ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

PhD        University of Ulster, PhD in Practice (School of Art, Design, and the Built Environment)

Museum Studies, Curating, and Social Practice

Dissertation: Curating in Context: Slow Curating as a Reflective Practice

MA         University of Ulster, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

Irish Visual Culture Thesis: Seeing Orange, Reading Orange: Images, Icons & Identity in Northern Ireland.

Cert.      University of Ulster, Belfast, Certificate in Non-Profit Management Practice

BA          University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Major: History of Art, Advisor: Gabriel Weisberg, PhD

External Senior Paper Advisor: Griselda Pollock, PhD (visiting scholar to University of MN)

 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Minnesota State College and Universities (MNSCU)

Minneapolis College, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA                                       Fall 2022 to present

Century College, White Bear Lake, Minnesota, USA                                        Fall 2018 to present

Adjunct Professor                                                                                                           

Online courses: Art 1021.70, Art 1022.70, Art 1020.70 - Art History of the Western World I, II, Art Appreciation, and Women in Art

• Teaching four different courses online

• Planning and teaching Art History and Women Studies courses for students from all disciplines.

• Supported the development of a new gallery at Century College with Melissa Borman

Concordia College, St Paul, Minnesota, USA

Adjunct Professor of Practice                                                                                      Summer 2014 to present

Art 101/106

• Rewrote new curriculum based on decannonization and decolonization as well as OER (Summer ’22)

• Taught more than 80 sections of Art 101 online course and a number of in-person classes (Fall ’22)

• Planned and taught a writing and observing-intensive course for students from all disciplines.

• Used instructional and online approaches to enhance pedagogical techniques, including dynamic learning, innovative approaches (mindmapping and a museum visit), and a welcoming learning environment where all students are able to work at their own social and intellectual pace.

• Closely monitor individual progress of all students and provide resources and assistance as needed.

Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Lecturer              

College of Liberal Arts, Adjunct Professor                                                              August 2013 to July 2015

Courses:               Introduction to Art Design History (Prehistoric to 1850)

                                Gender, Art and Society (3624)

• Taught two sections of Gender, Art & Society (upper division), growing it from one class per year to four classes per year (2 each semester)

• Led efforts to establish and embed social practices at MCAD, including the instigation and implementation of the Guerrilla Girls Twin Cities TakeOver in 2015-2016.

• Used both traditional teaching formats (seminar-style discussion and close reading) to new technologies (Facebook page) to engender an open, non-hierarchical learning environment.

• Instruction of Liberal Arts courses in modern and contemporary art historical. Developed learning outcomes and syllabi for courses taught that aligned with college standards. Authored lessons and assignments in relation to units of study
.

• Assessed student progress by grading papers, tests, and artwork. Advised students about how to achieve their goals.

North Dakota State University (NDSU), Fargo, North Dakota, USA

Art Department                                                                                                                Spring 2012 – Summer 2013

Courses:               ENGAGE U: Student Think and Do Tank (Social Practice Studio & Internship) with M Strand

Preparing for your Exhibition: Curatorial Theory and Practice (Governor’s School)

Looking at the History of Social Practice in Art Governor’s School (Summer Program),

 

LaGrange Art Museum / LaGrange College, LaGrange, Georgia, USA        Spring 2011

Co-taught Museum Studies Class ARTD3102 with Dorothy Joiner. Collaborative teaching environment, based at the LaGrange Art Museum, we worked with students though a hands-on class that taught the fundamentals of art museum practice and exhibition planning and management.

 

Queens University, Belfast, Lecturer                                                                       Oct 2005 to Dec 2009

Lecturer in Art Appreciation and Art History courses

 

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Doctoral Researcher                                                                                                       Fall 2008 – Fall 2016 

Department of Art at the University of Ulster, Art, Design and the Built Environment, Belfast, N Ireland, UK

• Conducted primary, practiced-based research at four key sites (US, UK, IRE)

• Conducted primary source research numerous archives, examining publications, and mapping new knowledge in social practice in (historical and contemporary) through multiple sources.

