Episode 2: The Art

Episode two of MONCA Unframed takes you inside the art itself—how exhibitions are imagined, selected, and brought to life. From brainstorming themes to hanging the final piece, hear how MONCA curates work from across Northern California and creates space for artists and communities to be seen and heard. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

We're going to be talking about the Museum of Northern California Art, or Monca, as it's known. And Monca exists to make art accessible and to promote awareness of Northern California artists through collections, exhibitions, and educational programs. In this five-episode series, we're going behind the frames into the stories, the risks, the history, and the big ideas that continue to shape this community-driven museum. This is episode two, The Art. I'm Georges Weber, and this is Monka Unframed. And we have Sarah Smallhouse from our permanent collections um department. So what I'd like to know from you guys is to begin with, what is the path that led you to Monka? Penny, I know you were teaching at Chico High. And Sarah, you're a professor as well. So why don't we start with you, Sarah?

SPEAKER_03 1:30

Uh yeah, thank you. So it's been sort of a long journey to get into art museums. Um for me, my interest in high school was science, which was sort of a rebellious like turn because both my parents are artists, so I don't really know exactly why I thought science was the way to go. But I did well in science. And so that's what I was interested in when I first went into university. But after a few years, I sort of lost interest. And I ended up at a junior college where I got hired as a gallery assistant for what's now the Vincent Price Art Museum, but was then the Vincent Price Art Gallery. And I just thought it was the coolest thing. I was taking art history to kind of round out my GE. Um, I got to, you know, install artworks and um I started to notice like what brought students in, what didn't. I got to handle personal collections for the Vincent Price Art Museum, which has like a premier um Chicano, Chicane, Chicanex uh art collection.

SPEAKER_04 2:38

That's Los Angeles, right?

SPEAKER_03 2:39

Yes, yes, East Los Angeles College. Um a lot of their alumni are now, you know, famous artists, um, like Gronk and Patsy Valdez. And so I went back um as an art history major with the idea that um I really love art history, I really love art and art spaces, um, and could either see myself teaching, but also could see myself working in museums and was really passionate about that. And I got my master's at Chico State, where I got to work at the Janet Turner Print Museum. Sweet. Um, I've worked at the Hollywood Bowl Museum, so not necessarily art focused, but I got to listen to a lot of wonderful music as it was being rehearsed and still got to, you know, sort of do museum practice in a different, a slightly different um discipline. And then once I graduated, there was an opening at the Chico History Museum. So I managed that for a couple years while I was also uh teaching as um an adjunct lecturer both at Butte College and Chico State. And Pat recruited me to uh join their board. And I was totally excited because you know the art museum is really where all of my passions fuse. So uh so yeah, I ended up on the board and I've had several roles since, which I'm sure I think I get to talk about later. So, but yeah, it's a long and windy road.

SPEAKER_04 4:07

An interesting and long and windy road. And you'll say Angelina.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

So that's all I know about Vincent Price. Awesome.

SPEAKER_04 4:17

Thank you. What about you, Penny? What what led you to the museum and when did that happen?

SPEAKER_01 4:24

It happened a couple years after I retired. Um, I was kind of decompressing from from uh teaching at Chico High, and a couple years went by, and there was an exhibit I had always wanted to do uh because that's saying those who can't teach. And I'd heard it a number of times throughout my career, and I did not know any art teacher anywhere that also wasn't an artist, and art teachers who did work on the weekends, breaks, um, during the week, art teachers who'd bring their work in and share it with their students. And I I didn't know any art teacher that could not make art. And so I'd always wanted to do an exhibit about those, about art teachers and the art that they make, because everything is always about the focus of our our students, and and um so I thought it'd be nice to turn it back on the teachers and what they can do. So I approached Pat Messias about the idea, and I met with the um exhibition committee at the time, and um they liked the idea, so I went to work putting reaching out to all the art teachers um in this area and and around, and we got um an exhibit together, and I helped hang it, and it was it was a wonderful exhibit, except COVID happened. Oh my gosh, and then no one really saw it. I mean, some some people saw it. There were some limited openings, and we did a reception where it was staggered where only five people could come in at a time, and um, but I really enjoyed the process. And Pat approached me about joining the board, and it was COVID, so why not? And so we did all the meetings via Zoom, and it's a working board. So when you're on the Manca board, you are uh expected to join a committee and work towards the success of the museum. And so um when I was asked what committee I wanted to join, I said the exhibition committee. And I have been involved with that committee for quite a long time now. Um eventually I I became uh chair of the committee, and I get to work with five other amazing people to um work on the exhibitions at the museum. Wonderful. Who are the other folks? We have well Pat Messias, our executive director. We have Sherry Hopper, we have uh Rick Vertoli, Chris Yates, and Sally Ginocchio.

