Introducing Kate Hughes
Kate Hughes
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has awarded Katherine ‘Kate’ Hughes the 2018-2020 Decorative Arts Trust Internship, American Wing Curatorial Research Scholarship. An alumna of The College of William and Mary and the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Kate is a current Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Intern with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and has previously held positions at the Historic Charleston Foundation and for Ralph Harvard, Inc.
The American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the eighth institutional partner for the Decorative Arts Trust Curatorial Internship Grant. The Trust underwrites curatorial internships for recent Masters or PhD graduates in partnership with museums and historical societies. Through a matching-grant program, these internships allow host organizations to hire a deserving young professional who will learn about the responsibilities and duties common to the curatorial field while working alongside a talented mentor. The Trust’s internship program seeks to provide mutually beneficial opportunities that will nurture the next generation of museum curators while providing essential staffing for the host.
Kate’s primary duties will center around the upcoming exhibition Stories in Clay: Stoneware from Edgefield District, South Carolina, scheduled to open in 2020, under the mentorship of Adrienne Spinozzi, Assistant Research Curator of American Decorative Arts. According to Sylvia Yount, the Lawrence A. Fleischman Curator in Charge of the American Wing, the exhibition reveals the department’s “increased commitment to the distinctive work of artists of color, who have historically been underrepresented in our holdings.”
The Charles Engelhard Court of the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Adrienne Spinozzi installing the museum’s storage jar by potter David Drake. Image courtesy of Adrienne Spinozzi.
For her part, Kate “truly could not be more thrilled about every aspect of this opportunity.” A native New Yorker, Kate’s love for museums came about because of her childhood visits to the Met. After completing her academic studies, she continued her education with the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) Summer Institutes, of the Chesapeake (2016) and Backcountry (2017). She will be returning to MESDA this summer to complete her third and final Institute, “The Lowcountry: African American Material Culture and Landscapes”. Her research on potter Thomas M. Chandler’s earliest-known piece, a stoneware butter churn, was recently published in the Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts. Kate is thrilled to have this opportunity to return to her native city and “hometown” museum, and have the chance to share her love of southern stoneware with a new audience.
We look forward to following Kate’s progress on this exciting and groundbreaking project over the next two years!
About The Decorative Arts Trust Bulletin
Formerly known as the "blog,” the Bulletin features new research and scholarship, travelogues, book reviews, and museum and gallery exhibitions. The Bulletin complements The Magazine of the Decorative Arts Trust, our biannual members publication.