• Examined literature in museology, curating, social practice, rural regeneration, and communitarian discourse.

Research Lead                                                                                                                   2009 – 2010 

Guerrilla Girls All Ireland Project

University of Ulster, Trinity College, National College of Art & Design, and University of Cork, Ireland.

• Lead research team of four to assist the Guerrilla Girls in their quantitative and qualitative research informing two new works of art, which then toured.

• Organized the Guerrilla Girls All-Ireland artists-in-residency, 2010.

AWARDS:

2022 Professional Development Grant, Century College

2022 Professional Development Grant, Concordia St Paul University

2021 Professional Development Grant, Century College &

2021 Professional Development Grant, Concordia St Paul University

2021 NEA Panelist, Visual Art, American Rescue Plan Grants

2020 Professional Development Grant, Century College

2020 NEA Panelist, Visual Art, Program Grant

2019 Professional Development Grant, Century College

2019 Professional Development Grant, Concordia College St Paul

 

Forthcoming PUBLICATION

Slow Curating: A Handbook for Socially Engaged Practices in Museums to be published by Routledge Museum and Heritage Studies, UK, to be published in 2023-2024

 

PUBLICATIONS – EDITING & ESSAYS IN PUBLICATIONS

“Poetic Embodiment: New Work by Eyenga Bokamba,” Essay catalogue for “The Blue of Distance” exhibition at Concordia St Paul by Eyenga Bokamba, Fall 2022

“The Entanglement of Hope,” Essay catalogue for “Beacons of Hope” exhibition at Concordia St Paul by Anne Labovitz, Fall 2021

“Entgrenzung / The Dissolution of Boundaries: Conviviality, Memory and Storytelling in Contemporary Art,” in DISH, an exhibition catalogue essay for Su Legatt on DISH project. Spring 2021. Essay on social practice.

“Slow Curating: An Alternative for Museums,” Published CAA panel discussion paper presented in Spring 2021 in ArtLines, bi-annual CAA publication of Women’s Caucus for Art, Summer 2021.

“If you can be heard, then you exist,” in Hoping You Are Well, an exhibition catalogue for Rachel Epp Buller’s exhibition Hoping You Are Well. Fall 2020. Essay focused on social practice.

Editor and Project Manager for exhibition catalog, 122 Conversation: Person to Person Art Beyond Borders, Anne Labovitz at Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth, Fall 2018

Editor, Contributor & Production Manager, “Placemakers: Rochester Prototyping Festival, 2016,” Project catalogue and assessment document. Rochester Art Center, Destination Medical Center, Rochester Downtown Alliance, Fall 2016

“Engaged Process: Temporality, Place & Memory in the Work of Clea van der Grijn,” Catalogue essay, 2016

“Materiality, Texture & Form: A Lived Practice in the Work of Judy Onofrio.” Exhibition catalogue essay, 2016

“For Peace Comes Dropping Slow”, In Art, Architecture and Place: The Lake Isle of Innishfree. Essay in the exhibition and project catalogue for Liminal Spaces exhibition at The Model, Sligo, Ireland, 2015

“Visual Art Project: Six Artists + A Designer + A Town Planner”, Co-authored with Clea van der Grijn in Art, Architecture and Place: The Lake Isle of Innisfree. Exhibition and project catalogue for Liminal Spaces exhibition at The Model, Sligo, Ireland, 2015

“What is the role of ego in this work? When is it useful?” with Michael Birchall in Questions We Ask Together, Gemma Turbull (ed), Open Engagement Publications, 2015

“There is No Authority But Yourself”, I Believe in You: New Work by Mark Clare. Catalogue essay, 2014.

