The new director of the campus gallery has only been at Western Washington University since January, but she has already worked on one exhibition: the Department of Art & Art History Bachelor of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition. The exhibits had been in progress before the arrival of the new director, Kelly Linder, who stepped into the creative process and helped design the shows’ layouts and presentations.
Linder has also worked at other academic museums before Western: at Chico State and at Sacramento State, both in California. Another position she previously held was with the New Mexico Public Art Program, in charge of the public guard on the Chico State campus.
She spoke with The Front about her professional experience and goals for Western’s art gallery as its new director.
Q: What have your past experiences in art gallery organization been?
A: I have worked in commercial galleries in Santa Fe, New York and San Francisco. I opened up my own alternative space in San Francisco and ran that for about three years. I invited emerging artists to come into my actual apartment and installed exhibitions in the living room. The space was called ‘The Living Room,’ and that was a lot of fun. It’s because all the galleries I worked at, my name was not on the door. I worked with the artists and worked with clients, but it was my chance to see – if I had my own space, what would I do?
Q: What were your past exhibits like?
A: Both Chico State and Sacramento State, I was director of the university galleries, and so I was responsible for all the programming and basically developing the exhibition schedule. It’s a combination of exhibitions that I would originate, meaning I would come up with an idea or be working with an artist on a solo project, or sometimes shows had been developed elsewhere and we would bring them together. It’s a practice with traveling exhibitions. That’s what I hope to continue doing here.
Q: Did you recently help put together the gallery exhibition this May?
A: All of the exhibitions that have happened from January until now were already scheduled before I arrived on campus, because I just started in January. I did help with the exhibition design for the faculty show, and then also with the current BFA show.
Q: How was putting together the faculty exhibition?
A: It was great. It was a really wonderful experience and I actually feel really lucky with the timing, that when I first got here the show was scheduled, because it gave me the opportunity to get to know the faculty and to get to know their work. At my last institution, it was me seeking out the faculty and asking, ‘Can I have a studio visit to see your work?’ This was like, ‘Here it is and we’re going to have a show!’ So I think there’s some really strong faculty here, and their work was spectacular.
Q: How did you go about choosing artists and their pieces for the exhibition?
A: So, for the faculty show, it’s any faculty, tenure-track, instructors or staff within the arts department who are interested in participating. There is no limit on how many can actually join the show. We had 19 this year, which I think is an all-time high for how many were participating. Then we asked the faculty to submit images of potential works they would like to include, and I narrowed it down from there depending on the space available and what I thought the strongest works were. I developed a floor plan and how I thought the exhibition would look best, and created relationships between the different artists and their work.
Q: Is this your passion?
A: Yes. I feel very fortunate that I love my job. I get to do something every day that just fills me up. I have over 30 years of experience working in the art field, and I’ve done various jobs throughout my career, but for the last 12 years, I’ve been working with universities and I find it really engaging to be able to work with students.
Q: Are you planning on doing any future projects with Western?
A: Faculty exhibitions previously have been every two years, so we will be continuing those conversations to see if that’s something faculty wants to continue with that kind of schedule or seeing if it would be better to space it out more so they have more time to work on their work or bigger projects. I’m open to finding new ways to do it so it’s not the same every time, but I want to be sure that we’re reaching a number of students because I think it’s important for students to see what their faculty does. They’re not just instructors, they’re actually artists.
Jamie Reed is a campus life reporter. She is a third-year public relations major with a minor in anthropology. She likes to draw and listen to music while enjoying the sun when it’s out. You can reach her at jamiereed.thefront@gmail.com.
