Curation Continues

Ahh, Graduation, it seems like only yesterday, and yet it has been over two weeks! Same with Degree Show - I cannot fathom where June went - how has over a month elapsed since that grand exhibition? 

And, like my t-shirts foretold - there IS life after Degree Show. A plethora of my classmates are currently showing their work across Scotland. As part of the Future Proof exhibition Jonny Lyons will be showing his photographs at Peacock in Aberdeen, while Fiona Skinner and Gemma Mathieson’s work will be at Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow (29 June - 27 July). Mary Beth Quigley, who’s Panda Head family made quite the stir at Degree Show, is organizing an exhibition with Skill Share Dundee to celebrate sustainable art and craft. Re : Sustain will take place August 16 and 17, with submission deadline on August 2.

I have moved to Huntly - where I have gotten a 6 month position with Deveron Arts. I am the new Shadow Curator Intern. Deveron Arts has the motto ‘The town is the venue’ which fits with my participatory art practice. The Shadow Curator program is based on Nuno Sacramento’s work for his PhD which takes the concept of a ‘checks and balance’ position within parliament, and places it in the framework of an arts institution’s curatorial practice. I am very excited to be continuing to learn and practice curation - as the modern ideas about curation are expanding and changing all the time. 

This is a great continuation of what I was learning and exploring as part of the Student Curatorial Team. If you visited my degree show you may have seen the 2Day gallery, where 12 artists showed work in 48 hour increments. You may also remember from earlier posts on this blog that I have organized Fun A Day Dundee these past 2 years. I also put together ‘New Artifacts’ in the Matthew Building Case. 

My experience with the Student Curatorial Team started when I came to DJCAD in 2011. This was the second year of the group, initiated by Cooper Gallery’s Curator, Sophia Hao, in 2010. I met Beth Savage, Holly Knox Yeoman, and Katie Reid, previous Student Curatorial Team members who had graduated, and were working on the exhibition A Cut, Scratch, Score. In the past 2 years we have visited the Richard Demarco archive, learned about Art Handling from Andrew Dodds, helped install and invigilate the ‘Dear Lynda...’ show, and were supported in various curatorial activities. Beyond the experience of putting together proposals and exhibitions, it has been great to meet other students interested in curation. This also led to many opportunities - this past year I was included in 3 shows that were put on by the Student Curatorial team - Nicola Prosser’s ‘6 x 4’, Sean Scott and Ellis O’Connor’s ‘Printed Matter’, and ‘Relics of Attachment ll’ which was organized between Vivienne Russell, Rachael Disbury, Cathy O’Brien, Lucas Battich, and Lisa Gordon. Lada Wilson had many interesting projects in the Matthew Building Case - keep an eye out for more from her next year.

I look forward to hearing what other people in the group will be up to post graduation, and to see what the student Curatorial Team does next year. 

For information about Deveron Arts: http://www.deveron-arts.com/home/

For my website: http://www.morgancahn.com/