“Shades of Grey: Visual Art and Contemporaneity in Northern Ireland,” catalogue essay, Archiving Place Archiving Place & Time: Contemporary Art Practice in Northern Ireland since the Belfast Agreement, 2010

“Method in the Making: The Relevancy of Contemporary Craft in Northern Ireland,” Making Changes: Contemporary Craft In Northern Ireland, exhibition catalogue essay commissioned by Craft Northern Ireland to coincide with the ‘Made In Northern Ireland’ exhibition at the Ripley Institute at The Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC, 2007

“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: What works for art, and is there such a thing as the ideal space?” Space: Architecture for Art, CIRCA publications, 2005

 

PUBLICATIONS – ARTICLES

“Using the F-Word in 2016: the Guerrilla Girls Twin Cities Takeover”, Spring 2016, Art21 online blog.

“Slow Curating: Re-Thinking and Extending Socially Engaged Art in the Context of Northern Ireland,” OnCurating, Issue 24, Autumn 2014

“Misfit Cup Liberation Project,” Studio Potter, article on Strand and Slow Curating, Vol. 38. No 1, Autumn 2012

“Do We Still Need the ‘F’ Word,” an article on the All-Ireland Guerrilla Girls Research Tour and New Work Project. Visual Artists of Ireland Newsletter, September 2009

“Not Just Orange and Green: Opening Up Space for Culture in Northern Ireland,” Contexts, 2005

“New Notions of Space,” Visual Arts Newsletter, Sculpture Society of Ireland, 2004

“It Ain’t Money for Nothing and your Kicks for Free,” Contexts, Autumn 2004

 “The Art Market: Some thoughts on Venture Capitalism,” CIRCA Art Magazine, August 2003

 

PUBLICATIONS – CITATIONS of Slow Curating

2021                      “Redefining Curatorial Leadership and Activating Community Expertise to Build Equitable and Inclusive Art Museums”. Marianna Pegno and Christine Brindza. in Curator: The Museum Journal, Vol. 64, No 2, April 2021

2020                       Crawshay-Hall, J. Collaborative Curating: Democratising Inclusion, Taylor & Francis.

2018                       Kowalski, V. “On Curating, online: Buying time in the middle of nowhere. MA thesis, Curating, Managing, and Mediating Art, School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland

2018                     Kathryn Nellis Medill, “These Ways of Working: Reflections on the Collaborative Nature of Staff Roles Creating Space in Art Museums”, in ProQuest Dissertations, 2018.

2018                     William Fech, Ticket Stubs, “Social Hub: Capital and Community Programming at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center.” The Project Journal. Online. Summer 2018 issue. https://www.theprojectorjournal.com/ticket-stubs-social-hub-by-w

2017                       Hofsess, B. Turning towards: Materializing new possibilities through curating. Taylor Francis. 

2017                     Deborah Riding, Challenging the rules of engagement: Co-creation of knowledge in the public art museum. PhD dissertation, University of Chester, 2017.

2016                     Janita Craw & Victoria O’Sullivan, “Art-at-Work: Moving beyond, with the histories of education and art in Aotearoa New Zealand,” Education Philosophy and Theory, Volume 48, 2016, Issue 7.

2015                     Tosh (Ash) Ahkit, “Homeless doesn’t mean hopeless creating authentic representation through co-curation, MA Dissertation, Auckland University of Technology.2015

2015                      Open Engagement: Mary Coyne. Temporary Art Review. Online. http://temporaryartreview.com/open-engagement-mary-coyne/

 

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2022                       Slow Curating: A Practical Guide for Curating with Care and Reciprocity for panel discussion at at Universities Art Association of Canada entitled “Slow Curating and Relational Care in Public Art,” UAAC-AAUC conference, Toronto, Canada

2021                      Curating Fast and Slow: Changing Times, Changing Tempos, Association for Art History (UK) and forarthistory.org.uk. Panel presentation with James Lingwood, Britta Peters, and Fatos Ustek. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qDmv8Rct90

2021                      Slow Curating: An Alternative for Museums and Curators. CAA Panel on Slow Art. February 2021

2020                      Slow Curating: How to Make Art with Others. Presentation and panel discussion. Learning to Use Meaningful Action Research and Community Engagement at Universities Art Association of Canada (UAAC), Vancouver, Canada, October 2020

2019                       Slow Interventions: Moving Toward Connection in Creative Practice, Presentation and panel discussion at Slow: A Symposium in Praxis & Theory, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), November 2019.

