2017 Wladis Lecture on Curatorial Careers

The Newcomb Art Department is pleased to present the 2017 Wladis Lecture on Curatorial Careers, "From the Heart of the Andes: On Creating Golden Kingdoms," a lecture by Joanne Pillsbury, Andrall E. Pearson Curator of the Art of the Ancient Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, on Thursday, October 19, 2017 at 6:00 pm in Stone Auditorium (Room 210), Woldenberg Art Center.

Dr. Pillsbury gives a behind-the-scenes view of the exhibition Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas (Getty Research Institute and Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fall 2017-Spring 2018), and the international research project that inspired it. Drawing upon significant recent archaeological findings and new investigations into the roles of artists, their patrons, and their workshops, the lecture focuses on luxury arts in the lands between the two great imperial capitals of the ancient Americas: Cusco, the seat of the Inca state, and Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital.  It probes a fundamental question: How can we discern and interpret indigenous ideas of value?

The lecture is sponsored by the Newcomb Art Department, supported by a gift from Mark and Diane Wladis.

Why We Give: Learning Firsthand from the Masters

Through the generous support of Tulane parents Diane and Mark Wladis, Tulane students hoping to pursue careers as art curators now have an exceptional opportunity. They can learn about the profession from leaders in the field who are experts at bringing art in public spaces to life.

In 2013, the Wladis family created The Wladis Seminar on Curatorial Careers, a School of Liberal Arts lecture and seminar series. Its goal was for students to be able to gain perspective on the day-to-day reality of careers in a museum or art gallery.

Their daughter Jackie, who graduated in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in art history, attended the first Wladis lecture, featuring Helen C. Evans—a 1965 Newcomb College graduate and the Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator of Byzantine Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For Mark and Diane, their daughter’s experience at Tulane, where she developed her passion for fine arts, inspired their generosity to the university.

“For Jackie, the opportunity to learn firsthand from a curator from the Metropolitan Museum of Art was a particularly unique opportunity that she wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to,” says Mark Wladis. “We hope our gift will give other art history students the opportunity to learn from and meet leaders in their field.”

The Wladises have long been involved with Tulane. Both Diane and Mark served on the Parents Council while Jackie was a student, and Mark currently sits on the School of Liberal Arts Dean’s Advisory Council. “When your child leaves for college,” says Diane, “it is a time for independence for them. You hope you have given them the necessary tools and it’s now up to them to forge their way. By supporting the school, it is an ideal way to stay connected and continue to support their community without getting in their way. You have your finger on the pulse of their new world without interference. You are involved in a way that is separate and yet still elevates their experience.”

The gift made by the Wladis family also demonstrates their strong support for a liberal arts education. According to Mark, “The complex world that our children will be confronting requires critical thinking, cultural sensitivity, and the diverse perspectives that a grounded liberal arts education provides. The broad skill set that a liberal arts education cultivates makes for the most successful and adaptable professionals in any career.”

[School of Liberal Arts Newsletter, 9/13/2017]