Lunder Institute @ 2024

San Francisco, February 10, 2024  
 
Two conversations over the course of a day examined the state of American art through the lens of radical imagining and collective care. The featured artists, curators, and interpretation specialists explored the responsibility of art workers in the face of censorship, the aftermath of the reversal of affirmative action, and ongoing assaults on education and freedom of expression. Moving beyond the buzzwords of diversity, equity, access, and inclusion, these conversations challenged both speakers and visitors to reassess the possibilities of creative work in shaping American life and discourse.  
 
Specialists from the Oakland Museum of California, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco considered the role of art museum interpretation professionals in shaping the narrative of American art in the current sociopolitical climate.  
 
American artists Diedrick Brackens and Rashaad Newsome, moderated by Devin Malone, director of public programs and community engagement at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, explored the role of the artist, producing creative work, and meaning making in the face of threats to freedom of expression.  
 
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Los Angeles, March 2, 2024  
 
Artists Sayre Gomez and Patrick Martinez, moderated by noted author and native Angeleno Lynell George, discussed Los Angeles as a creative landscape and how their artworks are shaped by it. Gomez’s and Martinez’s paintings are emblematic of a new generation of artists using the visual language of Los Angeles as inspiration for their creative practices. Martinez’s paintings incorporate architectural elements to indicate and preserve identity and culture for the Latinx community as the landscape of the city changes. Gomez’s artworks portray the passage of time and urban decay that looms over the city through faded signage, as well as the neglected and vacant buildings he encounters. Lynell George is a Los Angeles–based journalist, essayist, and author, whose 2020 book A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler was a finalist for the Hugo Award.  
 
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Bentonville, Arkansas, March 7, 2024  
 
In a program that brought together art, food, and dialogue, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art explored the pressing issues of American art, how new directions in American art are reflected in its collection, and how multiple perspectives impact its new galleries. The featured short conversations showcased the work and stories of artists Danielle Hatch, Linda Nguyen Lopez, and Kalyn Barnoski with conversations between each and a Crystal Bridges curator: Alejo Benedetti, curator of contemporary art; Jen Padgett, Windgate Curator of Craft; and Jordan Poorman Cocker, curator of Indigenous art.  
 
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Andover, Massachusetts, April 7, 2024  
 
The Addison Gallery of American Art’s founding history provides a snapshot into the state, and stakes, of American art in the 1920s and 1930s. This symposium looked to the Addison’s own formation as a case study to track evolving notions of American art over the last century, with special attention to questions of citizenship and national identity as they inform the field today. The first panel took up the Addison’s founding collection, in particular the specification that only works of art “produced by a native-born or naturalized citizen of the United States” could be acquired. What was the context of and intention behind this definition of American art? How was citizenship defined in this moment, and who was excluded? What exceptions were or have been made to this provision, and why? What is the relationship between nationality, national identity, and American art? The second panel explored issues around the definition of American art in our present moment. How have definitions of American art changed over the past century, and what factors have impacted that notion over time? Panelists probed the ethics, considerations, and ramifications of enfolding artists with traditionally marginalized cultural affiliations into a preexisting American art canon.  
 
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Boston, May 23, 2024  
 
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, hosted an in-person public symposium moderated by Michael J. Bramwell, its Joyce Linde Curator of Folk and Self-Taught Art, around new understandings and reception of folk and self-taught art in the twenty-first century. Participants included Gabrielle A. Berlinger, professor of folklore, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Kinshasha Holman Conwill, deputy director emerita, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture; Jori Finkel, New York Times art critic; and Lonnie Holley, American artist. The equitable integration of folk and self-taught art into museums promotes cultural competency by reflecting appreciation of art and people from diverse backgrounds. This idea is central to progressive cultural practice and a socially equitable society. The symposium aspired to raise the profile and positive reception of folk and self-taught art while expanding the MFA’s institutional goal of inclusion, diversity, equity, and access.  
 
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New York, September 13, 2024  
 
Two conversations over the course of an afternoon reflected on American art today through the lens of museum collecting and artistic practices. The conversations explored how exhibition making can propel new art historical narratives and how artists can inspire audiences to understand American art and history from different perspectives. In Part 1, Whitney Museum of American Art curators Jennie Goldstein, Marcela Guerrero, and Rujeko Hockley discussed recent and upcoming exhibitions drawn from, and building upon, the Whitney’s collection. Mining themes of landscape, craft, and inheritance, these exhibitions have been part of an ongoing process of expanding the category of American art. The conversation was moderated by Megan Heuer, Whitney director of public programs and academic engagement. In Part 2, artists Alan Michelson and Every Ocean Hughes, moderated by Kim Conaty, the Whitney’s Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator, presented their recent projects that engage with the Whitney’s current site at 99 Gansevoort Street and invited viewers to consider under-known histories embedded in both the place and the institution.  
 
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Waterville, Maine, October 29, 2024  
 
The Lunder Institute @ series came home to culminate its inaugural year and provide an opportunity for the Colby community to learn about this innovative program and how it serves as a vehicle to create conversations across art institutions around the country on the state of American art. Each of the six museums shared what they learned from their participation.  
 
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