to: Craft > #23 - Redefining Southern Art at the Gibbes

Redefining Southern Art at the Gibbes

Heather Powers

Museums have undergone scrutiny and criticism regarding inclusivity and diversity in their exhibitions and collections in recent decades. Many museums, such as the Gibbes Museum of Art, in Charleston, South Carolina, have a long-standing presence in their communities yet may not fully reflect the communities’ current needs and values. For many museums, making works of art and programs about art available to the public can be a challenge. They must deliberately demonstrate their ability to provide access to diverse visitors at a range of market values, thereby making cultural capital accessible to all. To remain culturally significant and relevant, museums must demonstrate their values through policies, programs, goals, and staffing that reflect and address the function they perform in society and the changing values of a “new economy.”[1] In this case, the Charleston art community and the Gibbes mutually benefit by shifting the value of what is represented within the museum to reflect more contemporary, diverse local art interests.

Established in 1858 as the Carolina Art Association,[2] the Gibbes Museum of Art’s mission statement includes the following: “The Gibbes Museum enhances lives through art by engaging people of every background and experience with art and artists of enduring quality [...]”[3] While the Gibbes maintains that its mission is to engage people of “every background,” it is worth examining how it develops cultural capital through interactions between staff and the public. Is it through free programming, accessibility, membership levels, diversity of exhibitions, artists represented, awards, or other means? As will be shown, the Gibbes has employed various devices to respond to changes in Charleston’s cultural and community needs while adjusting how it engages with people of every background. To begin, it redefined enduring quality more broadly to embrace a more inclusive and diverse group of artists and works of art and craft.

In early 2019, the Gibbes hired Erin Nathanson in a new position, Director of Contemporary Initiatives and Public Engagement. In early 2020 I interviewed her about her responsibilities, including coordinating the visiting artist program, managing public engagement and product development for the museum store, and managing the annual grant, called the 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art.[4] Nathanson describes her position as “the first-hand interface with the community” and “first-floor activity for the Gibbes.”

My research examined marketing, programming, exhibitions, membership, published annual reports, and staff to understand how the Gibbes negotiates its engagement and influence upon the goods and artists in the Charleston cultural field. An interview with Nathanson enabled me to understand better the roles, devices, and outcomes employed within the field to remain “actively engaged in constructing and not simply exemplifying new canons of good taste.”[5] By examining the role of cultural intermediaries within institutions, we can better understand how disposition and expertise benefit institutions while also learning how they co-produce value and expand definitions of culture.[6]

A cultural intermediary’s actions produce hierarchical legitimacy in the distinction of goods. “The underlying role the cultural intermediary appears to carry out is to facilitate the consumption of a given product [...].”[7] To understand what items are considered worthy of consumption for the Gibbes’s consumers, I examine how they have expanded beyond historically significant works of art to include craft, contemporary art, works by Black and other minority artists, and works by artists living and working in the region. One of Nathanson’s responsibilities is to use her local art expertise to skillfully select and market goods sold in the museum gift shop. When cultural intermediaries like Nathanson legitimize goods and dictate good taste, it is worth examining the value she constructs and how she contributes to expanding Charleston’s definition of culture.

During her time working in Charleston, Nathanson has contributed to an overall increased appreciation for work by contemporary Southern artists. She has helped promote this work through various shows she has curated, such as for Art Fields[8] and the Southern Gallery, [9] which she co-owned. Nathanson has helped establish legitimacy for more contemporary and diverse goods based on her relationships with art organizations and individual artists. Yet in her position at the Gibbes, she must skillfully navigate how producer/artist and consumer perceive the value of what is sold in the museum store.

