Fine art will get a new direction next semester as Craig Hadley joins the university faculty as Curator of Exhibitions and University Collections. Hadley is taking the place of current curator Katie Johnson. Staff writer Alicia Tutini spoke to Hadley about his work as a curator and coming to DePauw.
Alicia Tutini: Why did you decide to apply for the curator job?
Craig Hadley: It looked like a good mix of challenges. It provided an opportunity to hopefully get more than just the traditional audience interested in the art as well as getting a variety of students involved.
AT: What sort of art education do you have?
CH: I don't have a traditional art background, per se. I have a very informal art education background. My undergraduate degree is actually from Beloit College, and I studied anthropology and museum studies. I also have an Asian studies background as well — I'm half Japanese. So I spent some time in Japan looking at those from an anthropological perspective. My master's degree is in history and museum studies. So I have a pretty broad lens when you consider how I approach the topic of art specifically. Most of my art training has been through internships and also through the works that I've done over the last three years.
AT: Where do you currently work?
CH: Currently I'm at Beloit College, which is in Wisconsin. It's very similar to DePauw — it's a small liberal arts school — except we're about half the size of DePauw. At Beloit, we have two museums on campus: we have an anthropology museum and we have an art museum, which is the one I've been working at.
AT: How long have you worked there?
CH: I've spent the last three years at Beloit.
AT: What have you done in your time working there?
CH: We've really tried to make the museums much more accessible to students and faculty. So that means reaching out past the more traditional audience, which has typically been art or art history students, to different departments like political science, modern languages, history, anthropology and many others — really trying to create exhibits and events for students who typically wouldn't visit the museum to get involved and feel that the museum really is relevant to them.
AT: What are you hoping to do in your time at DePauw?
CH: There seems to be a real student interest in getting involved, whether that is the exhibition selection process, all the way up to the actual installation. I'm not saying that overnight all these things will happen, but I think to start it would be nice to get students involved at some level.
AT: What specific activities would you like students to get involved in?
CH: At Beloit, we have a large museums study program. So the students are involved in nearly every level of the exhibition design and development. A lot of them will curate or co-curate their own exhibits, students will give gallery talks and they'll assist with programming.
AT: How do you feel about Greencastle?
CH: Well, actually, my family and my wife's family live in Indianapolis, so we've been looking to move to Indianapolis for some time. So when this opportunity came up, it was something that we just couldn't pass up. When I saw that a position as wonderful as this and as similar to what I've been doing, it was just irresistible.
AT: Why did you decide to be a curator?
CH: Ever since I was young, I've always had an interest in objects. We would always visit museums and galleries and things like that. I have always been very comfortable with it. It's sort of addicting.
AT: Who are some of your favorite artists?
CH: Gosh, let's see — one piece that I'm just in love with right now that we've actually sent for conservation is a lithograph from 1895 by Toulouse Lautrec. It's a beautiful poster. He was sort of at the forefront of modern advertising, so his work is still very relevant today. I really enjoy our collection of Goya prints … We have "The Disasters of War" series that, though not contemporary per se, still address contemporary issues and still has meaning today. Of the more modern and contemporary work, I really enjoy Andy Warhol — the exhibit was perfect — and Jasper Johns. My interests are all over the board. There isn't necessarily one particular piece that I love.
AT: Why do you think that art is important?
CH: Well, knowing art and material culture in general is really a skill that is important for many of us beyond higher education. Being able to interact with objects and learn the visual literacy skills that are required to interpret objects in visual culture. These aren't necessarily skills that we learn in the classroom when we're students. These are skills that really need development. We live in a very visual culture and especially with mass media, so it's important that we can all at least understand what it is we're looking at. Whether or not you're an art student doesn't matter. I think, for example, if you're a pre-med student, observation skills are obviously very important and being able to really interpret what exactly you will be dealing with through a detailed lens. Art can be a truly useful tool for whatever career path you're aiming for.
AT: How will you make art more important for DePauw?
CH: It's all about piquing interest and getting students involved. Branching out from the traditional audience into a more broad range of students and faculty. To see how students would like to shape the direction of the gallery.