Museum Staff

Quarterly
WINTER 2022 | FOR ALL STAFF

Inside this Issue

DEAI Update - 2
Inside LA - 3
Staff Profiles - 4
Graduate Intern Alumni - 5
Staff Activities - 6
Social Bites - 9
Field Notes - 9

Lake Steamers at Winter Mooring, Switzerland, about 1865, Adolphe Braun. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 84.XM.503.11

Director's Note While it now seems like ages ago, I hope you all had a wonderful Winter break and have come
back reinvigorated for the year ahead.

This year we will see the opening of several exhibitions that were delayed by our extended
closure in 2020 and 2021. Poussin and the Dance opened on February 15th. Today we open
Imogen Cunningham: A Retrospective, and then Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World
next month. Later in the year, we will celebrate the opening of Working Together: The
Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop and Conserving de Kooning: Recovery of a
Masterpiece. These exhibitions – along with others – were deferred because of the Museum’s
more than yearlong closure. These adjustments have been very challenging for several
departments across the Museum, and I am grateful for everyone’s continued flexibility,
support, and hard work, especially those who continued to work onsite throughout the
pandemic. Our curators and exhibitions teams are also working on a future schedule that is
very exciting. We look forward to sharing details with you in the year ahead.

Like many of you, I have been deeply troubled by the current situation in Ukraine. The images
and stories are horrifying. To those of you who have family and friends in Ukraine, please know
that our thoughts are with you. We also keep in our thoughts those colleagues in the arts who
are consumed with caring for their families while also protecting their country’s cultural and
artistic heritage. Let us hope for a peaceful resolution very soon.

With all best wishes,

Tim Potts
 Diversity, Equity, Accessibility,
& Inclusion Update

Dear Colleagues,

After serving for two years, the inaugural Your energy and creativity are extremely
members of the Museum DEAI Task Force important to keep us moving forward to
will begin to rotate off to let other museum create positive change!
staff members contribute their ideas and
energy to this cause. Henry Alvarado If you have any questions, please feel free
(Design), Dulcinea Cano (Sculpture and to contact us at
Decorative Arts), and Natalie Espinosa MusTaskForceDEI@getty.edu
(Registrar’s Office) joined the Task Force in
December 2021, and there will be a full Museum Task Force,
rotation of members before the Spring. Henry Alvarado, David Bowles, Eric
Bruehl, Dulcinea Cano, Robert Cuellar,
We would like to thank all of you for sharing Jens Daehner, Mustafa Eck, Natalie
your experiences and opinions over the past Espinosa, Laura Gavilan-Lewis, David
two years, through lunch conversations, Glickman, Amy Jacinto, Sharon Kendall,
email, and by participating in our Museum Cody Phaphol, Amanda Ramirez
Community DEAI Dialogue and the series of
Coffee Chats we held this past Summer. To
share our learnings and our progress, we
have prepared a Progress Report that we
will be sharing with you in the coming
weeks. We look forward to hearing your
thoughts and ideas about the work we have
done and the work that the new members
of the Task Force should take on in the
future.

Your energy and creativity are extremely important to

keep us moving forward to create positive change!

The Manirung Pass - Elevation 18,600 Feet, 1866,

Samuel Bourne. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 84.XO.1228.81
 Inside LA Sharing insider tips with your
Museum colleagues

Elizabeth Morrison (Manuscripts) The Westridge hike is a great

7.5-mile out-and-back with a good, steady incline and beautiful
views that ends at an abandoned missile silo left over from the
Cold War. And you can bring your dogs off leash!

Amy Jacinto (Design): I was recently gifted the "Secret Stairs"

book and it has quickly become one of my favorite things to do
in LA. My husband and I have been doing one stair walk a week
and we've found that it's just a really fun way to see different
neighborhoods, geek out over architecture and gardens, and get
some exercise and fresh air at the same time. At the end of the
walks we typically reward ourselves with a coffee or a cocktail.

