I've been grappling with how to write this post. Like much of America, I'm angry, scared, and sad, and I'm trying to wade through fact, fiction, and rage bait designed to distract and confuse us. But what's immediately clear to me is that this new administration is wasting no time targeting vulnerable groups. And although … Continue reading I stand with you.
Category: Short Writings
The Uncertain History of a Family Heirloom
Sometime in the mid-1900s, my grandfather’s uncle Calvin Yorks was gifted a blanket by a Southwestern Native American tribe member; the context in which this blanket was gifted is lost to time, and our family does not know the exact origins of the textile or who in particular bestowed the gift to my great-uncle. What … Continue reading The Uncertain History of a Family Heirloom
Beach of Valencia (Playa de Valencia) at the Meadows Museum
Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida grew in popularity among European art circles in the late 1800s and reached a limited audience in America during the early 1900s as well (“Meadows Museum to Present Works by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida”). Despite selling numerous works to American collectors, Sorolla’s works largely remained in those private collections … Continue reading Beach of Valencia (Playa de Valencia) at the Meadows Museum
Cummaquid Gold at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
In early 2024, the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, Massachusetts hosted the exhibition Familial, which featured works from the museum’s permanent collection that were created by families with connections to Cape Cod. The exhibition explored the legacy of artmaking traditions as passed down through local families over time, representing both the rich artistic … Continue reading Cummaquid Gold at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
Neck Rings at The Bowers Museum
The Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California boasts a significant collection of Asian, African, Oceanic, and American art, spanning many centuries in the past through present day. The museum’s mission statement is rather broad—“The Bowers Museum enriches lives through the world’s finest arts and cultures”—but its vision statement offers a little more insight into the … Continue reading Neck Rings at The Bowers Museum
Mask (go ge) at Harvard Art Museums
In October 2022, I visited Harvard Art Museums and came face to face with a Liberian mask on the third floor, tucked away in an alcove off the primary exhibition room. The wooden mask’s face was dark with wide white eyes, contorted with an open mouth and look of distress behind its protective glass. Beads, … Continue reading Mask (go ge) at Harvard Art Museums
Five Beauties Rising
Willie Cole’s evocative Five Beauties Rising is a set of five intaglio prints on paper depicting battered, broken, and discarded ironing boards, each with a woman’s name printed in capital letters below the image: Savannah, Dot, Fannie Mae, Queen, and Anna Mae. By bestowing a human name on an inanimate object, Cole invites the viewer … Continue reading Five Beauties Rising
Where Do Collections Fit In?
In the 21st century, museums are being called on to act as arbiters of social inclusion, with a new emphasis placed on sharing untold stories and amplifying unheard voices. As Richard Sandell explains, “alongside its value as an educational institution, the museum must now present its justification in terms which demonstrate its ability to…tackle issues … Continue reading Where Do Collections Fit In?
Truth is in the Negative Space
Lisa Corrin questions “whose truth is on exhibit at the Maryland Historical Society” in her examination of Fred Wilson’s Mining the Museum intervention held at the institution in 1992 (Corrin 338). The Society’s collection, which was re-imagined and redisplayed by Wilson to highlight the stories that have gone untold in the context of history as … Continue reading Truth is in the Negative Space
Is The Met a McGuggenheim?
In her 2005 essay “Museums and Globalization,” Saloni Mathur criticizes certain attempts to globalize museums via commercialized business practices and branded marketing. The most obvious example of this “McGuggenheim effect” of the 1990s is, perhaps unsurprisingly given the phenomenon’s name, the Guggenheim Museum, which set its sights on global expansion as an international brand during … Continue reading Is The Met a McGuggenheim?
Art with an Opinion 