Lacy Brown

I never wanted to be a curator. I love the process of developing an art exhibit. I love designing the layout and choosing what pieces will go where. I love watching how spectators experience the show and engage with the work. I never wanted to be a curator. I love curators. The mind it takes to choose which artists to show and which works of that artist to show and how different artists works fit together is an art itself. I often walk through museums and wonder how they managed to pull it all off. One of my favorite shows this year was Made in L.A at The Hammer Museum. It was organized by Anne Ellegood, senior curator, and Erin Christovale, assistant curator. I am still in awe at how they put that show together. But this isn’t a post about Made in L.A. this is a post about Thelma Golden and the wonderful write up featured on LATimes.com as she is slated to receive a 2018 J. Paul Getty Medal which is given every year to individuals for their “extraordinary contributions to the practice, understanding and support of the arts.”

I was first introduced to Thelma Golden’s work in college when I borrowed a copy of the book Black Male: representations of masculinity in contemporary American art. She curated the show of the same name for The Whitney Museum in 1994. That book changed my life in more ways than one. It introduced me to a way of seeing that I wasn’t ready to comprehend (it would be another 4 years before I picked up a camera). She has molded a wonderful group of curators through The Studio Museum of Harlem and inspired a host of others. She champions Black artists. She is the springboard that elevates careers. She is everything.