Curatorial Projects

Past Exhibitions:

Indiana State University

As the Gallery Director and Instructor for Indiana State University, I had the opportunity to curate exhibitions both from the collection and outside of it. Below are images and details from those exhibitions.

Big Sycamores and Sunsets: Landscapes by William Thomas Turman from the Indiana State University Permanent Art Collection
January 14 – February 28, 2020 Turman Art Gallery, Indiana State University

William Thomas Turman (1867-1960) is a renowned figure here in Terre Haute. Not only was he a faculty member and Director of the Art Department at Indiana State University (ISU) from 1894-1934, he also served as the Board President for the Swope Art Museum from 1941-1957.

Having studied in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City, Turman is known for his impressionistic landscapes of the Wabash Valley and beyond. While his catalog is rather large, the exhibit currently on display showcases 11 of his works from the Permanent Art Collection here at ISU. The gallery space in which they are on display was named the Turman Hall of Art during its original establishment in 1939 in honor of this revered artist and educator.

Numerous online sources detail Turman’s great impact on our community, as well as his role as an educator and administrator at the beginning of many arts establishments we have come to know, love, and celebrate today.

Large.Abstract.Color.
September 20 – November 12, 2019 University Art Gallery, Indiana State University

DePauw University

As the Assistant Curator of Exhibitions and Education, and more recently as the Assistant Director and Curator of Exhibitions and Education with the Peeler Art Center at DePauw University from July 2016 until June 2019, I curated exhibitions both from the collection and outside of it. Below are images and details from those exhibitions.

Shaping: inspired timber creations
June 7 – August 1, 2019 Peeler Art Center, Visual Arts Gallery

Opening Reception June 7, 5:30pm to kick off First Friday in downtown Greencastle

Visit the galleries and celebrate several local Indiana artisans and their woodworking craft. Using one of the oldest manipulative materials, artisans in our own Putnam and surrounding counties breathe new life into wood through their functional and/or artistic creations. From chairs to tables to bowls to fine art, woodworking in our community takes many forms. Shaping offers a chance to share in showcasing these many talents.

Repeat, Repeat: Gestures of Repetition in Video Art
February 1 – July 10, 2019
Peeler Art Center, University Gallery (upper level)

Repeat, Repeat: Gestures of Repetition in Video Art emphasizes repetition as a creative strategy. Comprised of early video works through today, Repeat, Repeat asks viewers to analyze not only the repetitive audio-visual elements, but also the use of repetition—and the tension it creates—as an art form itself.

Repeat, Repeat features eight works drawn from the DePauw University Permanent Art Collection and the Video Data Bank. This exhibition was made possible by the Arthur E. Klauser Asian and World Community Collection Endowment.

The Machine Continues: Works from the DePauw University Permanent Art Collection

Academic Year 2018-19 Common Reading: The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster

Gathered to coincide with this year’s common reading, E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops, the works from the Permanent Collection in this case either critique or comment on the role of technology in our society.

Using unique, storied vocal practices to name the top ten Asian brands (of the early 2000s) Dmitry Strakorsky offers his viewers a comment on the role of big business today. Often a singing technique focused on imitations of natural sounds, rather than words, Strakorsky’s practice gives time and sound to each individual brand while leaving his viewers to decide when one brand stops and the next begins. Utilizing video as his medium and brand recognition as his subject, Strakorsky situates the throat singing exercise within a technologically advanced world for which such a practice was never intended.

Belgian artist Christine Kermaire has produced many artist books throughout her career. Her work in this display, Human Microchip Implant & Biohacking gives us a glimpse at several themes present in Forster’s The Machine Stops. A comment both on technological advancement and societal change as a result of such technological advancement mimics Forster’s use of the machine as the all serving entity for every individual. Kermaire’s Microchip is perhaps the first step in moving towards a world in which Forster’s machine becomes a reality.

The earliest piece in this case, [dNASAb]’s work iPod Ecosystem #11a not only uses a technological advancement (the iPod) as its medium, but also creates new technology in the way the work operates: moving, producing sound, and light of its own accord.   

Controlled Identity, Spring 2018, Peeler Art Center, DePauw University

February 5 – June 14, 2018
Peeler Art Center, University Gallery, lower level

The DePauw University Permanent Art Collection houses over 200 “portraits”, the majority of which have never been on display during their time with the University. Controlled Identity offers a space and a time for such objects to not only be seen, but to be showcased. These portraits span across media, across cultures, and across time to showcase the best of the best, as well as to point out the vast use of the “portrait” as a visual means to communicate objectification, identification, and subjectification.

Spring 2018 at the Peeler Galleries was focused on displaying works from our own collection, from our own students, and from our own community.

Controlled Identity features over fifty works from the DePauw University Permanent Art Collection from across media, across cultures, and across time alongside student works from surrounding Putnam County schools.

People, Places, Things: 20th Century Photography from the DePauw University Permanent Art Collection

June 1 – August 6, 2017 Peeler Art Center, Visual Arts Gallery

Drawn exclusively from the DePauw University Permanent Art Collection, People, Places, Things showcases 20^th century photographs from around the world. With the invention of the Kodak #1 camera in the late 19^th century, photography quickly grew in value because of its ability to replicate details. While photographs started showing up in fine art expos in the mid 19^th century, it was not until the 20^th century when documentary photography was to be understood as an art form in its own right and stand alongside paintings, engravings, sculptures, etc. 

People, Places, Things featured 22 photographs from the DePauw University Permanent Art Collection by the following artists: Alan Cohen, Robert Doisneau, Juan Manuel Echavarria, Alen Brazil MacWeeney, and Andy Warhol.