Thank you, Jay.

Artists may create art, but the curators don't necessarily attach the
baggage. The baggage is there.  A good curator will facilitate the dialogue
between the artwork and the person viewing it, so that the latter doesn't
walk away shaking his or her head.  That's what we're trained to do.

Personally I err on the side of minimal labeling next to the artwork, but I
do provide a handout with the artist's own words that a visitor may choose
to read or not, and one display panel that tries to explain why the artwork
is important enough to be on view in the gallery (from my perspective),
which the viewer may choose to read or not.  I always have the artist
approve what I write about their work to make sure I'm not going too far out
on a limb.  I haven't had any artist complain yet (13 1/2 years with current
responsibilities and counting)

I haven't dealt with a lot of historical work or dead artists in a while,
but the principle is the same (without checking with the artist, of course).

Julia Muney Moore
Director of Exhibitions and Artist Services
Indianapolis Art Center
820 E. 67th St.
Indianapolis, IN  46220
(317) 255-2464 x233
FAX (317) 254-0486
email <[log in to unmask]>
website <http://www.indplsartcenter.org>


-----Original Message-----
From: Jay Heuman [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2003 5:56 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Article on labels in art museums


The "educational" devices you poo-poo are panels or labels with subjective
interpretation.  Curatorial staff might refer to this as visul analysis, and
artists (such as yourself) feel is creative writing that imposes ideas alien
to your artwork.

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