Melissa M. Caldwell

P

A curator and director of exhibitions with 20 years of experience developing, planning, and implementing a robust exhibitions program. A specialization in commissioning new work by artists for site-specific installations and projects, as well as conducting archival research in the history of the arts in Philadelphia. Demonstrated ability of securing funding for large scale projects with accompanying publications. Expertise in:

Project Development | Project Management | Grant Development | Budget Management

Writing and editing | Marketing and Promotions | Exhibition Design

Graphic and Publication Design | Archival Research | Registrarial Procedures

Museum Preparator Techniques

Selected Accomplishments

Conceived, planned and implemented over 50 exhibitions, including a major six month city-wide project entitled Let Me Tell You About a Dream I Had by the artist collective The Miss Rockaway Armada with a planning and implementation grant from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage totaling $190,000
Completed grant proposals as well as corporate and individual solicitations as related to specific exhibitions, receiving in excess of $512,000 for several major projects
Researched and archived over 100 years of exhibitions and programming of the Philadelphia Art Alliance, compiling over 800 archival documents tracing the important events in the history of the organization in the fields of the visual arts, architecture, music, theater, dance, and literature
Essayist for over 20 exhibition catalogs and comprehensive exhibition brochures
Designed all signage and graphics for all curated exhibitions, including six major catalogs
Provided lectures, moderated panel discussions, and provided tours related to Art Alliance programming

Experience

Philadelphia Art Alliance

Curator

Responsible for directing a rotating exhibition schedule in six exhibition galleries. Developed innovative design concepts for the unique spaces of the Art Alliance, which are housed within a former residence built in 1906

Researched both historical and contemporary issues within current visual arts practices in relation to planning large-scale exhibitions
Worked directly with over 175 artists/collaborative groups in the development of new work specifically for the Art Alliance galleries
Prepared budget projections and researched funding sources
Acted as the project director for over 20 guest curated and traveling exhibitions, including major retrospectives of internationally-recognized artists as well as group exhibitions from The Netherlands, Australia, China, Italy, the UK and throughout the US and Canada
Planned and wrote all materials related to exhibitions including publications, brochures, newsletters
Directed promotional and marketing efforts, including creating and disseminating press releases, as well as planning and designing advertising
Designed all graphics including catalogs as well as collateral materials for promotion (website, invitations, posters, brochure design, and signage)
Provided gallery tours for all exhibitions and presented speakers at special events and lectures
Served as registrar for all incoming loans, including condition reports, facilities reports, and lending requests
Facilitated incoming and outgoing shipping throughout the US, Europe, Australia, China, and Canada, following US Customs procedures
Directed the preparation and installation of all exhibitions
Supervised exhibition interns by providing instruction in preparing the physical installation of exhibits according to current museum practices

Director of Exhibitions

Acted as curator for 37 fully-funded exhibitions
Assisted in maintaining the schedule for major exhibitions as organized by the former PAA exhibition committee and prior curators
Produced all wall text (labels and didactic signage) and supervised the production of all publications, brochures, and press materials
Created and maintained a large active file registry of over 600 submissions by for incoming artists for consideration for group or solo exhibitions
Assisted with the physical installation of all exhibitions
Worked with artists during the preparatory and installation stages of their exhibitions

Gallery Joe, Philadelphia, PA

Assistant to the Director

Prepared all press related materials and developed biographies of artists represented by Gallery Joe
Assisted in the preparation of materials related to specific exhibitions

North American Publishing Company, Philadelphia, PA

Assistant Editor

Transferred and edited incoming materials from various international film distributors for the final edition of the 1999 International Documentary Film Resource Catalog

Education

M.A. History of Art, American University, Washington, D.C.

B.A. History of Art, High Distinction, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA

Selected Exhibitions (with links to highlighted exhibitions)

As Curator

Remains: Holly Hanessian, C. Pazia Mannella, Mary Smull, and Summer Zickefoose. For centuries, artists have shared their knowledge of techniques and the exploration of craft-based materials through performance. This use of demonstration to impart information is different for artists today who approach the very process of creating an object as the significant aspect of their practice, rendering the resulting object the remains of the processes used to create them. This group exhibition highlighted artists who raise questions about crafting objects and their relation to process or performance, asking viewers to participate and take an active role in creating meaning.

