2021–22 Annual Report: Exhibitions

Since reopening to all in August 2021, the Hood Museum of Art has seen its schedule rebound with a roster of exciting exhibitions that resonate with its mission to center art and people, and especially to forge meaningful connections across disciplines, peoples, and local and global communities. Several exhibitions featured sculptural works, ranging from the figural ceramics in Form and Relation: Contemporary Native Ceramics to the metal and mixed-media works in Thornton Dial: The Tiger Cat and the large hand-dyed fishing nets that hung from the ceiling in Lathrop Gallery by artist Carolina Caycedo. In an adjacent gallery, viewers could find a different type of sculpted fishing net represented via the ceramics of Native artist Courtney Leonard, which climbed the Kaish Gallery stairs and continued into Harteveldt Gallery. On the first floor, the ongoing exhibition Unbroken: Native American Ceramics, Sculpture, and Design featured both historic and contemporary forms, such as bowls and vessels, with both figural and more traditional decoration. 

Another highlight of FY22 was the major exhibition This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World. Many years in the making, This Land included both historical and contemporary works of art by artists from a wide range of backgrounds including Euro-American, African American, Latin American, and Asian American. With these artists intermingled throughout its four galleries, This Land featured a thematic layout that disrupted the more traditional chronological order often employed in museums and offered new pathways to engage with a range of works of art from the Hood Museum collection.  

At the beginning of 2022, we welcomed Studio Art Professor Emeritus Louise Hamlin to show a two-gallery exhibition of her paintings, which included works featuring mixed greens that were set in contrast to her charcoal drawings of garlic scapes, as well as her landscape paintings of local farms, forests, and waterways.

As always, the student-intern exhibition program A Space for Dialogue continued to present varied and engaging content. In addition, Jorge Cuellar, assistant professor in the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies, invited viewers to learn more about art and artists from Central America in his exhibition titled Bolas de Fuego: Culture and Conflict in Central America.

Exhibitions 2021–22

Form and Relation: Contemporary Native Ceramics
January 5, 2021–January 2, 2022 (opened late and extended due to pandemic; originally scheduled March 14–August 16, 2020)

Citrin Gallery, Engles Gallery, Harteveldt Gallery, and Kaish Gallery stairs

Jami C. Powell, curator of Indigenous art, and Morgan E. Freeman, Native American art fellow

This exhibition showcased the versatility of ceramic and the many forms it takes through the hands of six Indigenous artists from various regions within what is now the United States. Through their innovative and critical work, artists Anita Fields, Courtney M. Leonard, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Ruben Olguin, Rose B. Simpson, and Roxanne Swentzell wrestle with concepts such as community, identity, gender, land, extraction, language, and responsibility.

This project was made possible, in part, through the Diversifying Art Museum Leadership Initiative, funded by the Walton Family Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

Shannon Te Ao: my life as a tunnel
May 9, 2021–April 17, 2022

Albright Gallery 

Jessica Hong, former associate curator of global contemporary art

Shannon Te Ao (Ngāti Tūwharetoa / New Zealander, born Australia, 1978) implements Māori traditions to explore the ambiguities and tensions within interpersonal relationships as well as the complex dynamics between indigeneity, language, and loss. The starting point for my life as a tunnel (2018) is a scene from Charles Burnett's iconic film Killer of Sheep (1978), in which the protagonist, Stan, and his wife—whose marriage has experienced much strain—slowly dance to the haunting Clyde Otis song "This Bitter Earth," originally recorded by Dinah Washington in 1959. The scene captures a pivotal moment of physical and psychological exchange between two individuals. This two-channel video is installed on two separate, back-to-back screens. Two male figures move intimately together to an a cappella version of "This Bitter Earth," with lyrics translated into te reo Māori (Māori language). Their engagements seem affectionate, but there are subtle, yet palpable, moments of disquiet. This layered and poignant work weaves together past and present and asks: What can be found once something is lost?

This exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and generously supported by the William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Hall Fund. 

