Ann Clark Priftis '96: The Adventures of A Fine Arts Dealer

Ann Priftis ’96 (center) studying an artist’s works on exhibit in a gallery.

For Ann Clark Priftis ’96, the best part of being a fine arts dealer “is the constant variety — no two days are alike. I experience the best of all worlds. Some days I’m in the basement of a museum appraising a painting from their permanent collection, the next day I may be going over the blueprints for a new gallery, and at the end of the week I’ll be addressing a group of young professionals interested in purchasing their first piece of art.”

Ann owns and operates Clark Priftis Art LLC, a comprehensive fine art services company specializing in professional fine art appraisals, gallery consultation, corporate and private collections management, and fine art purchasing/acquisition advisement with offices in Baltimore and New York. In addition, Ann was recently hired as Director of GINA Gallery of International Naive Art, which opened April 1 in New York.

“There’s a vast, dynamic world of fine art out there,” Ann emphasized, “that’s accessible to everyone on some level — you don’t need to be an ‘artsy’ or ‘creative’ person to be involved in the art world. A strong foundation in art history, like the one provided by Westover, is the very best base on which to build a future in the art world. The Art History classes I took with Sonja Osborn were my first exposure to art history in a formal sense, and I loved it! Sonja placed physical art in the context of its historical surroundings, and I found it fascinating. I never considered myself a strong visual artist; it wasn’t until I took these classes with Sonja that I realized there was a huge professional world of fine art that I could be involved in. While these classes steered me to pursue an Art History degree, it was the discipline and work ethic instilled in me by the entire Westover experience that allowed me to take my love of art to a business level.” Ann received a B.A. in Art History from the University of Maryland and went on to George Washington University to obtain a Certificate in Fine and Decorative Arts Appraisal through the American Society of Appraisers.

For four years after receiving her B.A., Ann worked in a 19th/20th century gallery in Washington, DC. She then became the deputy director of a contemporary gallery in Washington. After moving to New York, she became the director of sales and business development for two modern art galleries. “While I continue to do appraisals on a regular basis,” Ann explained, “the majority of my business is private treaty sales, advising galleries, building corporate collections, and speaking to investment groups regarding fine art buying and selling.

“My passion is the excitement of buying and selling wonderful art — art investment,” Ann said. “I love to teach and consider my speaking engagements to investment firms and associations to be teaching, in a way. In the future, I would very much like to teach a class on art investment or trading in a more traditional classroom setting. I also love the travel, excitement, and variety that comes with these aspects of the art world. I would like to see my business grow into a true international art advisory firm — guiding businesses, institutions, and families to make wise decisions with their existing and future art collections. Eventually, I would like the firm to manage an art investment fund, an idea that has been attempted but mismanaged by firms in the past. Ultimately, my goal is for Clark Priftis Art to become the preeminent source for all fine art advisory needs.”

A resident of New York City, Ann is a member of the Alumnae Association Board of Governors, is a member of the Centennial Speakers Committee, has been an Admission Volunteer, and is a Class Secretary. A West, she served as Second Head of School and as Second Head of Dorcas.

Anouk Janssen ’93:
A Year at Westover Leads to a Career Decision

Anouk Janssen '93

Today, Anouk Janssen ’93 works as a curator in the History Department at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam in the Netherlands, one of the foremost art museums in the world. She holds master’s degrees in Law and Art History from Rijjksuniversiteit Leiden and a Ph.D. in Art History from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. But if Anouk had not spent a year as an ASSIST exchange student from the Netherlands at Westover in 1992-1993 and studied Art History in several courses with Sonja Osborn, she knows her life would have taken a different path.

“Without Sonja and Westover,” Anouk said, “my career would be completely different. I would not be a curator at the Rijksmuseum now; without Sonja, I would not have gotten my Ph.D.; without her, there would not have been Art History in my life.”

When Anouk arrived at Westover in the fall of 1992, she had already completed high school in the Netherlands. “I went to Westover because I really had no clue what I wanted to study in college,” she recalled, “so I decided to do something else for a year.” Because she had already graduated high school, she had a greater opportunity at Westover to select subjects that particularly interested her.

In the Netherlands, Anouk said, Art History was not one of the subjects offered in high school. “I was interested in art, and my family and I went to museums a lot,” she explained, “but I had never studied it in school and had never read a book about art before I came to Westover.” In reviewing the Art History course offerings at Westover, Anouk was intrigued and so during her year here she took several one-term Art History electives and the full-year Advanced Placement Art History course.