Temporary Stay: Kristen Neville Taylor. In Ursula Le Guin's groundbreaking feminist essay "Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction," the author suggests that stories are containers, or carrier bags, of meaning. Fundamentally feminine rather than masculine, Le Guin's model for storytelling inspired Neville Taylor to create a series of containers organized according to the model of a story arc-exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Bringing together two- and three-dimensional work, Neville Taylor's installation challenged the viewer’s assumptions about nature, narrative, and culture.

Paperscapes: Sun Young Kang, Dawn Kramlich, Elizabeth Mackie, and Susan White. Explored the possibilities of paper as a medium that straddles the divide between the analog past of print and our current digital age. Using a mixture of traditional and experimental techniques, these artists created immersive environments that challenged the traditional understanding of paper as simply a vehicle for the printed word. Incorporating light, shadow, sound, and texture, the works of Paperscapes responded to the architectural setting of the Art Alliance, transforming its turn-of-the-century domestic interior into an otherworldly space.

A Curious Nature: Linda Cordell, Tasha Lewis and Caitlin McCormack, and Emily White. Presented the work of four artists who employ craft-based processes and materials that examine the ongoing changes in the relationship between humans and nature, as well as the artificially constructed (i.e technologically generated) from the handmade.

Material Legacy: Masters of Fiber, Clay and Glass. A multi-venue series of exhibitions honoring Fellows of the American Craft Council, which was a major feature of the city-wide initiative Craft NOW Philadelphia. The ACC College of Fellows are composed of craftspeople that have made significant contributions to the field and have more than 25 years of practice in their respective disciplines. The exhibition featured Adela Akers, Lewis Knauss, Judith Schaechter, Warren Seelig, and Paula Winokur.

Home is Where You Hang Your Hat: Austin + Mergold, ISA, Moto + Mily-on, Qb3 Design, Plumbob. An exhibition that incorporated newly commissioned works by five Philadelphia-based design/build firms. Each separate but interrelated installations were created based on the history of the Wetherill mansion as well as the contemporary concept of “home.”

Charade: Kate Clements. The exhibition included new kiln-formed glass, as well as a new body of work that incorporated upholstered furnishings that served as “frames for lost and defunct household objects.” Through these two bodies of work, Clements explored the ambiguity of fashion in terms its capacity for imitation and distinction, as well as its juxtaposition of the artificial and the natural.

Fifth Wall: Christina P. Day. For this exhibition, Day considered spatial inversions of surface and place with newly commissioned work that ranged from object-based sculpture to site-specific architectural installations. Works incorporated patterns found in wallpapers and samples superimposed onto found objects and the gallery space to create site-specific environments.

Greenhouse Mix: Caroline Lathan-Stiefel. Inspired by Philadelphia’s rich history as a center of horticulture, Lathan-Stiefel created a site-specific textile installation comprised three distinct components: two gallery installations and a project in the grand stairway of the PAA. These new works were inspired by the form and pattern of the stacked stones of botanist John Bartram’s Philadelphia greenhouse, Victorian-style ferneries, and the idea of a “jungle in the salon.”

Shiny Monsters: Adam Wallacavage. Inspired by the Gothic interiors Catholic churches throughout Philadelphia, Wallacavage channeled his fascination with chandeliers by creating Jules Verne-inspired lighting through traditional techniques of ornamental plastering. The resulting sculptures in the exhibition reflect his varied aesthetic interests, ranging from 16th Century Baroque opulence to 1940s Americana.

Speculative Landscapes: Chad Curtis. A body of work reconfigured specifically for the gallery space, this multimedia construction incorporated ceramics with found objects, live plants, and a digitally designed support system of shelving. Live moss encased in terrariums, were incorporated to reference the Industrial Revolution when these miniature garden landscapes became popular. The installation reflected Curtis’ interest in the shift in the relationship between humankind and nature that occurred so rapidly in the 19th century.

