THE SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF QUILTS AND TEXTILES (SJMQT) announced its new director will be Camille Ann Brewer. A Detroit, Mich.-centered curator, handweaver, and archivist, Brewer will condition the museum’s vision and technique, foremost operations, exhibitions and programming, the selection, community engagement, and donor relations.
Brewer brings a spectrum of encounter to SJMQT, much more than two many years across museums, academia, and art sector get the job done as a advisor and entrepreneur. She a short while ago served as curator of up to date art at The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum at GWU in Washington, D.C. She formally commences at the San Jose museum in early May perhaps.
The board’s co-chairs issued statements that accompanied the appointment announcement. Co-Chair Melissa Leventon mentioned, “We are thrilled that we have been capable to bring in an individual of Camille’s caliber to direct the Museum. Her depth of collections working experience, textile knowledge, and fundraising success positions the Museum well for the potential.” Co-Chair Tien Chiu explained, “We regarded as quite a few highly qualified candidates for the director placement. Camille rose to the leading with her solid vision for the long term of the Museum and how to get us there.”
A CALIFORNIA Native, Brewer is signing up for SJMQT from Detroit, where she operates Erik Van Wert Dye Operates, a hand-weaving studio that provides sustainable textile products. At George Washington College, Brewer was The Textile Museum’s initial comprehensive-time curator of modern day textile artwork (2016-18). Through her tenure, she served as a liaison among the museum and GWU’s Corcoran Faculty of Artwork and Design, created a new modern day artist fellowship software at the museum, and curated “Inspiring Splendor: 50 Years of Ebony Manner Truthful,” amid other exhibitions.
Previously, Brewer served as executive director for the Black Metropolis Investigation Consortium at the College of Chicago. She also owned Cab Fantastic Artwork Ltd., a consultancy via which she created collections and organized exhibitions for museums, educational institutions, organizations, and personal collectors. Previously in her career, she was an assistant curator of African art at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Brewer has taught weaving and fiber artwork at better instruction establishments. An skilled creator and general public speaker, she just lately contributed essays to publications focused to Detroit artist Shirley Woodson and late trend designer Willi Smith. She holds a masters of library and facts science from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga. earned an MFA in textile style from University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. and also received a BFA with distinction from California Higher education of the Arts in San Francisco, Calif.
Camille Ann Brewer is becoming a member of the museum at a critical time in its history and a dynamic interval in the subject of quilts and textile art.
Founded IN 1977, the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles describes itself as the initially U.S. museum committed completely to quilts and textiles. The museum has an once-a-year price range of around $750,000 (2021-22) and a collection of about 1,400 operates, with only a couple of African American artists represented. Its board is composed fully of girls. The museum’s workers is also all-female, with the exception of its manager of functions and facilities.
Celebrating its 45th yr, the museum strives to be a entire world-class establishment. At a important moment determining its long term route, the museum sought a new director to drive its strategy and expansion, with a focus on fundraising, building expansion, method progress, American Alliance of Museums accreditation, and a authentic motivation to range, fairness, and inclusion throughout the firm.
Quilt and textile artists have very long fought to have their get the job done viewed as further than the lens of women’s perform and craft. The classification is last but not least getting a great deal-deserved attention as historic, modern day, and present-day artwork.
Over the past two decades, the curatorial and scholarly fascination in Harriet Powers’s 19th century Bible quilts, quilts by Alabama artists from Gee’s Bend, abstract creations by Bay Spot artist Rosie Lee Tompkins (1936-2006), and Faith Ringgold’s stunning story quilts, has opened up a wide range of possibilities, which includes welcome reception from museums, for a new technology of up to date artists performing in the medium, such as Bisa Butler, Christopher Myers, Stephen Cities, Sanford Biggers, Phyllis Stephens, Michael A. Cummings, Michael C. Thorpe, and Hank Willis Thomas.
To name a several, Sonya Clark, Yinka Shonibare, Sonia Gomes, Billy Zangewa, and Diedrick Brackens of Los Angeles, are amid the textile artists who have made critically recognized procedures performing with fabric, thread, and other elements.
Brewer is becoming a member of the museum at a critical time in its historical past and a dynamic interval in the discipline. “I’m excited about this opportunity at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles for several causes. I’m returning to the Bay Spot, household of my alma mater California Higher education of the Arts,” she explained to Lifestyle Style by e mail.
“In addition, the museum is positioned in the city’s Arts District, which has a rising audience. Lastly, California is my dwelling. My relatives moved from Texas to California in the late 19th century. I’m thrilled to be a aspect of an establishment that celebrates California’s legacy and historical past in the textile arts.” CT
Find A lot more Patterns of Lifestyle: Google Arts & Lifestyle function explores quilts by African American artists in the assortment of the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles
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BOOKSHELF
Camille Ann Brewer contributed essays to “Willi Smith: Road Couture” and “Palette for the People today: The Vivid Earth of Shirley Woodson.” Two early volumes offer an overview of the quilts produced by Gee’s Bend, Ala., quilters, “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend” and “Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt.” The exhibition catalog “Sonya Clark: Monumental Cloth, The Flag We Need to Know” was not long ago released. “Diedrick Brackens: darling divined” was printed on the situation of a touring museum of the exact identify. “Bisa Butler: Portraits” documents the artist’s very first museum exhibition. “Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories” was released to accompany an exhibition of the identical title. The exhibition catalog “Sanford Biggers: Codeswith” focuses on a sequence of repurposed quilts by the artist. Moreover, three new volumes take a look at the perform of Religion Ringgold, “Faith Ringgold: American Men and women,” “Faith Ringgold: Politics/Energy,” “Faith Ringgold”
