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Today’s Profile: Angela Mack, Gibbes Museum of Art
By Holly Fisher
Research Editor
Working at a museum, Angela Mack gets all the standard questions: Is she an artist? Who is her favorite artist? Did she frequent museums as a child?
No, she’s not an artist herself. She’s taken some classes to further her knowledge of the mechanics and techniques, but “no one would want to exhibit my work,” she said with a smile.
She declines to reveal a favorite artist and didn’t go to museums really any more than other children. But Mack’s love of art and art history is evident in the floor-to-ceiling shelves of art books in her office and in her unabashed passion for the power of art exhibits.
This month, Mack was promoted to executive director of the Gibbes Museum of Art. Previously the deputy director for curatorial affairs at the Gibbes, Mack has been with the museum for 20 years, starting as assistant curator and rising through the ranks.
Being so familiar with the Gibbes and the community puts Mack in a good position to lead the museum.
“It’s a chance to marry my curatorial knowledge with the position of executive director,” she said.
In Charleston since 1981, Mack can appreciate the long history of the more-than-a-century-old museum while recognizing the need to incorporate contemporary art in the Gibbes. Mack wants to maintain programs that work while incorporating new ideas and initiatives.
“I think people who know me know I’m always prepared to listen to new ideas and new approaches to problems and the needs of the community,” she said.
With Charleston’s abundance of cultural initiatives, Mack believes in partnering with other organizations. Approaching potential partners opens the door to conversations that can spawn new ideas, she said.
Falling in love
Mack’s interest in art history bloomed while attending Vanderbilt University.
“I have to credit my college years. I had some fabulous professors at Vanderbilt that turned me onto art history,” she said. “As soon as I was introduced to it, I fell in love.”
She said she believes a degree in art history is a staple for anyone pursuing an art-related career.
“You can’t talk about what’s happening today if you don’t know what happened yesterday,” Mack said. “That’s what museums are all about. We’re the place where you can make those connections. We offer lifelong learners the opportunity to be just that.”
Plantation perspectives
Having personally organized 34 exhibits and overseen about 300 exhibits at the Gibbes, Mack believes in the power of art and of art museums.
“Art is so fascinating. You can look at it from so many perspectives,” she said.
That is the case with Mack’s latest exhibit, “Landscape of Slavery: The Plantation of American Art.”
About four years ago, it was becoming evident that landscape art in the Charleston region focused on plantations. So, she started a conversation with other scholars who had written about the meaning of plantations and how that meaning is conveyed in art.
Mach saw an opportunity to add new research to the idea of plantation art from the 18th century through today. In part with a grant from the Humanities Council of South Carolina, Mack began work on the exhibit and a corresponding book.
The book’s essays offer thoughts on the historical perspective of plantation art as well as perspectives on African-American identity, politics, African-American interpretation as well as nostalgia, particularly the demise of the plantation system after the Civil War.
Four themes – politics, identity, nostalgia and protest – are reflected in the art exhibit. While about a third of the 103 items in the exhibit are from the Gibbes’ collection, the others are from various museums and personal collections around the country. Some were created during true plantation times; others are more current artistic interpretations of plantation life or slavery.
The exhibit was on display at the University of Virginia Museum of Art in Charlottesville, Va., before opening at the Gibbes on May 9. On Aug. 3, the exhibit travels to the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Ga.
At its core, the show is about recognizing different perspectives, Mack said.
Plantations are an important part of the South and their presence remains strong today. Mack pointed to the number of housing subdivisions with “plantation” in the name, the number of business that use “plantation” in their names and even the home décor items that give a nod to plantations: plantation furniture and plantation shutters, for example.
“If you live in the South, you are confronted by it whether you acknowledge it or not,” Mack said.
The power of art
Researching and preparing an exhibition can take anywhere from two years to more than four years, particularly if a book or other publication accompanies the exhibit. Mack likens it to producing a Broadway play or a movie.
She believes strongly in the power of art exhibits.
“Exhibitions have their own way of engaging the public,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to bring works of art together for a particular reason—the same artist or a single topic. There’s nothing else like it. Original creations and their interpretation are based on the way they are arranged.
“A well curated show is a show that allows visitors to bring to it their battery of experiences.”
Researching the art for “Landscape of Slavery: The Plantation of American Art” gave Mack a chance to really delve into the reasons why so many of these pieces were created.
“This show taught me there really is a landscape art of the South from a historical perspective and the elements carry forward and influence the artists of today,” Mack said.
Making the transition
While Mack hopes to keep at least her fingertips in the planning of the Gibbes’ exhibits, she realizes her duties as executive director will eclipse those curatorial activities.
“I’ll no longer have days where I immerse myself in a subject matter,” she said. “Now I’ll have more of a chance to work for the institution as a whole, and, for me, that’s just as important.”
Immediately, Mack will be hiring for some recently vacated positions, such as a director of development. She’ll focus on keeping the museum financially strong and stable while addressing facility needs.
She is eager to work with other institutions and launch new auxiliary groups that will engage young people and the contemporary arts scene.
Mack praises the Gibbes staff and its commitment to the business of art.
“We know what art can do in people’s lives,” she said. “Whether you’re creating it, studying it or just going to look at it, (art) transforms you. It did me. I’m a believer.”
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