Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Abcs Of Curating

DePaul Magazine

Art exhibitions are merely the final product of months—even years—of hard work on the curator’s part. It’s not just about selecting pretty or evocative pieces of art to show—there’s a delicate art to curating as well. Several DePaul alumni in the profession share their insights on the art of curating.

Alejandro Acierto Interview, Madeline Bolton

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio: Alejandro T. Acierto is an artist and musician working in time-based media. He has exhibited his work at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Issue Project Room, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Salisbury University, SOMArts and presented performance works at the Brooklyn International Performance Art Festival, Center for Performance Research, and Center for New Music and Technology. Acierto has held residencies at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Banff Centre, High Concept Laboratories, and Chicago Artists' Coalition. He is currently a FT/FN/FG Consortium Fellow, a Center Program Artist …

James Kao Interview, Alice Haller

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio: James Kao was born and raised in Houston, Texas. After studying philosophy and focusing on the texts of Ludwig Wittgenstein at the University of Chicago, he worked as a bakery buyer for a specialty foods retail chain in Southern California. In 2001, James forwent his corporate career and returned to Chicago to take classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he received an MFA from the Painting and Drawing Department. He is Assistant Professor of Art at Aurora University in Aurora, IL, and is co-founder and co-director of 4^th Ward Project Space in …

Shaurya Kumar Interview, Tejas Patel

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: A native of Delhi, India where he studied printmaking and painting at the College of Art; Shaurya Kumar graduated with his MFA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2007. Since 2001, Kumar has been involved in numerous prestigious research projects, like “The Paintings of India” (a series of 26 documentary films on the painting tradition of India); "Handmade in India" (an encyclopedia on the handicraft traditions of India); and digital restorations of 6th century Buddhist mural paintings from the caves of Ajanta. Kumar’s research is focused on creating works which appreciate and appropriate new media while highlighting the …

Snow Yunxue Fu Interview, Noah Fornear

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: Snow Yunxue Fu (b. 1987) is an artist who lives and works in Chicago. Her work approaches the subject of the Sublime using topographical computer rendered animation installation. She exams and interprets the world around her through virtual reality, where she draws a parallel to the realms of multi-dimensionality, the physical, the virtual, and the metaphysical. Fu has exhibited her work nationally and internationally including Hong Kong Arts Center, Yellow Peril Gallery, Expo Chicago, Digital Culture Center in Mexico City, Zhou B Art Center in Chicago, Chicago Artist Coalition, Chicago Filmmakers, Kunsthalle Detroit Museum of Contemporary Art, MoMA …

Osamu James Nakagawa Interview, Myumi Ware

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: Osamu James Nakagawa was born in New York City; raised in Tokyo, Japan and returned to Houston, Texas at the age of 15. He received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Houston in 1993 He is the Ruth N. Halls Professor of Art at Indiana University and a recipient of the 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship and 2010 Higashikawa Award: New Photographer of the Year, and 2015 Sagamihara Photographer of the Year in Japan. Nakagawa's work is shown internationally and his monograph GAMA Caves was published by Aka Aka Art Publishing in January 2014.

His recent work, BANTA …

Jave Yoshimoto Interview, Serina Mancha

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio:
Jave Yoshimoto is an artist and educator of multicultural background. He was born in Japan to Chinese parents and immigrated to United States at a young age. He has since traveled and lived in various parts of the country, which influenced his artistic practice. Yoshimoto received his Bachelors from University of California Santa Barbara in Studio Art, his Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Painting and Drawing and Masters of Art in Art Therapy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and his Masters of Fine Arts in Painting at Syracuse University. He has worked as an art therapist/mental …

Cesar Conde Interview, Ramona-Sky Rosenthal

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio: A post-contemporary painter, Conde uses old world technique using modern materials to paint his realistic portraits. Conde is a Filipino-American Chicago based artist who was primarily self-taught until he hit a wall with his technical skills. Upon realizing his artistic limitations, Conde decided to study at Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy with John Michael Angel, who apprenticed for Pietro Annigoni. He also studied with Master Painter of Technique Mixte, Patrick Betaudier in his atelier in Monflanquin, France. Conde’s influences are Carravaggio, Rehmbrant, and Goya. Conde continues to learn and explore the infinite possibilities of painting.

Conde’s …

Akemi Nakano Cohn Interview, Allisan Tate

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio:

Akemi Nakano Cohn studied traditional Japanese dyeing/printing techniques for ten years under the master Haru Izumi in Yokohama, Japan. She received an MFA in Fiber Arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art (Bloomfield, MI) and a BFA from Tama Art University, Tokyo, Japan. Cohn has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Int'l Surface Design Conference, Haystack, and others. She was visiting artist at the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Nebraska, Zijdelings (Netherlands), and artist-in-residence at Anderson Ranch and Ragdale Foundation. She has been in many exhibits, including solo exhibits; Urban …

Aram Han-Sifuentes Interview, Yanessa Rodriguez

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio:
Aram Han Sifuentes learned how to sew when she was 6 years old from her seamstress mother. Han Sifuentes was born in Seoul, South Korea and immigrated to Modesto, California as a child. She mines from her family’s immigration experience to address issues of labor and explores identity as a first generation immigrant.

Han Sifuentes’s work has been shown in national and international exhibitions. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Chung Young Yang Embroidery Museum in Seoul, South Korea; Wing Luke Museum of Asian Pacific American Experience in Seattle, WA; Center for Craft, Creativity and …

Sabba Syal Elahi Interview (2 Of 2), Derek Hamilton

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: Sabba Syal Elahi is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and cultural worker and focuses her art practice in fibers and drawing/painting. She grew up in a traditional Pakistani household in the Midwest. Her art explores political violence, historical representation, memory, and it’s impact on the South Asian Diaspora and Muslim American communities. Recently, Sabba was a 2013-2014 Resident Artist in Chicago Artist Coalition’s Bolt Program and exhibited her work at Woman Made Gallery. For the past 6 years Sabba has provided college and career counseling and portfolio development with an emphasis on the visual arts for high school students at …

Sabba Syal Elahi Interview (1 Of 2), Simi Mathew

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: Sabba Syal Elahi received her M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her art has been featured nationally at ArtWallah, internationally in Spain and Pakistan, and in the Chicagoland area. Sabba’s artwork is rooted in her bicultural experience and explores issues of cultural and historical representation, identity, and gender through personal, family, and community narratives. From 2011-2009 Sabba curated the visual art for an annual Chicago event called Voices of Resistance, which showcased the work of Chicago and Midwest based South Asian artists. Sabba has served four years as Coordinator of College and Career Programs …