Jordana Pomeroy — Being Expansive at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum
Introduction to Jordana Pomeroy, director of the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum–FIU. 1:20 min. Interview: Raymond Elman. Camera: Angelica Rinnhofer. Editing: Jade Cheek. Music: Nicole Henry. Recorded: 6/27/2017, Frost Art Museum, Miami.
The director of the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University since January 2015, Dr. Jordana Pomeroy came from Baton Rouge where she was the executive director of the Louisiana State University Museum of Art. Dr. Pomeroy received her B.A. in art history from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and her Ph.D. in art history from Columbia University. As the chief curator at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., Dr. Pomeroy organized many notable exhibitions and published catalogues ranging from contemporary Scandinavian design to 16th-century Renaissance art. She has also taught in the museum studies departments at LSU and at Georgetown University. At the Frost Art Museum she has co-curated numerous exhibitions, including Narciso Rodriguez: An Exercise in Minimalism and Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia.
The videos below are organized by topic and run between 30 seconds and 4 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.
EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES: 0:54 sec.
Where did you grow up and what was your earliest memory of art?
INSIGHT & INSPIRATION 1:39 min.
Where did you go to school and what did you learn that still informs you today?
SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES: 1:10 min.
You attended the great Picasso retrospective at MOMA in 1980. What insights did you gain from that exhibition?
EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES: 2:34 min.
Who were your role models or influencers that shaped your approach to art?
LEARN HOW TO DESCRIBE OBJECTS: 1:25 min.
You mentioned the importance of writing well. Terry Riley praised the Columbia School of Architecture for teaching him to write well by asking students to describe buildings in words. Did you have similar experiences when you were at Columbia?
SERENDIPITY: 1:37 min.
Are there instances of serendipity in your career?
UNDERSTANDS THE BUSINESS OF ART: 1:02 min.
What kind of relationship do you maintain with commercial galleries?
UNDERSTANDS THE BUSINESS OF ART: 2:04 min.
In 1978 I had an exhibition under the auspices of Wharton & the Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. Their mission was to teach business practices to museum directors and gallery owners. Have you heard of that program?
OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED: 1:43 sec.
Describe a challenging situation with a successful outcome.
CRITICAL THINKING: 1:39 min.
What role should a university play in developing curators?
CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND: 2:51 sec.
How has the overall philosophy of the Frost Art Museum changed under your direction?
UNDERSTANDS THE AUDIENCE PERSPECTIVE: 2:27 min.
Does the museum maintain slots or categories of art and artists that it exhibits and rotates? For example, emerging, mid-career, and older artists?
SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES: 1:03 min.
How did the exhibition of old masters from The Ringling Museum evolve?
PERSEVERANCE FURTHERS: 3:10 min.
In Miami, it is difficult to get artists to travel away from the core of the city to visit outstanding exhibitions in other locations. Do you do anything specific to attract artists to Frost Museum exhibitions?
UNDERSTANDS THE BUSINESS OF ART: 3:42 min.
What was your awareness of Miami as an art community before you moved here? Did you have an “aha moment” about Miami’s potential? And where does Miami fit in a national and international conversation about important art communities?
STRONG DRIVE FOR ACHIEVEMENT: 0:41 sec.
Do you see the Frost Art Museum as a regional, national, or international institution?
CRITICAL THINKING: 1:18 min.
Describe the Frost Art Museum’s permanent collection.
SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES: 0:54 sec.
What are your biggest challenges?
