Anna Jane Storms and Jae Tuggle: Instant Memory: The Polaroids of Andy Warhol
During the Spring 2022 semester, Centenary student interns Anna Jane Storms ’23 and Jae Tuggle ’25 curated and installed an exhibition of Andy Warhol’s Polaroids and gelatin silver prints from the Meadows Museum’s Permanent Collection.
What did you learn about yourself through this curating and installation process?
Storms:
This exhibit really boosted my confidence in becoming a professional. It was very gratifying that people trusted and respected me to execute a vision with high-profile artwork, and that I could actually get it done in relatively little time while doing a lot of other school activities. Having practical experience to create a concrete exhibit really helped show me that my knowledge I’ve been adding to these past three years could be applied to something!
Tuggle:
I learned I may want to curate another exhibit in the future and possibly pursue it as a career. There are very few chances one gets to safely try out a job as a test run to see how likely they are to want to do it again, and it was great having that chance being so malleable in my future goals currently. I would love to try curating again.
What were some challenges you had to overcome while curating this exhibition?
Storms:
Part of me wished the exhibition period would be open longer than a month, especially for April (since it’s such a busy time for students). Due to copyright issues, it was also difficult for word-of-mouth advertising on social media, since we could not allow photography of the exhibit.
Tuggle:
While working each week with one class after another on museum days was incredibly stressful and took a lot out of me each time, I know this was a wonderful experience for me creatively and professionally. I am happy to have this time documented for future resumes and as a talking point for interviews.
What was it like to curate Andy Warhol’s works from the museum’s collection?
Storms:
I think the exhibit Jae and I planned captured student attention and brought more student interest to the Meadows, which was one of my goals when planning an exhibit in the Project Space gallery. The layout and selection of Warhol’s work was very on-trend and helped bring some name-recognition to the Meadows. People easily connected to and interacted with the artwork, and I think our use of simple framing and matting choices (specifically including the Polaroid edge) worked very well.
Tuggle:
It was of course interesting working with pieces by a very influential artist and the processes that one has to go through to properly display them. Through this internship, I took part in what museums thrive at: sharing historical pieces with the community. The exhibit brought people into the museum for an artist they know and gave them access to artists they may not know. It is interesting and impressive for the Meadows Museum of Art to have this special artist on display, creating a sense of pride in the community at Centenary and around Shreveport.
How has this curating experience impacted your personal or professional goals?
Storms:
Overall, I had a very fulfilling experience interning at the Meadows. I originally wanted to familiarize myself with the Meadows collection and practices in anticipation before designing my senior project, and it was a great experience. I felt it gave me a good insight into the real-life workings of museum professionals, increasing and specializing my interests in a future career in arts management. This has been my second internship with exhibition design, and I really enjoyed finding a new topic, or in this case, conceptual idea and designing an exhibit around it. I also found the installation process very fulfilling. The more labor-intensive aspects of art shows had kind of always intimidated me (probably because of some aggressive gender expectation instilled in me haha), and I found it very empowering to be involved in all parts of the planning, designing, and installing process. It helped me realize the technical aspects of designing an exhibit, even a largely conceptual one.
This internship has made my love for smaller museums grow, and I love how many different things one gets to explore at a smaller-sized arts organization. Prior to this, I was thinking about graduate studies in art history, but more and more, I am discovering my true interest lies in the sustainability and operations of an arts institution, even more so than studying the art it houses or produces. Essentially, this internship made me become more interested in a multi-faceted programming or director-type role in a museum rather than becoming a research-focused curator.
Tuggle:
This internship was incredibly interesting getting first-hand experience of what it takes to curate. It has had me considering museum curation as a career path, and I am happy to have hands on experience in the field as is. I had a wonderful time working and would be happy to come back and curate another exhibit sometime soon!
Instant Memory: The Polaroids of Andy Warhol is on display at the Meadows Museum from April 5-23, 2022.