This spring semester, a Creative Opportunity Grant (COG) was awarded by the School of Art for a joint publication project spearheaded by Natasha Bishop, an M.A. candidate in art history and co-chair of the George Fisk Comfort Society and Brett Morgan, an M.F.A. candidate and co-curator at the Random Access Gallery. Support for this collaborative initiative will result in the Spring 2020 Random Access Gallery exhibition catalogue. As envisioned by Natasha and Brett, the catalogue will showcase all six shows that had been scheduled for this spring. Although only three of those shows were realized owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the catalogue will include images and texts about all six of the planned exhibitions.

Collaboratively developed in concept and execution, the Random Access catalogue project exemplifies the best of artistic expression and academic scholarship. Natasha and Brett have enlisted the talents of their fellow classmates to contribute to design development, photographic documentation, editorial review, curatorial overviews, artist interviews, and exploratory essays. This project was supported by the Department of Art & Music Histories, and Natasha would like to especially recognize the support of her fellow Comfort Society co-chairs Julia Jessen, Mónica Quiñones-Rivera, and Sheridan Bishoff. M.A. art history contributors to the project include Emily Dugan, who provided photography and catalogue entries, and Sheridan Bishoff, Mary Bedell, Julia Jessen, Tiffany Miller, Elisabeth Genter, Kirsten Burrall, Sam Veremchuk, Mónica Quiñones-Rivera, and Kelli Fisher, all of whom also wrote exhibition catalogue entries.

Once published, the catalogue will serve as a historical record of the spring 2020 Random Access shows, and, as Natasha states, will “expand the Gallery’s presence and help to maintain a supportive relationship for the artists whose work we have shown and will show in the future.”

For more information about the forthcoming publication of the Spring 2020 Random Access Gallery exhibition catalogue--which will feature the artworks Shannon Ferguson, Jamie M. Moore, Tina Mitchell, Sarah Sharp, Brice Peterson, and Patrick McGuan--please check back with our Art & Music Histories Department website newsfeed.