91探花

It鈥檚 the day before the opening of Danny Giles鈥� exhibition at the 91探花鈥檚 Jacob Lawrence Gallery, and everything is running on schedule. For the past three weeks, Giles has been working here in residency, creating a new series of works on paper. Now the Chicago-based artist is showing 91探花sophomore Serena Lantz how to hang his unframed work at eye level using a self-designed system of pins and carefully crafted paper hinges.

Behind every exhibition鈥檚 public face is a team of professionals who work long hours to put it all together. At the Jacob Lawrence Gallery, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this month, this team includes undergraduate and graduate students who are gaining valuable hands-on experience through the School of Art + Art History + Design鈥檚 curatorial internship program.

Learning by doing

Lantz is earning a B.A. in studio art with a concentration in , the University鈥檚 interdisciplinary designation for three-dimensional art. This quarter, after spending a year as a curatorial intern, they are moving into a paid position as the gallery lead, working closely with gallery director Emily Zimmerman on several aspects of day-to-day operations.

鈥淲e generally have around 15 interns,鈥� says Lantz, who grew up on Seattle鈥檚 Eastside. 鈥淲e have positions in social media, graphic design 鈥� I like to think it鈥檚 a system where you choose what you want to learn.鈥�

One of Lantz鈥檚 favorite aspects of gallery work is the way it encourages conversations with visitors. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e a studio artist, it鈥檚 important to be able to communicate with other creative people about art,鈥� they say. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also given me a lot of opportunities to reflect about the gallery not only as a physical space, but also as a social space in the context of artists and representation.鈥�

Other responsibilities involve handling the art itself. 鈥淲e encourage interns to be part of the install and deinstall process,鈥� says Lantz. 鈥淭his is a core part of the experience, because you鈥檙e able to interact with the work on a personal level 鈥� meet the artist and have discussions with them.鈥�

Art handling is also an opportunity to gain practical skills, Lantz adds: 鈥溾�楬ow do I patch a hole in a wall? How do I paint?鈥� Even if they don鈥檛 decide to go into curatorial work, the experience of working in a gallery is invaluable to people who are considering art as a profession.鈥�

Knowledge into practice

The Jacob Lawrence Gallery鈥檚 assistant curator, art history master鈥檚 candidate Juan Franco, will have the chance to put this functional knowledge to use over the summer by curating 鈥淟ugar del Trabajo,鈥� an exhibition at the gallery by New York鈥揵ased artists Ang茅lica Maria Mill谩n Lozano and Camilo Godoy that will serve as Franco鈥檚 thesis practicum project.

In the meantime, Franco has been assisting Zimmerman with 鈥淭he Practice and Science of Drawing a Sharp White Background,鈥� the current exhibition by Giles, whose work interrogates currents of white supremacy running through Eurocentric art history curricula. Giles is this year鈥檚 recipient of the Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency, a program established in 2015 to help carry forward the values of the former 91探花professor for whom the gallery is named.

鈥淚n honoring Jacob Lawrence鈥檚 legacy, the gallery has a mission to support those things that were important to Lawrence: education, social justice and experimentation,鈥� says Zimmerman, who became the gallery鈥檚 director in 2017. 鈥淪upporting the creation of new artwork that is in dialogue with the inequities embedded in our social, political and economic realities is crucial as a tool for seeing our world anew.鈥�

Living a legacy

This mission resonates strongly with both Lantz and Franco, who share an interest in issues of identity and tradition in the context of cultural production. 鈥淭o me, the legacy of Jacob Lawrence is at the intersection of arts and social justice,鈥� says Franco. 鈥淭alking about history from a particular viewpoint and also advocating for it, making it visual to experience 鈥� the gallery is a place where all these histories come together.鈥�

Zimmerman says that she would like the students who work for the gallery to take away an understanding of the care at the core of curatorial practice. 鈥淭his means not only looking after the physical safety of artworks, but also one鈥檚 responsibility to the artist, the audience, colleagues and community,鈥� she says.

These are far-reaching lessons that students will carry with them into the future. 鈥淲orking at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery encourages me to consider artistic work and practice as both personal expression and political, societal act,鈥� says Lantz. 鈥淚鈥檓 proud of everything we do to establish and solidify the connection between arts and social justice.鈥