Spotlight On... Mica Schlosser '13, CCAL Student Arts Curator

Did Ariel Ritchin’s ’11 vibrant photographs catch your eye on the way to your mailbox through the McCullough Social Space last month? How about the art on the walls at 51 Main during the last Spoken Word?  Do you have your own artwork that you want on display? The person responsible for bringing student art to public spaces around the Middlebury campus is Mica Schlosser ’13, a history major and studio art minor from New York City.  She currently holds the CCAL-maintained position of student curator, and recently discussed the nuts and bolts of her job, her role in the campus arts dialogue and how much she wants to hang your work.

The Campus: What are the spaces on campus that you curate?
Mica Schlosser: I’m in charge of the gallery space in McCullough which [includes] the Juice Bar downstairs and the center gallery upstairs, and the galleries at 51 Main and Old Stone Mill.

MC: Why did this job interest you?
MS: I interned for a sculptor over the summer and we worked on installing his pieces in a gallery and it was … a fun process and [I realized] how much artwork changes in an actual space.  So I saw the [student curator] job was available and I figured it would be an interesting way to meet artists on campus and try to get their work displayed.

MC: What are some recent exhibits you have installed?
MS: Well we just put up Jenny Marks’ ’14 photographs downstairs in McCullough and upstairs are Andrew Podrygula’s ’12. We’re putting up Sabina Holloway’s ’13 work in the Old Stone Mill Gallery and we just had Ethan Schmertzler ’12 in 51 Main.  He does his own fashion magazine called The Collegiate so we did … spreadsheets of his publication.  Today we’re installing for the environmental group on campus, the Sunday Night Group, with Janet Bering ’13 and Jenny Marks again, so they’re going to do a lot of different student work that all pertains to the environment.

MC: So do you only put up student artwork?
MS: So far I’ve only done student artwork; we had one professional photographer at 51 Main at the beginning of the year, and I’m going to try to do an outsider art show at the end of the year, working with patients from Helen Porter [Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center] so we’ll see if that comes together … but the galleries are mainly for student use, and it’s a way for them to show artwork, though you don’t have to be in an art class [to show your work], so [there isn’t] that restriction.

MC: Where should students go if they want to exhibit their work?
MS: They should contact me or Doug Adams through the CCAL office and then we … set up an interview and try to schedule in a time for them to show their work, so it’s a very approachable process.

MC: Who are some interesting people on campus you get to interact with in this job?
MS: I think just learning about everything going on at the Old Stone Mill has been great because there [are] so many people who are working on interesting projects completely in their free time — it’s not a part of their major.  There’ve been a lot of artists who are interdisciplinary, [for example] we’re putting up one artist later in the year who’s a neuroscience major and his artwork pertains to the brain. It’s just fascinating how people bring in interests in other subjects to their work, which I feel … is really unique to Middlebury.

MC: What is the most challenging part of your job?
MS: I think the actual installation because I don’t know totally what I’m doing when I’m hanging things, but it’s definitely a bonding experience and I think it helps the artist learn how to put up their own work, too, because we’re working together.

MC: When you put up students’ work, do you often think, “This is definitely a future artist who is going to really ‘make it’ out there after Middlebury”?
MS: That’s interesting. I feel like a lot of the people putting up work don’t consider it their main focus, but rather, something they love to do, so I think there are a lot of people here who will do art for the rest of their lives and I’m not sure if it will be their career but it’s definitely a passion they’ll pursue.

MC: What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
MS: I would say just getting to interact with really interesting people who are so self-motivated and creative and really inspiring to me to do my own work.

MC: What goals or projects do you want to accomplish?  Are there certain spaces that you’d like to curate that you don’t currently?
MS: Yeah, I think just trying to get the position to be more well-known, that people can show their work and that it is accessible.  Right now we’re trying to get a boulder put in front of McCullough to have it painted every year, so that’s the project on the horizon right now.  [Also we’re] trying to keep up the dialogue between different art departments on campus.  We just want as many people as possible to show their work and [trying to have] a lot of turn-around so there’s always something new on the walls.

MC: What’s your favorite either student artist or exhibit that you’ve put up?
MS: I think I’m going to be diplomatic and say they’ve all been great for different reasons.

MC: Do you have a favorite professional artist?
MS: I would say Kara Walker because she really fuses history, social justice and art together in this beautiful way so she’s really inspiring to me.  I love Norman Rockwell. I also love the impressionist painters because my mom is a painter so I grew up really looking at that era.

MC: What’s your favorite space on campus?
MS: I love McCullough. I’m always in there, and I think especially now with the new Crossroads Café, it just is a really nice space to be in and work in.

MC: What’s your favorite museum in the real world?
MS: That’s a hard question. Probably the Met in New York just because there’s so much to look at. I could spend days in there.

MC: Does being an art curator interest you as a potential career after college?
MS: I think it’s something that I’m considering but right now, it’s just a fun thing to do on campus and I’m not sure if I would want to devote my life to it, but it’s definitely an interest.

[If you are interested in exhibiting work, contact Mica Schlosser at aschlosser@middlebury.edu or Doug Adams at dadams@middlebury.edu. In particular, she is looking for work to be displayed at the Crossroads Cafe and for an artist to show work at 51 Main this April and May Mica would like to credit her roommate, Caitlin Ludlow ’13, for leading her to the open Student Curator job posting.]