Madeline Corona (Dec Arts Conservation) for hiking: Point Mugu

State Park | Serrano Canyon Trail – almost 9 miles, but beautiful
and pretty shady. And Leo Carrillo State Beach | great beach for
those with dogs!

Stephanie Schrader (Drawings) One of my favorite spots in L.A. is

the Trails Cafe in Griffith Park.

Madeline Corona (Dec Arts Conservation) Food:

Homestate | Playa Vista, West Adams, Hollywood and
Pasadena | Best breakfast tacos I have ever had in or out of
Texas (San Antonio native)
Destroyer | Culver City | Pricey, but delicious and beautifully
presented food
Manchego | Santa Monica | Fantastic tapas - can’t get enough
of the jamón wrapped dates with Spanish goat cheese

Amanda MacLean (Administration and Personnel) The Mission

Tiki Drive-In Theatre in Montclair has been a favorite of mine since
before the pandemic, but it’s a great place to go during any stage
of COVID! Every screen shows a double feature (though sometimes
the same movie is played twice on a screen when a film is very
new or popular), and there are four screens from which to choose.
Admission is only $10/adult and the snack bar is great! The sound
comes through on your car radio, so it’s as clear, loud, and custom
as you like.

I offer two insider tips:

light pollution can make it a little difficult to see small details,
so I don’t recommend movies where slight nuances (e.g., winks,
ghostly activity) cannot be missed
one should get there early to have the chance to park in a good
spot; it may take trying more than one to find good visibility
Check out the schedule on their website, where you can also find
some snack bar coupons.

Davide Gasparotto (Paintings) I would like to signal a new

favorite restaurant of mine which opened a few months ago in
my neighborhood: La Puglia on Wilshire Blvd. between 16th and
17th streets.

With a focus on regional cuisine from the Puglia region in Italy,

highlights include fave e cicoria (fava bean puree with dandelion),
the panzerotto (a fried pizza), orecchiette with rapini and
anchovies, and in my opinion the best gelato in town (almond
and hazelnut particularly recommended).
 Staff Profiles

Public Programs Specialist for Family and Artist-Based

Programs at the Getty Villa
Lisa Adey-Weissman
What led you to the Getty?
I am a huge fan of the Museum’s collections, arts education, arts advocacy, and work in
preservation of cultural heritage. I have been working in museums for over ten years and
always dreamed of one day being able to work at the Getty. I can hardly wait to begin
working with families and visitors this year!

Share with us a memorable project you’ve worked on.

During the pandemic while working at the Holocaust Museum LA, we went remote using
Zoom to work with students. I worked with Holocaust survivors and students, facilitating
the Share Our Stories program that connected students with Holocaust survivors through
reflective art projects. It was incredibly inspiring to see that students and survivors were
still able to connect virtually with one another and discuss adversities they were facing.
Many of the students found inspiration and hope from survivors’ stories and resiliency
throughout their lives. It reflected to me on the power of art therapy and storytelling to
spark intergenerational dialogue, hope, and healing.

What excites you most about working with history, heritage and the arts?
I think it is important to make museums a space
of agency for their community. I love that art and museums have the power
to tell stories and connect people with history and heritage. Studies have shown that art has the power to teach historical
empathy. Being able to work in a space where history, art, and heritage come together to tell and share these stories is a
dream come true.

Any hidden talents or hobbies?

I have a black belt in kickboxing, and I love to make linoleum cut prints. I also love working on projects at home or anything to
do with interior design in my free time. Traveling and discovering new places is one of my favorite things to do with my
husband and daughter.

Education Specialist for K-12 School Communities at the Getty Center

Álvaro D. Márquez

How did you get started in your field?

I began working in the field while enrolled as an MFA student at CSU Long Beach, but my interest
began while pursuing a PhD at the University of Southern California, where I obtained a Graduate
Certificate in Visual Studies. Though I opted to leave the program upon completion of my MA, I
learned a lot about the roles that museums play in educating people about the past. My initial
entry into the field was during my work as a Teaching Artist at LACMA, where I taught multi-
generational audiences a variety of techniques directly related to pieces in the permanent
collection.