Before long, Anouk knew that she had discovered the subject she wanted to pursue in college and beyond. “I contacted my parents,” Anouk recalled, “and said, ‘Well, I’ve decided I want to study Art History, so you will have to find out where in the Netherlands I can study it.’ They were so happy that I found something I wanted to study.”

In the Art History classes at Westover, Anouk said, Sonja taught her how to look at art from an “art historical” perspective, “which is something that I have benefited from ever since. She taught me how to look for and recognize style, periods, artists, etc.”

Anouk also recognized that Westover’s location offered “the wonderful advantage of going to New York to visit all the museums. That was an extra thrill when you took an Art History class,” she said. “The real stuff is always incomparable to the reproductions in a book. I still remember the sensation of being at the Met and looking into the next room and seeing this very famous painting just a few feet away. I would get such a thrill.”

After graduating from Westover, Anouk returned to the Netherlands and — thanks to her parents’ research — attended Rijjksuniversiteit Leiden, studying both Art History and, for “a nice contrast,” Law. Anouk noted that Sonja’s classes had given her a wonderful advantage at the University. “I learned some new things in my first year there,” she said, “but all of my basic art history knowledge I learned from Sonja.” For her Ph.D. work later on, Anouk said, “99% of my time I was able to do research, a wonderful luxury,” though she also enjoyed teaching some classes at the university. When she was awarded her Ph.D. in April 2007, among those on hand for the event was Sonja. “It was a thrill having her there.”

As a curator at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Anouk said she works on a broad range of projects. “You name it and I do it.” The museum’s galleries are currently being renovated so that history exhibits and art works will be combined in common galleries, instead of being part of separate installations. She has worked on a number of exhibitions, the museum’s various websites, and one particularly daunting task — an ongoing project to create digital images of the museum’s 700,000 objects in its collections: all of its prints, drawings, painting, photographs, and other artifacts. Because she wrote her Ph.D. thesis, which has been published as a book, on the depiction of old age in 17th century Dutch art, Anouk also is frequently asked to speak to groups of the elderly.

While working on her Ph.D., Anouk visited Sonja at Westover and had the chance to be a guest lecturer in Sonja’s classes, talking about the Dutch Golden Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer. “It was wonderful to do it,” she recalled. “I enjoyed it very, very much, standing in that same classroom where it all started, but now seeing it from a different perspective.”

Anouk resides in the city of Leiden in the Netherlands.

 

Chay Costello Sosin ’93:
The Retail Side of the Museum of Modern Art

Chay Costello Sosin '93

After graduating from Vassar with a B.A. in Victorian Studies, Chay Costello Sosin ’93 wanted to work in the arts, either at a museum or at an art gallery. “When I learned about the Retail Department at the Museum of Modern Art,” Chay recalled, “I was intrigued. It appealed to my interdisciplinary spirit — I would work with art and design but also in business and marketing.”

As both a buyer and a product developer for MoMA’s Retail Department, Chay is constantly putting her interdisciplinary skills to work. “As a buyer, I travel the world looking for innovative products to bring into the MoMA stores. Once I have samples, I meet with MoMA curators from the Architect and Design Department, and we review all of the proposed products. We work very closely with MoMA’s curators to ensure that the products accurately represent the MoMA brand. MoMA has a world-renowned design collection from which we draw, and which includes everything from a 1963 Jaguar automobile to the BIC pen and a Post-it note pad.

“Because I manage MoMA’s textile program,” Chay added, “I am always straddling the line between craft and design. MoMA houses a collection of modern and contemporary art, so we are much more focused on design, but it is surprising how often modern design can be an update on a craft technique. When I travel to Japan to develop our scarf and apparel lines, we work with traditional textile designers and mills; many of these mills began generations ago making kimonos. They have adapted amazingly, bringing new techniques and innovative fabrics into play and creating phenomenal textures. MoMA featured Japanese textiles in an exhibition in 1998 called Structure and Surface: Contemporary Japanese Textiles. I visit the designers featured in the exhibition, and we bring their newest creations into our stores. I see our textile lines each season as a continuation of that exhibition.”

As a product developer, Chay works with designs and materials to come up with products, which are often related to MoMA exhibitions. “MoMA generally does not reproduce artwork on products unless the philosophy of the artist makes the reproduction appropriate,” Chay explained. As an example, she said, “We wouldn’t reproduce a Matisse on a tote bag, but Andy Warhol is fair game. When we develop product for exhibitions, we work closely with curators, which is wonderful because it often involves getting a preview of the artwork in the exhibition. There is a Dali: Painting and Film exhibition coming up in June 2008, and I have been working with the curators on ideas for products that maintain the Dali spirit. We have developed a tote bag that features the MoMA logo, but the letters are made of masses of ants — we strive to capture the feeling of the exhibition rather than just reproduce artwork in the exhibition.”

