San Francisco Public Library
Between 2022 - 2023 I served as the Exhibition Curator at the San Francisco Public Library. In this role I managed a program of 50+ exhibits annually in 2 Main galleries, 7 floors of the Main Library, and 27 branches in the system. I worked directly with librarians, artists, external curators, and community partners to realize their projects at the Library. These are some of the highlights from my time in this role.
Arhoolie Records
In 2019 and early 2020 I designed and installed an exhibition about the history of Arhoolie Records at the Down Home Music Store in El Cerrito, CA. This was done in collaboration with the founder of Arhoolie, Chris Strachwitz, and was based off of the Down Home Music exhibit at the SFO Museum from 2018. I connected with Chris through the curator at the SFO Museum, and together he and I came up with a smaller exhibition to fill walls of the music store with his life's work. You can watch a video featuring Chris telling stories as he walks through the exhibit.
Weaving the World Into a Basket
In 2015 I designed, curated, and installed an exhibit at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History of Indigenous North American basketry called Weaving the World Into A Basket. This is one of my proudest moments as a museum professional because as a student and curator, this exhibit was an opportunity for me to learn every step in the exhibit design and development process in a hands-on way. I developed the proposal, designed the layout, wrote the labels, selected the objects, prepared the objects for display, and assisted throughout the fabrication and install.
The exhibit included baskets from the collection (archaeological and more contemporary), artistic banners of baskets I photographed, botanical specimens, and a video of a living basket maker from California. I designed this exhibit to have five rotations of baskets over two years, with the didactic materials remaining static - a real challenge! Creating this exhibit was an incredible opportunity to see a project through from conception to completion.
Online Exhibition
In 2016 I co-curated an online exhibit of Indigenous arts from the Plains and Plateau regions of North America using the collections at the Denver Art Museum. Producing this exhibit included collections visits, extensive research with primary and secondary source materials, writing research and curatorial statements, in-person lectures, and the creation of the website and other digital resources. While the entire project was collaborative, my research focused on three flat twined "cornhusk" bags from the Plateau.
