Given that background, it's only natural that Watkins ended up being director of Schatten Gallery in Woodruff Library. Schatten Gallery's uniqueness lies not only its location on two of the busiest floors in the library, but also in its mission to support the educational missions of scholars and academic departments at Emory.
A teaching/learning gallery
Schatten Gallery was founded in 1980 and has exhibition spaces on the
entrance
level of Woodruff Library as well as the main level one floor below. The
gallery was created with the goal of providing a venue for smaller
traveling
exhibitions that might not necessarily be suitable for Carlos Museum and
that
directly support academic activities on campus.
"I have really tried to stress that the primary focus of the gallery is to support the scholarly activities on campus," said Watkins, who completed a master's in art history at Emory last spring. "Without this gallery, there really wouldn't be any place that departments and scholars could utilize to show some of the work they're doing or to mount exhibitions that complement classes they're teaching. It's very gratifying to me to have the space here to provide that."
That mission was demonstrated in last year's Schatten exhibition, "Stage Design Now: Stage Design in the Future," which was co-sponsored by Theater Emory and the Goethe Institut, and described by Watkins as the most ambitious exhibit she's ever installed. "We had classes in stage design being taught in the gallery amongst the pieces," she said. "The primary theme of the exhibition was how the work of contemporary theater designers, particularly in Germany and Austria, migrates from mental thought to art work on paper to the actual stage setting." In addition, two of the designers featured in the exhibition did a gallery talk.
Watkins said the stage design exhibition completely filled the entrance level gallery space, which is no small feat considering the gallery's incredibly high ceilings and huge wall-length windows.
"We also did a show of Italian photographs last year sponsored by French and Italian," Watkins said. "Students came for the opening and were asked to converse with each other in Italian about the photographs. They also wrote essays in Italian about the photos."
Although Watkins is unsure of whether she will ever pursue a formal teaching career, she places the utmost value on teaching and teachers. "I don't think there is anything more important than teaching," said Watkins, who has served as designer, curator and education coordinator on some exhibitions. "And I don't think there is much that's more important than fostering a desire to have a rich cultural background and heritage and knowledge of the world."
Creation vs. presentation
An accomplished painter herself, Watkins finds it much easier to create
just
the right setting and tone for presenting the work of another artist than
to
create art herself. "Like many artists, I'm a perfectionist in some
ways," she
said. "I'm always wringing my hands in angst over the fact that a given
piece
I'm working on might not end up exactly as I had envisioned to begin
with, or I
might be frustrated with not being able to have the mental thought that I
want
to be in a piece come out through the medium I'm using. With an
exhibition,
there are times when I'm a little more successful with having it come out
the
way I had envisioned it."
A strong interest in color and pattern characterize Watkins' painting style, and she has worked with both abstract and more realistic themes. "I'm also quite fascinated by the ways in which contemporary artists reflect the influence of ancient cultures in their work," Watkins said. "It's interesting to see how contemporary society and culture sort of filter through into works that are also influenced by more ancient cultures. On occasion, that has influenced my work as well."
While she admits to not being the best salesperson in the world for her own work, Watkins did agree to having one of her paintings hung in the office of Joan Gotwals, vice provost and director of University Libraries, on a permanent loan basis. Watkins would much rather talk about Schatten Gallery, which is undeniably playing an increasingly vital role in both the artistic and educational life of the University.
The combination of providing information and displaying thought-provoking art is what first attracted Watkins to her job in 1988, and that dual purpose is keeping the job fresh for her seven years later. "In some ways, the gallery is just another facet of information that the library is providing," she said, "but it's just a much more visual vehicle. I think people react to that more easily and are drawn into the theme more readily. And that's one of the best ways I can think of to keep people's interest."
--Dan Treadaway