Let Me Tell You About the Dream I Had: The Miss Rockaway Armada. The artist collective The Miss Rockaway Armada has been recognized for their mobile constructions, museum installations, performances, and vaudeville-style theater as they relate to exploring new sustainable ways of living as wells socio-political and environmental issues associated with renewable resources and the handmade. Let Me Tell You About the Dream I Had included the construction of an interactive flotilla on the Schuylkill River, two parades accompanied by musical and theatrical performances, and an installation situated throughout the Art Alliance building. Funded by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

The Sitting Room, Four Studies: Jennifer Angus, Ligia Bouton, Carole Loeffler, and Saya Woolfalk. The exhibition included four separate but interrelated installations that incorporated newly-commissioned work in textiles and furnishings. Each installation considered the historical definition of the sitting room as well as the history of the PAA building as a residence. Funded by The Coby Foundation and the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

Vanitas: Contemporary Reflections. Candy Depew, Myra Mimlitsch Gray, Katherine Kaminsky, Audrey Hasen Russell and Gae Savannah. Presented selected works that characterize the term Vanitas as the appreciation of life’s pleasures and accomplishments joined with the awareness of their inevitable loss.

While you were out…Darla Jackson. Based on her focus on the anthropomorphism of the animal sculptures she creates, the installation included individual cast sculptures placed with typical domestic furnishings and decorative objects typical of a 19th century parlor.

State of the Union: Contemporary Craft in Dialogue. Presented the work of 12 artists within the craft discipline whose work considers the ways in which craft can position itself within the current shifts between more traditional material-based practices and more interdisciplinary approaches. Artists included: Haley Bates, Austin Heitzman, Adelaide Paul, Amy Beecher, Jeanne Quinn, Jen Blazina, Rachel Abrams, Jill Baker Gower, Richard Bloes, Julie York, Gord Peteran, and Tetsuya Yamada.

Paper[space]. A survey of contemporary work by eight Mid-Atlantic artists who use paper not merely as a support for paint or pencil, but as a sculptural medium in its own right. Artists included: Leslie Mutchler, Hunter Stabler, Nami Yamamoto, Jin Lee, Natasha M. Bowdoin, Sarah Julig, Dawn Gavin, and Donna Ruff.

New Work by Jolynn Krystosek. The solo exhibition featured wax floral relief carvings, large-scale floral paper cut-outs, and drawings of exotic fowl that collectively reference traditional craftsmanship techniques, Dutch still life paintings, and botanicals.

SunKoo Yuh: Along the Way. Included monumental and mid-scale porcelain sculptures in combination with drawings and sketches by the internationally recognized artist SunKoo Yuh. A 44-page catalogue was produced in conjunction with the exhibition.

Stratum: Tim McFarlane. Featured McFarlane’s most recent large scale acrylic on canvas paintings.

Towards a 49th State: Kip Deeds. The solo exhibition presented a series of interrelated multimedia drawings and prints.

Intimate Environments: Jessica Doyle. The installation featured a wall of hundreds of drawings and paintings on paper.

Realms: New Ceramics by Bean Finneran & Gravity: A Glass and Multimedia Installation by Jon Clark and Angus Powers with Sound by Jesse Daniels. These two solo exhibition explored the potential of two mediums—notably ceramics and glass—and the ways in which the artists employed similar techniques and sources of inspiration to produce radically different results. For each project, thousands of simple smaller forms, created in glass or ceramics, were used as the building blocks for the resulting large scale sculptures/site pieces.

Game Boys: Shauna Frischkorn. This exhibition featured a series of Digital portraits as a study of the youth culture obsession with video games and the investment of masculinity in gaming culture. Capturing the intense concentration of teenage boys during gaming, the portraits do not reflect the gaze of the sitter, as reflected in traditional portraiture. Rather, the severe expressions of each player is suggestive of Late Renaissance paintings depicting saints in states of ecstasy or rapture.

Bachelor Portraits: Justyna Badach. Presented as large format c-prints and video installations, Badach’s exhibition considered the living spaces that single men create and how these carefully assembled environments become profoundly personal reflections of the individuals who occupy them.

Out of Frame: Motion Art from MOBIUS. A group exhibition of the work of 18 artists who have created non-narrative motion art in all digital media. Artists included: Nell Breyer and Jonathan Bachrach, Esther Bell, Sarah J. Christman, Pablo Colapinto, Kara Crombie, Wade Echer and Chad Fahs, Andy Hann, Colin James, Mark Johnston, Ben Jones, Valerie Keller, Justin Leavens, Peter Rose, Shirley Sarker, Bonnie Scott, Rob Shaw, and Paul Westergard. September 21 to December 31, 2006

Set Pieces: John Lorenzini. Presented a new series of large format C-prints that used the simple image of the theater curtain to capture the artifice and dramatic nature of set design. The human presence in these images are inferred by the dramatic lighting and artificial structure of the site.

