Curator Interview
After the excitement of the show had passed I had an opportunity to answer questions from Tyler Francischine about the curation process for the group art show. Excerpts of my responses were used for a larger post about Bazar A La Carte Tampa, but I enjoyed reflecting so much that I wanted to share the responses in full here :) - Cato
What are your full name and pronouns?
Cato Galen (they/them)
First, I’d love to dive into your vision behind the visual art exhibition. How did you go about selecting the 17 artists who were featured, and what prompts or guidance did you give them to guide their creative process or submission?
My primary goal in the visual art exhibition was to create a space for any artists that were interested in sharing their work a space to share their work. With such a large goal in mind, but a desire to create a cohesive, visual experience and story. I knew I had to create a theme that many people could resonate with. Additionally, because the turnaround time of you know contacting the artist for the show and put the show up was so short I needed it to also encapsulate work that was already created rather than a prompt that was specific and would require new work to be created because there just might not be time to make a new work for the show.
I accepted every artist that submitted before the deadline and the earlier submitters were invited to submit additional pieces when there weren’t many artists submitting and time was running out. This presented quite the challenge when it was time to install the show and I realized I had accepted a number of rather large pieces, but it was a fun problem to solve.
What can you tell us about these artists? Are they all Tampa Bay-based? Were some new to exhibiting their work, or were they more seasoned artists?
So most of the artists are local to the Tampa Bay area and Cherry Hybrid came down from previous How Bazar events in Gainesville. Artists are at different stages in their careers some students, some post grad. Some had presented their work in a show before but it was a first time for jas.elle, Matic Gun and SubwayTrane. jas.elle usually shares her poetry but used this opportunity to display her photography. Matic Gun also makes custom clothing and was vending at the market alongside his paintings. The piece by Mars Alienated was actually on display for the third time and each installment has been a little different. Ayat has actually recently held their second art show and night market with their new project Ayoon Art House. They were a huge help to me getting things organized and actually sent a lot of artists my way. Mo Houston has a podcast This is a Metaphor and has been diligently constructing a mobile studio. Taro Ghost and Passion Powerhouse both frequently vend prints, stickers and custom accessories in the Tampa Bay Area.
What does the exhibition name, Memories and Fortunes, mean to you?
What were some themes or throughlines that you found tied these pieces together?
It was important to me that the theme be relevant and timely because I think that art is such a fantastic medium for processing our feelings and processing the world around us. What makes viewing other artist’s work so special and valuable is they might have the skill and wherewithal to depict something in a medium that you just aren’t that familiar with. With that in mind I thought about what was a theme that was both like reflective of maybe some of the difficulty that so many of us have been facing lately and also provides some levity and encouragement and optimism to move forward because we need we need the art to do both things we both need the catharsis and release and shared burden of grief, but we also need to celebrate together. I find myself doing a lot of reflecting at years end as well as goal setting for the year ahead and so I thought the idea of memories and fortunes - looking back and looking forward would be a fitting theme for the show.
There were a number of pleasant surprises and commonalities among the pieces that were submitted. A couple things that showed up a lot where the colors purple and pink there was just a lot of work that had a lot of purple and pink in it so that actually was a great help when it was time to begin arranging the work for the exhibition. There were also multiple pieces that had swords which I found interesting like an Untitled work by Cameron White that I placed next to another piece by Purple isn’t a real color by Larry Strickland. There were more than a few pieces that had a more Meta aspect -it was art about art. Whether it was a painting that depicted writing like TITLE by Catherine Espirit, or the imagery of a sketchpad in In over my head by Elizabeth Dhanaraj, or windows depicting someone in their workspace, crafting and constructing something in Create Space by Mo Houston. I loved seeing art that showed art’s impact on it’s creators. Anjulie Dorothea’s oddities were displayed on a shelf that mimicked the windows of Mo’s piece and also formed a nice juxtaposition in their size differences.
In your Instagram post about the exhibition, I read that the show incorporated painting, print, photography and sculpture. Any other mediums that were included? Why was it important to you to include a variety of artistic mediums?
We had a couple pieces that were mixed media! I placed them to be one of the last things that people saw, thinking it represented a fortune of what’s to come, but seeing how people actually moved through the space they often ended up often being the first first pieces that people saw one called The Irreplaceable Human Soul by Abbey Miller, and it was created to be a piece of art that AI could not recreate because it was just too nuanced in its reflection of the human experience. Speaking of through lines - diana wangly’s untitled work was also woven together with thread like the thread that framed The Irreplaceable Human Soul. These two multi-media pieces were placed one atop the other seemingly depicting a three part experience unified. In the untitled work the swords that appeared in earlier pieces as a weapon and a tool, was now transformed into an ice cream cone :)
It was important to me to display a variety of mediums because everyone can relate to different mediums and different mediums carry different messages. Like different dialects of language or different languages. There’s some things that don’t have a direct translation. You have to sort of experience them as they are and so I definitely wanted to include as many mediums as possible with the space that was available so that it could resonate with as many people as possible.
Because this gallery was mostly on the wall like we weren’t going to have any pedestals or anything in their room, it did need to be mostly 2D art but something that was a real treat was one piece that was a print on ceramic that was still mounted to the wall so we did still have also three-dimensional art.
Could you share with us a bit about your background and experience in curating visual art shows? What drew you to this work initially, and what are some of the guiding principles or motivations behind your work?
