Sharing the Power of Art

Name: Marshall PricePosition: Nancy Hanks Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Nasher Museum of ArtYears at Duke: 1

What I do at Duke is: I help oversee the programing of exhibitions and work very closely with the Nasher Museum’s collection of modern and contemporary art. These are my two primary responsibilities. The museum is a very collaborative place. I work very closely with all of my colleagues and together we work on exhibition programing and public programs.

If someone wanted to start a conversation with me they should ask me about: How can contemporary art effect social change? My response would be, “in a world that is so saturated with visual imagery, a lot of people take for granted the fact that visual images can effect social change. This is one of the things that I also love about my job is that I get the opportunity to talk about how art can make a difference.”

The best advice I ever received was: To persevere. Don’t give up so easily. Everyone has failures in their lives but if you have a dream or something that you want to do, perseverance is the only way to get there. This advice has been given to me several times from some senior people in the museum field. One of my mentors was Robert Henning who was the first curator I worked with. He was inspirational. 

What I love about Duke is: It’s an incredibly stimulating community, intellectually speaking and culturally speaking. There’s a wonderful amount of interdisciplinary dialog going on. For example, the work that I do in the art museum may connect somehow to the Department of Economics and Environmental Studies not just the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies but all of these different departments. The interdisciplinary nature of the community here is really unbelievable.

When I’m not at work, I like to: I just purchased a house with my partner and we are in the process of fixing it up. I love the outdoors and mountain biking. I am an avid swimmer so I really love enjoying the nature that North Carolina has to offer. I love to visit the Smokey Mountains and travel to the western parts of the state.

An interesting/memorable day at work for me was: I recently visited an artist studio with our museum director. Together we selected a sculpture for the museum. This was an pretty amazing experience. Not only did I get the experience of selecting this artwork, I had the chance to see the sculptures in the artist’s studio in upstate New York. Our visit was during a beautiful snow. The artist’s home was in a fairly remote location that was really wonderful. Unfortunately, the artist is no longer alive.

The skills I bring to work are: My eyes. To have an “eye” for art is a very important, especially in the job that I am required to do. Usually I will bring some humor and also some intellectual curiosity.