A guiding principle – curators are translators – runs through the work of Jess Ambler, director of the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum and co-director of GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) Certificate Program and across her impressive museum, auction house, and teaching career.
“We are the in-between for artists and the public,” Ambler explains. “The key question is how curators can help audiences best understand what artists are trying to say.”
This summer, Ambler will deepen her understanding of that question as one of just two curators nationwide selected for the Pedantic Research Grant, part of Pedantic’s Arts Residency Program in Pittsburgh. During the two-week residency, her first, she will be immersed in Pittsburgh’s vibrant art scene, visiting studios and meeting local artists and fellow curators.
Curatorial residencies are far rarer than artist residencies, Ambler notes, and a few provide financial support. “I’ve spoken with numerous artists who have been to residencies and come back brimming with new ideas, seeing their work in new ways,” she says. “This residency offers that same opportunity for curators, particularly to examine the collaborative nature of our practice.”
Ambler’s time in Pittsburgh will directly inform her teaching and curatorial work at Hollins. In spring 2027, she will launch a new course, Community Curation, designed to help students understand collaboration between curators, artists, and communities while discovering new and emerging voices. Her research will also shape two future group exhibitions at the Wilson Museum. The first, tentatively titled Home as Elsewhere, will examine the myriad meanings of “home,” from physical place to memory and belonging. The other (untitled) exhibition will focus on neuroaesthetics, the study of how people emotionally and cognitively respond to art, with particular attention to art’s role in healing.
Ambler is also among 40 arts and humanities faculty selected as Hollins Mellon Fellows, a program supporting course development for community-engaged learning (CEL). Her proposed CEL class will work with Roanoke Valley’s LGBTQ+ communities and organizations to inform future exhibitions at the Wilson Museum – work that will be enriched by insights gained during her residency. “Engaging with a different artistic community allows me to ask the right questions to artists,” Ambler says, “so I can more accurately and ethically represent artists’ work.”
As co-director of Hollins’ GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) Certificate Program, Ambler is especially interested in curators as activists. “We have a strong group of students interested in gallery or museum work. curatorial ethics, and activism,” Ambler reflects. “Working closely with communities means being an ally and supporter. Art for art’s sake is powerful, but art with purpose is even better.”
