Playlist: Natalia Guerrero's Portfolio
Featured
01 | Bobbi Mastrangelo
From Natalia Guerrero | Part of the Avant series | 19:46
Avant interviews manhole artist, Bobbi Mastrangelo, who has a decades-long career celebrating the humble manhole cover, advocating for clean water, and envisioning the essential infrastructure we'll need on Mars.
- Playing
- 01 | Bobbi Mastrangelo
- From
- Natalia Guerrero
Sculptor and printmaker Bobbi Mastrangelo, also known as the "Grate Lady" has spent her decades-long career creating prints and hyper-realistic sculptures of manhole covers, grates, and drains.
Bobbi was a finalist in the 2020 Women in the Arts, Inc. "Celebrating the Genius of Women" Competition and her work has been shown in museums and galleries all over the country.
We find out the answer to the question "Why manhole covers?", learn more about her passionate advocacy for clean water and litter eradication, and go beyond Earth, to her vision for an art institution on Mars and, perhaps unsurprisingly, what its plumbing ought to look like.
02 | Katherine Page
From Natalia Guerrero | Part of the Avant series | 22:53
Avant interviews Katherine Page, who seeks out and celebrates the autonomy of the human spirit in each facet of her role as Curator of Art and Education at the Mennello Museum of American Art.
- Playing
- 02 | Katherine Page
- From
- Natalia Guerrero
03 | Pamela Schwartz
From Natalia Guerrero | Part of the Avant series | 27:08
Avant interviews Pamela Schwartz, executive director at the Orange County Regional History Center. She shares her approach to collecting and curating the stories of central Florida, and how she creates an equitable environment for newcomers in the field.
- Playing
- 03 | Pamela Schwartz
- From
- Natalia Guerrero
What is the role of art in the history museum? How are the stories of a community collected? How are they told? Who makes those decisions?
For the answers to these questions and more, we turned to Pamela Schwartz, the executive director of the Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando, Florida.
Schwartz led the rapid-response collecting effort following the Pulse nightclub tragedy in 2016, and several contemporary collecting efforts since then. She walked us through her mindset as a curator bringing central Florida history to the public through artifacts, oral histories, and art.
We asked for her perspective on how artists can explore the relationship of their work to their own personal histories, as well as to historic events. Schwartz also shared her own path into the museum field, and her advice for students looking for how to get started with internships and paid work opportunities in museum institutions.
Lastly, we looked ahead to the History Center's planned exhibit for 2023, which will focus on the experiences of immigrants to central Florida, and Schwartz described the opportunities for members of the community, including artists, to share their stories.
04 | Betsy Peters
From Natalia Guerrero | Part of the Avant series | 18:36
Avant interviews Betsy Peters, director of programs at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum. She shares her perspective on designing experiences for the public to engage with the museum's collection of "the things people make for the joy of making," including the multi-disciplinary works by Louis Comfort Tiffany, and the Museum's new Stebbins collection of drawings, paintings, and sculpture.
- Playing
- 04 | Betsy Peters
- From
- Natalia Guerrero
When was the last time you visited a museum? What brought you there? How did it engage you? Your imagination, your experiences, your creativity?
For the answers to these questions and more, we spoke with Betsy Peters, the director of programs at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum in Winter Park, Florida.
Founded by another woman in the arts, Jeanette Genius McKean, the Morse Museum has the largest collection of works by multi-disciplinary artist Louis Comfort Tiffany. Peters described how museum programs bring this vast collection to life for the public, whether in-person, or, as she recounts, even over the telephone.
Peters also shared with us her journey to becoming a museum professional, and her advice for newcomers to the field.
Jeanette's husband, Hugh McKean, also the first director of the museum, said, “We shall bring here the things people make for the joy of making..." and we closed with Peters' reflections on what makes the Morse and its unique collections so special for her and for the public.