Year in Review

Dear Friends,

The end of the calendar year offers time for reflection and assessment, a perfect pause to consider the accomplishments of the past year as we head forward into the next.

As 2018 draws to a close, I would like to thank you for your generous support of the Davis Museum, for your faith in our programmatic excellence and in the student-centered educational opportunities that our programming expands and enhances, and for your participation in the lively and dedicated Davis community. Your generosity, support, and involvement ensure that we remain an invaluable resource at the heart of our community—for the students, faculty, and staff of Wellesley College, for the families of Greater Boston, and for scholars and life-long-learners the world over.  

2018 was a year of spectacular energy and inspiration at the Davis, with highlights including major exhibitions—Clarence H. White and his World: The Art and Craft of Photography, 1895-1925 and Christiane Baumgartner: Another Country—along with smaller intensives that showcased the Davis collections and related interests. These, and the topical programs that add impact, are profiled here. As well, we celebrate the gifts of works of art received from individual donors, and gifts of funds that have made acquisitions possible. Both expand and enhance the collections, for today and for the future.  

Content- and image-rich, our Year in Review captures the Davis Museum’s educational mission in support of Wellesley College, and our core values of diversity, inclusion, excellence, and ingenuity. Davis exhibitions demonstrate inventive museological experimentation, reach increasingly diverse communities, foster faculty collaborations, and break new scholarly ground; and our programs—designed to deepen and expand our reach even further—include the afternoon symposia of our “Davis Discoveries” series, Family Days, teacher workshops, performances, gallery talks and lectures, and a Summer Film Series on the Davis Plaza. As well, you will find the many unique opportunities the Davis creates for Wellesley students—designed to connect them deeply with art and to also train them for life beyond campus—including the Davis Museum Student Advisory Committee (DMSAC), the Davis Museum Summer Internship Program, the Davis Student Guide Program, and the new Student Visitor Assistants (SVAs) who work to engage publics of every age and interest. 

My great thanks to the Davis staff members, who bring skill, passion, and commitment to all aspects of our operations and whose intensely collaborative spirit allows the institution to thrive. I would like to particularly commend Tsugumi Maki, Associate Director for Operations and Collections Management, who led the Year in Review project, Sarina Kahn-Reddy, Media Specialist, for developing the site, and all of the staff and students who contributed to its form and contents.

The Davis is extremely lucky to have our generous Friends of Art—“advocates for art on campus since 1965”—dedicated volunteers around the country and the world who spread pride in the Davis and sustain our efforts in every area through their fundraising. I am extremely grateful to all for your support, and extend special thanks to Eileen Conroy '75, Chair of the Friends of Art National Committee, for her leadership.

As ever, enduring gratitude to Dr. Paula Johnson, President of Wellesley College, and to Andy Shennan, Dean and Provost of the College, for their enthusiastic and unwavering support of the Davis Museum.

I hope you will save the date for the opening of our spring 2019 exhibitions on February 7, including the major project, Art_Latin_America: Against the Survey, which takes a fresh look at a hotspot of Davis collecting, along with Disappearances: Three Video Artists from Latin America, Yinka Shonibare MBE: Guns Drawn, Tabitha Soren: Surface Tension, Bread and Roses: The Social Documentary of Milton and Anne Rogovin, the ongoing presentation of Daniela Rivera: Fragmentos para una historia del olvido/Fragments for a history of displacement, and rotations that renew the presentations in our Permanent Collections Galleries.

With great thanks and warm wishes for the holidays and New Year,

Lisa Fischman
Ruth Gordon Shapiro ’37 Director  

Staff:
Lisa Fischman Ruth Gordon Shapiro ’37 Director 
Tsugumi Maki Associate Director for Operations and Collections Management
Claire Whitner Assistant Director of Curatorial Affairs / Senior Curator of Collections
Mary Agnew Media Relations Consultant
Bryan Beckwith Security Supervisor
Mark Beeman Manager of Exhibitions and Collections Preparation
Helen Connor Assistant Registrar for Exhibitions & Digital Resources
Carrie Cushman Linda Wyatt Gruber ’66 Curatorial Fellow in Photography
Krista Dahl Kusuma Friends of Art Coordinator
Arthurina Fears Manager of Museum Education and Programs
Meredith Fluke Kemper Curator of Academic Programs
Amanda Gilvin Assistant Curator
Sarina Khan-Reddy Media Installation and Production Specialist
Alicia LaTores Friends of Art Curatorial Research Assistant
Mathilde Leichle Liliane Pingoud Soriano '49 Curatorial Fellow
Bo Mompho Collections Manager and Head Registrar
Steve Perkins Manager of Museum Security and Visitor Experience
Craig Uram Assistant Preparator / Collections Care Specialist
Alyssa Wolfe Assistant to the Director
Joe Zucca Security Supervisor