SPEAKER_04 7:34

Thank you. And so I'm gonna turn back here to Sarah for a minute. Um so you've been doing work with the permanent collection, is that correct?

SPEAKER_03 7:46

Uh well, I've had several roles. Um over uh, well, I want to say, I think I joined the board uh 2016, 2017. So I was on the exhibition committee for several years. But uh given that I have an art historical background and I'm connected with Chico State, I'm connected with Bugh College as well. Um it's I've been interested in supporting the permanent collection in the care of the collection. And it's also a really wonderful uh pipeline for internships for students who are looking for, you know, hands-on experience.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

I bet, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:21

Um, so yeah, so I've served in a lot of different capacities, which is one of the, again, kind of exciting things. As Penny mentioned, that, you know, we're we're a working board, uh, we all volunteer. Um, and so yeah, I've stayed connected in in the collections committee role.

SPEAKER_04 8:39

Thank you. Is that is that art ever shown at the museum, the permanent collection?

SPEAKER_03 8:44

Yes. So we've How does that work? We have had um, oh man, I don't know off the top of my head how many, but we have had several exhibitions of the permanent collection. Uh sometimes there's a theme that we're looking at within the permanent collection. Sometimes the collection can be a source to um add or supplement, you know, an exhibition if there's a call for art and the art comes from lots of different locations. Uh, there might be artworks in the collection that inspire themes or can also be added to uh an exhibition. Um, but we've had exhibitions of fully permanent collection works, um, sometimes focusing on new acquisitions, so you know, new works that have been added. You know, I think we did an exhibition of Maria Alcalar, and her work was donated sort of posthumously to our collection, and we had a show of just um those works, but we it also inspired um another exhibition. Her work is very surreal. And so um, when we receive that body of artwork, um, you know, it inspired themes like surrealism in a different exhibition or, you know, celebrating female artists. So I mean, it remains a really active source of inspiration and is, you know, still alive and well, even if it's um and wasn't the Reed Applegate collection part of one of the the seeds of beginning the museum even? Yes, yes. Um, that was, you know, I think uh a foundational gift to the museum, but it has since grown. You know, there's a lot of artists uh that are eager to have their work in a museum collection. We've grown uh our collection of you know local artists. We're you know connected to the university. So we continue to get donations of faculty work, um, and beyond, of course, since we serve, you know, the entire North State. So we continue to get donations from, you know, Sacramento, the Bay Area, and so forth.

SPEAKER_04 11:00

And we've got some of the permanent stuff in the library, right?

SPEAKER_03 11:03

Yes. The library of the museum. Of the museum. Yes. Um, and that is often rotated out. So that's sort of like a miniature uh exhibition space of the permanent collection as well.

SPEAKER_04 11:17

Thank you. So when it comes to exhibits, whether they're permanent or new, how do you come up with the idea for an exhibit? And then the follow-up question will be how do you source the art? And I know that that has evolved over time.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Yes, it has. We uh we do a lot of brainstorming and um we look at multiple things. Uh sometimes uh current affairs will look at at that. Um we also get proposals from um um solo and group artists to use a gallery at the museum. And so sometimes they will their work will help drive a call for art. So we look at that person's artwork and then kind of develop something that might be similar or or parallel to their work. Sometimes we don't. Sometimes we have something that we've been wanting to do for a while. And um so sometimes uh what might be in one exhibit, one gallery that does not necessarily match with another exhibit. But more often than not, we we try to get things that are are rather cohesive. But we do a lot of brainstorming and um and coming up with with ideas. Sometimes ideas are brought to us. We have a junior board now, and and they've got an idea to us, and um sometimes we get ideas from community members. But it's a uh it's a challenging process, but it's fun.

SPEAKER_04 13:04

Well, and I think some of the exhibits are now even seasonal or recurring, like the birds exhibits.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

That exhibit has been going on for a very long time. So that was something where um in conjunction with the snow goose festival, and that started. I've been working with the exhibition committee for s and manca for at least six years, and that was started even before my time. But it was meant to be in conjunction with the snow goose festival, and I don't know if they reached out to Manca or Monka reached out to them to do something um that was that went with the Snow Goose Festival, but it is um one of our most popular exhibits, and it gets bigger and better every year.

