Job Interview: Minnesota State Fair curator calls Fine Arts exhibit one big puzzle
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For 14 years, Fine Arts Center superintendent Jim Clark has been assembling the exhibit that hundreds of thousands of Minnesota State Fair attendees shuffle through every day.
“For many of our visitors, this is their one and only experience with fine art for the year, and that’s a responsibility I don’t take lightly.”
Clark is a career artist himself, working in many mediums but settling into his favorite: drawing. He says one of the hardest things about running the exhibit is the amount of rejection he has to dole out.
“It is damn hard to not have your work accepted. It’s just there’s only so much space,” Clark said.
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Clark strives to display the art in a way that makes sure each piece is seen while keeping viewers interested. He organizes the flow and the movement of more than 300 individual artworks.
“Once the work comes in, then it’s a grand puzzle with many pieces,” he said.
This conversation is a part of our Job Interview series, where we talk to everyday Minnesotans about the rewards and challenges of their work. This interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity. Click on the audio player for the original version.
Official title: Fine Arts Superintendent
What I actually do during the Minnesota State Fair: I’m responsible for the programming and staff, installation and curation of the exhibition.
A great day at work: A few years ago, someone came up to me, essentially irate because they couldn’t believe that something was in the show or got an award over something else, and we stood in front of it and we talked about it. I try to come about it from a place of curiosity. And by the end of that discussion, they were in tears because they discovered something about that work and about themselves that they hadn’t known before. And that was — dynamite.
A not-so-great day at work: It is emotionally draining to me, personally, that 2,300 artists weren’t accepted. And just because your piece, my piece, a piece, wasn’t selected for the show— it’s not a blanket statement on its overall quality.
What I’ve learned: I’ve been looking at the work on display for weeks now, and I see something new every day. I’ve said this before. I never dreamed that I would be the superintendent of Fine Arts at the State Fair, but maybe I should have.