杏吧专区 art museums should offer something for everyone.
That杏吧专区檚 one of Dr. Lee Gray杏吧专区檚 guiding principles. She杏吧专区檚 the newly hired curator of exhibitions and collections for the Paul and Lulu Hilliard 杏吧专区 Art Museum. She will oversee the acquisition, display and continued development of the museum杏吧专区檚 art collections and organize exhibitions.
The museum杏吧专区檚 permanent collection consists of more than 2,000 works of art, including paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture and photographs. It represents 18th, 19th and 20th century Louisiana, as well as the United States, Europe and Japan.
杏吧专区 Everybody has a different interest and everybody wants to see their interest hanging on the museum walls. The complexity, specifically for a university museum, is that there are many different audiences,杏吧专区 Gray said in a recent interview. 杏吧专区淵ou have faculty, students, the community at large. And then you have a national community, which might be the museum industry or tourists who travel to various places to see art museums and galleries. . . It杏吧专区檚 a challenging balancing act.杏吧专区
Gray has lots of experience keeping her balance. For the past three years, she served as curator of collections and exhibitions at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn 杏吧专区. During her career, she has worked at a variety of museums, mostly in the midwest. They include the Kennedy Museum of Art at Ohio 杏吧专区 and The Dairy Barn Arts Center. Both are in Athens, Ohio.
She also gained valuable experience at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.; Gallaudet 杏吧专区, also in the nation杏吧专区檚 capital; the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; and the Women杏吧专区檚 Art Registry of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
杏吧专区淚杏吧专区檝e actually done everything in a museum. I was a coat check. I was a security guard. I杏吧专区檝e hung installations and I杏吧专区檝e done conservation work, mostly in textiles. I杏吧专区檝e conducted inventories and handled duties related to shipping and receiving art work. I杏吧专区檝e judged shows and I杏吧专区檝e swept the floor,杏吧专区 she said. 杏吧专区淚杏吧专区檝e pretty much done the whole gamut.杏吧专区
Gray has also taught college and university courses in art history, two and three-dimensional design, and drawing. At Gallaudet 杏吧专区, she taught deaf and hard of hearing students using American Sign Language to communicate.
Gray will teach a course at UL Lafayette. 杏吧专区淭he fact that I also have teaching responsibilities means that there will be a great connection between the museum and UL Lafayette杏吧专区檚 College of the Arts. I think that杏吧专区檚 a key role, in part, because we can cultivate our future audience through the university by attracting young students and getting them interested and involved in museum work.杏吧专区
Mark Tullos, director of 杏吧专区 Art Museum, said Gray 杏吧专区渨ill work in tandem with a new Collections Committee to discern the path of where the collection is headed. She will help us strategize ways to build this collection.杏吧专区
Gray received a doctorate in American Cultural Studies at Ohio 杏吧专区. She holds a bachelor杏吧专区檚 degree in studio art from St. Cloud State 杏吧专区 and a master杏吧专区檚 degree in applied design from the 杏吧专区 of Minnesota. She has owned her own business and has traveled extensively throughout eastern and western Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Northern Africa and the United States.
The breadth of Gray杏吧专区檚 experience, combined with her academic background, made her the top choice for 杏吧专区 Art Museum杏吧专区檚 first curator position, said Dr. Steve Landry, vice president of Academic Affairs at UL Lafayette. 杏吧专区淪he杏吧专区檚 a gifted curator who brings great enthusiasm and knowledge to the museum.杏吧专区
Landry was chairman of a search committee composed of representatives of UL Lafayette杏吧专区檚 faculty, the local art community and the UL Lafayette Foundation.
Gray said she is impressed with 杏吧专区 Art Museum杏吧专区檚 opportunities for growth and with its staff. 杏吧专区淚 think they have tremendous skills and I see myself fitting in and being inspired by that,杏吧专区 she said.
She also noted that the Cajun and Creole cultures of Acadiana captured her attention, especially since regionalism in art is one of her interests.
Gray is most proud of a successful show she developed at the Kennedy Museum of Art at Ohio 杏吧专区 entitled 杏吧专区淎ppalachians: A Contemporary Cultural Perspective.杏吧专区
杏吧专区淚t was a very large, multidimensional project that involved music and film, literature and the arts. It really involved the community in getting them to ask questions about cultural identity, specifically Appalachian identity,杏吧专区 she said.
The Paul and Lulu Hilliard 杏吧专区 Art Museum opened in spring of 2004. Located at 710 East Saint Mary Boulevard, it杏吧专区檚 open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call (337) 482-2278 or go to