Today’s post is based on a riff with Gina Morgano inspired by her blog “Be a Curator.”
An art gallery is a magnificent place. Room after room filled with wonderful paintings, photographs, sculptures and installations. Often there's so much to see that I get overwhelmed.
I've learned to take advantage of the gallery tour with a guide who has thoughtfully curated a shortlist of the works that best represent the collection. The guide leads a small group from piece to piece, pointing out the most interesting and significant details of each. As we move from painting to painting, we are also travelling through time and around the world.
I can digest twelve pieces of art. The tour helps me learn and understood something about each of them in a way that I couldn’t on my own.
It takes intention to be a great curator. I don't think it's enough to gather things together in broad categories. It's important to be specific about each item you choose and why. What context do we the audience need to understand your collection? If it's not self-evident, can you support it with some narration or explanation?
Whether you're putting together a gallery exhibit, a Spotify playlist or a reading list of articles, as a curator you share your point of view about the works you've chosen and offer us the opportunity to form our own.
I have the honour of curating the artists I speak with for the Studio Time podcast. My guest on this week's episode is singer and voice teacher, Gina Morgano. We talk about learning to use your voice, putting your values into action via your social media, the connection between parlour concerts and cabarets, and discuss creation via curation.
It's a fascinating conversation and I encourage you to have a listen. Subscribe to Studio Time to hear more of my curated conversations.
PS. Try the gallery tour.
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