Chay said she and other MoMA retail staff travel the world looking for product ideas in unexpected places. “If we just went to the standard trade shows all retailers go to, we would come back with the same type of merchandise. We have become known as a destination for unique, unusual products that cannot be found elsewhere. We often find young designers and give them their first opportunity, and we find them through traveling and really spending time in the foreign cities we visit.” Twice a year, they target different foreign destinations. “We have focused on Denmark, Argentina, and Berlin,” Chay said, “and will feature Japanese design this May. This keeps our assortment fresh and gives us the opportunity to continually meet new designers.”

Chay credits Westover for fostering a sense of competence across disciplines. “Confidence is key,” she said. “Much of my job involves sales analysis, projections, and presentations, and, as a Westover girl, math does not scare me. I feel that Westover encourages combining ideas from different disciplines, and discussing those ideas with confidence. At Westover, my ideas were taken seriously. At an age when many young women are learning to subjugate their stronger feelings and thoughts, Westover girls are challenged to apply themselves assiduously to their studies and are expected to confidently express their thoughts and analysis on the subjects they tackle. I always felt so honored that my teachers at Westover felt I was capable of tackling books and ideas that were initially intimidating to me. Now I now find an almost welcoming challenge in all things intimidating.” Chay added, “To this day, some of my most cherished relationships are with Westover girls. We have a book club in New York, and I always look forward to sitting around in a circle of ladies who are not afraid to speak their minds.”

A New York City resident, Chay was Third Head of School, Third Head of Wests, and is a past Class Agent.

Tyler Emerson-Dorsch ’97:

Eager to be a Part of the Miami Art Scene

Tyler Emerson-Dorsch '97

As she completes her coursework this spring for a Master’s of Arts degree at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, Tyler Emerson-Dorcsh ’97 is eager to return home to Miami and that city’s lively arts culture.

“After I graduate in May,” Tyler said, “I will join my husband Brook, where we will run our gallery — the Dorsch Gallery — as a place where we can spark debate and discussion in the local art scene. I have found that although I am not the best writer, curator, or theoretician among my colleagues, I do love listening and learning. Bringing audiences together to debate and discuss issues pertaining to art and culture is my dream at the moment. I’d like to cultivate an environment in which I and others around me can push one another to learn.”

When Tyler was a student at Westover, she was a member of the Women In Science and Engineering (WISE) Program, but, she said, “I longed for a more sustaining calling. I enjoyed math, but I enjoyed the idea of infinity, for instance, more than math’s practical applications.” She credits her Latin teacher and faculty advisor, Christopher Sweeney, for “constantly encouraging me to take humanities courses.”

Ultimately, Tyler said, there were a variety of factors that led to her eventual choice to major in Art History when she went on to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “My mother owned and ran an art gallery,” Tyler noted, “and the Mills family [Susan and Robert Mills, the parents of Tyler’s classmate Rachel Mills] graciously hosted me over long weekends and gave me a glimpse of artists’ lives and hearts. Westover certainly prepared me in other ways. The courses that still resonate are my English classes with Mr. [Bruce] Coffin, as well as my history classes, and the philosophy class I took with Mr. [Thomas] Hungerford. All these experiences have served my study of art.”

Most of her Art History studies at UNC-Chapel Hill focused on Medieval and Renaissance art, Tyler said, so “I only discovered the excitement and validity of Modern and Contemporary Art and Theory in my last year of undergraduate studies. Then, when I moved to Miami after college, I was surprised to find a thriving art scene. All of a sudden Art History was present and vital and living, rather than a slow-moving, dusty product of the past. I could interact with the people forming ‘history’ and ideas. I cannot emphasize how exciting this was. I began to participate in a community of artists and curators. I ended up making some contributions of my own to the conversation.”

In her five years in the arts in Miami, Tyler worked for several years at the Miami Art Museum in a series of positions, including working as a curatorial assistant for three curators, which gave her opportunities to meet many artists of national and international stature. She also served as a research assistant there, gathering background information on all the artists in the exhibition Beyond Geometry. Later, she worked at the Fredric Snitzer Gallery, where she was the gallery director overseeing its day-to-day operations. “The staff was quite small,” Tyler said, “so I worked closely with Fred and learned a lot from him about the dynamics of contemporary art and the market.”