SPEAKER_04 13:59

I I love them every time, including this year. And um you guys just do a terrific job. Well, thank you. Wonderful. Well, so then uh we can uh kind of move ahead a little bit here to you mentioned there's some it's a process and the brainstorming, you know, it can be not always easy. What are some of the obstacles that you come up against or what are some of the things that you have to negotiate? Whether it's a practical matter like how do you get the art, you know, or how do you get agreement on what to hang. And then I'm also curious about the process of hanging the show in the space. Is that your is that your group as well?

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Oh yeah. So we do it all start to finish. So from installation to deinstallation and and all of that. During the brainstorming process, um we generally with most decisions we work by consensus. And um we we will debate an idea, we'll argue an idea. Um sometimes everyone is is in complete favor, and sometimes it's it's just by majority. Uh it is a a strong-willed, passionate group of art lovers, and no one is afraid to express their opinion. So it um uh but for the most part, um, we come to consensus pretty easily. And sometimes ideas are then, you know, we we put that on the back burner until we can develop it a little bit more and come back to it. As for getting the artwork, we use two different methods. Uh one we have on our our website a link for Call for Art, and uh that gets publicized through our newsletters, social media, all sorts of places. And so interested artists can go to our website, click on the link, fill out a form, and upload their images. We also use a service called CAFE or uh call for art entry, and um that service we pay a small fee to advertise our call, and then artists uh enter our calls for free. And our calls are considered regional calls because we we're a regional museum and it's part of our mission to serve Northern California. So the artists that we reach that we reach out to in both calls have to be from um counties within Northern California.

SPEAKER_04 17:00

So what are the borders there for that region?

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Um it's if you I don't remember the counties offhand, but um it ends around San Jose. If you were to draw a line at San Jose and kind of include those counties around that line and then um up to the northern border.

SPEAKER_04 17:21

Got it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

We try to reach artists who have a little harder time finding places to be able to show their artwork.

SPEAKER_04 17:33

Well, and once you get the submissions, what is the process for how you select and curate what you're gonna hang? You have a theme, you have an exhibit idea, and then you have a discussion. How does that all work?

SPEAKER_01 17:57

We have a call for art out, and that will have a theme. And the first thing we do before jurying the artwork is we review the theme, we review the call, because it's primary that the artwork addresses the call. And unfortunately, some people don't read things as closely, or maybe they interpret the call a little more broadly than we intended. And so when we jury the work, we we look first to see if it addressed the call. Then we um we we vote on every single work that's been uploaded. We have we use a numerical system. Each person on the committee has um has uh a series of cards in front of them with a number on them. And we look at a work, um, we uh sometimes talk about it, and um, and then we each put forth our our number. That number is tallied for a total score, and that's logged. And then after we have juried all the work, we decide how many works we can fit. Sometimes we're using the whole museum, sometimes we're just using two galleries. And then we start at the the works that received a perfect score, and um, say we know that we can only accept about a hundred works, and then we count down from the top score, we count down a hundred works and then draw a line. Um, and then anybody above that line, their work was accepted, and below was declined. And um, when the work comes in, comes in a couple weeks, we have the work come in a week or two before we hang. And then um we start hanging on uh a Monday. If the exhibit opens on Thursday, we start hanging on Monday, and it's an all-hands-on-deck affair. And um we bring the the artwork out from the back and we start arranging it around in the in the galleries, and it's a lot of just moving art around to try to figure out what looks good together, what looks good on particular walls. And if there's it's sometimes artwork requires unusual hanging methods, and so sometimes we may start with those first and work around those uh to be able to make sure it gets hung in the way it's it's supposed to be hung, and then work around from that.

SPEAKER_03 20:37

Um there's a lot of logistical, you know, issues that you run up against, right? Like certain things only fit in certain spaces. Um, you know, there's ADA compliance, so thinking about, you know, wheelchair clearance. Um, sometimes it's the material of the objects, you know, that present certain challenges, right? They'll need to be in certain places because um, you know, they're delicate or um, you know, they'll have multiple features to them. But I think, you know, the manca exhibition team does such a good job at telling stories with art because an an exhibition is an educational experience. So, you know, I think a lot of people misunderstand that it's just, you know, putting up art on the walls and um, you know, that they thought it looked good. But I think team really understands how to make each individual artwork sing, um, whether it needs to be in conversation with another artwork, um, you know, how to make it's each artwork stand out, whether it's small, whether it's large, whether it's very colorful or not. Um, there's so like installing shows is really an art unto itself. And I really sing the praises of that way to put it for honoring that responsibility.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Thank you for that, Sarah. Wow. We um you made me think of something else. Which is um we also sometimes install things at different heights for people of different um uh for different heights, or if you're in a wheelchair for children. So we uh we do try to vary height a little bit, especially with the three-dimensional works, where somebody can go around them and you want people to be able to see the artwork. And if you're in a wheelchair, you don't want to be looking at the pedestal. You want to be able to see the the work as well. So we try to keep that into consideration as well.