What do you find interesting about working with young people in the arts?
I have a deep passion for working with young people, since I see pedagogy as an inherently
creative practice. Some of my best mentors were teachers with whom I worked; people who
opened a world of possibilities through their examples and taught me things about myself that
have served me in my professional and personal paths. The arts are particularly special to me, since
students can readily connect art with their lived experiences on a tangible, often visceral, level.

You are also an artist, how do you think that influences your work as an educator and vice-versa?
My work as an artist and educator informs and shapes one another. For instance, my art is research based and pedagogical in
nature, and is often shaped by my prior work as a history instructor and cultural theorist. Conversely, the way I teach is informed
by my creative practice; when I teach, I often use visual media and artmaking as a central way of conveying what can be complex
and abstract concepts. When teaching history, for example, I use visual media such as memes, art, and comics, not only as
objects of historical importance, but as carriers of meaning and vehicles for the articulation of knowledge and critical thought.

Which artists have been influential to your life or career?

My interest in artists has shifted as I have learned more about art, how it is made, and what purpose it serves in specific contexts.
Early in my youth, I was influenced by Mexican artists like Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquieros, and Frida Kahlo. I was also really
intrigued by the work of Mexican printmaker Leopoldo Méndez and by Chicana/o Art. In graduate school, I became enamored
with German Expressionism and the work of Käthe Kollwitz. Lately, I am really into the work of Mercedes Dorame, a Tongva artist
working out of Cal Arts, and Beatriz Cortez, a Central American artist who teaches at CSU Northridge.
 Graduate Interns
After the Getty

See where they are today >

 What We're Working On:
Manuscripts
BY LARISA GROLLEMOND, ASSISTANT CURATOR, MANUSCRIPTS

Replica swords, comic books, DVD cases, toys, board games, children’s books, video games—what do all these objects
have in common? They all recast the Middle Ages in imaginative ways, and all will be on display in the North Pavilion
this summer as part of The Fantasy of the Middle Ages. The exhibition explores how the aesthetics of the Middle Ages
—castles, chivalrous knights, dragons, gleaming armor, princesses, dramatic sleeves, ornamented books–have been re-
envisioned over the last seven centuries. The exhibition (and related publication) traces this visual legacy from the
pages of medieval illuminated manuscripts through prints and book illustrations of the 19th and 20th centuries, into
photography, and finally into television and cinema, but I also wanted a place to showcase the myriad ways that the
Middle Ages still live in popular culture. Enter the stunning variety of objects from the collections of Getty staff, who
submitted dozens of examples of the ways that the “medieval” has been updated, modified, and adapted in the
modern imagination.

Thanks to the combined efforts of teams from across the Museum–especially the modern magicians in Design,
Exhibitions, and Registrar–the atrium between N105 and N106 will be the temporary home to a multimedia display that
extends the themes of the exhibition from fine art into the world of popular culture, adding a valuable dimension for
visitors and creating an inclusive look at the modern Middle Ages. I hope that including items that will be familiar to
visitors alongside the historical art in the exhibition will contextualize and deepen the experience for our visitors. The
“ephemera,” as we’ve come to call it, will invite audiences to see the Middle Ages in a way that is still very much
present in contemporary culture and show how deeply interconnected museum spaces of “fine art” are to the media
and stories of our daily lives. Working on this project has given me the opportunity to nerd out with my favorite
fandoms (The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones) and learn more about ones with which I wasn’t as
familiar (Dungeons and Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, medieval-inspired manga)--I’m excited that visitors and Getty
staff alike will be able to bring their own knowledge of the modern Middle Ages and see a little bit of themselves in the
exhibition. Stay tuned for more, and keep an eye out for the opening of The Fantasy of the Middle Ages on June 21st!

