Off the Wall

SHINING A LIGHT ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

An enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Jaune Quickto-See Smith is an acclaimed Indigenous American painter, printmaker, and self-described cultural arts worker who takes a decidedly interdisciplinary approach to her artistic practice.

Armed with a deep knowledge of the European-American art historical tradition, Quick-to-See Smith adroitly appropriates modernist aesthetics in order to shine a critical light on the erasure and oppression of Indigenous peoples in North America from first contact to the present day.

Drive-Thru, 2002 (at right) is the first work by a living Indigenous American artist to enter the collection of the Addison Gallery of American Art. In this piece, the artist references Robert Rauschenberg’s proto-Pop paintings through her synthesis of recognizable symbols of American culture overlaid with animated, expressionistic brushwork. An Indigenous man with a feather in his hair—a stereotypical visual trope common in mid-century American advertising—is surrounded by the banal signs (both literal and figurative) of shallow American consumerism in this evocative painting. The bold, primary colors of the Sonic drive-thru logo and inky black and turquoise hues of an incorrectly translated “HECHO EN USA” label bleed down the front of the canvas to contrast with and obscure the two-dimensional, uncolored outline of the Indigenous figure, bringing the viewer’s attention to the continued exploitation and aestheticization of Indigenous culture in America. A yellow and blue price tag that one might find on a windshield in a used car lot barely disguises the number “1492,” a solemn reminder of the centuries of violence and genocide ushered in by European colonization.

—GORDON DEARBORN WILKINS

Robert M. Walker Associate Curator of American Art

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (born 1940, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes) Drive-Thru, 2002 Acrylic on canvas Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, museum purchase, 2020.69

All School

FLAHERTY JOINS TRUSTEES

Dr. Keith Flaherty ’89, P’23, was recently elected to a six-year term as a charter trustee.

Flaherty is director of clinical research at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He was appointed director of COVID-19 clinical research at MGH last March.

A member of the Andover Bread Loaf Advisory Board since 2018, Flaherty believes deeply in the school’s mission to educate youth from every quarter and to advance education access on and beyond campus. He recently joined the Andover Development Board and is actively engaged in the Knowledge & Goodness campaign.

Flaherty’s COVID-19 teams are tasked with developing and maintaining a portfolio of the highest impact therapeutic trials. Their efforts are linked to cutting-edge diagnostic development and deployment of tools to better understand the biology of COVID-19-related complications and to better inform therapeutic development.

Among his nonprofit board appointments, Flaherty joined the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Advisors in 2018 and the American Association of Cancer Research Board of Directors in 2019. He is also editor in chief of Clinical Cancer Research. Flaherty also has co-founded a number of companies, including Loxo Oncology and, most recently, Scorpion Therapeutics. He has served(s) as a director on the boards of these companies, as well as on the boards of Kinnate Biopharma, Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, and Clovis Oncology.

Flaherty earned a BS from Yale University and an MD from Johns Hopkins University. He and his wife, Dr. Mira Kautzky, live in Cambridge, Mass., and have two children.

HUNGER IN AMERICA

What was already a disturbing reality for many Americans has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 50 million people are now food insecure according to Feeding America, the largest hunger relief organization in the U.S.

The problem of food insecurity was discussed in depth this winter through a new interscholastic program with nearly 60 students from PA and seven other schools, including Lawrenceville, Deerfield, and Taft.

Coordinated through Andover’s Office of Community Engagement, the six-week session included a deep dive into “Hunger in America” with guest speakers including PA Rabbi Michael Swartzz and Bing Broderick ’81, executive director of Haley House in Boston.

Ines Durant ’21 and Emily Mae Murtha ’22 helped organize the program. Durant has been working with community organizations to address hunger since her junior year and was excited to be working with peers from other schools.

“I think a main takeaway is that anyone can be food insecure in any circumstance,” Durant said. “There isn’t one cause or one solution or one way hunger looks, and to truly fix it we all need to understand that. What interests me is finding a solution to hunger that addresses the root causes instead of a band-aid solution.”

the BUZZ

Al Griggs ’58 was recently honored by Mass Humanities with the 2020 Governor’s Award. A Marine Corps veteran, successful businessman, and philanthropist, Griggs noted the importance of Andover’s non sibi motto in his life saying, “I learned from a very young age that it is important to work for the common good.”

PRISCILLA MARTEL ’74 For legions of Abbot Academy students, Heavenly Goo was the highlight of their week. Served at Sunday dinner, the rich, chocolatey bread pudding is remembered fondly by many alumni, including food consultant Priscilla Martel ’74 who, along with baking enthusiast Jina Corneau ’03, shared the recipe and high school memories during a virtual alumni event in February.