SPEAKER_04 22:39

So, Sarah, what have been some of your most memorable or favorite exhibits so far?

SPEAKER_03 22:52

Wow, there's a lot. I've really enjoyed being involved with exhibitions. Um, my passion project was no word for art, uh, contemporary, uh, Mmong American art in Northern California. I worked on that for a couple years, some of that time during COVID lockdown as well. And uh it was my passion project because I'm always looking at who is attending things, who are our visitors. And if I don't see someone represented in that group, then I want to find a way to invite them in. And the Mongol American community has always been very important to me having grown up in this area. So I identified that I, you know, we weren't seeing that visitorship. And so I really wanted to reach out to that community. Um, and my approach was to co-curate, so not necessarily try to be the voice of authority for, you know, an identity that I don't have personally, but to use my museum know-how and to be a liaison to the uh Monca and uh get that authentic voice in. So I was able to get Elizabeth Lee, a contemporary artist in the community, and Stacey Lowe, another contemporary artist um and graphic artist in the area. And we worked together on that group, and their insight was so powerful. They they were the ones who were, you know, connected to all of the artists um in the North State. And um, and it was just it was truly a beautiful experience. I felt like it was successful because we were able to, you know, highlight these voices, but also people were able to learn so much about the Hmong American experience through that artwork. And I think that's really a valuable thing. So that was the most memorable for me.

SPEAKER_04 24:45

Thank you. Well, how would either of you or both of you characterize or define the art of Monca? And also I'm curious about what you see the role of the museum being in this community. We're both a university town and an agricultural town. Any commentary on that? And just overall, how would you characterize the art that is being curated and shown and experienced at Monka?

SPEAKER_01 25:25

When I was teaching, um, I always tried to incorporate art history into my lessons, and I was always deeply saddened by the number of students who had never been to a museum. And when Manca opened up right across the street, I was just thrilled because it gave such an accessible opportunity for students to go to the museum. And it it's uh it's free for students to visit the museum. You show your student ID and um and it's it's free to visit. And so as an educator, even though I'm retired, I still feel like I am a educator forever, and I I really enjoy the educational aspects of the work and what the work is trying to say and who is who is saying it, who are these artists? And we have brought in, as Sarah mentioned, um various uh groups in the in the North State and identities, cultural identities, and given them a space to have a voice for their their work and for their culture or their thoughts. And so for me, it's an important educational component. And as a as a working artist as well, it it gives a way for you to be able to share what you do with your community, with the people that you bump into in Costco. You know, they get to see your your work that you've been um toiling away on for a while. And um I think both of those are are very important for a small community to be able to have.

SPEAKER_03 27:31

Yeah, and I would describe it as um just limitless, you know, art institutions like museums have traditionally excluded so many different people who create. Um and I think Monca is definitely from the very beginnings uh trying to really challenge that idea um and get rid of that, those connotations. So for example, I'm working with Butte College's inspiring scholars on an upcoming exhibition on foster care. So we're gonna be highlighting, you know, stories, artworks, objects, um, written word from current and former foster youth uh about their experience. And, you know, maybe the public might come in and see objects and um, you know, items that might not have that like professional look that they're expecting when they enter, you know, a museum space. But, you know, these are the kinds of stories that are welcomed by Manca. And I think that's the kind of thing that makes us, you know, exceptional.

SPEAKER_04 28:41

So nice. Well, thank you both for your time and for your expertise and to your dedication to the arts. We are very happy to have learned all about the art and how it's uh curated, how some of it is kept in the permanent collection, how we call for art and how we select it. Um so thank you very much to Kenny Baxter and Sarah Smallhouse. Thank you, Georgia.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Thank you, Georgia.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

Thank you for listening to Monka Unframed. This episode has been produced by Aidan Vande Root. This episode is a production of KZFR as part of the Chico Speaks series, with funding made possible by the City of Chico Arts Commission, the California Arts Council, and listeners like you. Listen to Monka Unframed on KZFR ninety point one FM and on digital streaming platforms.