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�������� senior Monique MarcAurele did not expect to curate an exhibit as an undergraduate.

The lithographs currently on display in “A Pull to the Pacific: West Coast Lithography of the New Deal Era” are a selection of Works Progress Administration/Great Depression-era pieces on long-term loan to the Whatcom Museum from the federal government’s GSA (General Services Administration) Program.  

When Chief Curator of the Whatcom Museum, Amy Chaloupka, reached out to the Art and Art History Department at Western to see if students could research and curate an exhibit of the lithographs, Professor of Art History Julia Sapin was thrilled. 

Normally, Sapin would have assigned a term paper for the capstone 475 “Exhibition Theory and Practice.” But when Chaloupka invited �������� students to collaborate on the project, she agreed immediately.

“The biggest mystery I uncovered while researching the lithographs was just how little any of the artists recorded about themselves and their art careers,” said MarcAurele. “To me, being a federally funded artist seems like something that an artist would want to talk about.”

But when the students dug into the backgrounds of the artists, there was very little information for many of them. A footnote, a gallery mention, maybe a line in an essay. The Western students had to piece together what they could find for writing the museum wall text. 

The students began in spring quarter, writing interpretive copy for the BFA show and then writing for the exhibit. 

Chaloupka was very involved with the class, helping them with background research, pointing the students toward resources, and holding them to a high professional standard.

“What was fascinating about this work is that some of these artists were well known, and some had been sidelined,” Sapin said. “The students uncovered facts about some of the more obscure artists that gave clues to their obscurity — some were queer, some were Jewish — and their work was buried.”

Chaloupka reviewed all the drafts of the students’ museum wall text and offered feedback. She also helped them fine-tune the copy for a museum audience.

“We also had David Martin, curator of the Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds, speak with the students about the WPA era and the significance it has in American art history,” Chaloupka said. 

Madeline Luther, one of the students involved in the project, enjoyed the relationship she felt with the work and life of the artist she covered, San Francisco painter Otis William Oldfield. 

“Oldfield was a teacher and a vocal member of his community in the States,” Luther said. “I tend to get attached to artists when I research them ‘one-on-one,’ and Oldfield felt like a longtime friend by the time the exhibition opened.”

MarcAurele enjoyed the challenge of seeing all the parts of an exhibit fall into place. 

“I learned how much more goes into museum text writing for an accredited space than I had known before.” MarcAurele said.  

“The public is very unaware of the amount of labor that goes into just setting up a space for exhibition,” she said. “One doesn’t think much about how an institution would prepare a plain room with white walls, but everything from the paint to the entrances of the room, to the placement and styling of wall texts is carefully considered.” 

Sapin sees this project as having far-reaching effects.

“Scholars working in this era will be citing the research these students uncovered during this process. I’m so pleased with how hard they worked and how seriously they took the project,” Sapin said.

Frances Badgett covers the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Fine and Performing Arts Communications. Reach out to her with story ideas at badgetf@wwu.edu.