As part of her graduate studies at Bard’s Center for Curatorial Studies, Tyler said, “we discuss the issues that entail initiating projects that present art to the public, whether through exhibitions, seminars, screenings, or other projects. We have learned not only about Art History (mostly since 1960) but also philosophy and theory, the history of exhibitions, and the state of art criticism.” Tyler’s studies at Bard will conclude with an exhibition that she has curated for her thesis project, which will be on display at Bard from May 11 to May 25. The exhibition, entitled Act Out, will include work by Vito Acconci, Cheryl Donegan, Mike Kelley, Paul McCarthy, Sturtevant, and Hannah Wilke.

A West, Tyler served as a Proctor and is a Class Agent. A resident of Miami, FL, she is the granddaughter of the late M.L. Tyler Lewis Emerson ’39 and the niece of Louisa Blake Emerson ’67. The website for the Dorsch Gallery is www.dorschgallery.com.

Maura Tansley ’00:
Making Things Happen at the Gardner Museum

Maura Tansley '00 standing outside the beloved courtyard of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

One day while she was a student at Westover, Maura Tansley ’00 recalled, her mother arranged for them to visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. While they were touring this jewel of an art museum, Maura remembers thinking, “Wow, Mom really got it right on this one!”

Under Art History teacher Sonja Osborn at Westover, Maura took several one-term Art History electives, as well as the year-long Advanced Placement Art History course during her senior year. Maura recalled one Westover elective in particular, African and Islamic Art, that revealed “how much Art History showed you about actual cultures, what they could and could not express through art. That is what got me so excited about Art History. I fell in love with it.”

So, Maura said, “when it came time to pick colleges for my applications, Simmons College being right next to the Gardner was a plus!” (And, for a diehard Red Sox fan like Maura, it didn’t hurt that Fenway Park was also just a long, long fly ball away.) After she spent a “gap” year taking part in Westover’s postgraduate exchange program with a boarding school in Australia Maura went on to Simmons.

“I knew I wanted to study Art History,” Maura said, “but I also knew that I was never cut out to write art history books.” Drawn instead to arts administration, she pursued a double major at Simmons in Art History and in Communications. At Simmons, Maura discovered that “we already had been over much of material covered in the entry-level Art History courses earlier in my classes with Sonja.”

Maura’s studies at Simmons were enriched by her frequent contact with the Gardner Museum next door. “I took a class devoted to the art in the Gardner taught by Simmons professors,” Maura said, which meant she was able to visit the museum at least once a week. During the spring semester of her senior year, Maura had an internship in the Gardner’s Education Department. Around the time she graduated, a position in that department opened up and Maura was hired as the museum’s Manager of Tours and Visitor Learning Programs. “It was a great way for me to get to know the museum,” she said, “and also to learn what people think about the museum. You learn both the positive and the negative, from ‘How grateful we are that Isabella Stewart Gardner did this!’ to ‘Why can’t I touch anything?’” Through her position, Maura was able to arrange for a Westover reception and tour at the museum; several years ago she also hosted two Westover students who wanted to learn about working in a museum during a Sophomore Career Day.

Recently, Maura has taken on a new role at the Gardner, serving as the Administration and Planning Associate for the museum’s Chief Operating Officer and Director of Operations. A new post at the institution, her position was established to help “oversee the inner workings of the museum, everything but the creative side: coordinating internally what needs to happen — how to plan for new exhibits, how to ensure that the museum’s facilities are not overtaxed, how to communicate more effectively with its staff and volunteers.” At the moment, much of Maura’s work is focusing on plans for a new building the museum’s administration hopes to erect next to the original building, which was Mrs. Gardner’s mansion home. While museum officials intend to preserve the original building, the museum now “attracts many more visitors than Isabella ever expected,” Maura noted. Although there are no construction dates scheduled or final cost projections yet for the new building, she said, its designs are being reviewed by Boston officials.

When she first thought about a career in Art History, Maura noted, “I did not know about this whole area of work that goes on in museums. But the work I am now doing supports Art History. I think I do my job better because I have an appreciation for all the works of art in the museum thanks to my educational experiences. But it is one thing to study Art History,” she added. “It’s another thing to know what has to go into it to make it accessible to people today. I like being in a position where I can help make those things a reality. I can appreciate all the creative ideas that come from the museum’s curators. In my job, I am going to help make them happen.”

A resident of Jamaica Plain, MA, Maura was Second Head of School, Second Head of Overs and serves as a Class Secretary.