Narrative Symmetry: Christine McMonagle. Included a series of diptychs, representing two moments or instances during the photographic process, which revealed less of the instance reflected in the image but more of the rapport between artist and subject. The instantaneous nature of the Polaroid process allowed McMonagle to represent this connection in a method that could be described as impulsive and unfiltered.

OUTsideIN. Ten artists or collaborative groups were selected to develop a proposal for the final execution of a site-specific work on the walls of the PAA. Designed to encourage innovative and experimental public projects that bring the conceptual framework of the outdoor mural into the interior space of a gallery.

Déjà vu: Hedwige Jacobs. Featured Jacobs' minutely detailed hand drawn sketches, brought to life by stop-time animation.

am/fm + cell phone paintings: Sarah Gamble. This exhibition of hundreds of overlapping paintings on paper were the result of her residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE. The works dealt with how people communicate amid seclusion and how they share experiences across of unfathomable distance.

A Delicate Constitution: Reconsidering the Decorative Aesthetic. Presented works that range from flower wreaths, to porcelain sculpture, to screenprints—all questioning the idea of the decorative object and its place in contemporary art. Artists included Linda Cordell, Carson Fox, Colleen Toledano, and Eva Wylie.

Familiar Places: Libby Saylor. This exhibition included her series of digital prints on sintra of locations that she has become accustomed to viewing in a certain, and perhaps more comfortable, ways. Each abstracted image is a result of Saylor’s unique photographic technique in which the lens is disengaged from the body of the camera and turned backwards. Saylor adjusts the color and light with the lens to create the atmospheric effects that are evidenced in the final photo.

Sometime Sunshine: Kelley Roberts. Featured her digital images or scanned photographs, which were digitally altered and composed, printed, hand cut, and layered in frames, allowing the actual content of the image to exist only in silhouette.The silhouette itself is suggestive of a shadowy or unclear memory. Roberts considered these images to be an effort to collect an oral account in a visual form. Like the form of an oral history, the narrative only exists each time it is spoken.

on my way back to you: Julianna Foster. Included a series of Ink-jet photographic prints that traced the distinctions and similarities between text and image. The narrative--built from a series of photographic images, handmade books, and videos--all relate to a larger master narrative. Each work, therefore, references the very structure of how meaning is generated through the relationship of word to representation and vice versa. February 9 to April 2, 2006

“In Ever Greater Measure”: 90 Years at the Philadelphia Art Alliance. Historical survey of exhibitions and programs at the Philadelphia Art Alliance from 1915 to 2005. Researched and compiled over 800 archival documents as well as photographs, paintings, and works on paper to highlight important moments in the history of the PAA in the fields of the visual arts, architecture, music, dance, literature, and theater arts. Support provided by the Independence Foundation and Arcadia Foundation.

Confrontation: Stefan Abrams. Included large scale pigment prints of photos of people that the artist found at flea markets. The intimate but unknown narrative of the family and friends depicted in these documents ask the viewer to create a new backstory for each image, leaving the meaning indeterminate.

Leaning Keep: Brian David Dennis. This site-specific installation on the mezzanine level of the Art Alliance building, which was dependent on the stairwell as a means of support, blocked the light in the stairway in protest of the security measures which that artist felt was infringing on freedom given the recent passing of the Patriot Act. Funded by The Philadelphia Foundation and the Independence Foundation as well as corporate sponsorship from PNC Bank and Citizens’ Bank. Included a full curriculum guide for teachers and high school students.

Lush Life: Samantha Simpson. Completely covering the walls of the galleries, the exhibition featured included a life size series of anthropomorphic allegories of various woodland animals.

Revisionist Cinema/Triple Feature: Matthew Suib. Produced during the peak of international debate regarding the United States’ initiative to invade Iraq, these films were an anti-war statement in the guise of a minimalist Western, borrowing dozens of short segments from several cinema classics of the genre.