2016                       Dialogical Spaces: Engaging Audiences for The Permeable Museum: Socially Engaged Institutions. Presentation and panel discussion. Open Engagement Conference, California Museum of Art & History, Oakland, CA. (May) * organized by M Johnston panelists also included former Queens Director Laura Raicovich and John Spiak

2015                      It’s My Revolution: Inverting Curatorial Discretion—Power, Privilege, Expertise and the Space Between. Open Engagement Conference, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. (April)

2015                      The Permeable Museum. Irish Museums Association Conference, Ulster Museum, Belfast, N Ireland

2014                      The Curatorialization of Activism in Art as a Neo-Avant-Garde, Panel Discussion. Open Engagement Conference, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY (May) * organized by M Johnston and M Birchall with panel members Gregory Sholette, Elissa Blount Moorhead, and Arthur Jaffa.  

2012                      Mapping Spectral Traces, October 2012, University of Minnesota. Presented paper “Architecture, Art & Memory: Creative Actions in Sites of Post Conflict and Trauma”

2012                       Open Engagement: Art and Social Practice Conference, Portland State University - "After the Flood" - Presentation and Panel discussion, Presented: “FLOOD DIVERSION: A social practice initiative.”

2009                       International Symposium of Electronic Art (ISEA), Presented Paper: “Our Digital Ontology: The Use of Mobile Interfaces and New Technologies in Northern Ireland Galleries and Museums.”

2009                       Association of Art Historians Annual Conference, Manchester Metropolitan University Session: Irishness and Intertextaulity: Re-Reading the Visual in Irish Culture panel discussion. Paper presented: “(Un)Covering history in black and whitewash: Visual Culture in Northern Ireland Today.”

2009                       Manchester Metropolitan University Conference for exhibition, Archiving Place Archiving Place & Time: Contemporary Art Practice in Northern Ireland since the Belfast Agreement, 2009 – 2011. Presented Paper: “Curating in Context: What is socially engaged curatorial practice.” * organize by myself and F Barber (Manchester University) to coincide with our exhibition of the same name

2006                       University of Ulster, Interface Conference for Research Department Faculty, Visiting Lecturer, “Relevancy of Art Today,” [initial presentation on my socially engaged curatorial practice]. Panel with Grant Kester.

 

MUSEUM WORK / PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Professional and experienced director, curator, and educator with experience in US and European contexts and an emphasis on contemporary art and architecture collaboration, and socially engaged practice in communities.

 

Independent Curator I Museum Specialist                                           January 2017 – present

Clients include various artists, arts organizations, and Washington County. See exhibition list below.

Rochester Art Center                                                                                     October 2015 – January 2017

Executive Director & Chief Curator

The Model: Home of the Niland Collection                                          August 2014 – October 2015

Director & Chief Curator

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis College of Art & Design and St Catherine’s College, St Paul & Minneapolis, MN                Sept 2013 – May 2016

Instigator and initial project manager on Guerrilla Girls in Twin Cities project.

Weisman Art Museum (WAM)                                                                  Sept 2013 – August 2014

Guest Curator for Lust for the Local: The Birth of Modernism in Marketing at the Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Plains Art Museum (PAM)                                                                           August 2011 to March 2013

Director of Curatorial Affairs & Interpretation, Fargo, North Dakota, USA

LaGrange Art Museum (LAM)                                                                     December 2009 to July 2011

Executive Director and Lead Curator, LaGrange, Georgia, USA

Millennium Court Arts Centre (MCAC)                                                   March 2003 to December 2009

Arts Director and Lead Curator, Portadown, Northern Ireland, UK

Smithsonian Institute / Craft Northern Ireland                                   November 2006 to November 2007

Lead Curator and Project Manager, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

Leadwhite Gallery                                                                                           August 2002 – February 2003

