Curator Visits Art History Students for Q&A
Posted by karah.kemmerly
On February 7, 2024, students from ART210: Women in Art hosted a lecture and Q&A session with Laurel V. McLaughlin, Curator and Director of the Collective Futures Fund for Tufts University Art Galleries in Boston, Mass. Laurel recently curated an exhibition here in Portland at Oregon Contemporary near PCC Cascade.
In the Zoom lecture, “Curating as Conduction,” Laurel introduced the students to the exhibition “Waste Scenes: Maia Chao and Fred Schmidt-Arenales.” She also gave an overview of her career trajectory as an art curator and took questions from the students about professional goals in the arts. After the talk, students hopped on the MAX to make a visit to Oregon Contemporary.
One student wrote that “Laurel spoke about her educational background, previous internships and positions, and exhibits she’s worked on, presentations given, but what I found to be most remarkable was her drive to create more equity in the art world. I learned of the wage disparity between [arts] workers and . . . her work with undocumented women. Going into the exhibit with her values in mind, my expectations were exceeded by Waste Scenes, which tells a story about the effects of neoliberal capitalism using multiple mediums of art.”
Art history students send a big thanks to HARTS Fund supporters for the opportunity to chat with a professional in the art world.