Episode 34: Kendra Paitz
Rachel Kobus 0:09
Welcome to Redbird Buzz. I'm Rachel Kobus from Alumni Engagement. College of Business and Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts alum Kendra Paitz is Director and Chief Curator at university galleries for Illinois State University. She has curated more than 60 exhibitions, which have been on view in Miami, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Raleigh and Normal. She has also edited and supervised the production of 15 exhibition catalogs and monographs published by university galleries. She has been the principal investigator for multiple grants from the Andy Warhol foundation for the visual arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Illinois Arts Council agency, and Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, among others. Her essays and interviews have been published by university galleries for Illinois State, Tisch School of Arts for New York University, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, Des Moines Art Center in Des Moines, Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, and Daylight Books. She has earned her MBA in 2006, and a master's in art in 2011, from Illinois State University.
So a big Redbird hello to our own Chief Curator from university galleries and Redbird alum. Kendra Paitz. So what's the word Redbird? University galleries is celebrating 50 years at Illinois State University and Kendra is here to tell us more about it. So Kendra, you know, you said, you know, you've been at Illinois State for a while now, and university galleries has really become, you know, a passion a second home, and I know you're the best person to talk to about it. So can you tell us about 50 years of university galleries?
Kendra Paitz 1:51
thank you, Rachel. I'm so happy to be here and to talk about university galleries. As I mentioned, before we started I will talk about this all day. Try to condense it. Yeah, it feels really exciting to reach this milestone. I think I've been talking with people a lot lately about how important I feel like it is that we do challenging work at a state school in the middle of the Midwest, often sharing voices of artists who have been traditionally underrepresented in museums and galleries, and finding ways to develop opportunities for students and the community. So we were based in the center for Visual Arts for a long time. And in 2013, the town of normal and Illinois State partnered to move us to Uptown Normal. Our former director, Barry Linderman, and I had a chance to work with this huge, incredible team from the University, the town, the architecture firm in Chicago, to really design the space that we're in now. So over the course of a year and a half, it went from this external show, like this big dark, cavernous space with a dirt floor to what we have now
Rachel Kobus 3:00
It is a gorgeous space. I've been in there multiple times had workshops and trainings, and they're just from other groups
Kendra Paitz 3:06
Oh, thank you. We really wanted to capture like the light and volume of the space and really think about, we had been really building out our community presence and doing so much programming with K through 12, schools and community organizations. And so having that bank of street side windows has been really exciting. So we're always trying to think about what's happening in those windows to to make people curious. So they come in, everything we do is free and open to the public. That's something we feel so passionately about. So people can see something in the window and think like, Oh, what is that I'm curious and walk in and they don't have to think like, do I have five or 10 or $20? I mean, some museums are now $30 Just to walk in.
Rachel Kobus 3:48
So to have this free thing, right and Uptown Normal next to campus. It's it's a true gem for Illinois State University honestly it is,
Kendra Paitz 3:55
thank you, we feel really we feel really grateful. And being able to work so closely with the students and the different departments. You know, we're bringing artists in but we're also showing the work of ISU students, high school students, ISU faculty members, and developing a lot of hands on opportunities for the students too so certainly ways for them to engage with the artists through lectures and workshops. But some of the students who work with us are doing graphic design projects. They're developing educational materials and helping teach workshops Yeah, you're doing a whole one right now is developing some augmented reality experiences for the exhibition amazing. So feels exciting. Yeah, cuz all the ways we can use the exhibition Yeah, I
Rachel Kobus 4:40
love it. So not you said that too. I think this leads into a little more what I want to talk about so what's the process the galleries has to go to to create an exhibit, find your artists figure out the themes, you know, figure out how you're going to launch something in the winter versus the summer versus homecoming time. Like what do you go through to do that?