Gallery Manager / Curator, Dublin, Ireland

Metropolitan Museum of Art                                                                     October 1999 to August 2002

Publications Production Manager, New York, USA

Irish Art Center                                                                                                 October 1999 to January 2003

Curator, New York, USA                                                                                                

Walker Art Center                                                                                           February 1993 - June 1995

Docent and Internship, Education Department, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota                              April 1993 - February 1996

Education and Curatorial as Paid Intern & Student Teacher, USA

 

SELECTED CURATED EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS

2022                                       Eyenga Bokamba, The Blue of Distance, Concordia St Paul

2022                                       Through the Eyes of Others: Open Submission Exhibition, Historic Courthouse, Stillwater, MN

2021                                       Beacons of Hope: Anne Labovitz, Concordia St Paul Gallery, September

2020                                       The Life of An Object: Stories, Meanings & Moments curated project, Washington County Historic Courthouse, Stillwater, MN.

2020                                       122 Conversations, Anne Labovitz, Installation at Minneapolis / St Paul International Airport.

                                                Nature’s Art Gallery, an award winning (national and state) art education program (outside gallery) with Washington Country Parks Department

2020                                       Freedom, Independence & Citizenship: The History of Voting Rights in Washington County, Washington County Historic Courthouse, Stillwater, MN. History Exhibit, June 2020 – January 2021.

2019                                      Spokes & Folks: The Evolution of Bikes & Trails in Washington County, Washington County Historic Courthouse, Stillwater, MN. History Exhibit, June 2019 – Jan 2020.

2018                                      122 Conversation: Person to Person Art Beyond Borders, Anne Labovitz at Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth, Fall 2018 (organizing curator, catalog editor)

                                                People & Places: Architecture in Washington County from 1850 – 1960, Washington County Historic Courthouse, History Exhibit, June 2018 – January 2019.

2017                                       Andy Warhol: Minnesota Goes Pop, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN. Co-curated with Sheila Dickinson a group show with 36 Warhol prints (Myth/Cowboy & Indian Series) with 11 contemporary Minnesota-based artists.

2016                                       Institute of Informal Creativity: The Froebel Studio with Eamon O’Kane. Rochester Art Center, Rochester, Minnesota.

2016                                       Guerrilla Girls Twin Cities Takeover. Instigator, lead curator, and project organizer, working with a consortium of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Weisman Art Museum, and Minneapolis College of Art & Design, Minneapolis, MN, USA. Autumn 2015 to Spring 2016.

2015                                      Liminal Spaces: Art, Architecture and Place, The Model, home of the Niland Collection, Sligo, Ireland. A collaborative project co-curating with a team of myself, artist Clea van der Grijn and three architects from Sligo IT. History, architecture and art exhibit with international call for architectural model proposals.

2015                                      Bureau of Radical Accessibility, The Model, home of the Niland Collection, Sligo, Ireland. Think – and – Do Tank with visiting artists, museum staff and the public in dialogue about sociopolitical and historic issues in the community.

2015                                       Things Left Unsaid: New Work by Paul Seawright, MCAC Portadown, Northern Ireland, Ireland/UK. Toured to the Ulster Museum, Belfast, N/Ireland.

2015                                      Shared Visions: The Niland Collection Re-Hang, The Model, home of the Niland Collection, Sligo, Ireland. Significant exhibition re-positioning collection

2015                                      I Believe In You: New Work by Mark Clare, The Model, home of the Niland Collection, Sligo, Ireland. Touring project with Crawford Municipal Museum, Cork

2014                                       Lust for the Local: The Birth of Modernism in Marketing, Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. History of Tourism posters.

2013                                       Wing Young Huie: Hidden Fargo in Plain Sight, Plains Art Museum, ND Commission of new work, community projects, and solo show

2013                                       Andy Warhol: Creating Myth and Icon, Plains Art Museum, North Dakota, USA. Utilizing Slow Curating to create a large-scale design with collaborators from Sundog Marketing (sponsors). Focus on Warholʼs Myths and Cowboy & Indian Series.

