Curators We Love: Nicole Dial-Kay

CURATORS WE LOVE

Nicole Dial-Kay

Nicole Dial-Kay may be the curator of exhibitions and collections at the Harwood Museum of Art, but she considers herself to be primarily a facilitator. “Supporting artists and helping their ideas come to life, that’s where I’m best,” she says. She joined the Taos institution in February 2020, just days before the pandemic fell, bringing with her 15 years of museum programming experience. Her previous leadership roles included stints at the Saint Louis Art Museum, in Missouri; the Pratt Museum, in Homer, Alaska; and Breckenridge Creative Arts, in Breckenridge, Colorado. Hailing from a small town in Illinois, Dial-Kay is most at home traveling in her 1978 VW bus with her husband and two dogs. When in the office, however, she’s curating fall exhibitions exploring narratives and counter-narratives of cowboys, and planning the Harwood’s 2023 centennial celebration.

Evokation: How would you describe your curatorial philosophy?

Where I came from is really important. I came from a small farming community in Illinois. My family didn’t have a lot of money, so my parents would drive us into St. Louis, where we would go to the free Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District, which includes the Saint Louis Art Museum. I remember going through the halls and being awed at how much beauty is in that building. Having that open access was literally life-changing for me. When I design exhibitions, I think a lot about what I, as I kid, would have thought, and what my parents would have thought, about anything I do. Would I feel welcome? Would they feel represented? That’s always in the back of my mind.

Evokation: When you arrived here, what was your introduction to Taos arts like?

I was in my office for two weeks—and then the whole world shut down [due to the COVID-19 pandemic]. The first project I curated was Contemporary Art / Taos 2020, a survey the Harwood does every couple of decades. We received 330 applications from our open call—Taos is full of incredible work. I spent my time going through application packets and doing studio visits over Zoom. We selected 28 artists—including Lynnette Haozous and Izumi Yokoyama, who did site-specific installations—and spent a month doing an installation in a museum closed to visitors. That’s how my relationship with the contemporary artists in Taos began.

Evokation: How did the museum pivot during the pandemic?

We rewrote the strategic plan. It allowed us to consider what we should be putting our resources toward, and what’s getting us closer to where we want to be as a museum. We had a lot of conversations about how well we were representing the community. We’re completing a multiyear diversity, equity, and inclusion training. It’s important work that has to be done by museums, which have a problematic colonial history that doesn’t make everyone feel welcomed and included.

Evokation: What else arose from those conversations?

We’re focusing on four seasonal exhibitions a year. Our overarching goals are to 1) celebrate Taos’s art history, 2) support emerging artists, 3) bring in artists from outside the community who are doing great work nationally and internationally to inspire creative community, and 4) reflect the diverse voices of our community. We’re looking at the makeup of the collection and asking, “Who’s not represented here?” Then we’re accessioning works by those voices that aren’t as represented as they should be.

Evokation: What’s coming up for fall?

We have William Herbert “Buck” Dunton: A Mainer Goes West (October 29–May 21, 2023), which celebrates the legacy of the Taos Society of Artists’ (TSA) resident “cowboy painter.” This traditional show will be paired with Outriders: Legacy of the Black Cowboy (October 15–May 7, 2023), which will look at Wild West history outside the dominant narrative. This exhibition will have historic photographs from the late 1800s to early 1900s that will provide the foundational history; the other half is contemporary responses by seven artists from today, such as New York–based painter Alexander Harrison, who incorporates Black culture into his works; Ghana-born Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, who depicts cowboy culture; and Texas-born Praise Fuller, who specializes in horses, cows, and ranchland imagery in her cyanotypes.

Evokation: What’s ahead at the Harwood?

I’ve spent two years in the archives preparing for the Harwood’s 100th anniversary next year. The celebration will kick off in June 2023. It will include a full museum exhibition, a PBS documentary, a Museum of New Mexico Press publication, and a full year of programming. There’s so much to tell—from the story of Lucy Harwood establishing the Harwood Foundation, to the property serving as Taos’s WPA headquarters and its first public library, to the many periods of Taos’s art. For the exhibition, the biggest room will focus on the people of the Harwood, from the volunteers to the artists. It will include loans of important works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Elaine de Kooning, and Margaret Bourke-White. To be part of the museum’s legacy is overwhelming— I’m honored to be part of the history of this ongoing source of inspiration.

—Ashley M. Biggers

Photo: Andrew Yates