WE ASK LEADING MUSEUM CURATORS ABOUT WHAT’S GOING ON IN THEIR WORLD
What event (gallery show, museum exhibit, etc.) in the next few months are you looking forward to, and why?
I’m looking forward to the opening of Jaune Quick-to-see Smith: Memory Map at SAM. We are so proud to be the only West Coast venue for this landmark exhibition of one of the most innovative and powerful artists of our age. Smith, a citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, has broken barriers and forged new paths not only for Native American artists, but for American art more generally, and she blends modern art strategies with Indigenous cultural practices...plus, she spent her childhood in the Pacific Northwest, giving our presentation of the exhibition a specifically local dimension.
What are you reading?
Right now, I’m doing a lot of reading about the history and ecology of the Puget Sound region for an exhibition I’m planning on modernism in the Pacific Northwest. I’m particularly interested in how artists responded to the industrialization and urbanization of this area and the shifts and transformations in the natural environment that resulted.
Interesting exhibit, gallery opening or work of art you’ve seen recently.
Ruth Asawa and Henry Taylor at the Whitney, Hokusai at SAM, Georgia O’keeffe at MOMA and any number of permanent collection reinstallations, including Expanding Horizons: The Evolving Character of a Nation at the Toledo Museum of Art. This pilot program put artworks in conversation with each other to test audience engagement in preparation for a major reinterpretation of the museum’s permanent collection.
I am deep into research for Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest, an exhibition I am planning for SAM in
2025. It will tell the fascinating story of modern art from this region both in its local context and against the backdrop of major art-historical movements. At its core is the idea that the Puget Sound—far from a remote outpost in the Northwest corner of the country—was the early 20thcentury home to a progressive, inclusive and cosmopolitan cultural scene whose spirit was shaped by the region’s rapid urbanization, singular natural environment and orientation to the Pacific Rim.
What is your dream exhibit to curate? Or see someone else curate?
I’m living the dream! I am so grateful to have the opportunity to consistently develop interesting and exciting exhibition projects. But seriously, any exhibition with serious scholarly content and broad audience appeal is a dream project.