On Saturday, Feb. 15, the Wellin Museum of Art opened its Spring 2020 exhibit “SUM Artists: Visual Diagrams and Systems-Based Explorations.” The exhibition features artwork that uses data visualization (such as charts, diagrams, lists and maps) to explore academic and social themes, among other subjects.

Guest curators Matthew Deleget and Rossana Martinez organized this exhibition. They are artists, curators, educators and founders of Minus Space Gallery in Brooklyn, New York. Additionally, they are on nonprofit boards across New York City. Although the two had lots of ideas for exhibit themes, they thought that the “SUM Artists” idea was particularly strong because of the nature of its works.

“We thought that these works would really align and dovetail well with Hamilton’sww curriculum because they are very liberal arts and humanities-based and could tap into any sort of study area,” said Deleget.

Tracy L. Adler, the Wellin Museum’s Johnson-Pote Director, encouraged Deleget and Martinez to develop the idea for the exhibit because she thought it “would have numerous points of contact across disciplines here at Hamilton.” Deleget and Martinez have been friends with Adler for about a decade. All three of them met through art shows in the Northeast.

The exhibition features approximately 30 artists and collectives, including Elisabetta Benassi, Vincent Como, Jennifer Dalton, Theo Deutinger, David Diao, Mary Beth Edelson, RYAN! Elizabeth Feddersen, Daniel Feral, Richard Garrison, the Guerrilla Girls, Alfred Jensen, Mike Mills & Experimental Jetset, Loren Munk, Eadweard Muybridge, John O’Connor, Wendy Red Star, Faith Ringgold, Leslie Roberts, Dread Scott, Ward Shelley, Batia Suter, Athena Tacha, Massimo Vignelli (with Joan Charysyn and Bob Noorda of Unimark International Corporation) and John Zinsser.

“SUM Artists” also borrowed several objects from Special Collections at Hamilton College’s Burke Library. These books, prints and drawings were created by Sebastian C. Adams, Jonathan Cummings, Kerista community member “Even Eve” Furchgott, William Law and Ezechiel Sangmeister.

As curators, Deleget and Martinez had many responsibilities. First, they framed the concept of the exhibit. Next, they researched, pursued, and secured artworks and artists. During this step, they constantly evaluated their collection to ensure that it had depth, breadth, variety and inclusivity. The curators not only strove to include various backgrounds and demographics but to showcase works that were complementary with one another, interdisciplinary, intergenerational and representative of many different subject matters. Afterward, the curators wrote labels and press releases, partnered with the “SUM Artists” staff and Christian Goodwillie, the director of Special Collections at Burke Library, to coordinate borrowing works from the collection for the exhibition and collaborated with the Wellin staff on exhibition layout and design. Finally, Deleget and Martinez visited Hamilton College to open the exhibition and meet with faculty, students and classes.

Every staff member at the Wellin Museum played a role in creating the exhibition. Adler coordinated the logical aspects and worked closely with the guest curators. Chris Harrison, the Wellin’s Building Manager and Preparator, collaborating on the exhibition design. Harrison also worked with Marjorie Johnson, the Wellin’s Museum Educator and Docent Program Supervisor, and Alex Fergusson ’20, the Wellin’s Student Liaison Assistant, to create the WellinWorks section of the “SUM Artists” exhibition. WellinWorks is an interactive space for supporting and encouraging creativity within the museum. They received additional input on this section from the entire Wellin team. Alexander Jarman, Assistant Curator of Exhibitions and Academic Outreach at the Wellin Museum, collaborated with the Wellin team for outreach to the academic community.

The Wellin team also worked with individuals and groups outside of the museum. Nhora Lucía Serrano, Ph.D., Associate Director for Digital Learning & Research, Bret Olsen, Educational Technologist, and Digital Media Tutors Tashi Lhamu ’21, Levana Lyu ’21, and Satchel McLaughlin ’22 developed and produced an animated version of the William Lawbook, which is included in WellinWorks. Finally, the exhibiting artists and their galleries lent work to the Wellin Museum.

“SUM Artists” has and will host numerous events throughout the run of the show. During the first week, Deleget and Martinez engaged with Hamilton classes in the Art, Art History, French, History and Sociology departments. On Saturday, March 7, the Wellin Museum will host “Wellin Kids Workshop: Me-Made Maps” starting at 2:00 p.m. At the drop-in event geared towards elementary school students, participants will examine maps made by artists featured in the “SUM Artists” exhibition and design maps of their hometowns. On Tuesday, March 10, Adler will lead a behind-the-scenes Director’s Tour starting at 5:00 p.m. On Saturday, March 14, the Wellin Museum will host “Middle School Makers: Self-Portrait Diagrams” starting at 1:30 p.m. At the event, middle school participants will look for stories within the artwork featured in “SUM Artists” and make self-portraits inspired by the exhibition. On Monday, April 6, Wendy Red Star, whose work is featured in “SUM Artists” will lead a lecture and discussion about her artwork starting at 4:30 p.m. “SUM Artists” will be open through Sunday, June 14.

Deleget and Martinez are “thrilled, honored and humbled” that they were able to work on this exhibit with the Hamilton community, the Wellin museum and the participating artists and galleries. They also appreciate all of the support that these communities have given them.

“It’s a huge, collective effort to make something like this happen. The staff at Hamilton’s school, library and museum and the participating artists have been really forthcoming and excited about this. Some artists even said that this exhibit was one of the best presentations that they have been included in. I think that we have achieved something extraordinary and hope that visitors will see that,” said Deleget.

Adler hopes that all visitors will feel welcome at the Wellin museum and that the Wellin team can support learning in various forms and for all ages.

“Our aim is to connect with the Hamilton and broader community and to have them engage with the museum through visits, classes and events. We reach out broadly in the area to welcome faculty, students, staff, schoolchildren and community groups,” said Adler.

Deleget and Martinez hope that viewers will take the time to look for and analyze the various themes present in all of the works.

“We hope that visitors will go into the show with open eyes and open hearts and that they will observe the exhibit actively and with the best of their intellect and curiosity. The works have dense information that needs time to process, so we believe that viewers will benefit the most from their experience by spending quality time at the exhibit and asking questions,” said Deleget.