To create this exhibition, the Spencer’s four curators invited four Lawrence community members to each select an object for display from the Museum’s collection. The conversations that took place within the pairings of community and Museum curators identified issues and objects that had meaning for each guest curator. Our goal was to focus on just one or two works in each collaborating pair. The neighborhood curator took the lead and set the tone for object selection. In response to this, each Museum curator chose an object that connects in some way to the work of art and theme suggested by the community curator.
The topics that emerged from these dialogues are listed below, along with the names of the guest and staff curators. One of the many interesting results of these exchanges is that the themes that developed are surprisingly interrelated, even though none of the community curators consulted with each other directly. We hope you will enjoy these connections and the selection of objects.
Satire & Survival
Joni Murphy, Professor of English, Haskell Indian Nations University
Nancy Mahaney, Curator of the Arts & Cultures of Africa, Native America, & Oceania
Political Activism & Racial Discrimination
Lynne Green, Executive Director, Van Go Mobile Arts, Inc.
Susan Earle, Curator of European & American Art
Isolation & Connectedness
Molly Murphy, Lawrence artist and freelance curator
Kris Imants Ercums, Curator of Asian Art
Repetition & Pattern
Reid Harrison, artist and junior at Lawrence High School
Stephen Goddard, Senior Curator and Curator of Prints & Drawings