and high-tech works require special technical skills to install. The Exhibitions Department often relied on technicians from the Performing Arts Department to aid in the installation of audio/visual and computerized equipment.

Toying with the expectation associated with a sculpture of monumental scale, deSoto created a 26-foot-long Paranirvana to appear as a vastly heavy stone figure. In the place of the Buddha's visage, he incorporates his own self-portrait. He presents us with a conflated image of himself at the very point of death-and, according to Buddhist teachings, the point of greatest significance.

Paranirvana (Self-Portrait)

Lewis deSoto

Sept – Nov 2004

Emergence

William Wood

Dec 2004 - March 2005 This solo exhibition presented New York painter William Wood's sumptuous, large-scale, abstract oil paintings. Wood is notoriously silent about his approach to painting, but his smooth canvases of richly rendered abstract forms recall the Photorealist works of the 1970s, while the "all over" compositions and guestural lines reference canvases from mid- twentieth-century Abstract Expressionism.

Troubleshooting

We always hope that in the serene atmosphere of the gallery it seems as though the exhibition fell effortlessly into place, but the truth is that when coordinating hundreds of details, things

• ften go awry.

My planning for William Wood‘s solo show went underway shortly before a planned solo exhibition at his gallery. As works we had contracted to borrow began to sell we were in a rush to contact collectors and request a loan before they ever brought the work home. All of the details seemed to be in order, until two days before our scheduled opening when the art shipment arrived and one of the works from a series of small paintings was missing. Imagine my surprise to have it delivered to my desk the next day by Fed Ex.

Dreamscapes Dreamscapes

• Sept. 2005 – Jan. 2006

The contemporary artists whose paintings, photographs, and installations are included in Dreamscapes embrace the ambiguities and inexplicable juxtapositions of their dreams as subjects for artistic exploration. Theories regarding the nature and meaning

• f dreams vary widely, from the scientific

and psychological to the mystical, yet one unifying element among them is the visual nature of the dream experience.

Artists: Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison (MA); Rie Hachiyanagi (MA); Scherer & Ouporov (FL); Blanca Lopez (IL); Marialuisa Tadie (Italy); Debra Birmingham, Susan Graham, and Kahn/Selesnick (NY); and Marion Peck (WA)

Large Group Exhibitions

Unlike solo shows where I aimed to foreground the artists‘ work and ideas, group exhibitions gave me an

• pportunity to use my own knowledge

and interests to explore the topic of my choosing. The ―spirit of the times‖ leads artists to explore many of the same concepts, each in their own unique way. The thematic group exhibition comes to life when these works come together in a single space, juxtaposed for emphasis, and using wall labels and gallery handouts to provide visual and contextual analysis. These shows pose a serious logistical challenge, and require a year or more to prepare.

Homegoing

Whitfield Lovell

Mar – June 2005 New York artist Whitfield Lovell is well known for his moving installation pieces that examine the history of African American culture. Lovell uses found wood, usually from deconstructed housing, as the background surface for his drawings, and other found objects to compliment the imagery. Lovell‘s personal collection of historic photographs of African Americans provides the subject matter for his drawings.

In the installation Grace (above) Lovell explores the intricate funeral ritual referred to as a "homegoing" service. The artist called for 10,000 dried long-stem red roses to strewn the ground in front of the drawing, but the budget for the show was too tight to procure them at retail price. the Development Department approached a local floral importer to request a donation. They enthusiastically participated, and the timing of the exhibition opening in March was fortuitous because of the surplus of long-stem red roses around St. Valentine‘s Day. For weeks before the opening the Arts Center basement, which houses the permanent collection and preparator‘s equipment, smelled overwhelmingly of the drying roses.

Perfect Lover

Jeanne Quinn

May – Aug 2005

Colorado artist Quinn installed 2,500 Q-tips into the walls of the Atrium in scrolling symmetrical

• patterns. Stemming from a

series of works involving "soft things made hard" through re- creations in porcelain, her large- scale Perfect Lover installation is a whimsical intersection of the functional and decorative.

Fill it to the Rim June – Oct 2005

The customs of daily life inspire the artists to create works of art for everyday

• use. Combining expertise

in traditional clay techniques with astute aesthetic sensibilities, these artists strive for practicality of design while also imbuing the objects with the spirit of ritual and the essence of the handmade.

Artists: Karen Swyler (MT); Silvie Granatelli and Steven Glass (VA); Gary Holt and David Pier (CA); Matthew Metz (MN); Julia Galloway and James Makins (NY); and Randy Johnston (WI), Gail Kendall (NE), Margaret Bohls (MN), and Mark Shapiro (MA)

Pushing the Limits

Jerry Bennett and Bean Finneran

June – Sept 2005

The clay sculptures of Jerry Bennett (PA) and Bean Finneran (CA) defy expectations within both historical and contemporary

• contexts. Their evocative

sculptures challenge the very nature of clay-specifically how this relatively fragile material can be used to structure seemingly improbable forms.

Sherrill combines clay and metal to create leaves, branches, fruit, and pods-lifelike in attitude and detail. He imbues each of his plant sculptures with a strong emotional core. His sculptures serve as metaphors for existence: life and death, decay and loss.

Verdure

Michael Sherrill

June – Oct 2005

This large-scale installation is a whimsical realm where science and art collide-- a thought-provoking exploration into how we organize our lives and the world around us, Maryland artist Sue Johnson's dynamic Encyclopedia is a combination of over 200 of her original paintings, drawings, and photographs with natural specimens and found objects from the area, making this exhibition uniquely relevant to our region.

Sue Johnson:

The Alternate Encyclopedia

Feb – May 2006

With each installation of The Alternate Encyclopedia Johnson borrows

• bjects from the region around the

exhibition space. In its iteration at the Kohler Arts Center Johnson borrowed biological specimens from the local community college science lab, artifacts from the Kohler Company archives, and the antique table from my own dining room

Enrique Chagoya:

Reverse Antrhopology

March – June 2006 Enrique Chagoya ―collects‖ images from various cultures and juxtaposes them in provocative, absurd, and humorous ways. His prints serve as critical examinations of history, geography, politics, finance, popular culture—of issues that arise when nations intersect—which he infuses with his particular perspective as an immigrant originally from Mexico. Chagoya pays homage to that ancient Aztec culture by drawing on their style of pictographic and phonetic writing to create his own lithographs. This reference is distilled into a form of storytelling that is similar to more popular modes of communication, such as the comic book.

Richard Cleaver:

Gatherings

March – July 2006 Cleaver combines dozens of highly ornate figures in an altar- like ―landscape.‖ he draws upon memories from his Catholic upbringing and family history as well as on dream-inspired

• fantasies. Influenced by the

baroque traditions of using lush color, profuse line, and delighting in richness and grandeur, Cleaver hand builds doll-like ceramic sculptures that he then meticulously details with paint, wire, beads, pearls, and gold. Cleaver carefully and purposefully arranged the figures

• n a stepped platform to create a

dramatic and monumental tableau of over forty individual works

Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts

During a pivotal fundraising year, I assumed responsibility for exhibition preparation and installation, allowing founding members of the institution to focus on raising funds for key construction and conservation projects.

During the year I worked on Exhibitions for the Wisconsin Museum

• f Quilts and Fiber

Arts I designed two shows pertaining to Wisconsin‘s quilting history, as well as an exhibit of contemporary doll

• making. I also
• rganized a display

at the International Quilt Festival, Chicago.

Thank you for your interest – Carmen Devine