It’s Not About Me, but It Is.

As both a practicing artist and the curator and director of The New Gallery at Austin Peay State University, I inhabit two seemingly distinct roles. As an artist, my work is mostly a solo endeavor, while my job as a gallery director requires collaboration and coordination of artists, speakers, and students. Yet my two roles constantly inform each other, and my experience as an artist has benefited my exhibiting artists and the Austin Peay students. Being an artist equips me with a sensibility that allows me to meet the needs of exhibiting artists, as I can effectively curate their work while remaining sensitive to their artistic voices. Because I have been on both sides, I find practical solutions to logistical hurdles and properly present their work in a caring and professional manner. It also allows me to discuss the work with my students differently than an art historian might and present information about process and material. Another advantage of being an artist in the curator role is that it enables me to build relationships with exhibiting artists through a shared language and an ever-growing network of peers. As an artist in a gallery director role, I understand and appreciate the importance of providing a space that is safe for the artist to experiment with their craft while engaging the public in dialogue that is both welcoming and accessible. And this, I argue, frees artists to create more innovative and sometimes risky work.