ICA, Boston Curator to Visit PSU

On Monday, March 12, one of the assistant art curators for the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Jeffrey De Blois, will visit Plymouth State. He will be speaking at the Museum of the White Mountains/Karl Drerup Art Gallery (“KDAG”) on Highland Street in the downstairs “open lab” space. The talk will be accessible to everyone, and is open to the public.

De Blois is a Plymouth State alum, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in the Humanities in 2006. He then went on to gain his Master of Arts from Boston University in 2013.

De Blois is currently most famous for his help in curating art for “Art in the Age of the Internet, 1989 to Today,” an exhibit at ICA, Boston that explores the effects of technology by those both creating and consuming art. The exhibit will be continue to be available to view through May 20.

Though the concept of having a visiting speaker come to the PSU art department is not new, this specific arrangement differs from the past. Cynthia Robinson, director of the Museum of the White Mountains and KDAG, said about the upcoming visit, “This is a new collaboration. The art department usually gets two visiting artists a year--a graphic designer and studio artist--to come and to spend the day here with students, and do some critiques, and usually do some kind of talk.”

The concept of having an art curator from a major art institute, such as ICA, Boston, however, is new ground. It was the idea of Sarah Parrish, an art historian who is new to PSU. She knows De Blois personally.

Parrish had the idea of a curator, historian or someone in a position along those lines coming to speak on campus. Naturally, Robinson wanted the Museum of the White Mountains, PSU’s art hub, to be a part of hosting such a guest.

Not much is known specifically about the upcoming afternoon talk quite yet. But, Robinson does know that De Blois will have an image-based presentation, and believes he will talk about his creative process.

“He’s going to be here the whole day. We’re going to get a special talk, for just museum staff. We’re going to do a ‘brown bag’ lunch with him, and have him talk about the art of curating--what is his job like, and what kinds of things he does. And I’m hoping that’ll be day-to-day kind of stuff that could inspire our students and our professional staff,” Robinson said.

Robinson said that she is interested to hear about how De Blois went about curating his latest exhibit, as the process happens differently at different establishments. “I’m really excited to hear how that exhibit evolved,” she said. “Part of curating is choosing elements to be part of an exhibit, and usually, you have way too much stuff.” She is interested by what the ICA’s goals are, and how they plan on inspiring people.

Robinson is also excited about the public access of the event. “I expect that we’ll have some people from the community that will come,” she said.

De Blois’ presentation will also be videotaped and put on the museum’s website. This will allow for art students to watch and respond if they missed the event, as well as for anyone interested to view it.

Come out and see Jeffrey De Blois’ presentation on March 12! For more information on De Blois’ current exhibit, visit https://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/art-age-internet-1989-today.

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