The Gibbes’s management gave Nathanson the capacity to establish the aesthetic worth of store products by positioning them alongside visiting artists. As they are in residence, artists work closely with Nathanson to develop products for museum store placement. Nathanson assumes authority as a cultural value driver who ties outcomes to the visiting artist program and store products. She is the direct intermediary between suppliers (artists), distribution, and sales. Here, Nathanson explains the vision for the store and how she works on behalf of the Gibbes to bring in local artists’ goods:

We tie the visiting artist program with retail by developing products, like bomber jackets and leather cross body bags ... block puzzles. It’s up to what the artist is most interested in ... it’s a fun way for people to access art and collect… We have about 90 percent of local products that create a story and lead people back to the Gibbes.[10]

In the past, the Gibbes had attempted unsuccessfully to bring local merchandise into the store. By tying store merchandise to the visiting artist program, it created connections that ultimately helped the Gibbes demonstrate the aesthetic and cultural value of local products for the museum store consumer. Nathanson has also helped diversify products while establishing local artists’ economic and symbolic significance. In the past, the store sold fewer goods and price points. Its product range now includes various price points aimed toward young and older consumers who appreciate local, more contemporary, often handcrafted, and “bespoke” goods.[11] By enlisting a more diverse range of artists and processes and placing them on display in the museum’s admission-free area, the museum reframes local goods as valuable and begins to impact its visitors’ consumer behaviors. In this way, Nathanson helped to legitimize a market of goods made by the Charleston art community.[12]

Nathanson is in a position to cultivate cultural authority toward new products and artists, which legitimizes the way works of art at the Gibbes are perceived.[13] She demonstrates her ability to harmoniously interweave her ongoing interest for more diverse and contemporary works while implementing the museum’s outreach mission:

I became aware of some of their contemporary initiatives and that they were trying to engage a younger demographic. The Gibbes didn’t have many contemporary exhibitions … I’m very excited … their focus has amped up on Southern artists. They recognize that they have an opportunity to become one of the leading collections of Southern art. Their contemporary collection has grown a lot, and they’re continuing to diversify, which is important.[14]

In this account, Nathanson expresses the value she sees in contemporary Southern art and how that aligns with the Gibbes’s mission to increase its position as a leader in this cultural field. Her professional credibility within the regional art community has taken years to cultivate, facilitating her newly established role as an arts ambassador. She has developed her status through her arts management education, as well as her work in the field with regional artists and art institutions. [15] Years of experience have contributed to her social and professional legitimacy. In her “off” time, she often visits artists’ studios, talking to them about professional aspects of their art careers, and attends various art shows. She is generous with her advice for artists and makes efforts to help them with product development and pricing for the museum store; here, she explains more about how she does that:

I’ll meet with artists and talk about their costs … labor, and ideas, and then try to set realistic price points for our buyers. I think the pricing is something that all artists struggle with …Coming up with ways to respect what they have established for themselves in their careers and making [the selling price] accessible for people. [16]

More recently, in Charleston, local organizations and businesses have collectively cultivated more appreciation for young, local contemporary artists and craftspeople, which has shifted the Charleston art market’s value scheme. [17] Both Nathanson’s commitment and the Gibbes’s shift toward supporting more local, diverse, contemporary art go a long way toward establishing the trust of local artists who may not have been represented in the past. In her current position, she acts as a liaison between artists and the Gibbes; Nathanson explains more fully:

I’ve established a great deal of trust [due to] how I interact, honor, and treat artists here. I’m lucky in that I can pretty much call any artist and be, like, will you do this? They trust that I have good intentions and want to present their work in the best way possible.[18]

Before she was hired, Nathanson was told that one of the reasons the Gibbes wanted to work with her was because of her local art connections. In our interview, she shares her awareness of this on the part of the Gibbes. The institution saw the museum store as one way to connect local artists to the museum, as Nathanson describes it: “we want this store to be a platform for those artists.”