Kendra Paitz 4:56
Yeah, it is. There a lot of different Wait, okay, this can come about in a lot of different timeframes. So some exhibitions have come together in the course of one to three months. That's not typical. But some are over the course of four years, because of some of the research required for it. Especially securing funding. So a lot of our programming is very grant dependent. Okay. Yep. Yep. So I'm thinking a lot over the course of years, what are we exhibiting what would be the right fit for the right grant? So like, the National Endowment for the Arts, for instance, that is a beast nightmare of a grant to write. So it has to be the right it has to be just the right fit. Yes, so Kambui Olujimi's exhibition, which is on view for fall of 23 is one that's an NEA funded one, though, and part of the reason is because of the interdisciplinary nature of what Cambodia is doing, and it's his first survey exhibition. So that's the first exhibition to bring together Kambui's body of work from across sometimes, in his case, this is almost 20 years worth of cash, in videos, textiles, performance, sculptures, paintings, and that's
Rachel Kobus 6:09
all for free. That's just like any other exhibit there. So there you go, yes.
Kendra Paitz 6:14
And Kambui was here. So I wanted this to be part of our 50th anniversary year, because this, this exhibition is one that really demonstrates how we work with artists, and so often giving them their first survey exhibition, often making their first book, developing a lot of programming that kind of has tentacles, you know, throughout the university and community. So at the time, we're recording this, we're a few weeks away from Kambui's exhibition ending, but I just counted up yesterday for a different meeting. And we have done more than 30, curator led exhibition tours, five or six sensory friendly programs, around 10 workshops, a stop motion animation one that was really great. Yeah. And so some of those exhibition tours have been with elementary school students, high school students, the Chamber of Commerce is coming tomorrow. Very cool, as well as different areas within the university. So I think while we're really closely connected with the Wonsook Kim School of Art, and we adore our relationship with them, I think over the course of our history, we have really found a way to branch out beyond our core, or audience,
Rachel Kobus 7:28
yeah. That's the point and finding more people to come and understand truly what art is and how it's in so many different mediums. And just like you talked about this exhibit itself, how many things you can see from it, and over the course of how many years it took to put this kind of exhibit together too and it's amazing. So yes, I love it. You did mention too, you know, I know a passion of yours is that K through 12 component and getting our, you know, our younger children or younger audiences to truly understand art. And you had a hand in this at university galleries when you started as a graduate assistant. And I really wanted to talk to you about that and how you brought that kind of program to university galleries. Can you walk through what that's done for the galleries now and how it's expanded since your time starting as a graduate assistant?
Kendra Paitz 8:13
Sure. Yeah, it is. It feels so exciting to be at this place we are now. So when I was a graduate assistant, in the early 2000s, I was doing my full time assistantship at the gallery. I was also a K through eight art teacher day and a half at St. Mary's in Bloomington. So I was working with young people, you know, every week, and my mom was an educator, actually, my original undergrad major was education. And I switched switched to art late in the game. But we had all of these amazing resources and it felt like something we could be sharing beyond what what we were at that point. And the university galleries has traditionally had a very small staff. So this is no critique of the people who were already there. They're doing amazing work. But that was a way that like, my talents could kind of come in. And so I started an education program with the blessing of the director, Barry Blinderman, was taking some actual, like physical artworks from the permanent collection out into schools and meeting with students talking with them about these works. And it was really unwieldy, you know, because it's just me driving around town with these artworks and loading them in and out and having no idea of what kinds of questions the students ask. But it was really fun to put these works right in front of them and hear their responses. And so when I came back as a curator, that was something that I really wanted to keep thinking about, but not just with kids. One of the first exhibitions that I curated. We partnered with the ecology Action Center to do a composting workshop and because the artists John Arnt that I was working with on a small exhibition at that time. A lot of his works were about reusing what surrounds us. And some of the drawings had been made with compost tea.
Rachel Kobus 10:10
And how good for Illinois State was sustainability and bringing that kind of value back in. That's, that's great.
Kendra Paitz 10:16
Yes. So different people who we've worked with over the years, in the other curatorial position that I had the chance to help bring in, they were also really community focused. So we were able to kind of partner and keep building this up. And then when I became the director and chief curator, I created our first full time educator position. So I got permission from the university to turn my former senior curator position into an education role. Because we were doing so much move, you're doing field trips, and lesson plans and workshops and had all of these partnerships around the community. And it seemed really important to concretize that, and it was also something that each of us, who was on the staff at that time were doing in different capacities, and on top of all of our roles, and that's still happening to a degree. Yes. But we have an amazing curator of education, who has now been here for four years, okay with us. She had never been to Illinois before her on campus interview. She's, she she came from Oregon, she read our job posting one morning while not looking for a job and said, This is the job. This was written for me. We're so grateful to have.