A Legacy for Learning: The Jane and Raphael Bernstein Collection 
April 3, 2021–February 6, 2022

Class of 1967 Gallery and William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries

Katherine W. Hart, former Senior Curator of Collections and Barbara C. and Harvey P. Hood 1918 Curator of Academic Programming, Jessica Hong, former associate curator of global contemporary art, Melissa McCormick, professor of Japanese art and culture, Harvard University, Jami C. Powell, curator of Indigenous art, and John R. Stomberg, Virginia Rice Kelsey 1961s Director

A Legacy for Learning: The Jane and Raphael Bernstein Collection comprised a series of exhibitions that individually and collectively celebrated the Bernstein family's gifts to the Hood Museum of Art over four decades. These installations presented photography, paintings, prints, drawings, and sculpture by European, Japanese, and North American artists. In spring and summer 2021, the museum featured the following Bernstein Collection shows: Pinpricks and Pomposity: The Inventiveness of English Visual Satire; Landscape(d): Modern Photography and the Environment; and Lyrical Journey: Toko Shinoda. From August 2021 until January 2022, the following installations were on view: Inuit Art | Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit; Both Sides of the Lens: Portrait Photography; and Mystic Peak: Selections from the Bernstein Collection of Japanese Art.

This exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and generously supported by the Evelyn A. J. Hall Fund, the Marie-Louise and Samuel R. Rosenthal Fund, and the Ray Winfield 1918 Memorial Fund. 

Drawing Lines
July 17, 2021–September 4, 2022

Lathrop Gallery

Jessica Hong, former associate curator of global contemporary art

What do you think about when you hear the phrase "draw lines"? A line can separate but also connect; it can create divisions and boundaries but also generate space. For artists, the line has always been a critical apparatus for exploration. Through weaving, painting, sketching, cutting, collaging, or layering—whether their lines stretch in two dimensions or extend into three—the artists in Drawing Lines activate the line as a generative form with expansive potential.

This exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and generously supported by the Philip Fowler 1927 Memorial Fund.

CIPX Dartmouth with Kali Spitzer and Will Wilson
January 15, 2020–September 12, 2021

Cheatham Gallery

Jami C. Powell, curator of Indigenous art, and Morgan E. Freeman, Native American art fellow

Conceptualized by photographer Will Wilson, the collaborative project Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange (CIPX) responds to the widely circulated ethnographic photography of Native Americans beginning at the turn of the twentieth century. During a ten-day residency at the museum, Kali Spitzer (Kaska Dena) and Will Wilson (Diné) took tintype portraits of Dartmouth College community members, then exhibited selected images.

This exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and generously supported by the Charles Gilman Family Endowment.

American Art, Colonial to Modern
January 26, 2019–September 12, 2021

Rush Gallery and Sack Gallery

Barbara J. MacAdam, former Jonathan Little Cohen Curator of American Art 

The works in these two galleries highlighted some of the social, economic, and aesthetic developments that shaped Euro-American artistic production from the colonial period to the early decades of the twentieth century. These ranged from European stylistic influences and nationally shifting tastes to the impact of industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and to such watershed events as the Civil War. The installation demonstrated how the Hood Museum continues to build a collection that speaks to a comprehensive view of American art and its regional distinctions.

The installation of this gallery was generously supported by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation.

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Trade Canoe: Forty Days and Forty Nights
January 6–December 12, 2021

Kaish Gallery

Jami C. Powell, curator of Indigenous art

Trade Canoe: Forty Days and Forty Nights is part of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith's well-known Trade Canoe series, which she began in 1992 as a critical response to quincentennial celebrations of Columbus's arrival to the "New World." In her Trade Canoes and other large-scale paintings, Smith often layers images, paint, text, and objects to convey the entangled webs of history, colonization, and extraction that characterize the American experience. Within Forty Days and Forty Nights, Smith draws on imagery from the Christian Bible, Salish creation stories and homelands, art historical references, and pop culture. She creates a cacophonous visual narrative, signaling a possible future of mass flooding as a result of global climate change and rising sea levels. Through this painting and The Rancher, also on view in the exhibition, Smith invites audiences to engage in a complex dialogue and to reconsider the visual landscapes that shape our understandings of Native Americans.

This exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and generously supported by the William Chase Grant 1919 Memorial Fund and the Leon C. 1927, Charles L. 1955, and Andrew J. 1984 Greenebaum Fund.

Unbroken: Native American Ceramics, Sculpture, and Design
January 22, 2022–March 11, 2023

Albright Gallery

Sháńdíín Brown '20, former DAMLI Native American Art Intern, and Dillen Peace '19, former DAMLI Native American Art Intern

Unbroken: Native American Ceramics, Sculpture, and Design draws from the Hood Museum's permanent collections to create a dialogue between historical, modern, and contemporary works made by Indigenous North American artists. Curated by Dillen Peace '19 (Diné) and Sháńdíín Brown '20 (Diné), both of whom were Diversifying Art Museum Leadership Initiative (DAMLI) Native American art interns, Unbroken explores themes of continuity, innovation, and Indigenous knowledges across time, and calls attention to the stylistic decisions made by artists and makers working across multiple mediums.