Saint George and the Dragon, about 1450–1455, Master of Guillebert de Mets.
Bob Marley album cover. Staff ephemera for The Fantasy of the Middle Ages The J. Paul Getty Museum,Ms. 2 (84.ML.67), fol. 18v
Activities
In November, Chaya Arabia (Design) was awarded the Social
Advocate Award by the National Emerging Museum
Professional Network (NEMPN) for her MFA thesis work
Design to Disrupt: Framing Exhibition Designers as
Catalysts for Change, which argues for exhibition designers
to be active agents in disrupting the reproduction of white
supremacy culture in the process of creating exhibitions. The
Social Advocates category highlights the individuals,
collectives, and organizations that are advocating for a better
museum field for EMPs and all museum workers.

In September, Susanne Gänsicke (Antiquities Conservation)

taught a seminar on metal conservation in the Central Asian
Museum Conservators Training Program (C5 CTPAC) in
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, co-organized by the University of
Chicago and the State Museum of History of Uzbekistan.

Davide Gasparotto (Paintings) co-curated the exhibition, La

fabbrica del Rinascimento. Processi creativi, mercato e
produzione a Vicenza. Palladio, Veronese, Bassano, Vittoria,
with Guido Beltramini and Mattia Vinco, held at the Basilica
Palladiana, Vicenza, Italy, which runs from December to April
18th (catalog published by Marsilio Arte, Venezia).

Virginia Heckert (Photographs) contributed an interview

with photographer scott b. davis to his first monograph,
sonora, published by Radius Books in fall 2021. scott's work is
included in the Getty Museum's collection. In November,
Virginia also participated in three days of virtual portfolio
reviews with emerging Cuban photographers organized by
Houston FotoFest.

In December, Álvaro D. Márquez (Education) completed a

public art project with the California Department of
Transportation (Cal Trans), where they worked with a team of
architects to design and adorn a new green space in South LA.
As part of this effort, they had a chance to meet with Governor
Gavin Newsom to discuss the project and its historical ties to
the founding of what we now call LA County.

Scott Taylor (Preparations) has a painting included in the

current exhibition at Sandler Hudson Gallery in Atlanta, GA.
His painting is titled NW11, 2021. The exhibition runs through
the end of February.

In November, Miriam Katz (Photographs) donated a kidney to

a stranger! The surgery was successful at both ends. Miriam is
feeling great, and her recipient is feeling so much better than
before. Miriam would be happy to talk to anybody about
what’s involved in living kidney donation.

Top: Design to Disrupt: Framing Exhibition Designers as Catalysts for

Change, 2021, Chaya Arabia.

Middle: Dana Point, negative April 15, 2006; print April 25, 2010,
Scott. B. Davis. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010.51

Bottom: Scott Taylor, NW11, 2021. Oil on canvas, 30 x 30”.


