An Overview of the Project

At the beginning of fall term, Ms. Durand, the Lamont Gallery Manager, reached out to us because of our displayed interest in the gallery and/or from our prior work with the gallery last spring.  She proposed the idea to Principal MacFarlane of curating her dining room in Saltonstall house with pieces from our immense archive. Principal MacFarlane, eager to customize the home, accepted and funded our project (after we came up with a budget, of course).

"Watermelon Sleeves," or more properly known as The Red
Death, by Federico Castellón. 

For the next few months, Ms. Knauss, the Collections Assistant and Archives Coordinator, supervised our meetings.  Fueled by pizza, we first reviewed most of the items in the archive digitally, noting the pieces that evoked strong emotions from us. As we reviewed the collection, we began to notice themes and nicknaming the pieces such as ‘Watermelon sleeves’ and ‘MS Paint’. There was a section of about a dozen portraits of white men associated with the school which we considered including, but, sadly, they did not make the cut. We focused on the values of Exeter which we wished to convey in our picks, fixating on “youth from every quarter”. We wanted to make our collection both worldly and a bit surreal, but once we had our pieces chosen, we still had the logistics to figure out.

The student curators at Four Square Framing.

As a group, we took multiple field trips to the framing company, and the Peabody Essex art museum. At the framers, we browsed through the rows and rows of handcrafted frames styles and sets of colored mats (the protective layer between the mat and the frame), with a few of our selected pieces to the side for reference. Whoever was free during the time went over to the framers with Ms. Knauss and Ms. O'Neal, the Lamont Gallery director and curator; there were many trips. 

At PEM with the H.A. Crosby Forbes Curator of Asian Export Art,
Karina Corrigan, and PEA alumnus and
PEM Trustee, Rob Shapiro, '68.

One Sunday, we left campus at 9 AM on a Red Dragon to go to the Peabody Essex Museum. When we arrived at the museum, we received a tour from one of the museum’s curators. We learnt about the process of curating an exhibit and artwork placement. She also discussed the psychology behind art viewers and how one arranges a room in the order of which they hope the spectator to view them. 

The maquette of Principal MacFarlane's dining room.

As installment day came closer, Ms. Atkins, a Lamont Gallery attendant, created a to-scale model of Ms. MacFarlane’s dining room. We placed the miniature print-outs of the art pieces around the ‘room’, but, on installment day, we realized there was not enough room for all our selected work (see our favorite pieces that didn’t quite fit in another post). After months of art decisions, writing labels, hoisting up sculptures, and eating pizza, we’ve produced something that we’re all proud of. Now to find something new to fill our Tuesday nights!

-Gabby, '18