This exhibition is organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and was generously supported by Hugh J. Freund, Class of 1967.

Photographs from Hollywood's Golden Era: The John Kobal Foundation Collection
February 19–May 21, 2022

Class of 1967 Gallery and First-floor Corridor

Katherine W. Hart, former Senior Curator of Collections and Barbara C. and Harvey P. Hood 1918 Curator of Academic Engagement

Comprising some 6,000 prints, the recently acquired John Kobal Foundation Collection represents the full range of Hollywood studio photographs taken from the 1920s through the 1960s. This installation offered a glimpse into this renowned collection, highlighting a small selection of portraits and photographs from film sets.

This exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and generously supported by the Hansen Family Fund.

Money Talks: Roman Coinage in Global, Historical Context
Ongoing

Kim Gallery

Roberta Stuart, professor of classical studies, Dartmouth

This installation uses objects from the Hood Museum of Art's collection to challenge the traditional understanding of currency. Drawing on examples from across time and cultures to offer multiple perspectives, the installation asks audiences to question how a society defines "money" and its purpose.

This installation was organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and generously supported by the Harrington Gallery Fund.

Thorton Dial: The Tiger Cat
September 11, 2021–July 16, 2022

Northeast Gallery

Virginia Rice Kelsey 1961s Director John R. Stomberg

In 2021, the Hood Museum of Art acquired ten artworks from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, including the three by Thornton Dial that form Thornton Dial: The Tiger Cat. This exhibition celebrated this acquisition, asking us to look closely at Dial's work and consider the ways in which it broadens our understanding of American art.

This exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and generously supported by the Cissy Patterson Fund and the William B. Jaffe Memorial Fund.

This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World
January 5–July 23, 2022

Kaish Gallery stairs, Sack Gallery, Rush Gallery, and Cheatham Gallery

Barbara J. MacAdam, former Jonathan Little Cohen Curator of American Art, Jami C. Powell, curator of Indigenous art, Thomas H. Price, former curatorial assistant for American art, Morgan E. Freeman, former Native American art fellow, and Michael Hartman, The Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World explored artistic responses to the natural world by diverse American artists working from the early nineteenth century to the present. It was the first major installation of the museum's historic American collection to be organized thematically, rather than chronologically. More significantly, it featured not only Euro-American, African American, Latin American, and Asian American works but also, for the first time, traditional and contemporary Native American works hung alongside this early-to-contemporary "American" art. This collaboratively curated exhibition of approximately 160 works filled four galleries. It compelled us to consider new perspectives on historical and contemporary art by diverse artists, Native and non-Native, and to reflect on our own relationship to place and land. How, for instance, have experiences of home and the natural world changed historically and in our own lifetimes? How have they already been impacted by unanticipated phenomena, such as the COVID-19 pandemic? What actions would help to provide all Americans a secure sense of home, in both the built and the natural environment?

This exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and generously supported by a gift from Claire Foerster and Daniel Bernstein, Class of 1987, and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

In the Moment: Recent Work by Louise Hamlin
February 12–September 3, 2022

William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries

Amelia Kahl, Barbara C. and Harvey P. Hood 1918 Curator of Academic Programming

This exhibition celebrated the work of Louise Hamlin, the former George Frederick Jewett Professor in Art and area head of printmaking at Dartmouth. Inspiration can be found in many places. For Hamlin, inspiration is not found in the grandiose, but rather in the subtle, familiar, and overlooked corners of our everyday world. In each scene, whether a fog-filled landscape or bundle of garlic scapes from the farmstand, Hamlin explores light and form, creating images that suggest paint (or ink) and color were her driving forces.

This exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and generously supported by the Eleanor Smith Fund and the Ray Winfield Smith 1918 Memorial Fund.

Bolas de Fuego: Culture and Conflict in Central America
May 28–September 25, 2022

Class of 1967 Gallery

Jorge E. Cuéllar, faculty fellow & assistant professor, Department of Latin American, Latino & Caribbean Studies, and faculty fellow, Consortium of Studies in Race, Migration & Sexuality (RMS), Dartmouth

Bolas de Fuego: Culture and Conflict in Central America draws from the Hood Museum's limited Latin American collections to tell stories of communities from the following countries: Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama. Focused on the conflict-laden twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the installation examines turning points in the region's political and social history, while attending to the themes of race, ethnicity, and migration.