Rachel Kobus 11:34
And, you know, I think you've been expanding, like you said, just from when you started to now having a new full time position. You know, I have to say personally, I think it's amazing doing research about university galleries, just the way you can get students to come in and how you go out. But even expanding beyond, again, what we think it is your stereo traditional art, like I saw this, you know, pass in December, that you had an experimental music ensemble coming in from a local high school and getting those kinds of so how do those educational components get created? How do you decide this is what our community wants to see right now, this is what our students want right now, how do you get those going? Yeah,
Kendra Paitz 12:14
I think that is one of the many benefits of having rooted into a place. So some of my colleagues who are contemporary curators, or directors at other institutions have asked like, oh, but how did you do this? Or how did you get somebody to say yes to this. And really, it's about building. I don't know, if sincere relationships over time. So in the case of the experimental ensemble, Stephen Robinson, who is a musician, and also a teacher at normal Community High School, he's somebody that many of us have known for a long time. And so we've collaborated on a few different projects over the years. And last year, we did this with experimental ensemble for NASA free unlock fees exhibition. So it's this incredible group of like, just such talented musicians. And so Stephen, and another teacher from NCHS, Zach Sargent, lead the group, and then Edie brightweiser, who is an audio artist in town also, and he runs the point forward experimental music series. So they're the three kinds of adults for the topic. Yeah. But they work in such a collaborative way. You know, that the students, it seems like they really get to drive a lot. So when I was working with the artist, and as a friend, Lotfi last year, she and I met with the crew, both at university galleries and in their classroom, and they spent, not as long as this year's group did, but they spent a few weeks researching and composing these experimental pieces that then they performed within her exhibition, and we zoomed her in for it because she lives in Arizona. I love and, and we all, we just love the experience of working together. So we decided, okay, let's do this again next year. And I said, I'm working with Kambui Olujimi, and there's so much happening in the show than anything they could tap into. And so in this case, this year's cohort, they came to visit a day before the exhibition open, so they got to see the show before anybody other than our experience. And so they've been working all semester. And so that will be one of the closing events for the exhibitions hearing what they've can put, yes, I
Rachel Kobus 14:38
love it. And again, like you said, you get so many people in the community involve so many students and so much of our campus community involved too and, you know, for campus itself, you know, besides University galleries, being a gem having someone like you who started as a GA and I'm going to make an assumption of fell in love with ISU, you stayed you went through several curator positions. And so I'd be remiss to not ask you have two degrees from I As you you have a business degree and a master's of arts degree. So I want to share a little bit about yourself, Kendra. So how did you become the curator, the chief curator for university galleries? How did that work out? And you grew all this and has been a part of the 50 year history for the galleries?
Kendra Paitz 15:18
I mean, it's, it says, Can I start that? Oh, sorry. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it really is kind of a funny story. But yes, I absolutely fell in love here. I grew up here, I found my people here. I was mentioning before we started that, when I finished undergrad with a studio art degree, I had no job and no direction. My best friend was coming to ISU to study biology to get her Master's. And I said, alright, I'll go to Bloomington with you for a little while and try to figure things out. You know, I had a temp job that lasted eight days, all sorts of all sorts of little bits and pieces that I talk with students about all the time now, because it seems like you're meeting me when there's this title, behind my name. And there's this bio, but you should know, the adults in your life right now might be saying you have to have, you have to have the career job first. But it's all those little bits and pieces that add up over time. It's a path.
Rachel Kobus 16:19
Everyone has their different paths.
