Mary Jane Jacob

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Mary Jane Jacob is an American curator, writer, and educator from Chicago, Illinois. She is a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is the former Executive Director of Exhibitions and Exhibition Studies. She has held posts as Chief Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. [1]

Contents

Since 1990 Jacob has been a pioneer in the areas of public, site-specific, and socially engaged art. Jacob is the author and editor of many key texts including Conversations at the Castle: Changing Audiences and Contemporary Art (1996) [2] and Culture in Action: New Public Art in Chicago (1993). [3]

Jacob has mounted exhibitions, and created public art opportunities that have featured the work of some of the most influential artists in contemporary art including Mark Dion, Suzanne Lacy, Ernesto Pujol, J. Morgan Puett, Pablo Helguera, Marina Abramović, and Alfredo Jaar. The Women's Caucus for Art honored Jacob as a 2010 recipient of the organization's Lifetime Achievement Award. [4]

Jacob received her M.A. in the History of Art and Museum Studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. [5]

Curatorial approach

Jacob has an approach to curation that focuses heavily on site, history, social context, and audience relationships. [6] [7] [8] [9] These approaches are most evident in her influential project Culture in Action: Public Art in Chicago. [10] [11]

Exhibitions and projects

In 1991 [12] [13] and again in 2000–2008 Jacob was the curator of visual arts projects for Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina. [5] [9] This was the site of Places With a Past (1991) [9] and Places With a Future (2005). [5] [14]

In 1996 Jacob was the curator of Conversations at the Castle: Changing Audiences and Contemporary Art [2] as part of the Arts Festival of Atlanta for the 1996 Olympics. [15]

In September 2014, she opened an exhibition, A Proximity of Consciousness: Art and Social Action, which also connected to the symposium, A Lived Practice, held at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was co-curated with Kate Zeller. [16] [17] [18] Jacob and Zeller also co-edited the Chicago Social Practice History Series, a four-volume set distributed by the University of Chicago Press that came out of the show. [19] [20] [21] In addition to editing the series, Jacob and Zeller also edited one of the volumes in the series, A Lived Practice, along with Terry Ann R. Neff. [22]

Books and publications

Jacob has written and edited over three dozen books and exhibition publications. Her most recent books include Dewey for Artists (University of Chicago Press, 2018), [23] The Studio Reader: On the Space of Artists (University of Chicago Press, 2010), [24] [25] and Learning Mind: Experience into Art (University of California Press, 2010). [26]

Teaching

Jacob is a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Sculpture [27] where she is the former Executive Director of Exhibitions and Exhibition Studies. [27]

Museum affiliations

From 1976 to 1980, Jacob was the associate curator of modern art at the Detroit Art Institute. [14] [27] She served as the chief curator at the Museums of Contemporary Art in Chicago from 1980 to 1986. [6] She served as the chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles from 1986 to 1989. [6] [14]

