Set in Stone: WWU Art History students curate exhibit of WPA-era lithographs
WWU senior Monique MarcAurele did not expect to curate an exhibit as an undergraduate.
The lithographs currently on display in “A Pull to the Pacific: West Coast Lithography of the New Deal Era” are a selection of Works Progress Administration/Great Depression-era pieces on long-term loan to the Whatcom Museum from the federal government’s GSA (General Services Administration) Program.
“The biggest mystery I uncovered while researching the lithographs was just how little any of the artists recorded about themselves and their art careers,” said MarcAurele. “To me, being a federally funded artist seems like something that an artist would want to talk about.”
But when the students dug into the backgrounds of the artists, there was very little information for many of them. A footnote, a gallery mention, maybe a line in an essay. The Western students had to piece together what they could find for writing the museum wall text.