Kendra Paitz 16:21
It's atotal path. But I was in town for a year and a half working like at Pier One and temping at State Farm temping at a day spa before I started grad school. But that was a time to really kind of figure out what I thought I wanted to do and to refocus and to decide that I wanted to challenge myself in a different way. Which an MBA was absolutely a tremendous challenge. For me, yes. But it also was, it was a degree that would give me some more options. After having a lot of insecurity, I finished undergrad in the summer after 9/11. And it was a really kind of, it was a difficult time to try to find a job in the field that I could support myself on. So I'm so grateful that I came here. And because of doing the Arts Administration program, I was able to do the grad assistantship at university galleries. But actually, a lot of the people in my program who were focused on arts admin helped with the Shakespeare Festival. That makes sense. I had an interview with the then director of it. And as we were finishing up, he said, You know, I really, I think we'd really like to work with you. But you're so interested in visual art, you should reach out to Barry Blinderman at university galleries to see if he has an assistantship position, too. And I did it was just like this cold call to Barry. And he was so open and said oh yeah, come in for an interview. And you know, I was 23. And I've told this story recently, actually, because it was so memorable. Because this was like a big step. I finally had direction. I was finally on a path. And Barry was late for our interview. And I was standing outside the locked Gallery in the CVA hallway dressed up thinking oh my gosh, what's going to happen? And then I don't know if you ever met Barry. He came in with his bicycle. And his guitar. And eating a yogurt was like, How is this person doing this? And so he made such an impression? Oh, yeah, yeah. But we ended up having probably a two hour conversation. And he offered me the assistantship for all three years. And it was through working at university galleries. Because at the time, I thought I wanted to maybe open a small shop focused on like local artists and books and things like that. And it was really working at university galleries that I realized, oh, I want to be a curator. I want to organize exhibitions, I want to organize programming. I want to find a way to help artists realize visions to bring people together. And I wasn't originally planning to get two masters. But here we are. Here we are. The School of Art was starting their visual culture masters. It wasn't yet a program. And so when I was finishing my MBA that last semester, I curated a small exhibition in the university galleries project space. And from that some of the faculty said, we're starting this program, you should take classes for this. So for a year and a half, I worked at the McLean County Arts Center. I graduated and was taking these visual culture classes and that was a really wonderful experience to I got to know some artists in the community that I hadn't encountered yet. got the chance to work with the really exciting stuff and in a membership organization out in the community. And then a position that had been frozen for a long time this entry level curator position, opened at the gallery. And there we go. Yet so it was really was a very stressful interviewing with people who I had worked with for three years. Yes. And, you know, for an entry level position having multiple rounds of interviews, including all day one. Yep. But, but it was incredible. And it was so exciting. It's an opportunity that I have remained incredibly grateful for. And so I was able to finish the visual culture degree while while working in sync, okay. Which, which was a little awkward sometimes, because I would be in a class one night with grad students and the professor Yeah, as a student. And then the next day you're working with them? Yes. But it's just, it's been really, it's been really gratifying to be able to stay in a place where, I mean, I really grew up here. Yeah, really? Yeah. Incredible. I keep saying incredible, because really, just the opportunities here have been so exciting. If, you know, artists used to ask me for a long time, but When are you moving here? But when are you moving here? It's like, No, this is this isn't where yes, I want to be,
Rachel Kobus 21:19
which means I think that means University galleries to has something special to you. And it's special to our community, both campus and Bloomington Normal to because you've stayed around so long and done many amazing things. So as you've grown in this position, can you share a little bit what has been your favorite, whether it's exhibition artists, what's been that top memory as isn't the chief curator as any, as you've made it up and gone up the ladder and done what you've done? What some things that stick out, as we talked about 50 years of university galleries
Kendra Paitz 21:53
I mean, yeah, it would be very difficult to pinpoint it. Okay. But, but I think at the heart of it really is just the ways that we're, the relationships developed through it, with the, with the staff, with the artists, with the students, there are students who step in and surprise, like, last week, or two weeks ago, one stepped in from LA, who I did an independent study with more than a decade ago, wow, a week or two before that one stepped in from Seattle, who was the grad assistant? Wow. You know, it's really, it's exciting. But I think in terms of one or two exhibitions that have felt particularly meaningful. One was in 2010, with Oliver Herring, so it was really early in my curatorial career. So I started full time as a curator in January of oh eight. And then the show was in February of 10. So Oliver had been a visiting artists through the School of Art, just an artist who they brought in to do a lecture. And he was here for a day and did questions. And at that time, he was engaging in this practice of saying yes to most opportunities that came up and like drained, opened himself up more and meet people outside of the sphere he was already working in. And after his talk, Barry said, we should make a book together. And Oliver said, Yes. And so over the next year and a half, I had the chance to get to know Oliver Barry and I co curated an exhibition of his work. But at the heart of what we were doing was this community centered event called Task. And so it's a project Oliver developed to self generating project that's really driven by whoever participates in it, okay, that day, it's a really simple structure. Whoever comes