Spaces for Potential:
The Lamont Gallery is situated within a residential campus of a private liberal arts school in a more suburban/rural area in Exeter, New Hampshire, about 1.25 hours outside of Boston. Students, as well as many adults and families, live on the campus. As one of the few contemporary galleries in the region, we serve a growing off-campus audience, along with our institutional audience. As an academic gallery, our mission is educational, rather than commercial or for entertainment or tourism. Academic refers to the traditional sense of the word—daily coursework in literature, history, math, as well as papers, tests, and grades—as well as social, political, civic, and interpersonal education.
We do not aim to illustrate the “academic” curriculum in curatorial projects—the arts are already inherently academic, scholarly, and cognitive. We see the gallery and the artwork as curricular in their own right. Rather, we aim to enable the knowledge- and world-building capacities of the arts to become more visible and more accessible. This is what choreographic thinking enables in the curatorial setting.
The gallery is a type of third space, an alternate space, and a space for potential. Events are additional vectors of engagement, making the multiple themes, sensations, and agendas of an exhibition ripple out into the community. At times these are connected to an exhibition in a direct, clear-cut way. Other times, they are only vaguely referential, taking a minor aspect of a work or idea within the exhibition and having that sentiment commingle (or even diverge) with other ideas, people, objects, and places. Clew was one of the few exhibitions where we did not mount an event or program outside of the arts center where we are housed. There were many worlds with Clew already, and perhaps for that reason we felt it sufficient to create significant aesthetic, textual, and emotive journeys while staying in one place.
Beckoning Practices
Along with the printed invitation (click to view PDF), mailed to approximately 2,000, we invite audiences in via our website, email announcements, an e-newsletter, social media posts, and exhibition posters. The institution’s communications office sends the press release, which sometimes generates reviews (see PDFs on this page). While these are all fairly typical exhibition outreach strategies, the resulting audience is only partially in response to these media materials—much of it still comes from word-of-mouth, from the artists or topic, and the time of year, which impacts outside audience engagement as well as class visits. Since programs are often developed in response to what exhibitions themselves generate, not all programs are pre-scheduled. For Clew, we sent out regular announcements and updates, and found other ways of reaching audiences, such as program-specific posters and project-specific programs developed by the collaborating artists and other contributors.
For a smaller, regional gallery, it is often the programs that more earnestly and convincingly invites the audience into a curatorial project, rather than advance press or media. Specific audiences need to be cultivated each time by an individualized approach, a reputation for quality, and a welcoming atmosphere. Programs, which I view as extensions of the exhibition, depend on artists, staffing, and timing. The logistics, labor, and material capacity of mounting exhibitions and running programs is complex and comes with a high cost. I spend a lot of time contemplating these "practical" aspects of curation. They are not separate from the content, but are the content, too.
Clew Programs: Learning & Discovery (for all of us)
Clew had many different programmatic "outputs," from the scheduled and publicized, to the secret and unintentional. We offered what we thought were outreach programs, and then visitors generated or produced their own programs, redefining what "outreach" means. Not all exhibitions have such comprehensive programs. What made it possible for Clew was due in part to three of the collaborators being on the faculty at Phillips Exeter Academy and living on or near campus, and the other being local. Collaborators contributed beyond the exhibition itself: they were willing to present at events and were available for questions and informal discussions almost every day. In addition, the gallery had the benefit of a full-time residential intern position that year, which allowed us to expand and enhance our activities. Interns at PEA are full-time, paid, faculty-in-training positions. They live on campus, work extensively with students and residential life, and often coach or participate in student-oriented campus committees.
Some of the programs are pictured in this part of the exposition, but not all programs produced a visual/material output, or that output does not capture the spirit, inquiry, or discoveries made. The descriptions that are linked to each event, or the commentary that is embedded in select images, attempt to convey the intent of each program: what it was, when it took place, what its function was within the context of the exhibition or in terms of the broader institutional context.
