A CONVERSATION WITH HELEN M. SHANNON, RON TARVER, A. M. WEAVER, AND JEAN WOODLEY
On Monday, May 11, 2015, University of the Arts Associate Professor and Director of the Museum Education Program’s Museum Studies Department Helen M. Shannon, PhD; artist Ron Tarver; independent curator and art journalist A. M. Weaver; and museum educator Jean Woodley sat down with William Valerio, Susanna W. Gold, and Rachel McCay to discuss the We Speak exhibition. WILLIAM VALERIO: I woke up this morning to read
member. We weren’t aware of the degree to which
the op-ed piece in the New York Times by Charles
the National Conference of Artists provided support
M. Blow, “Of Museums and Racial Relics,” which
to black artists until we spoke with Kimberly Camp,
describes First Lady Michelle Obama’s remarks
nor did we know of the work of Louise Clement-
at the opening of the new Whitney Museum of
Hoff until Allan Edmunds identified her as a
American Art in New York City. She approached
significant influence on his own career. We learned
the subject from two sides, complimenting the
how various organizations helped artists seek out
inclusivity of the opening exhibition, but also
exhibition opportunities, meet older members
recognizing museums as places that can seem
of the artistic community, and develop practical
inaccessible to many. In the online comments
skills such as how to build a portfolio. We also
reacting to Blow’s article, one person wrote that
encountered a number of under-recognized artists
in order for institutions to overcome the projected
who contributed significantly to the vibrant art
image of race-based elitism and inaccessibility, they
communities of Philadelphia. Curating this exhibition
have to learn how to tell stories that are relevant
has been a collaborative effort that has involved all
to the audiences that have been excluded. All this
those who were interviewed.
struck me as relevant to Woodmere’s goal with We Speak: to cast a broad net and provide a platform for the stories of black artists in Philadelphia within the timeframe of the 1920s through the 1970s. RACHEL MCCAY: The exhibition has evolved
through a series of interviews that Susanna, Bill, and I conducted with a variety of people. The interviews have served to guide the development of the checklist. If, for example, someone recommended an artist that neither Susanna nor I had been aware of, we sought out either the artist or a living family
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WOODMERE ART MUSEUM
A. M. WEAVER: Why did you want to do this show?
How did this idea begin? VALERIO: I arrived at Woodmere five years ago to
find a museum that was dedicated to Philadelphia’s artists and that had in its collection compelling and wonderful works of art by artists who are black. We show them frequently in all kinds of different contexts—for example, we displayed our large Paul Keene painting Variations on a Spanish Theme (c. 1970; ill. p. 159) in Flirting with Abstraction, a 2011–12 exhibition about abstraction in Philadelphia.
Josie–Seated Woman, 1970s, by Louise Clement-Hoff (Courtesy of the artist) WE SPEAK: Black Artists in Philadelphia, 1920s–1970s
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