Nathanson understands the mutual bonds that tie her with the local and regional art community. She explains further:

I show up to events, and I go to everything from house shows to openings at the Halsey. I work hard to […] show that I’m supportive and care about what’s happening in the community. It’s my way of knowing what’s going on and meeting artists […]. It goes both ways: you have to be genuinely interested in what’s happening in the community.[19]

Part of the visiting artist program’s success is its strategic placement within the admission-free space on the museum’s first floor, contributing to the community’s perception of its value. At most times when the museum is open, there’s at least one visiting artist present who visitors can engage with. “... we are displaying work outside the studio doors so that as people come through, if an artist is not here, they can still look into the studio, [...] see a piece in person, and still get a feeling that this is a working space.”[20] The Gibbes not only recognized the need to represent a more diverse and contemporary selection of art and goods but has begun to carve out space for them in its programming and collections. The visiting artist program aligns with the Gibbes’s initiative to diversify its contemporary holdings, bringing value to both the local community and the institution.

The Gibbes Museum (and the Charleston art community) are undergoing cultural shifts. It is important to recognize how the work of individuals like Nathanson can further the institution’s new mission and impact the perception of local art. With the help of individuals like Nathanson, museums like the Gibbes can engage more people of “every background.” Together, Nathanson and the Gibbes reach their mutual goals of diversification and expansion of contemporary initiatives.

[1] Bourdieu's concept of the cultural intermediary is informed by a “new economy” that places a greater emphasis on  production for the needs of consumers and not just the goods produced. Jennifer Smith Maguire and Julian Matthews, The Cultural Intermediaries Reader (University of Leicester, UK: Sage Publications, 2014), 18. 

[2] The Gibbes Museum of Art, About, History-Timeline, accessed April 8, 2021, http://www.gibbesmuseum.org/about/history/.

[3] The Gibbes Museum of Art, About, Mission Statement, http://www.gibbesmuseum.org/about/.

[4] “Society 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art,” accessed April 8, 2021, http://www.1858prize.org/about-the-prize/.

[5] Jennifer Smith Maguire and Julian Matthews, “Are We All Cultural Intermediaries        Now? An Introduction to Cultural Intermediaries in Context,” European Journal of Cultural Studies 15 (5) (2012): 7.

[6] Jennifer Smith Maguire and Julian Matthews, The Cultural Intermediaries Reader (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2014). In the introduction, a cultural intermediary is defined as follows: “Cultural intermediaries are the tastemakers defining what counts as good taste and cool   culture in today’s marketplace. Working at the intersection of culture and economy, they perform critical operations in the production and promotion of consumption, constructing legitimacy and adding value through the qualification of goods.”

[7] Lisa De Propris and Samuel Mwaura, Demystifying Cultural Intermediaries: Who Are They, What Do They Do, and Where Can They Be Found in England?, discussion paper (University of Birmingham, UK, 2013), 5–6.

[8] An annual art event in Lake City, South Carolina. Art Fields, accessed March 26, 2021, https://www.artfieldssc.org/. 

[9] The Southern Gallery has closed, and the website no longer contains live content.

[10] Erin Nathanson, interview by Heather K. Powers,  February 25, 2020.

[11] Nathanson later defined “bespoke” products as limited-edition or limited-run products sold in the museum store.

[12] Maguire and Matthews, “Are We All Cultural Intermediaries Now?,” 7.

[13] Sean Nixon and Paul du Gay, “Who Needs Cultural Intermediaries?” Cultural Studies   16:4 (2002): 497. 

[14] Nathanson interview.

[15] “College of Charleston, Arts Management Program,” accessed April 8, 2021, http://artsmgmt.cofc.edu/about-the- program/index.php.

[16] Ibid.

[17] “The City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs,” accessed April 8, 2021, https://bit.ly/3fUC5AM; and Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at The College of Charleston, accessed April 7, 2021, http://halsey.cofc.edu/. The Gibbes Museum and the Halsey Institute are the only local art museums in Charleston. Local artists and arts advocates have criticized the city for limiting the range of opportunities given to local visual artists.

[18] Nathanson interview.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Ibid.