Programs are not intended to be simply audience-building mechanisms. Many of our programs are restricted in terms of size—we are more interested in quality than quantity. At the same time, hosting a variety of programs in different formats, at different times, and addressing different areas of inquiry, allow us to make the exhibitions accessible to a broad audience. As a private institution, we have that privilege, as well as that responsibility. Programs are all, then, curricular in nature, intended to provide rich opportunities for personal and civic development that I believe aesthetic interactions foster so well.
Reception
Friday, 20 January 2017, 5-7 pm
Lamont Gallery
An opening reception for artists, students, faculty, and the general public.
Opening receptions kick off the run of an exhibition but do not signal that the activity has stopped. The reception is the beginning of making the work continue to work, in an ongoing way, rather than the end of the work (i.e., the end of the installation period is not the end of the work’s evolution and impact). The reception marks the start of the period that allows the rhizomatic qualities of the exhibition to be expressed: for it to have an impact in ways that are both scheduled and anticipated, as well as unexpected and unintentional. While I do plan some programs in advance (necessary for marketing, staffing, etc.), I also leave room for programs to emerge in response to the conditions that the exhibition proposes.
Post-Reception Gathering
Friday, 20 January 2017, 7:30-9:30 pm
Home of Jung Mi Lee & Jon Sakata
A private reception for artists and their invited guests, plus key contributors from the Phillips Exeter Academy community.
Hospitality, as one of my curatorial operating principles, is key. It is an attitude or “mindset” for working with artists, audiences, and students, and a conceptual catalyst. Food, exchange, conversation, and activities that make time and space for people to gather are as much a part of the curatorial aim as an exhibition itself.
Gallery Talk
Saturday, 21 January 2017, 10 am
Lamont Gallery
An intimate conversation with artists and the general public.
Before I arrived at PEA, gallery talks were more traditional and held in a separate proscenium-style auditorium. I moved them into the gallery so that the discussions could mirror the constructive pedagogy I use as an educator, and so that the dialogue could be set within the material and spatial qualities of the making and display. This move also supports the Harkness discussion-oriented pedagogical model of the institution.
The gallery talks illuminate aspects of the process and the work on view in ways that do not become apparent through any other form. There is something unique about these conversations, which are held in the gallery for an audience of 10-20 max, that generates a special type of discourse. I can only describe the result as a “generosity of thinking.” The talks encourage a way to look, think, and discuss passionately and expansively about the nature of artistic inquiry, what it produces in the artist and the viewer, and how materials catalyze actions. We do not record these conversations, despite the social or technological pressure to do so. Our collective hazy memory of these events amplifies their importance: it is more about how the content informs and adds to future thinking, rather than serving as a static deposit of something thought.
Lunchtime Presentation
Thursday, 23 February 2017, 12:30 pm
Lamont Gallery
A lunchtime presentation (with lunch provided) with the artists for PEA employees, students, and the general public.
Like our other programs we limit the attendance for these types of events. In Harkness teaching, 12 is the typical class size. We stretch this a bit by welcoming audiences up to 15-18, but no more. We are aiming to produce an inclusive atmosphere where everyone—not just the artists—is seen, heard, and valued. We hoped that this particular lunch for Clew would mirror some of the working methods of the group—the interplay of materials, ideas, flights of fancy, riffs, and discoveries that came from the collaborative process—for the audience members.
Buddhist Meditation
17 February 2017
Lamont Gallery
PEA has an ongoing Buddhist meditation program that takes place every Friday evening of the school year for students and adult community members, led by a skilled meditation facilitator. The evenings often include sound and walking mediation, as well as sitting and reclining meditation.
For this special session, the meditation program was held in the Lamont Gallery amidst the exhibition. Several students were key partners in organizing this event. The activity shifted meditation out of Phillips Church, where it is typically held, and offered the idea that other objects, places, and spaces could serve as meditative landscapes for contemplation and insight.
Slow Art Day
Saturday, 8 April 2017, 10 am
Lamont Gallery
The international Slow Art Day project invites participation from museums and galleries around the world to engage visitors in contemplative looking. I initiated the Lamont Gallery’s involvement Slow Art Day program and engaged several student curators to developed the program with me. The program included looking, discussion, and hands-on artmaking.