So my first work in an art gallery was actually during an internship with Dance Place DC back in 2012 so while my internship was primarily focused on dance arts administration, the organization really worked to uplift artists of all mediums and so there were a couple of auxiliary galleries near the dance theater in the neighborhood and also we would sometimes do a smaller gallery showing within the theater itself. While I didn’t take part in curating those galleries I was able to work with the artists in you know finalizing contracts and sorting logistical details for them to bring their art, helping with the installation of the art or hosting the reception for an opening for a show. I knew that it was definitely work I wanted to be more involved in the future if the opportunity presented itself.
A big motivation behind my interest in curation is the chance to express a story or theme with more mediums by placing art from multiple artists in conversation with each other. It would take me a really long time to get as good at a medium or style as another artist who has spent more time practicing with it. It seems most practical to bring together many people and pieces that are best at expressing something rather than trying to make them all myself.
More recently, last year I began volunteering as a docent specialist at the Museum of Fine Arts St Pete leading tours for Pinellas County students to give back to the community, learn more about museum curation and take advantage of opportunities to speak directly with the curatorial team there. In this case the curatorial team is the author of a choose your own adventure story and I’m the narrator of one possible outcome or path.
I would say my most hands-on curation experience is with my at home collection of art. I’ve collected a few original paintings, prints, photos, and like to display my own photos and prints at home. There was a time in my life where I moved a lot like was lucky if I stayed somewhere more than a few months. I honestly feel like I’m sort of still in that time of moving a lot but one of the first things I do when I arrive someplace no matter how long I’ll be there you know is I’ll hang some art up on the walls and I’ve had to learn over the years and many different spaces how to find ways to arrange the same pieces to flow more appropriately in the space and tell a visual story. As I’ve added new art to the collection or maybe given some pieces away, having to rearrange things to fit again and better you know, facilitate the flow of your eyes across the wall.
Follow-up: How do you feel that How Bazar shares or dovetails with your vision as an organizer? What was the experience like collaborating with our team to make this exhibition come to life?
I am very, very inspired by what How Bazar is doing for artists throughout Florida. I think we have a similar goal of wanting to give people an opportunity and a space. Like with my selection process the truth is I wasn’t going to tell anyone no. I was going to find a way to make their artwork fit if I could because as an artist, you need someone to tell you, yes. Yes I believe in you and your work. This is very you know low stakes high reward event. I knew that the art would only be up for one night. I knew that I was asking a lot of these artists to drop their work off and then return to pick it up so quickly, and so the last thing I wanted to do was make a high barrier for entry because I wanted to give everyone who wanted it their chance to shine. and I feel like How Bazar is doing the same thing. I felt very supported throughout the entire process and very confident that it would be a great show because everyone I spoke to believed it would be a great show and was able to help me when I needed help. I knew I was ever in it alone.
Next, I’d love to hear how the night went for you! What were some memorable moments that you cherished? What were some poignant moments that tugged at your heartstrings? (just some prompts, but feel free to include your experiences here!)
So I would say one of the most memorable moments was before the show when everyone was coming to drop their work off and we were sort of milling in the common space. It was exciting to see people that I was meeting for the first time connecting with other artists in the community and just sharing admiration and appreciation for their work with each other.
A few artists brought their parents either when they dropped their work off or during the actual night market. They were so proud of them and it felt really special to see them being supported and that glow from them and their parents about seeing their work up in the gallery.
During the show I loved seeing people just stop and consider the work around them. Pause to discuss with friends, lean in for a closer look. Smile when they saw something that tickled them. Sometimes I would jump in to ask people questions or tell them about the theme for the show and where to scan the QR code to learn more about the work and the artists but it was also nice just being an observer.
Do you feel that this event left an impact or impression on the Tampa Bay area’s creative communities? If so, how?
I think this event definitely showed ways that our arts events can be more expansive and more inclusive. There’s definitely plenty of arts events and you can find a market of local makers a few days a week with some brick and mortar shops selling local wares but not many events have this volume of vendors and immersive activities. I also think it’s a great motivation to connect with the larger community within the state because a number of vendors and attendees were willing to travel.
A theme I’m toying around with for this blog entry ties into the physical space we were in: “Honoring yesterday, creating tomorrow.” I was wondering your thoughts on the power of utilizing historic spaces like Tempus Projects in order to spark creativity and collaborative action with aims of creating a better world for all? Would love your POV as a Tampa local on our shared presence in this historic space.
The thing about history and the past is that it’s easy to overlook and take for granted because you’re used to things just being the way they are. I had visited Tempus Projects once before for an open mic hosted in the same gallery space but knew nothing about it or the work being done there by gallerists and artists in residence. Many people I talked to had never been in that building before that event. With this event a historic building was literally bustling with new life. People were inspired my the creativity around them and expanding their creative network.
So as far as an aim to create a better world for all consider pollen and seeds. Like art and creativity we need it to spread far and wide to keep things growing and fruiting. Sometimes people want the art or they want the esteemed artist but you have to create an environment that facilitates that. You don’t collect butterflies for a garden you grow the garden of native plants and the butterflies come. Using historic buildings, nurturing and reinvigorating existing spaces is how we create and foster that growth and prevent more of the world being paved over and minimized for efficiency.
I’m all ears if you have any other experiences from the night or thoughts at all! =)
I’ve already written so much I think this is a good place to stop. Thank you so much for these great questions!