Sidelong Glance: Ahmed Salvador. Consisted of a series dioramas meant to look like photographs of planetary landscapes suggesting the ultimate magnification of the thin surface of a photograph. Considering photograph as a limited material representation of reality, these shadowboxes presented, with their handmade construction, the stumbling evolution of the 'light-drawn' image toward an ideal, yet ethereal representation.

The Dumbest Man: Robert Matthews. This series of highly realistic works in achromatic inks and pencil on paper explored the impractical scenarios related to sleepwalking, dreams, and death. More specifically, these were inspired by the travels of Steve Fossett, the first man to circumnavigate a hot air balloon around the Earth. Seeing the endeavor as an egoistic fantasy of a millionaire with no quantifiable results, he examines the impulse behind the absurdity of such events and the compulsion to record them.

Hopping Fences: Influences in modern living. Featured five design/build firms who created site-specific installations in the main second floor galleries. Firms included Amuneal, FLOAT, Otto Design Group, Qb3, and Veyko. These installations were conceptual reflections on how design impacts, and is impacted by, modern urban living: the pace and demands, allowances and challenges. Co-organized with Hilary Jay, Director, The Design Center at Philadelphia University. Funded by Target Stores, Minima Showroom, and The City Paper.

Amusements: Mary Henderson. Consisted of a series of gouache paintings based on the artist's personal archive of photographs. Painting in a photorealist manner, these paintings captured the snapshot feel of amateur photography, appearing unstudied in their use of composition.

Unbecoming: The Private as Public Spectacle. Presented five artists whose work explores the pervasive influence of the media in production of “spectacle” and the way in which it has redefined what is commonly referred to as “private” and “public” subjects and spaces. Artists included Elizabeth Campbell, Kara Crombie, Sarah Lucas (Barbara Gladstone Gallery), Joseph Maida, and Connie Walsh.

Selected Exhibitions as Project Director

Permutations: Anna Boothe and Nancy Cohen. The exhibition included of hundreds of glass objects, which served as a reinterpretation of the symbolism in Tibetan Buddhist paintings to create a work that reflected the organizational structure and palette of these paintings, as well as the sense of expansiveness that is characteristic of Buddhist ideology. The works featured in this exhibition used a variety of techniques, such as kiln-casting, slumping, fusing, blowing, hot-sculpting and sand-casting.

Barbara Paganin: Memoria Aperta. The brooches and necklaces that comprised Memoria Aperta tell stories as constructed miniature landscapes. Created in gold, silver, semi-precious stones and new materials, they were inspired by her search among the antique shops of Venice reclaiming unique objects and heirlooms in order.

HUSH: Megan Biddle, Amber Cowan, Jessica Jane Julius, and Sharyn O’Mara. Featured four colleagues on the glass faculty at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, who created visually and conceptually diverse works that include site-specific installations as well as individual sculptures. The work reflected a collective desire to see past the over-stimulus of the digital age and to focus on the analog as symbolized by narrowing the vocabulary from color to grayscale.

Infinite Place: The Ceramic Art of Wayne Higby. Organized by Peter Held, curator of ceramics at the ASU Art Museum and Ceramics Research Center in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. A 57–piece exhibition that was the first major retrospective to provide an in-depth critical analysis of Higby’s work from the 1960s to the present, offering a full view of his stylistic development.

William Daley: 14 for 7. Organized by Tom Daley and the Philadelphia Art Alliance. An exhibition featuring a select group of William Daley’s works made between 1954 and 2013, presented in conjunction with the publication of William Daley: Ceramic Artist by Ruth Fine. This exhibition united 14 works from seven decades, and featured a short film about Daley and his work entitled Mud Architect by Thomas Porett. Images, drawings, tools and molds, also provided a glimpse into his studio and process.

Philadelphia Qualities of Life. A group exhibition organized by Philly Works and the PAA. Featured a selection of works or proposals that showcase exemplary problem-solving ideas to improve life for the citizens of Philadelphia. Projects featured in this exhibition included solutions for environmental, social, and aesthetic challenges in architecture and the urban environment.

Robert Baines: A Treasury of Evidence. This was the first solo exhibition of the work of Australian goldsmith and jewelry artist Robert Baines in the United States, and featured works that concentrated on three main areas of Baines’ approach to making: archaeometallurgy, art goldsmithing and publishing text and commentary. The exhibition reflected the artist’s position that jewelry is a cultural, archaeological and technical document. Support provided by Helen Drutt, Philadelphia.