agrees that they will write a task for this collective pool, it can be anything, it can be, braid someone's hair, stand on one foot, start a revolution, and that they'll interpret it with just the basic materials and people around them. And then when they complete it, they'll write a new task for the bucket. But everybody who comes is doing this simultaneously. And so I was really excited. I was so passionate about this and spent a long time writing grants and going out into different community organizations trying to invite people in because it really just felt like it would be wonderful and exciting and meaningful if it was just for the art students that it would be this whole other level of like really bringing the community in if we could, if we could get other people to be here. And so we did this more than 300 people came it was amazing and chaotic and hoped for everything we hoped. People tagged with their names everywhere like it was really this turning point the students the Oliver and I worked with leading up to the task party, the task party itself. We installed Oliver's exhibition then within all of the residue of the task party. I mean, there was glitter 12 feet high up the walls, there were painted cardboard structures. I mean, that was incredible. And so that was a really exciting turning point in terms of saying like, Okay, we have reached people. And they've had this incredible experience here, and they are going to come back, and they are going to participate. And so Oliver and I actually, then did task parties in Minneapolis and St. Louis, Barry and Oliver, both as we traveled the exhibition to these places. But I also ended up working with teachers and educators throughout the whole Midwest to do their own. Yeah, why not? Yeah, so one, actually, I did a tour with the Fieldcrest high school art class from an uncle Illinois, and the evolvers exhibition. And the students started asking, how could we do this? I said, Well, if you want to know, and we started talking about that, they had this amazing teacher, Judy Anderson. And she sent me an email a day or two later and said, send me anything you can to convince my principal. And they said, Yes. And we did. The task party. Like they threw one at their high school. I was there, it was incredible. Wow. So a lot of these are also documented in the book, and statements by different participants. So that was really exciting in terms of how many people had a voice in it? Yes,
Rachel Kobus 26:36
we're gonna see why that's one of your biggest memories. That's amazing. And how much the how much of the country you even impacted just from starting in university galleries and expanding out. So I love stories like that, you know, in as you talk about exhibits, and again, 50 years of university galleries, I want to bring up so everyone's aware, part of the 50th celebration this year is they're bringing back, you're bringing back alumni spectacular. So it's running I think I have, you know, through January through February 20. Yeah. So what does this exhibit mean to not only the galleries, but to our alums, and to the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts? Because I know it's something that happens periodically, but it's coming back for 50th anniversary, too.
Kendra Paitz 27:22
Yes, have we are so excited about this? So the first one happened in 2010. When we were at our former space
Rachel Kobus 27:31
2010 was a good year for you. It was a really hectic year.
Kendra Paitz 27:37
I also had our first child that year. Really, really? Yeah, so we organize that one. For the College of Fine Arts 40th anniversary, it was a way to think about bringing a lot of voices together. And the turnout was unbelievable. I mean, we had so many artists, I mean, the walls and space were just jam packed. And I was just looking through photos of this yesterday because I was doing a social media post event coming on. Yeah. And I mean, there's not even room for people to walk in between each other, it was such an incredible turnout. So in 2015, that was like in our first calendar year in the new space. So we our grand opening in the new space uptown was in October 14. So in 15, we did it again, because I thought we should have a way for people to really develop those core memories in the new space. Also, after that a good decades in the old space. And again, we had this huge turnout. I think around 250 artists participated, people traveled in from all over the country to be at the reception was really exciting. So after that, you know, a few years after that, I came into this role. And I thought, okay, let's plan that for 2020. Let's make it a Quinquennial. And every five years, because if you do it every year, it doesn't feel like that's you. If you do it every five years, it hasn't fallen off of people's radar, but also a lot of other students have graduated. So clearly, because it was for 2020 It had to get bumped. As with so many other things. Yes. And so when it couldn't happen on that five year rotation, it just thought it made sense to save it for the 50th anniversary as a real, like a key way to celebrate. How would the students have been such a huge part of what, what we've done and why and have impacted the artists experiences and our experiences? And yeah, so we're very excited. We'll be packages are already starting to arrive. So we're recording this at the end of November. The exhibition is not until the middle of January. Yeah. Good, but we're we're so happy that people are excited and you know, it's a chance for people sometimes to share something they wouldn't otherwise because their size restriction alright thought, yeah, so that we can fit everything in because it's a very open ended. It's a call to alumni from the Wonsook Kim School of Art and the program and creative technologies. And so there's not really a great way to predict how many people will participate. So we have to have a few size limitations and a limitation of it has to be able to be exhibited on a pedestal on a screen or on the wall. Yeah, we can't have a lot of things suspended from the ceiling or a lot of installations. But I think artists have over the years, asked us about it. So they're interested. Yes, yeah. And it's a way because of our, our physical space is amazing. But because of our, our capacity, both with a small staff and the footprint of our space, we just can't possibly show every alum who's come through, no matter how passionately we feel about their work. So this is a way that we can celebrate a lot of people's work all at once. And ideally bring a lot of them physically. back together.