References

  1. ↑ Beaird, Rowan (2022). "The Curatorial Threads of Professor Mary Jane Jacob". School of the Art Institute of Chicago . Archived from the original on 30 March 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
  2. 1 2 Jacob, Mary Jane; Brenson, Michael, eds. (1998). Conversations at the Castle: Changing Audiences and Contemporary Art. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN   9780262100724. OCLC   38216516.
  3. ↑ Olson, Eva M.; Brenson, Michael; Jacob, Mary Jane (1993). Culture in Action: New Public Art in Chicago (Sale page for digital reproduction of print publication by Bay Press from 1995). Half Letter Press. Archived from the original on 15 February 2025. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  4. ↑ "Past Conferences: From the Center: Chicago, February 10–15, 2010". Women's Caucus for Art . Archived from the original on 8 May 2025. Retrieved 12 March 2014. The 2010 Lifetime Awards Recipients were Tritobia Hayes Benjamin, Mary Jane Jacob, Senga Nengudi, Joyce J. Scott, and Spiderwomen Theater.
  5. 1 2 3 "Guide to the Mary Jane Jacob Papers MSS.003". Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (Find aid). 2021 [2016]. Archived from the original on 1 October 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 Scanlan, Josephe (5 November 1993). "Culture in Action". Frieze (13). Archived from the original on 13 October 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
  7. ↑ Picard, Caroline (28 February 2012). "The Energetic Persistence of Water: An Interview with Mary Jane Jacob". Art:21 . Archived from the original on 19 January 2025. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
  8. ↑ Wallach, Amei (2008). "A Conversation with Ann Hamilton in Ohio". American Art . 22 (1): 67–68. doi:10.1086/587916. ISSN   1073-9300. JSTOR   10.1086/587916.
  9. 1 2 3 Jeffers, Carol S. (2003). "Museum as Process". Journal of Aesthetic Education. 37 (1): 107–119. doi:10.2307/3527425. ISSN   0021-8510. JSTOR   3527425.
  10. ↑ Platt, Susan (Fall 1996). "Culture and power". Art Journal . 55 (3): 96. doi:10.2307/777774. JSTOR   777774. ProQuest   223303518.
  11. ↑ Jacob, Mary Jane; Brenson, Michael; Olson, Eva M. (1995). Culture in Action: A Public Art Program of Sculpture Chicago . Seattle, WA: Bay Press. ISBN   9780941920315. OCLC   31941966 . Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  12. ↑ Cooke, Lynne (1991). "'Places with a Past'. Charleston, South Carolina". The Burlington Magazine . 133 (1061): 573. ISSN   0007-6287. JSTOR   884918.
  13. ↑ Cooke, Lynne (1993). "Outdoor Exhibitions of Contemporary Art. Arnhem and Chicago". The Burlington Magazine . 135 (1088): 786–787. ISSN   0007-6287. JSTOR   885845.
  14. 1 2 3 "Mary Jane Jacob CV". Mary Jane Jacob. 27 November 2012. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2014– via Yumpu.
  15. ↑ Fox, Catherine (1 April 1996). "Olympics fans can also enjoy summer fest". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel . p. 6. ProQuest   260376556.
  16. ↑ Bass, Chloë (19 November 2014). "Between Theory and Action in Social Practice Art". Hyperallergic . Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  17. ↑ "Announcements: A Lived Practice". School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 16 May 2014. Archived from the original on 20 June 2024. Retrieved 12 May 2025– via e-flux.
  18. ↑ Gagnon, Rachel (17 September 2014). "Planning Social Practice: An Interview with Mary Jane Jacob". Art:21 . Archived from the original on 12 November 2024. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  19. ↑ Besemer, Jay (Summer 2015). "Chicago Social Practice History Series". Rain Taxi . Archived from the original on 23 April 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
  20. ↑ "Grantees - Chicago Social Practice History Series". Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts . 2014. Archived from the original on 1 January 2025. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
  21. ↑ "Chicago Social Practice - Publication: Chicago Social Practice History Series". School of the Art Institute of Chicago . 2014. Archived from the original on 29 March 2025. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
  22. ↑ Neff, Terry Ann R.; Jacob, Mary Jane; Zeller, Kate, eds. (2015). A Lived Practice. Chicago Social Practice History Series. School of the Art Institute of Chicago. ISBN   9780982879887. OCLC   907206150.
  23. ↑ Jacob, Mary Jane (2018). Dewey for Artists. The University of Chicago Press. ISBN   9780226580449. OCLC   1028603046 . Retrieved 14 May 2025– via Google Books.
  24. ↑ Alsdorf, Bridget (June 2013). "The Studio Reader: On the Space of Artists". Art Bulletin. 95 (2). College Art Association: 333–336. ISSN   0004-3079 – via MasterFILE Complete.
  25. ↑ Jacob, Mary Jane; Grabner, Michelle, eds. (2010). The Studio Reader: On the Space of Artists. University of Chicago Press. ISBN   9780226389592. OCLC   457149154 . Retrieved 14 May 2025– via Google Books.
  26. ↑ Jacob/Baas; Baas, Jacquelynn; Jacob, Mary Jane, eds. (2010). Learning Mind: Experience into Art. University of California Press. doi:10.1525/9780520944930. ISBN   9780520944930. OCLC   1408682062 . Retrieved 14 May 2025– via Google Books.
  27. 1 2 3 "Faculty: Mary Jane Jacob, Professor". School of the Art Institute of Chicago . Archived from the original on 11 December 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
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