I supported the students in leading the event. It was important that our outreach included teaching and learning across generations and levels of life experience. Most of the participants were adults from off-campus. They gained experience in how to have an open-ended Harkness conversation, which is a learned skill, despite its seemingly improvisational appearance. Participants also experienced aesthetic engagement in an intentionally slowed-down pace (also something that can be learned). The artmaking at the end produced some delightfully inventive pieces.
Internal/Departmental Outreach
2 March 2017, 3 pm
31 March 2017, 2 pm
Members of Human Resources and Institutional Technology Services participated in customized workshops where the gallery could introduce their departments to the themes of the exhibition and promote dialogue between staff members. Each workshop included an exhibition overview and a hands-on element.
I view our embeddedness in the residential school context by considering “community needs” quite broadly, not just those that impact students. Some of the programs I developed that are aimed at our internal, adult audiences, emerged in response to needs expressed in an institutional “aspirational policy” document from 2012 on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. At all levels and stages of employment, people want to learn, to discover, to connect, and to share. The gallery contributes in a modest way to these efforts.
Iridescent Beading Workshops
8 March 2017, 5 pm
9 March 2017, 12 pm
Led by regional visiting artist Deb Fairchild, these activities were aimed specifically at adult employees over the PEA spring break as a community-building and self-care opportunity (along the lines of the departmental field trips described above). In these workshops, participants explored some of the material conditions and themes of the exhibition (threads, iridescence, weaving) in a bracelet-making workshop. Food was provided at each workshop (wine & cheese on March 8, lunch on March 9).
Another area I intentionally orchestrate is creating programs that bring different groups of people together who may not interact much on a regular basis. The beading workshops appealed to a variety of employees, offering them an activity of “joint attention” where they could consider the haptic and textural qualities of the exhibition, create their own personal “cosmos,” and engage in a creative act. The workshop promoted discovery, delight, getting lost, finding a new way out, and working with others—all core aspects of the exhibition itself.
Classics Collections Spotlight
March 2017
Lamont Gallery foyer
Phillips Exeter Academy hosted the Classical Association of New England Annual Meeting. Our intern, Olivia Knauss, created a pop-up exhibition connecting Clew (including the original myth of Ariadne) to other themes in our Classics curriculum. Works from the Lamont Gallery collection that were on display included a Donald Saff illustration of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus, Night in Etruria by Rudy Pozzati, and a print by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, among others. One of the Clew member artists also met with the visiting Classic teachers to support making connections between this more traditional art historical work and the exhibition.
Class, Group Visits & Informal Programs
Throughout the exhibition
Lamont Gallery
Visits by PEA classes and outside groups occurred throughout the duration of the exhibition. Outside groups included charter schools, retirement communities, and regional membership organizations. When we have the time, we develop custom programs for visiting groups. A girls’ empowerment program, for example, might want one type of interaction with an exhibition to support their mission. A group of theater students might want something else.
I do not promote the traditional art historical tour-style walk-through. Our approach, constructivist in nature, is marked by discussion and open-ended conversation. This can be frustrating for some audience members who want a “who, what, why, how” lecture on art, but over time, people have come to appreciate this approach.
Informal, Self-Guided, and Unintentional Programs
Ongoing
Anywhere
There were also several informal activities that were either self-guided or self-generated, or that were not planned and led by facilitators. These included:
- People creating map-and maze-like drawings in response to the work on view (I provided a brief prompt and some materials that echoed the aesthetic characteristics of the exhibition)
- Students arranging mini study sessions or meditation breaks in the gallery
- Teachers and students holding one-on-one conversations while walking in the space, discussing everything from physics to language to music, making the gallery-as-classroom into a mobile, embodied experience
- Other informal programs were not open to the public. One such example was the testing of drone flights and photography within the exhibition. This allowed us a chance to explore how non-human vantage points might enrich our own interpretation of the project as well as to generate seeds for future artworks and projects around the themes of exploration, dis/embodied vision, and perception.
There were undoubtedly other programmatic uses of the exhibition that were out of our control or range of vision. I fully endorse interventions of this kind, and help to facilitate their emergence whenever possible by getting out of their way.
