8 Students, 5 Months, 670+ Collection Items, and One Final Exhibition

Much like a Quentin Tarantino film, I’m going to introduce this project by showcasing the climax first, much like when Tarantino presents the audience with his rugged protagonist: tired, bruised and bloody, beaten down, and on the verge of achieving redemption. Obviously, this curatorial project was not as melodramatic as that and no one is out seeking redemption or revenge (and thankfully, no one ever bruised or bloodied themselves).  But we, the Saltonstall House Curatorial team, are certainly worn down from all the moments that preceded this one. 

From back to front: Keiji Shinohara (after the style of Andō Hiroshige), Miyanokoshi; 

Joan Miró, L’Ete, 1938; Japanese Print and Double Sided Woodblock (unpictured), Artist and Date Unknown

In my opinion, the peak of this five-month, student-run curatorial project is the exhibition postcard. Months of work, 365 slices of pizza eaten, and countless late-night discussions come together in this perfectly designed, eloquently written summation.  On the postcard, disembodied student arms circle around a Miró print, another print lovingly nicknamed “MS Paint,” and a mysterious Japanese woodblock print, as students choose new archival matting. The lighting is dramatic (thanks to an Instagram filter), the pointed index fingers seem emboldened with opinions, and the atmosphere of teamwork is palpable. The photograph proves that this project is real and substantial, and at times, unwieldy and hectic.

Flip over the glossy postcard and it reads,

This year, a team of students has embarked on a curatorial project that will spark conversations about Exeter, drawing from objects from the Lamont Gallery’s permanent collection. Once described as “of accidental origin,” the collection includes everything from prints by Leonard Baskin and Utagawa (Andō) Hiroshige to Indonesian ceremonial swords.

What can this assorted collection of art objects tell us about where we have been, where we are now, and where we are going? How can we use these objects today to create spaces of exchange, given that not everyone arrives at Exeter via the same route? The site of the students’ curatorial intervention is the Principal’s house.  A space for campus-wide afternoon teas and a haven of alumni and Trustee meetings, Principal MacFarlane’s Dining Room in Saltonstall House is one of the most public, yet private rooms on the Phillips Exeter Academy campus. Those who gather in the space are united by their connection to Exeter, but diverse in their ages, backgrounds, and points of view.

Visitors are invited to reflect on the rich and varied journeys made by students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents, using the art on display—now, no longer accidental—as a catalyst for purposeful learning.

I actually took the photograph in the frame shop that is now used on the exhibition postcard.  That very fact sums up my role in this project.  My name is Olivia Knauss (or Ms. Knauss to the curators) and I have served as the Saltonstall House Curatorial team faculty facilitator and, more broadly, as the Lamont Gallery Collections Assistant and Archives Coordinator.  Throughout this five-month, student-centered project, my role was to listen, intervene occasionally, gently prod, and mostly facilitate; to pick up two cheese and one pepperoni pizza for every Tuesday night meeting; to begin discussions about the white cube, salon-style hanging; the difference between interior design and curation; and to occasionally drive a 14-person bus on various trips to the frame shop.  But mostly, I was there to take pictures, manage the behind-the-scenes responsibilities, and offer insight as the students worked to realize their idea for this collections exhibition. 

As much as I would love to continue writing about this project, I will leave it to the students to paint a fuller picture – and, as Tarantino does it, set the scene to this monumental project.

Pictured above: 

Keiji Shinohara, after the style of Ando Hiroshige, 

from Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō, 1834-42

Japanese

Miyanokoshi

Woodblock print in the ukiyo-style

Joan Miró
Spanish (1893-1983)
L’Ete, 1938
Color pochoir print
Collection: Lamont Gallery, Phillips Exeter Academy 

*Unfortunately this piece did not make it into the final exhibition.

Japanese Print and Double Sided Woodblock 

Collection: Lamont Gallery, Phillips Exeter Academy

Gifted by Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Marcus