Meet Meaghan Kent | Curator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Meaghan Kent and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Meaghan, is there something you can share with us that those outside of the industry might not be aware of?
Modern and Contemporary Art is such an enormous part of who I am and how I look at things. I was lucky enough to be introduced to the field in high school. It was always accessible to me and for many, it just isn’t. So, I believe there is an impression that my industry can be inaccessible – this was certainly the case when I worked in the gallery industry. But anyone can make art, see art, and talk about art. There shouldn’t be any limitations. Therefore, the main challenge in the work that I do is to make it more accessible to the public. I want people to really look at contemporary art and understand it. Not just walk away.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I like to tell stories and the shows I curate are meant to visually educate. I just opened an exhibition entitled BookBound: The Art of Books and Printmaking and I wanted to include as many South Florida artists and organizations as possible to give insight into a rich and diverse body of work. This project was exciting to me as it led me down so many different paths, I didn’t even know what the outcome would be! Now I’m in the process of sharing these stories with our visitors through talks and workshops.

The next exhibition I am working on is about research-based art and how artists use information to visually connect with audiences. Several of the artists that I work with collaborate with outside professionals in specific fields such as environmental science and history. There is a lot of information out in the world, and I wanted to make a show that will help us learn how to sift through all of it to find truth and underlying meanings.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
It depends on who is visiting but I would probably give an itinerary that mingles my lifestyle- Art Museums (Major Institutions and Collections), Artist-Run Spaces and studios (Dimensions Variable, The Laundromat, IS Projects, Oolite Arts, Fountainhead, the BakeHouse Art Complex). Hollywood is wonderful and I love to support local restaurants. You can great waterside atmosphere and bar food at Le Tub or Tiki Tiki. By the Art and Culture Center/Hollywood, I love to visit J28, Olivia, the Greek Joint, The Tipsy Boar, and GoBistro. I love running and biking outside through parks and beaches. But the absolute best with a visiting friend is just some wine and a sunset swim.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I give so much credit to the feminist artists, writers, poets, and curators of the 60s/70s eras such as Eva Hesse, Ana Mendieta, Audre Lorde, Lucy Lippard, Howardena Pindell, Linda Nochlin, Sylvia Sleigh, Alice Neel, Anne Truitt, Adrienne Rich, Sarah Charlesworth, Cindy Sherman, Mary Garrard and Norma Broude. The list goes on- The advocacy I focus on is rooted in the work they laid out before me.

Website: artandculturecenter.org

Instagram: @lineofsite @artandculturecenter

Image Credits
Photos of Meaghan Kent, credit: Khami Auerbach courtesy of Art and Culture Center/Hollywood, Fl