Top: Susanne Gänsicke in Tashkent, Uzbekistan,
examining the outdoor bronze “Cosmonaut Monument.”
Bottom: Álvaro D. Márquez (right) speaking with
Governor Gavin Newsom.
Publications
Jim Ganz’s (Photographs) essay “Retracing Genthe’s
Journey Step by Step” appeared in the book Among the
Ruins: Arnold Genthe’s Photographs of the 1906 San
Francisco Earthquake and Firestorm published in fall
2021 by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Ken Lapatin (Antiquities) published an essay on ancient
gem engravers, their materials, and their methods: “Greek
and Roman Glyptic: alibi ars, alibi materia” in H.
Hochscheid and B. Russell eds., The Value of Making:
Theory and Practice in Ancient Craft Production
(Studies in Classical Archaeology 13 ) (Turnhout: Brepols,
2021): 189–231, which he illustrated with several objects
from our collections, among others.
Stephanie Schrader (Drawings) and Casey Lee (Drawings)
contributed the following short essays, “Acquisition
Affinities: Following the Lead of the Chips Moore
Collection,” and “A Note on Charles Emil Duits and His
Collection of Drawings,” respectively, to Master Drawings,
Diamond Jubilee: Essays in Honor of Chips Moore . The
volume celebrates the New York collector of Dutch and
Flemish drawings, Chips Moore.
Talks &
Presentations
Anne-Lise Desmas (Sculpture & Decorative Arts) and
Davide Gasparotto (Paintings) gave a joint presentation on
the newly published two-volume catalog of Mario Scaglia's
medals collection, at the Zeri Foundation in Bologna, in
December.
Anne-Lise Desmas also gave an online lecture on the
French sculptors Adam in Rome (18th. c.) at the Musée des
Beaux-Arts in Nancy, in November.
BJ Farrar (Decorative Arts and Sculpture Conservation) and
Richard Hards (Antiquities Conservation) collaborated on
producing a video tour, interview, and introduction to
seismic mount making for the Swedish National Heritage
Board. The video was presented at their Art Handling
conference in October, and will be published on their
YouTube channel.
In November, Susanne Gaensicke (Antiquities
Conservation) gave a lecture titled “Reconstructing Queen
Amanishakheto’s Musical Instruments” for the Harvard
Museum of Science & Culture’s virtual lecture program.
Larisa Grollemond (Manuscripts) presented a paper with
Bryan C. Keene (Riverside City College) entitled “ Fantasy
Futures: Medievalisms and Medieval Art at the Museum ”
at the CSULB-sponsored conference “Afterlives:
Reinvention, Reception, and Reproduction” held at Forest
Lawn Museum in November.
In December, Ken Lapatin (Antiquities) delivered an online
lecture on how Getty promotes the antiquities collections
and exhibitions to students in the new master's program
"Comunicazione del Patriomonio Culturale" of the
Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II" in conjunction
with the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli.
In November, Elizabeth Morrison (Manuscripts) gave the
online lecture “Animal Magnetism: Beasts of the Medieval
World” as the Carl Sheppard Memorial Lecturer, University
of Minnesota.
In January, Stephanie Schrader (Drawings) participated in
a webinar at the Newberry Library in Chicago entitled “Race
in the Gallery: Representing the Diversity of the Early
Modern World.”
In October, Michelle Sullivan (Paper Conservation)
presented a virtual lecture—”Introduction to Rigid Gels for
Paper Conservation”—for the Australian Institute for the
Conservation of Cultural Material (AICCM).
In October, Antares Wells (Photographs) presented her
research on color and perception in the work of American
photographer Saul Leiter at the Victoria & Albert Museum,
London, as part of the conference ‘Colour Fever’. The
conference was organized by the Victoria & Albert Museum
and hosted in collaboration with the V&A Research
Institute. The program is accessible here.
Social Bites
1.- GETTY EN ESPAÑOL
Three new exhibitions on Google Arts & Culture are
now available in Spanish: Faces of Roman Egypt,
Contemporary Voices in Asian American
Photography, and Jeanne (Spring).
Set your browser settings to Spanish when visiting the
page and happy reading!

2.-THE REAL “GOOD PLACE” is at the Getty Center

Follow this thread to discover all the familiar spots
where The Good Place television series, centered
around the afterlife, shot the series finale.

3.- BLACK HISTORY MONTH

February is dedicated to honoring the triumphs and
struggles of African Americans throughout U.S.
history. Take a a rare glimpse of a historic call to end
slavery in Getty’s Google Arts & Culture photography
exhibition A Historic Black Rights Protest .

Field Notes
1.- CREATING A FUTURE FOR THE CALIFORNIA
AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM
Cameron Shaw, former Getty Marrow
Undergraduate Intern and CAAM’s new director,
leads a newly built all-Black, all-female team to
achieve a five-year partnership creating exhibitions
for Art+Practice in Leimert Park, South LA.

2.- MUSEUM STORAGE ON DISPLAY

After nearly 20 years of planning, the Dutch
Museum Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen opens as
the world’s first museum to have its storage open to
the public, putting its entire 151,000-piece
collection of prints, photographs, drawings, and
sculptures on view.

3.- OVERCOMING BANKRUPTCY

The Jewish American History Museum in
Philadelphia resurfaces after almost two years of
closure. Thanks to marketing efforts, generous
donors, and an “extraordinary new gift” from shoe
designer Stuart Weitzman, the museum prepares to
reopen May 2022.

Share your thoughts for the next issue:

GettyMuseum@getty.edu