2012                                       PROJECT Flood Diversion. Artists Andrea Stanislav, Michael J Strand, Jeff Knight, Rebecca Krinke, NDSU + MSUM students. Fargo, North Dakota, USA. Commissioned work (six art interventions of site-specific installations and collaborations) by artists who addressed the issue of annual flooding in Fargo. 

2012                                       Ice Music: Paul D Miller / DJ Spooky, Plains Art Museum, North Dakota

2012                                       Creative Actions: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Plains Art Museum, North Dakota, USA, 2012-ongoing. Permanent Collection re-hang based on research and collaboration with Fargo School District art teacher

2012                                      The Return of the Sodbuster: Luis Jiménez in Fargo, Plains Art Museum, ND

Misfit Cup Liberation Project: New Work by Michael J Strand. Asocial practice work intervention as part of Temporality Series. Plains Art Museum, North Dakota, USA.

2011                                       You Like This: A Democratic Approach to the Museum Collection, Plains Art Museum, Fargo, North Dakota, USA.

2011                                       Creative Obscurity: Noel Rockmore, LaGrange Art Museum, LaGrange, GA.

2011                                       Dream House: New Work by Mark Clare, LaGrange Art Museum, LaGrange, GA.

2011                                       Legends of The Printmaking Workshop: Will Barnet, Bob Blackburn, Chaim Koppelman and Tom Laidman, Cochran Gallery @ LaGrange Art Museum, LaGrange, GA, USA.

2011                                       Cult of Personality: From Warhol and Dali to Lady Gaga, co-curated with LaGrange College student Kathryn Schroeder, LaGrange Art Museum

2011                                       Night–Light–Reflections: Visions of the New South, photography by John Dowell,LaGrange Art Museum, LaGrange, GA, USA.

2010                                       Archiving Place & Time: Contemporary Art Practice in Northern Ireland since the Belfast Agreement, artists: Willie Doherty, Paul Seawright, John Duncan, Rita Duffy, Sandra Johnson, Conor McGrady, Mary McIntryre, Aisling O’Beirn, Philip Napier, Michael Hogg, and Conor McFeely. Co-curated with Fiona Barber. Toured Manchester, Portadown, and Woverhampton.

2009                                       I’m not a feminist, but if I was…Guerrilla Girls New Work Revealed, Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown, Northern Ireland, Ireland/UK. An all-Ireland research project and exhibition tour; was a new work commission collaboration with partners Glucksman Gallery, Cork; the University of Ulster, Belfast; and the National College of Art & Design, Dublin.

2008                                       Everyone Knows this is Nowhere: New Work by Andre Stitt, MCAC Portadown, Northern Ireland, Ireland/UK. Toured to University of Wales, UK.

Template 2.0: An Exhibition of Digital Art, MCAC Portadown, N. Ireland, Ireland/UK. In collaboration with the International Symposium for Electronic Art (ISEA) 2009.

2007                                       Wade Ireland: Irish Kitsch or Regional Vernacular, MCAC, Portadown, Northern Ireland, Ireland/UK.

Cuchulain Comforted: A Visual and Verbal Collaboration with Rita Duffy and Paul Muldoon, MCAC, Portadown, Northern Ireland, Ireland/UK

2006                                       Frank Gehry, Architect: Designs for Museums, Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown, Northern Ireland, Ireland/UK. In collaboration with Frank O Gehry and the Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Magic Stones: A Soundscape by Robert Jarvis, MCAC Portadown, Northern Ireland, Ireland/UK. Commission won British Composer of the Year Award for New Media.

Orange Elements: The History of the Orange Order and Seeing Orange: Northern Irish Artists’ Use of Orange Imagery, MCAC Portadown, Northern Ireland, Ireland/UK. MA Thesis exhibits. History and Art Exhibits.

1996 – 2005                       The above exhibitions are a selection of the more than 335 projects I have curated and/or produced with artists, architects, designers, historians, academics, and communities. Additional exhibition information is available upon request. Please see my website www.slowcurating.org for more information.