Rachel Kobus 31:05
Yes, yeah. Yeah. So again, and then that alumni spectacular is going to run through February 20. And want to say again, university galleries is free. So this is a great way to support our alums who have supported University galleries is where many of them got their start was coming to ISU and practicing their skills so that your an alumni is protected or come back I think is is a great way to showcase again, all the education and academia that ISU provides to students and the fact that you have so many alums interested in it, I think, is great to know for university galleries for the school of art that they're proud to be from ISU to they want to show students, this is what you can be and community this is what I've done. So I love hearing that. And I want to say again through February 20. This exhibit is going to be in university galleries. So you know Kendra, there's many ways the galleries have given to our community, we've talked about a lot of them, they the educational support, the exhibits themselves, the artists that you bring in that people get to, again, witness for free. You've given to community to alumni to students. So what can listeners, what can we do to support the galleries?
Kendra Paitz 32:12
Oh, I love that question. Thank you. Yeah. I mean, really coming to see the exhibitions or participate in the programming are the key thing that we are looking for. You're talking to me today, but I am one of like this wonderful team of people who are working so hard every day to try to make these opportunities happen. We have a full time staff of three other individuals, Lisa Lofgren, Tanya Scott and Trey Sherman, as well as so many amazing students. And so everybody, including the artists are putting a lot into that. So it's really invigorating. When we see people coming in and experiencing it, I, we all understand the challenges of people's schedules, and also the competition for any perhaps leisure time, anybody. So participation is really the key part of it. But we do have multiple ways that people can also contribute. We have a few different funds. One that is specifically it's a new one we're really launching out in this 50th anniversary year. It's the Laurie Baum and Aaron Henkelman University galleries community fund. So people can give to that. And that helps support things like our teen art group and bringing artists into the community workshop supplies field trip reimbursements. And then we also have a university galleries exhibition fund that helps with the exhibition costs. Also some of the student annual costs of some of those awards to students publications. I think when people come in to see an exhibition, they see the end result of sometimes a years of work and we try to make it as seamless of an experience for a viewer as possible. But there are so many details and so many expenses that go into that and paying the artist is very important to us. So we pay the artists for any work they do as well as their travel, their lodging the food, it's really expensive to ship artwork here their installation costs publications are expensive. Keeping everything free and open to the public is really at the heart of what we're doing. But to be able to do what we're doing at the level we are it does really require a lot of grants. Yep. And some donations yes,
Rachel Kobus 34:38
no. And that's fine to hear me again because I truly believe University galleries is that one of the gems of Illinois State University and to our community and you can see even online some of the exhibits and publications that have been done you can see the history because 50 years there's a lot to say and a lot to show. So you know with that I want to say thank you Kendra for all that you do and for your staff for all that they do too. So we loved having you today and we hope everyone goes and help celebrate University galleries 50th anniversary and to alumni spectacular and to everything the future holds for university galleries too. So thank you again.
Kendra Paitz 35:13
Thank you so much, really appreciate it
Rachel Kobus 35:29
and that was chief curator and two-time Redbird alum, Kendra Paitz. Tune in next time for more stories from beyond the quad
Transcribed by https://otter.ai