Two bikini-clad girls stand face to face in a desert, tugging at their bathing suit bottoms and flaunting their naked midriffs in a showdown of sexuality. This provocative duel is a scene in Alex McQuilkin's "Get Up Your Gun," a video piece that plays continuously on the New Media Wall of the Aidekmann Arts Center.
The New Media Wall is just one of the many recent additions brought to the Tufts University Art Gallery by Amy Ingrid Schlegel, Director of the University's Galleries and Collections.
Prior to Schlegel's arrival at Tufts in January 2004, the University's gallery was used to showcase ethnographic and historical pieces, rather than to exhibit art. Schlegel, who has a Ph.D. in Art History from Columbia University, sought to redirect the gallery's focus away from the multicultural, interdisciplinary vision of former director Susan Masuoka and towards exhibiting new art.
"What Amy has done is commit to showing contemporary art, and that is a major shift," said Doug Bell, the gallery's preparator and registrar. "I think it was a great decision."
Schlegel relocated old art from the University's collection to various spots around campus, including the Tisch Library and Gifford House. She removed all of the sculptures from the Remis Sculpture Court and turned the room into a multi-purpose space, which is now often used for receptions and performances.
With the older art on display in Gifford House, the library, and other high-traffic areas around campus, there was room to reorganize the gallery space inside Aidekmann.
Schlegel wanted to give members of the Tufts community a space to exhibit their work. "There seemed to be a real interest and desire on the part of the Tufts community to have some venue to be able to share their interest and their mission," she said.
Schlegel dedicated what was then known as the Slater Concourse Gallery to this purpose. The space, now known as the Tufts Community Gallery, has been used by organizations including Hillel, the Women's Center, and EPIIC.
The Tufts Community Gallery is run both for the students and by the students, who curate everything themselves with minimal help from the gallery administrators. Schlegel believes the concourse provides students with a valuable opportunity to get hands-on experience in organizing an exhibit
Heidi Wirth, the University's Exhibitions, Publications, and Programs Coordinator, is impressed with Schlegel's transformation of the concourse. "It's very energizing - it leads people from the front of the building to the back, and that is a tough barrier to overcome," she said.
Although it is not always possible to achieve, Shlegel attempts to organize all exhibitions around a common subject matter or idea. Currently, "Girl Culture" and "Time Signatures" are accompanied by Paul McCarthy's digital video, "WGG (Wild Gone Girls)," as well as Alex McQuilken's videos, "Get Up Your Gun" and "Teenage Daydream: In Vain" on the New Media Wall. All of these pieces involve similar themes.
Finding art that is relevant not only to the other art in the gallery, but also resonates with the gallery's audience is a major goal for Schlegel. For her, the key is "not just knowing who the audience is, but trying to program in diverse ways."
Developing the gallery's audience while creating more institutional visibility is one of the three objectives Schlegel hopes to accomplish within the next five years. In order to personalize the gallery to the University's culture, Schlegel builds her exhibitions on a foundation of internationalism and active citizenship. "Those core values drive our own mission here," she said.
Schlegel has also reached out to the surrounding Medford and Somerville communities. The gallery stayed open this past summer for the first time in its history, exhibiting the work of local artists.
Through more community outreach, Schlegel is working to dissolve the barrier between the University and its neighbors: while Tufts is a private institution, the gallery is open to the public free of cost.
As part of this effort, the gallery now offers programs every other Wednesday afternoon and Thursday evening that include gallery talks and lectures by featured artists, receptions for the openings of new exhibits, and forums on exhibit-related issues.
Schlegel's second objective is to get the gallery up to industry standards and gain accreditation. According to Schlegel, many galleries call themselves museums, but do not meet the American Association of Museums' criteria for accreditation. Without accreditation, the gallery cannot get art on loan from any of the bigger, more prestigious museums.
To become accredited, the Tufts gallery would have to make a series of expensive and time consuming changes. These changes include ensuring climate and light regulation by closing off the gallery from any doors that lead to the outside, hiring professional guards, and storing and displaying artwork according to strict regulations.
Schlegel's third five-year objective is to build a national profile for exhibitions and publications scholarships. To achieve this status, the gallery would have to produce its own exhibitions, which could be displayed at other venues. Schlegel also hopes that Tufts will eventually create its own scholarship.
Right now, art comes on loan from other galleries for a short amount of time. In the future, Schlegel hopes that this will change. "We want the Tufts name associated with what we produce as much as possible," she said.
This is a very expensive objective to achieve, but Schlegel is optimistic. She is dedicated to building the endowment through fundraising, applying for grants, and cultivating donors. Schlegel believes that Tufts is willing to help make this dream a reality.
"The University sees this now as a higher priority than in the past," she said.
Of all of the important and exciting changes that are occurring at the Tufts Art Gallery, one of Schlegel's most vital improvements is spreading awareness and cultivating interest among members of the student body.
"We're a hidden gem, and we want to get the word out there," said Wirth of the importance in bringing more students to the gallery.
Schlegel agrees: "We're really a resource, and we'd like the community around us to know that," she said.
