Jessica Marten

Her exhibition and accompanying catalog, Art for the People: Carl W. Peters and the Rochester WPA Murals will be at MAG October 17, 2015-January 3, 2016. This exhibition focuses on a group of preparatory mural studies for over thirteen extant WPA murals by Rochester artist Carl W. Peters.

In her role as Curator in Charge/Curator of American Art, Marten has been busy working on new acquisitions to enhance MAG’s collection of post-war and contemporary art, adding significant works by artists like Hung Liu, Nick Cave, Kehinde Wiley, Elizabeth Catlett, and Yayoi Kusama. Future projects include an exploration of the fascinating history of the Encyclopedia Britannica collection of American paintings from the 1940s and an upcoming exhibition on the little-known, visionary Rochester artist Josephine Tota.

It was at UMass that I honed my abilities to look, question, and write – all skills that have been instrumental in my career. The quality of attention and mentoring from the faculty is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the UMass program. As I student, I always felt that I was in a unique academic environment, one that balanced high expectations of intellectual rigor with warmth and interpersonal support.