Curating
I bring abundant curiosity to place-based work that delves into layers of ecology, history, and wide ranging current issues of concern. My workspace in the Port Morris section of the Bronx overlooks the industrial waterfront and is a source of inspiration, and a place to observe the persistence of nature in an urbanized environment.
Rivers Flow / Artists Connect, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY, 2024
The cultural, social, and spiritual significance of rivers is universal, as proven by their enduring presence in art and in our collective imagination. In Rivers Flow / Artists Connect, 48 American artists from the 1820s to the present day explore and illuminate our profound, symbiotic relationship with significant rivers across the globe, from the Hudson and the Susquehanna to the Indus and the Seine. Co-curated by Laura Vookles, Chair of HRM’s Curatorial Department, and guest curator Jennifer McGregor. On view February 2–September 1, 2024.
Bay Ridge Through an Ecological Lens, Brooklyn, NY, 2023
A public art exhibition and film series at Stand4 Gallery and Community Center in conjunction with ecoartspace. For two months Stand4 Gallery become a hub to present interactive artworks connecting people to the nature and ecology in the greater Bay Ridge community. Site-inspired artworks were made for the show and films relating to the ecology of Brooklyn and New York’s waterfront areas were screened. On view at Stand4 Gallery, Alpine Cinema, American Veteran’s Memorial Pier, Bay Ridge Branch of Brooklyn Public Library, Bay Ridge Narrows Botanical Garden, and Fifth Avenue storefronts April 15–June 19, 2023.
whispered conversations: beholding a landscape through journey and reflection, Brooklyn, NY, 2022–23
whispered conversations is an artwork by the collective of Kate Colyer, Lorrie Fredette, and Megan Porpeglia, who created bundles in response to their individual trips in 2021. These were shared through the mail to instigate a series of new artworks and shaped the exhibition at Stand4 Gallery On view November 11, 2022–January 14, 2023.
Central Armature Works, Washington, D.C., 2023
Organized commissioned art for new mixed use complex including three apartment buildings, retail and a The Morrow hotel. The Glassitorium creative team produced interactive sculptures Urban Optics: Periscope, Camera Obscura and Kaleidoscope. Brian McCutcheon created a suspended sculpture based on an electrical armature previously manufactured at the site, and MISS CHELOVE painted two murals that celebrated the vitality of the NoMa neighborhood at Central Armature Works.
Shared Dialogue, Shared Space: Here From Afar, New York, NY, 2022
This exhibition was curated in Inwood Hill Park for Korea Art Forum with artists Stephanie Alvarado, Ana Paula Cordeiro, Gina Goico, and Jeanne F. Jalandoni, and the Afro-Polka Ensemble featuring Marty Ehrlich on flute, Jerome Harris on guitar, and Maciek Schejbal on percussion. The day-long, participatory art making event was part of Korea Art Forum’s multi-borough annual project. Shared Dialogue, Shared Space programs aim to connect immigrant communities and underserved ethnic enclaves to visual arts and culture through language access and participatory art activities. Click here to learn more.
Landscape: Exploring The Built And Grown, Brooklyn, NY, 2021
An online exhibition for Site:Brooklyn Gallery, June 17–July 27, 2021. The confluence of built and grown landscape is represented in this exhibition through fragmentary approaches and processes that reveal the human presence in nature. The artists’ relationships to nature and their curiosity and willingness to experiment comes through in these paintings, photographs, sculptures and mixed media artworks. The fractured points of view expressed are in keeping with the ruptures caused by the pandemic and a sense of increased environmental urgency. Click here to view the exhibition.
Wave Hill, Bronx, NY, 1999–2020
Over the past two decades my place-based curatorial focus has been to explore the interconnection between people and nature at Wave Hill, a public garden in the Bronx that overlooks the Hudson River. With the curatorial team, I created exhibitions, residencies, and performances, to offer opportunities for artists to make experimental work that engages the site and visitors.
Speaking
Artists/Curators of Nonprofit Art Spaces
Panel for Artists Talk on Art moderated by Jennifer McGregor with Anne Trauben, Founder/Gallery Director/Curator, Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ; Shazzi Thomas, Director, Painting Center, New York, NY; Jeannine Bardo, Founder/Artistic Director, Stand4 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2024. Click here to watch the panel discussion.
A Call to Action: Engaging Artists to Connect Hearts & Minds with Nature
Presentation with Elana Toby Singer at APGA Education Symposium, Austin, TX, 2020.
Diane Burko: Seeing Climate Change Panel Discussion
This was the opening panel for the Seeing Climate Change Symposium at American University. Moderated by Jack Rasmussen, Director and Curator of the AU Museum at the Katzen Arts Center and included Diane Burko, artist, Eleanor Heartney, critic and author, and Jennifer McGregor, 2022. Click here to watch the panel discussion.
Elasticity of Place
In this virtual talk, Jennifer explores two decades of place-based curating at Wave Hill, 2020. Click here to learn more and watch the talk.
Re-emerging into Public Space Post-Pandemic
College Art Association, Public Art Dialogue, panel moderator for talks by Naomi Kuo, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning; Megan Koza Mitchell, independent curator; Nancy Nowacek, Works on Water, 2021.
Writing
“Hedwig Brouckaert / Peel / Examining the Layers”
Essay written for catalogue essay to accompany Peel (America) at Project: ARTspace, New York, NY. Also published in ArtSpiel, February 2, 2024. Click here to read.
“Bay Ridge Through an Ecological Lens: Jennifer McGregor”
Art Spiel, June 2, 2023. Click here to read.
“Curatorial Statement”
Shared Dialogue, Shared Space, Korea Art Forum, 2022. Click here to read.
“Contextualizing the Public in Social Practice Projects”
Included in A Companion to Public Art, edited by Cher Krause Knight and Harriet F. Senie, Wiley Blackwell, 2016.
“Landscape Deconstructed”
Part 1 with Linda Stillman and Part 2 with Mimi Czajka Graminski, Art Spiel, February 14 and 21, 2022.
“Sources of Ephemerality and Resiliency”
The Shadow of the Sun: Ross Bleckner & Zachari Logan, 2020
Essay was written for catalogue to accompany exhibition that was presented at College Art Galleries at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
“Fluid Perspectives: Charting Urgency and Agency”
Included in Art Theory and Practice in the Anthropocene, edited by Julie Reiss, Vernon Press, 2019.
“Fluid Perspectives: Ellen Driscoll”
Sculpture, October, 2018. Click here to read.
“whispered conversations at Stand4”
Art Spiel, December 19, 2022. Click here to read.