Working on the Next One

Well before Inside, Outside, Upstairs, Downstairs: the Addison Anew opened, in fact, years before, we began planning for the exhibitions that would follow it.

Sheila Hicks: 50 Years, opening November 5th and prominently displayed on our website, began its planning stages over half a decade ago when our Curators began working with the artist to start research for the book, create the checklist, and find venues to take the exhibition. As the artwork was being hung in time for Inside, Outside's September 7th opening, I was contacting our lenders to Hicks to arrange shipment of their objects here and our Preparators were sorting out installation needs and having pedestals and mounting hardware designed.

While the Preparators and I were working on Hicks, the Curators were looking even further ahead...they were meeting publication deadlines for our American Vanguards: Graham, Davis, Gorky, de Kooning and their Circle, 1927-1942, opening next year, while they sent paperwork to lenders for our Whistler's Bridge: Battersea Bridge in the Art of Whistler, opening in 2013.

We plan our exhibition schedule years in advance to make sure there are no conflicts not only during the exhibitions' schedules, but also during the exhibitions' planning stages. And just because a show has closed here at the Addison doesn't mean it is over...Hicks, American Vanguards, and Whistler will each be travelling to two additional venues during their runs. As the person who typically travels with our shows for their installations and deinstallations, I need to make sure I don't happen to need to close one show in Philadelphia while opening another in London at the same time!

So when you come see Inside, Outside, Upstairs, Downstairs: the Addison Anew, keep in mind that the staff here are already working on the next one, and the one after that, and the one after that one!


Posted by:

James M. Sousa
Associate Registrar for Collections and Archives