Sequoia Miller will deliver the Alumni Spotlight Lecture on Tuesday, November 16, at 6 pm. His talk is entitled “Blackface Harlequins and Other Challenges of New Museology.”
How does a small museum specializing in historical European ceramics face the challenges of contemporary socially-engaged museology? The Gardiner Museum in Toronto opened in 1984 featuring historical European ceramics collected by its founders, George and Helen Gardiner. Since then, Toronto has become one of the most diverse, dynamic, and cosmopolitan cities in the world. How do small museums anchored in elite European culture transform to engage more diverse audiences? How do colonial institutions build inclusive practices while staying true to their specific collections? This talk will consider the Gardiner Museum as a case study for these and other questions and challenges of contemporary museology.
Sequoia Miller is a historian, curator, and studio potter. He is the Chief Curator and Deputy Director of the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art in Toronto. Miller holds a PhD in the History of Art from Yale University; an MA from the Bard Graduate Center for Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture; and a BA in Russian and Art History from Brandeis University. Recent curatorial projects include RAW and Ai Weiwei: Unbroken at the Gardiner and The Ceramic Presence in Modern Art at the Yale University Art Gallery. Miller has authored and edited numerous publications and has taught at the University of Toronto, Rhode Island School of Design, and Yale University. Prior to his academic and curatorial work, Miller was a full-time studio potter based in Olympia, Washington.
This event will be held via Zoom. A link will be circulated to registrants by 10 am on the day of the event. This event will be live with automatic captions.
