Rachel Simmons is the Curator for the exhibition “Wowipitsj: Man, Myth, Legend,” on view in the Gallery of the Anderson Student Center from Feb. 4 to Aug. 4, 2013. Ms. Simmons is the second graduate student to develop an exhibition for the American Museum of Asmat Art at the University of St. Thomas.
The experience I gained through developing this exhibition has been invaluable. Having been an assistant to Julie Risser, Director of the AMAA@UST, for two years and a student in two of her classes prepared me for the challenges it takes to curate an exhibition. Some of the challenges included picking objects and writing their labels, developing material for the brochure, deciding on just the right piece for the marketing materials and then the correct angle to photograph the piece so that it will catch peoples’ attention. All of this might sound minor or tedious, but it demonstrates how much thought literally goes into every aspect of an exhibition. While I knew going into this project that I would face those challenges, there are really two things I learned that I think others in the program will also find helpful.
1) Co-writing is hard, so it helps to have someone you know well. Luckily I have worked side by side with Julie for so long that as we were developing the text for the brochure we could literally finish each other’s sentences. When one of us was stuck and just could not find the right words and we were left to resort to odd hand gestures to get our point across, the other would take over the keyboard and finish. Others around us as we were writing frequently heard, “Yes! That’s it, that’s exactly what I wanted it to say!”
2) Opportunity doesn’t always knock and sometimes you have to chase it down and tackle it. For example, this exhibition is a part of an internship I did over the fall semester. While it is not uncommon for students in our program to take internships, this was the first time there was an internship within the department. Even though the path was somewhat unconventional, I knew this was something I really wanted to do since I did not think I would get this kind of curatorial experience at a larger museum. Thankfully, Julie was on board and the department was able to award me a Patricia Jaffray Scholarship to help pay for the internship credits.
Dr. Risser had wanted to have an exhibition about myth. Fortunately, I had already completed a paper about myth in one of her classes the year before. I combined that paper with one I presented at the Midwest Art History Society Conference annual meeting last year about contemporary Asmat carving. This exhibition came out of both of those papers. “Wowipitsj: Man, Myth, Legend” not only explores myth and carvings, but also how carvers are preserving the oral traditions in their art forms. Doing this exhibition allowed me to really explore this topic both in words and in objects.
My final word of advice for my peers is DO NOT be afraid to ask for something you want, because there are a lot of really great people here that can help you accomplish it, even if the task sounds daunting and even if it has never been done before.
