To: The Wellesley College Community
From: Andy Shennan, Provost and Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56 Dean of the College; and Lisa Fischman, Ruth Gordon Shapiro ’37 Director and Chief Curator, Davis Museum
Re: Davis Museum spring 2024 update
Date: January 8, 2024
You are warmly invited to a gala reopening celebration of the Davis Museum featuring a major retrospective exhibition of groundbreaking artist Lorraine O’Grady, Wellesley College class of 1955. Help us honor the career and impact of this singular artistic genius by attending Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And on February 8 at 5 p.m.
This very special interactive event, which is free and open to everyone, will bring the artist herself to campus and will include festive food and drink, performances, and an all-day symposium on Friday, February 9, presented in collaboration with the Art Department, the Wellesley College Archives, and the Suzy Newhouse Center for the Humanities. Other highlights include a panel on faculty perspectives on teaching with O’Grady’s art across campus; a talk by curators who have worked with O’Grady on this first retrospective of her work; performances by Dominique Duroseau and M. Lamar; and special tours of the exhibition.
Learn more about the artist and the full slate of events on the Davis website.
Also on February 8, the Davis will reopen its long-term galleries (on Levels 2 and 4). We are grateful for the input from the community, shared during focus groups in fall 2022, regarding how the Davis galleries could be more accessible and tell more inclusive stories. The Davis staff continues to learn from those conversations and looks forward to implementing some of your suggestions in the future.
A few additional updates:
- Level 5 of the museum will host a portion of the Special Collections’ holdings during the renovation of Clapp Library throughout the 2024 calendar year.
- A small selection of modern and contemporary artworks, previously installed on Level 5, will be presented in the Study Gallery to support specific courses, beginning in spring 2024 with ARTH 100: Intro: Art and its Histories.
- Class visits to the print study room will resume on January 29, 2024.
- Class visits to the Davis galleries will resume on February 9, 2024.
The Davis curators will, of course, continue to support the College’s curriculum. In addition to the artworks on view in the galleries, the entirety of our works on paper holdings and the artworks most frequently requested for teaching will return to the Davis building’s storage vaults.
For questions and scheduling, contact Kemper Assistant Curator of Collections and Academic Affairs Yuhua Ding (for class visits); Collections Manager and Head Registrar Bo Mompho (for print study visits); and Curator of Education and Public Programs Semente (for tours).
As always, visit the Davis Museum’s website for detailed information on any of the above exhibitions, events, or programs.
As we prepare for this exciting reopening, we are thrilled to start 2024 in a spirit of renewal, dynamism, and community, marked by a celebration of one of Wellesley’s most influential and revered alumnae artists. Join us!