Stanley Lechtzin: Five Decades 1959-2009. Featured the work of Stanley Lechtzin who is best known for pioneering the use of electroforming in the United States. The work exhibited reflects his use of materials and methodologies, which expanded the field of metalsmithing into areas not yet attempted by other artists in that period.

Challenging the Châtelaine. Organized by the Designmuseo, Helsinki and curated by Helen Drutt English. This was an extensive international overview of the diversity of a unique genre of jewelry design—the châtelaine. The exhibition includes works by over seventy artists from Europe, North and South America, Australia and Japan. Works ranged from traditionally worn pieces out of conventional materials to montages of readymade elements such as pens, spoons, razors and toys.

Gijs Bakker and Jewelry. Organized by SM’s-Stedelijk Museum’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. The exhibition brought together over 100 pieces of jewelry designed by Gijs Bakker from the SM’s own permanent collection as well as private collectors from around the world. Presented at SM’s in the fall of 2005, the show has since been seen in Oostende’s PMMK, Museum voor Moderne Kunst and Munich’s Die neue Sammlung. The Philadelphia Art Alliance was the only U.S. destination.

Kiff Slemmons: Repair and Imperfection. Organized by the Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL. Based on a project by Chicago jewelry artist Kiff Slemmons who requested 18 of her colleagues to send her fragments of their work that they considered to be imperfect, broken, or no longer interesting. For this exhibition, Slemmons “completed” these pieces, ultimately creating 30 finished works—brooches, rings and necklaces.

Rittenhouse Square Collects (Part One and Two). A major exhibition series drawn from the private collections housed in the dwellings around Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. Selections made by James Jensen, Associate Director and Chief Curator of The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI.

Havana: The Revolutionary Moment, Photographs by Burt Glinn. Organized by Umbrage Editions, New York, NY.

Throwing Lines: Ceramics by Nicholas Arroyave-Portela. Courtesy of Helen Drutt, Philadelphia.

Camera Work: A Centennial Celebration. Over 60 photogravures and other prints produced between 1903 and 1917 and published in Camera Work. Curated by Stephen Perloff.

Gabe Martinez: Confidence & Faith. A multimedia and performance event that included film projection, live musical accompaniment produced by Relâche, installations and sculpture, and other site-specific works. Produced as a one evening event .

Pandemic: Imaging AIDS. Organized by Umbrage Editions, New York, NY.

The 2002 Leeway Foundation Recipients in Photography/Works on Paper. Featured the recipients of the Foundation Award.

Poetics of Clay: An International Perspective. An international survey of ideas in the history of ceramics since World War II. Managed and processed over 58 national and international loans for over 120 objects. Curated by Helen Drutt, Philadelphia.

A complete list of exhibitions is available upon request.

Project Assistant

The Way of Chopsticks: Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen. This exhibition was the latest iteration of their collaborative “Chopsticks” series, which addressed the themes of contemporary family life in the US and China. The exhibition and feature film also drew inspiration from the history and domestic scale of the Wetherill Mansion as a former private residence. Funded by the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage.

Publications (writing, editing & design)

Co-contributor, Masters of Craft: Philadelphia’s American Craft Council Fellows. Featuring 14 members of the American Craft Council College of Fellows. These artists – all from the Philadelphia region – continue centuries of craft tradition in their stunning work in wood, clay, glass, fiber and/or metal.

Author and designer, Home is Where You Hang Your Hat, exhibition brochure

Designer and co-contributor, Greenhouse Mix: Caroline Lathan-Stiefel, exhibition catalog

Designer, Molly Hatch, Reverie, exhibition catalog

Author and designer, Shiny Monsters: An Installation by Adam Wallacavage, exhibition brochure

Author, Let Me Tell You About the Dream I Had: The Miss Rockaway Armada

Author, “Lest We Forget: The Art of Melanie Bilenker.” Art Jewelry Forum

Author and designer, The Sitting Room: Four Studies, exhibition brochure

Editor, Stanley Lechtzin: Five Decades 1959-2009, exhibition catalog

Editor, SunKoo Yuh: Along the Way, exhibition catalog

Author and designer, OUTsideIN, exhibition catalog

Author and designer, A Delicate Constitution: Reconsidering the Decorative Aesthetic, exhibition brochure

Editor, Philadelphia Art Alliance: A Retrospective at 90 Years, exhibition catalog

Author, Leaning Keep: A Teacher’s Guide A curriculum guide of five lesson plans covering issues ranging from the First Amendment to installation art. Included site-visits and discussions with the artist. Published in conjunction with the exhibition, Leaning Keep: Brian David Dennis.

