Art student takes flight with Duck Stamp Contest exhibit
Meghan
Wagner, an arts management student at UW-Stevens Point who is curating a
special exhibit for the 2017 Duck Stamp Contest, prepares the Carlsten Gallery
with help from her mentor, Assistant Professor Jim O’Connell.
Meghan
Wagner, an arts management and studio art major at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, had an opportunity to soar this summer.
As an intern
at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum in Wausau, the Appleton native had access to
Woodson’s entire private collection while planning a new show for the Edna Carlsten Art Gallery at the university.
Finding pieces
for the exhibit was daunting, not only because she was a first-time curator but
because the paintings had to be of five specific types of ducks. Her audience
would be some of the best wildlife artists in the country.
The exhibit
will be one facet of the 2017 Federal Duck Stamp Contest, hosted at UW-Stevens
Point Sept. 15-16. The Duck Stamp is a required purchase for waterfowl hunters
as well as a valued collector’s item, and it raises funds to help protect 6.5
million acres of wetlands in the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Those
entering the contest must submit a work featuring a harlequin, gadwall,
mallard, blue-winged teal or cinnamon teal duck, all of which Wagner has become
very familiar with while curating “The Eligible Five: Species selected for the
Federal Duck Contest.”
“It was a
new experience and a great challenge,” Wagner said. “I had worked in museums
before but the Leigh Yawkey Woodson was the largest and most well-known. Having
their entire collection at my disposal was amazing.”
Wagner first searched the museum’s collection,
known for its annual "Birds in
Art" exhibit, for those featuring the five species. She narrowed
the choices to 90, then to about 40 works. She chose pieces featuring a variety
of artists known locally to internationally, and included decoy and live subjects.
Five of the chosen pieces feature artists who have won the Federal Duck Stamp
Contest in the past.
She also
designed and prepared the Carlsten gallery, located in the Noel Fine Arts
Center. She framed some of the pieces, will bring the collection to the
university for the display, then return the art to the Woodson when the exhibit
ends.
Initially,
Wagner studied studio art at UW-Stevens Point, but found a love for the
business side of creativity while serving an internship at the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass
in Neenah. Adding an arts management major at UW-Stevens Point gives her the
business knowledge she needs, from financing and marketing to management and
grant writing.
The internship earns one credit toward her degree, and is one of three required
by the arts management program.
“My arts
management classes definitely prepared me for this internship and curating work,”
Wagner said. Her assignments have led her to meet various members of the art
community and make connections. Her adviser, arts management coordinator Jim
O’Connell, has helped with those connections as well. After she interned at the
Carlsten gallery last spring, he suggested her to Jane Weinke, curator of
collections at Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum.
“Meghan’s passion for museum
work, her attention to detail and experience as a fine artist herself made her
a perfect match for this project,” said O’Connell. “This is the kind of rich
practical experience the arts management internships are meant to provide for
our students — building a resume, expanding a network, and providing tangible
benefit to our community.”
Wagner is on track to have five
internship experiences before she graduates in December 2018, including one
full-time semester-long position.
“I really have enjoyed the curating,
and I see myself doing this kind of work in the future,” Wagner said. “The
required internships for the arts management major help students get hired. The
program is built to help you succeed.”
Her Duck
Stamp exhibit is at the Edna Carlsten Art Gallery Aug. 28-Sept. 24, with a
reception Thursday, Sept. 7, from 4-7 p.m. The gallery is located on the second
floor of the Noel Fine Arts Center and is free and open to the public
Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Thursdays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturday and
Sunday from 1-4 p.m.
To view the
2017 Duck Stamp Contest entries, visit the Noel Fine Arts Center Sept. 15-16.