Mary Jane Jacob

Chicago, Illinois

Through hundreds of exhibitions, site-specific and community-based projects, and public programs, curator Mary Jane Jacob has worked with artists to expand the practice and public discourse on art as a shared process.

WHY WE LOVE MARY JANE:

• She took a stand against “plop art” by curating the ambitious city-wide, site specific installation program “Culture in Action” in Chicago from 1991-1993, engaging artists in direct partnership with community members to explore the changing nature of public art and its relationship to social issues
• Jacob also broke ground in 1991 with Places with a Past, an exhibition rooted in site specificity and the history of Charlestown, South Carolina, described as “the most moving and original exhibition in the United States”
• She is still kicking butt as a winner of the 2012 Curatorial Research Fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation, which was awarded to support her investigation of the history of site-specific art from 1900’s to today