This exhibition was curated in conjunction with LACS 8: "Politics and Culture in Transnational Central America" and LACS 50.17: "Land, Belonging and Social Change in Latin America."

This exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and generously supported by the Harrington Gallery Fund.

A Space for Dialogue 

Highlighting student curatorial and educational work is a key part of the Hood Museum's mission, and nowhere is this more apparent than in A Space for Dialogue: Fresh Perspectives on the Permanent Collection from Dartmouth's Students. This series of single-gallery exhibitions curated by Dartmouth students and drawing from the museum's collection is a crucial aspect of the Hood Museum internship program and has been ongoing since 2002. Through their projects, students gain valuable, hands-on curatorial experience and work closely with staff across departments. The students choose from a wide range of themes, subjects, time periods, and materials for their exhibitions, showcasing the breadth and depth of both the museum's collections and Dartmouth student scholarship. Interns identify topics, conduct research, select objects, lay out exhibitions, write label text and brochures, and oversee exhibition installations. The projects culminate in public talks. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the 2019–20 student-curated shows were installed in 2021, and 2020–21 interns worked with their supervisors on virtual exhibitions.

A Space for Dialogue was founded with support from the Class of 1948 and made possible with generous endowments from the Class of 1967, Bonnie and Richard Reiss Jr. '66, and Pamela J. Joyner '70.

The Butt of the Joke: Humor and the Human Body, A Space for Dialogue 101
May 22–July 25, 2021

Gutman Gallery

Grace Hanselman '20, Mellon Special Projects Intern

The Butt of the Joke: Humor and the Human Body aimed to explore the reasons why we find certain depictions of the human body to be funny. Lighthearted and fun, it sought to prompt both laughter and thoughtful contemplation regarding the ways in which we think about our bodies.

Process, Product, and Black Practice, A Space for Dialogue 102
July 31–October 3, 2021

Gutman Gallery

Turiya Adkins '20, Homma Family Intern

Process, product, and practice: the three P's of art making. This exhibition was an exploration of these three P's and their implications for Black aesthetic practices through the relationship between process- and product-oriented works by African American artists. Within that relationship lies a goal of redefining Black consciousness in art.

Images of Disability, A Space for Dialogue 103
October 9–December 19, 2021

Gutman Gallery

Maeve McBride '20, Conroy Intern

Images of Disability examined how artists, with and without disabilities, have approached the subject. Including examples as far back as 1790, the exhibit encouraged conversations about agency, labelling, and representation.

Southern Gothic, A Space for Dialogue 104
January 8–February 26, 2022

Gutman Gallery

Abigail Smith '23, Conroy Intern

The melodrama of Southern Gothic literature has captivated many with its enthralling treatment of the grotesque. The exhibition Southern Gothic explored the complex and often macabre world of the Southeastern United States. This niche genre deals with racial tensions, Reconstruction, the Great Depression, and the ghostly remains of the Antebellum era. This exhibition explored works from artists who have captured the spirit of the Southern Gothic in all its darkness—and light.

Transcendent Landscapes: Abstracting Nature, A Space for Dialogue 104
March 5–April 23, 2022

Gutman Gallery

Alice Crow '22, Levinson Intern

Transcendent Landscapes: Abstracting Nature explored the environment as a subject in abstract art. Focusing on five monumental works by female painters, this exhibition studied the spiritual role landscapes play in painting and considered the way these works evoke metaphysical experiences for both the artist and the viewer.

A DREAM Deferred: Undocumented Immigrants and the American Dream, A Space for Dialogue 106
April 30–June 18, 2022

Gutman Gallery

Yliana Beck, '22 Conroy Intern

A DREAM Deferred: Undocumented Immigrants and the American Dream explored works of art that call attention to undocumented immigrants, whose livelihoods are in constant danger as they continue to live in the United States in hopes of better opportunities and to achieve the so-called "American Dream." This exhibition focused primarily on poster prints, which have become a popular and effective tool for spreading the word on injustices and reaching mass audiences.

Coloring the Western Canon, A Space for Dialogue 107
June 25–August 21, 2022

Gutman Gallery

Chloe Jung '23, Class of 1954 Intern

Color—as something that has been constructed in opposition to whiteness—holds many negative associations. Whereas whiteness tends to symbolize purity, beauty, and refinement, color often represents the dirty, exotic, and primitive. Coloring the Western Canon examined how our relationship to color has largely been shaped by Eurocentric concepts of art. By navigating the various ways nonwhite artists use color to explore their cultural identities, this exhibition challenged the boundaries of our whitewashed Western canon and asked you to reconsider how you think about color.