ACADEMIC PORTFOLIO
A snapshot of past projects and exhibitions planned or completed as a member of staff or fellow at external institutions. All of these projects were solely created and executed by Rae Pleasant, including marketing materials. The lack of support, encouragement, and budget at these institutions led me to start my own independent platform. Collaborators are credited when applicable.
CURATION
It was an honor to curate the 1,700 square foot purpose-built Lilian M. Bradshaw Gallery at the central branch of the Dallas Public Library in the Fine Arts Division in downtown Dallas. This also included the Pollock Showcase, two floor-to-ceiling, walk-in cases flanking the Pollock Stage along with the Division’s entry way display case.
There was no structure to the process of soliciting artists or staging exhibitions and no record of prior exhibitions when I arrived at the Library. I created crucial documentation, forms, and procedures that allowed the gallery program to flourish. Marketing was revamped when I used internal and external digital outlets to spread awareness of the gallery exhibitions. I increased outreach to community resulting in enthusiastic engagement. Specifically, children and the homeless were active participants in the gallery. Below are projects I conceived and executed sole-charge.
I archived these images at the library after the initial exhibition which was organized by the newspaper, then curated and installed the anniversary exhibition. Library staff was very rude towards me during this emotional exhibition.
Examples of Jazzman’s collages
I invited the Fossil Inc. library to curate the Pollock Showcase and they went wild with creativity! See the press HERE!
For a decade, the University of Texas at Arlington photography department has exhibited student work at the library. I created a special exhibition for them by enlarging the finalists’ photographs larger than life! After the exhibition, I organized to have the life sized pieces were distributed across the main library and several branches.
This was a planned program to professionalize and organize exhibitions and displays from the public within the various library branches. I also created, wrote the lesson plans, organized the physical space, and taught all computer classes as well as marketed the classes. After I was harassed by a male library patron, I stopped and the program ended because everyone else was too lazy to pick up where I left off. This library was a very dysfunctional and toxic environment, so I left!
LIBRARY OUTREACH and PROGRAMMING
Balmain Purple Strapless Evening Gown, 1951.
Bergdorf Goodman Collection at Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. This image represents the kind of materials that were at the DPL.
BERGDORF GOODMAN ARCHIVE
at the Dallas Public Library
Gifted to the Library around the 1970s, the Bergdorf Goodman Collection had not been touched in decades and was in literal decay with water damaged boxes, dust, and mold. I single-handedly cleared out the art storage room from top to bottom because the boxes were so hoarded to the ceiling, they were unreachable. Then, I surveyed the collection with an overall inventory of each box and loose item recorded on a spread sheet with a simplified system for notating condition. The collection had never been assessed or documented in this manner before. I started contacted video film and paper specialists in the event their services were needed.
Afterwards, I searched for any documentation specific to the transfer of ownership. It turned out, the Bergdorf Goodman window dresser in NYC began gifting archival materials to the Library in the 70s evidenced by correspondence although a formal arrangement was made. I knew Neiman Marcus was the parent company for Bergdorf Goodman and they are headquartered across the street from the Library, so I corresponded with their corporate executives to foster a relationship with the archive. I then contacted Fashion Institute of Technology in New York because they have the largest collection of Bergdorf Goodman archival materials.
By the time I departed the Library, a staffer was attempting to ‘decorate’ their cubicle with original sketches pinned through the paper onto the wall. I do not know the current status of the collection.
Dallas Contemporary X Dallas Public Library
Satellite Library
Images shown were not related to the DC Satellite Library. They were books I pulled for personal interests.
Satellite Library
I created a proposal for a satellite library cart at Dallas Contemporary to complement their exhibition schedule in 2016. The non-collecting contemporary art space was a former warehouse and I believed a collection of curated books could provide educational context or expand the topics presented. After meeting with their former Artistic Director, my idea was approved to be executed by the new Education Director. I purchased the cart and checked out the first batch of books, chosen by the Education Director and artists, under my library card. The gauntlet had officially been passed and patrons enjoy sitting in the chairs surrounding the cart to read and discuss art.
MUSEUM RESEARCH and WRITING
Kimbell Art Museum Calendar, Feb-Aug 2009
Frida Kahlo’s Itzcuintli Dog with Me, ca. 1938
As an administrator and technician in the conservation lab at the Kimbell Art Museum, I made a composite of a technical image for a small Frida Kahlo painting and deduced the existing painting was made on a recycled canvas.
The Outsider Magazine
Fall 2018, Vol. 23
Susan King’s Unique Depiction of Brown Figures
Notes: I did not select the pictures of ducks for the article. They were chosen by editorial prior to publication to emphasize the extended limbs and tongues.
Gallery 36
New Zealand
Robyn Kahukiwa’s Hina
Vol. 4, No. 2, 2012
