Arts & Culture

Object Lesson

Curators of the country’s top art institutions on the objects that inspire them

Barnard Magazine

Illustration portrays gallery art via abstractions of organic circular shapes

Object Lesson Graphic

What goes into building a museum collection? From the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, six alums in the curatorial field share with us the objects in their institutions' collections that have special significance to them — and why they matter personally, culturally, and to the scholarship of art history.

Click on the image to read the curator’s essay.

Stephanie Barron ’72

Senior Curator and Department Head, Modern Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Dancer With Necklace, German Expressionist sculpture of a female that's abstracted in a cubist fashion — Dancer With Necklace, 1910, by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (Germany, 1880–1938)

Carla Acevedo-Yates ’00

Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Muxeres en Mi / Womyn in Me (1), 2019, from the Mujeres en Mi series (2010–) by Carolina Caycedo (Colombian, b. 1978; lives and works in Los Angeles). — Muxeres en Mi / Womyn in Me (1), 2019, from the Mujeres en Mi series (2010–) by Carolina Caycedo (Colombian, b. 1978; lives and works in Los Angeles)

Andrea Myers Achi ’07

Mary and Michael Jaharis Associate Curator of Byzantine Art
Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Fragment from a Coptic Hanging, 5th century, attributed to Egypt.inen, wool; plain weave, tapestry-weave; 40 15/16 in by 24 13/16 in — Fragment from a Coptic Hanging, 5th century, attributed to Egypt

Jessica May ’99

Managing Director, Art and Exhibitions and Artistic Director
deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum
Lincoln, Massachusetts

Cabin in the woods askew at an angle as if blown by the big bad wolf. — Huff and a Puff, 2023, by Hugh Hayden (b. 1983, Dallas)

Jessica S. Hong ’09

Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio

Rama, by Pacita Abad (Basco, Philippines, 1946–2004, Singapore), from the “Masks and Spirits” series, 1982. — Rama, by Pacita Abad (Basco, Philippines, 1946–2004, Singapore), from the “Masks and Spirits” series, 1982

Makeda Best ’97

Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs
Oakland Museum of California

“I Dream A World” poster, work on paper by Brian Lanker, 1991. — “I Dream A World” poster, work on paper by Brian Lanker, 1991

Music producer Ebonie Smith looks at camera seated next to a recording control board

Latest IssueWinter 2024

The Arts Issue

Award-winning music producer Ebonie Smith ’07, museum curators on objects of interest, a dance course brings students to the stage, and more!

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