Step Forward

Big shuffle coming at the museum. As if they had read my mind. A board meeting today that went on for hours and when it finally ended, I was sitting on one of the new benches rolling a smoke to take out back, and the Chairman of the Board (Asa, 6 feet ten, built like a pro basketball player) stopped and pointed his finger at me, said he needed to talk with me. In the light of things, I didn't think they could afford to fire me, but that was my first thought. Museums across the country are letting people go. Quite the contrary, the board considers me an absolutely necessary asset, and thinks that I should spend more of my time on the artistic side of things, compiling the Carter material, for instance, and less time being a janitor. I can do that. They're bringing in a new Artistic Director and a new Director, both of them curators, both of them double MFA, Art History, Museum Management, a husband and wife team. I know them fairly well. Their energy is appalling. The thing about working with new people is that you have to establish boundaries. Any field of judgement is mostly ripped turf. I can't begin to explain that. I'm mostly black, but I appear white. Just a gray apparition. I do provide a certain continuity, in terms of installing shows, the docent of choice, which I attribute completely to looking closely at specific things. Sara was asking me about elements of the print show in the main gallery, and I walked her over to the Jasper Johns print. I love it. I could go on for thirty minutes. A print need not be merely a copy. And the board let Trish go. I couldn't believe it, bam, she was gone. Thought about the changes last night, for hours. I think it's best for the museum, and best for Pegi, who will be able to spend more time with the Cirque program. We needed curators, we get two, and they're both very good. An impromptu cocktail party Friday afternoon, so we can all get to know each other. The board acted wisely. Took advantage of an awkward situation. The health of the museum feels better now. A big deal in more ways than one: Sara is relinquishing control. You don't hire people like Mark and Charlotte and expect to tell them what to do, so there will be changes. I'm cool with that, I can ride the changes: in certain circles I'm viewed as an expert. Weird, actually, when you think about it, that you'd be ask to prove yourself. Maybe all it was was a flash of thigh, a simple triangulation, but it seemed I was learning something. I'm really a slow learner. It's usually days later that I realize what I should have said.