PAFA Youth Council Curates New Exhibition

Education Makes Me a Modern Girl features more than 40 diverse works from PAFA’s Linda Lee Alter Collection of Art by Women

On view through October 9, 2016

PHILADELPHIA (May 9, 2016) – The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is pleased to announce Education Makes Me a Modern Girl, curated by teens on the museum’s Youth Council and currently on view in the Historic Landmark Building, 118 North Broad Street in Philadelphia.

The Collection Focus features more than 40 works on paper from the Linda Lee Alter Collection of Art by Women. In addition to conducting their own research of the Alter Collection, the Youth Council was able to meet with Linda Lee Alter at her home and ask her questions about her inspiration as an artist, collector and philanthropist.

PAFA President and CEO David R. Brigham says, “I am thrilled to see teens engaging with the important Linda Lee Collection of Art by Women at PAFA, which teaches so much about the power of art to affect social discourse about gender, race, and aesthetics.”

The 11 teens on PAFA’s Youth Council come from various area high schools and worked as a group to curate the show. Their choices feature a range of media, subject matter and styles reflecting what interests them most about the collection—its diversity of perspectives.

The choice of title references a song and book by Carrie Brownstein of the television show “Portlandia” and the band Sleater-Kinney, currently a favorite author and musician of their generation, and underscores their belief in the importance of seeking and exploring difference.

PAFA Teen Program Coordinator Elizabeth Hamilton notes, “The Youth Council has received great institutional support from PAFA and this opportunity highlights the important role that teens have within the museum.  It’s not surprising that when you provide teens with responsibility and trust, they produce fantastic outcomes.”

Among the dozens of women artists whose works were chosen by the Youth Council are Louise Bourgeois, Judy Chicago, Candy Depew, Sarah McEneaney, Tezh Modarressi, Sabeen Raja, Inez Storer, and Kara Walker.

This is the second exhibition curated by the Youth Council. Their first, Vibrant Surprises, was located in the Historic Landmark Building lobby and featured a range of historic and contemporary paintings from PAFA’s permanent collection.

Youth Council member Cathy Yang says, “To see that I had a part in this, that my choice mattered and it’s an actually exhibition in an art museum was really cool. These spaces are usually reserved for adults but our exhibit shows that younger people can contribute too.”

The 2015/2016 Youth Council members are Kiersten Bond, Tiara Crosby, Alyssa Davidson, Elliot Grant, Emma Grugan, Rita Scheer, Paul Seggev, Walker Spalek, Isaiah Taliaferro, Samuel Tejada, and Cathy Yang.

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Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is America's first school and museum of fine arts. A recipient of the 2005 National Medal of Arts, PAFA is a recognized leader in fine arts education with a world-class permanent collection of American art.