Art and People

Two people I like and respect a whole lot are Meaghan Ritchey (we worked together for a while at International Arts Movement) and Dan Siedell (author of God in the Gallery, a book that has shaped my thinking about art and theology). Meaghan interviewed Dan recently for The Curator, asking him about his work as a curator, and the results are tremendous:

How does your interaction with an artist evolve from your initial encounter with their work, to studio visit, and then to the realization of a museum exhibition?

My particular way of working with artists is deeply personal. I have to like the artists I work with—respect who they are as human beings, and how they approach their work as artists. There is also usually something about their work that pushes up against my approach to art that tests my understanding of artistic practice, and poses a question that I want to answer through their work. I also want to work with an artist who’s interested in my approach to their work, who believes that my approach enriches their practice. How we collaborate might take different forms: a publication, an acquisition, artist’s lecture, participation in a group or thematic show, or a solo project. I hope that years down the road the artist will consider our project to be somehow significant in her development, not only as an artist, but as a person.