Co-contributor, Hopping Fences: Influences on modern living, exhibition brochure

Author, Unbecoming: The Private as Public Spectacle, online exhibition catalog

Author, “Chronologies,” in “An Unnerving Romanticism”: The Art of Sylvia Sleigh and Lawrence Alloway, exhibition catalog

Author, “Marcel Duchamp and/as Rrose Sélavy: Gender and the Ideological Conditions of Art after World War I”, The Mid-Atlantic Symposium for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, (Washington, D.C.: The National Gallery of Art).

Written content for the Philadelphia Art Alliance website exhibitions pages and archives

All advertising design (digital and print)

Design and content for all collateral materials, including exhibition announcements, handouts, didactic signage

Awards & Professional Activities

Lecturer, Curatorial Projects for the series “Works in Progress” at the Philadelphia Art Alliance

The Coby Foundation Grant for A Curious Nature, Awarded $8,000.

Windgate Charitable Foundation Grant for the exhibition Material Legacy: Masters of Fiber, Clay and Glass,

Awarded $18,500.

Samuel S. Fels Grant for the exhibition Home is Where You Hang Your Hat, Awarded $3,000.

The Coby Foundation Grant for the exhibition Greenhouse Mix: Caroline Lathan-Stiefel, Awarded $7,000.

Development assistant for the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage Implementation Grant in support of the exhibition The Way of Chopsticks: Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen, Awarded $200,000.

Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative Implementation Grant for the exhibition Let Me Tell You About the Dream I Had: The Miss Rockaway Armada. Awarded $169,000.

Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative Discovery Grant for the exhibition Let Me Tell You About the Dream I Had: The Miss Rockaway Armada. Awarded $17,000.

The Coby Foundation Grant for the exhibition The Sitting Room: Four Studies. Awarded $20,000.

Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative Planning Grant for the exhibition The Sitting Room: Four Studies. Awarded $20,000.

Invited guest lecturer at Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA. Selected to speak on the topic of curatorial studies and exhibition planning .

Independence Foundation and Arcadia Foundation Grants for “In Ever Greater Measure”: 90 Years at the Philadelphia Art Alliance. Award total $10,000.

The Philadelphia Foundation and Independence Foundation Grants for Leaning Keep: Brian David Dennis. Award total $7,000.

Corporate support from PNC Bank and Citizens’ Bank for Leaning Keep: Brian David Dennis. Award total $12,000.

Invited guest critic for “Critique and Conversation”, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA. One of six curators selected to host an in-depth and intimate portfolio review.

Moderator for symposium “Pandemic: Facing AIDS” held in conjunction with the exhibition, Pandemic: Imaging AIDS, Philadelphia Art Alliance .

Contributing Curator for Greater Philadelphia: An exhibition of work by emerging Philadelphia artists, The Galleries at Moore, Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia. One of seven Philadelphia area curators chosen to select emerging visual artists for the exhibition.

Co-moderator with Miriam Seidel in panel discussion for Domestic Spaces: The Philadelphia Fourth Annual Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia Art Alliance .

Selected speaker for American University in the annual Mid-Atlantic Symposium for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, sponsored by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. .

Internship, Corcoran Museum of Art Washington, D.C. Editorial assistant in the Archive Department. Created a new database for written records in the museum’s holdings and collections department.

Fellowship, American University, Washington D.C. Lecture series “Physiognomy in 19th Century Art: The Artificial Debate.” Lecturer on the influence of science and physiognomy in 19th Century European painting .

Skills

Over 20 years of experience as a preparator, including exhibition design, handling works of art, and installation.

Extensive graphic and book design experience with knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator), as well as Microsoft Office Suite. Basic web design experience including WordPress system software..

Experience with Arts People management database, various museum registrarial procedures, including condition reports, facilities reports, and lending requests. Facilitation of incoming and outgoing shipping throughout the US and Europe, including US Customs procedures.

home

download cv