Presented by Equity Bank
Jessica May, the new executive director of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, comes to Kansas City with an enviable pedigree.
After graduating from Barnard College, she got her master’s degree and Ph.D. in art history, with a special focus on photography, from the University of California, Berkeley. She has been a fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; a curator at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.; the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine; and at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas.
May is also the co-author of Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene (Rizzoli).
She has a gift for community engagement, which will serve her well in Kemper’s 30th anniversary year, when museums are changing perspective from object-driven to audience-involved.
In her most recent post as artistic director at the 30-acre deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in the Boston area, she commissioned contemporary artists to design outdoor sculptures to enhance the already impressive 60-sculpture collection created by noteworthy contemporary artists.
May is rolling up her sleeves to make the art museum “a place apart from everyday life, that makes me feel not alone in the world,” she says. “Art is how you know you are in community.”
Since beginning your tenure as executive director of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in February, you’ve had a little time to get acclimated to Kansas City. Longtime residents think Kansas City is a best-kept secret. What is your view?
The secret is out! I have friends and family all over the country who are vying for visits, and artists, museum, and gallery colleagues have been gushing about their time here. I have been on a lot of flights these past few months while my family and I wait out the end of the school year (my son is finishing 8th grade) and every time I’m on a flight home from Boston to Kansas City, it feels like everyone on the plane is part of this super fun, inclusive clubhouse. The camaraderie is powerful, as though everyone is not-so-secretly thinking, “Lucky us! We are headed home!” I’ve never felt more welcome to be myself in a new town.
What new stories would you like the museum to explore through partnerships and connections, exhibits, and events? How would you like the museum and its outreach to grow?
This museum has an amazing history as a champion of working artists at pivotal moments in their careers, particularly those who are emerging or who have flown under the radar on the national or international level. A huge part of my work at this museum will be to nurture and grow that stellar artistic vision for a new generation.
I’m also keen for us to expand our program outwards to nurture deep and sustained connections within our community. That will mean finding cross disciplinary connections with established partners as well as seeking out new relationships, perhaps in surprising places. Museums are fundamentally public-facing institutions, so how we work is as important as what we produce. My goal with our staff is to model the kinds of welcome that we most want to see throughout our city
On a personal level, do you like to participate in the arts? Do you paint or sing or sculpt or photograph or write?
I’m most at home creatively when I’m writing or in conversation with artists. I have to admit that when I see a particularly beautiful pile of fruit, I briefly imagine myself embodying the spirit of Ellsworth Kelly, but I’m not. Instead, I think in language, in dialogue. I find writing excruciatingly difficult—I’m not one of those people who whips out gorgeous essays at the drop of a hat, but for me the experience of seeing ideas come together and get sharper through a dialogic process is pretty fantastic.
When you’re not at work, what do you like to do with your wife, Karen, and son, Noah?
We are parks-and-museums people. My perfect day with my family is a long walk in a public park or hiking trail, brunch together at home with vegetables from City Market and eggs from Campo Lindo Farms, a museum or gallery visit (either contemporary art for me, or Greek and Roman galleries for our teenage classicist, Noah). In the most ideal of ideal worlds, we end our day with local beer, hot pizza, and tickets to KC Current on the home pitch. At least, Karen and I end our dream day that way. At 14, Noah prefers to stay home and read!