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From Idea to Opening Night

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She calls an artist, asks for a few paintings, arranges them on the wall, and voila – an exhibit is on display. Right?

Graziella Marchicelli can only wish.

As the Chief Curator and Executive Director of the Amarillo Museum of Art, Graziella thinks ahead – as in, three years ahead. (Five, if she can.) Planning for the future is the essence of her day, and once an exhibit is on the calendar it’s time to raise the cash to pay for it.

“We have the next three years mapped out. You have to because you have to start raising money for each exhibition. Most museums have two years mapped, while some bigger institutions have the next five booked and scheduled,” says Graziella. “It depends on the type of institution, the size of their budget, the types of exhibitions they want to bring in, the longevity of their curator and directors… We project a list for three years.”

The first three questions a curator asks when choosing an exhibit are: Does it fit our mission statement? What will be the appeal and educational interest to the community? And what are the aesthetic merits and historical components? This is termed the Conceptual Phase, when a museum staff collectively talks about and decides what exhibit would be a good fit.

“I really have to justify my exhibits to the Board of Trustees, and I take everything into consideration,” she says. “Artists will ask, ‘How do you qualify that?’ and I work based on what other galleries show as well as local artists who may live right around the corner. It’s a layered process. You never know where that next great talent comes from. Essentially, you bring in an artist who’s really been tested.”

The means of finding an exhibition are varied. Sometimes it’s accepting a proposal, while other times it’s selecting a traveling exhibition from a directory. Occasionally, Graziella will see an exhibit in another gallery and inquire about it. Finding an exhibit to bring to Amarillo is the first step in a long, and sometimes complicated, process.

“Once you spend a few years in the art world, you know what you need to bring into your institution,” she says. “I always like to bring in diversity.”

Graziella has more than a few years experience. Born in Sardegna, Italy, the second largest island in the Mediterranean, she acquired an undergraduate and graduate degree from the School of Art and Art History at the University of Iowa. She was the Chief Curator at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Pennsylvania, as well as at the Birmingham Museum of Art. She and her husband, Joel Santaquilani, moved to Amarillo two and a half years ago so she could take the position at the AMoA.

Alex Gregory, the Registrar and Collections Manager, also joined the museum staff two years ago. He obtained his Master of Fine Arts from West Texas A&M University after getting his undergrad from Oklahoma Panhandle State. While Graziella jokes that she “can’t paint a straight line,” Alex is an established artist with his pottery and painting pieces on display at the Sunset Galleries.

“I had no idea that I’d ever be in a museum setting. I wanted to be an artist, but that’s not working out,” he laughs. “It’s a hard road. I never thought I’d put down roots in Amarillo, but it’s turned out well.”

Alex is the one who receives, unpacks, hangs, repacks and sends exhibits on their way. If it sounds like a lot of work, that’s because it is.

“Sometimes I’m sweeping the floor five minutes before the show opens, or we’re switching labels,” he says. “There was a photography show one time and the guy showed up a few minutes before the show. He pulled me aside and asked me to switch a bunch of labels because they were wrong. So while he was on one side doing his artist talk, I was switching labels on the other.”

Alex negotiates loan agreements, arranges exhibit arrivals, and fills out condition reports – all before driving the first nail and placing the first label. As the official art handler in the building, Alex supervises the entire process of receiving and sending each exhibit, as well as maintaining the pieces of the AMoA’s permanent collection.

“Curators don’t always like to work with proprietors, and many design the show and hand over the floor plan to their collections manager, but I really value Alex’s input,” says Graziella. “I have great respect for his talent. I give him a pre-design idea, but there’s always tweaking. In the end, it’s collaborative. It’s what you present to the public, to your community that matters.”

Naturally the pressure is on when Alex opens a crate to pull out a piece of artwork. While most paintings arrive in hefty frames and covered by Plexiglass, other pieces are cause for concern, such as glass.

“I get the exhibit when it shows up and I have to find a place to store it. I unload it, stack it… I mean, you’re not going to get another one. You just can’t break it,” says Alex. “It gives you some anxiety, but for the most part, everything is durable. You just don’t mess up.”

“This isn’t a business where you mess up,” adds Graziella. “Accidents do happen, though. There’s gravity.”

For more information on upcoming exhibtions, visit the Amarillo Musuem of Art website.

by Jennie Treadway-Miller

Jennie was a columnist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press for eight years prior to moving to Amarillo in 2008. She is an avid reader, runner and writer.

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