User:BaharMohazabnia/Carol E. Mayer

Dr. Carol E. Mayer is a Canadian curator and academic based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Mayer is currently head of the Curatorial Department at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) and an associate of the University of British Columbia's Department of Anthropology where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in curation and museum studies. Her academic research focuses on the complex intersections between contemporary art practices, museum collections, and Indigenous knowledge systems.

Career
Mayer began working at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) in 1987. In her 30 years as a curator, Mayer has developed and contributed to nearly 50 shows featuring pieces from the Canadian, North American, Asian, African, Pacific Islands, and European collections.

Mayer is the founding president of the Northwest Ceramics Foundation and currently serves as vice-president of the Pacific Arts Association (North America) and on the board of the Pacific Peoples Partnership.

Mayer has also been recognized by several high-profile institutions. In 2003, she was awarded a fellowship in museum practice at the Smithsonian’s Centre for Education and Museum Studies, and in 2004 took up a visiting fellowship at the Sainsbury Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. More recently she has received the Manu Daula (Frigate Bird) Award for outstanding achievements in the study of Pacific art from the Pacific Arts Association (2019), the President’s Medal of Excellence from the University of British Columbia (2011), and the Thirtieth Anniversary of Independence Medal for Cultural Contributions to the Republic of Vanuatu (2010).

Research
Mayer’s primary research interests lie in the history of Pacific collections in Canadian institutions, intellectual property rights, and forging collaborative networks between Northwest Coast and Pacific communities.

In 2009, Mayer organized a historic reconciliation ceremony in Vanuatu. The ceremony brought together descendants of a Canadian missionary and members of the clan that killed him. Mayer with co-authors Anna Naupa and Vanessa Warri, released No Longer Captives of the Past: The Story of a Reconciliation Ceremony on Erromango as a supporting publication to the ceremony. The book was later distributed in schools throughout Vanuatu.

Mayer is also interested in European, Asian, and BC ceramics. She has written extensively on the topic, with notable publications including A Discerning Eye: The Walter C Koerner Collection of European Ceramics , Don Hutchinson: The Artful Potter, Transitions of a Still Life and The Space In Between: The Contemporary Works of Sally Michener and Tam Irving. Mayer is the founding president of the Northwest Ceramics Foundation, an organization aimed at developing and disseminating knowledge about ceramics through public programming, exhibitions, education, and publications.

Recent curatorial projects

 * Playing with Fire: Ceramics of the Extraordinary. UBC MOA, November 21, 2019 – March 29, 2020.
 * Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia. UBC MOA, November 1, 2018 – March 31, 2019.
 * Don Hutchinson: From Form to Fantasy. Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey Art Gallery, January – March 2017.
 * In the Footprint of the Crocodile Man: Contemporary Arts from the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea. UBC MOA, March 2016 – February 2017.
 * The Space In Between: Contemporary Works by Sally Michener + Tam Irving, West Vancouver Museum, September – November 2016.
 * Paradise Lost? Contemporary Works from the Pacific. UBC MOA and Satellite Gallery (Vancouver), July – September 2013.
 * Pleased to Meet You: Introductions by Gwyn Hanssen Pigott. UBC MOA, Nov 2012 – March 2013.
 * A Green Dress:  Memory, Objects and Museums.  UBC MOA, September 2011 – March 2012.
 * Permanent installations in Multiversity Galleries:  African, Oceanic, South-East Asian and European Collections, installed 2009.
 * Transitions of a Still Life:  Ceramic Works by Tam Irving.  Burnaby Art Gallery, March – April 2007.

Selected publications

 * In Her Words: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia. Publication accompanying exhibition. 28 pp. (2019).
 * “Messenger of Grace: The Pacific Journeys of the Reverend George Stallworthy, 1809-1859.” MOA Magazine, Fall. (2018).
 * “T-shirts & Turtles: Journeys to the Island of Erub.”  MOA Magazine, Fall. (2018).
 * In the Footprint of the Crocodile Man: Contemporary Works from the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea. MOA. 92 pp. (2016).
 * The Space In Between: Contemporary Works by Sally Michener and Tam Irving (exhibition catalogue), West Vancouver Museum. (2016).
 * “A Green Dress: Vanuatu,” in Trophies, Relics and Curios? Missionary Heritage from Africa and the Pacific, eds. Karen Jacobs, Chantal Knowles and Chris Wingfield. Sidestone Press, Leiden. Pp. 131-138. (2015).
 * (Guest Editor) Pacific Arts Association Journal, 14 (1-2), 142 pp. (2015).
 * “Pacific Intersections and Cross-Currents: Unchartered Histories and Future Trends.” Pacific Arts Association Journal 14. (1-2): 5-11. (2015).
 * A Discerning Eye: The Walter C. Koerner Collection of European Ceramics.  Figure 1 Publishing, Vancouver, 182 pp. (2015).
 * No Longer Captives of the Past: The Story of a Reconciliation on Erromango. Co-authored with Anna Naupa and Vanessa Warris. Erromango Cultural Association, Vanuatu. 128 pp. (2013).
 * “Expressions of Continuity and Reflections of Rupture: Contemporary Pacific Art in an Anthropology Museum,” in Pacific Island Artists: Navigating the Global Art World.  Karen Stevenson (Ed). Masalai Press. (2011).
 * The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. Co-edited with Anthony Shelton. Douglas & McIntyre Publishing, Vancouver, 239 pp. (2010).

Awards and honours

 * Pacific Arts Association Manu Daula (Frigate Bird) Award for outstanding achievements in the study of the arts of the Pacific (2019).
 * BC Museums Association Award for Outstanding Achievement for the exhibition Paradise Lost? Contemporary Works from the Pacific (2014).
 * UBC President’s Award for Service Excellence (2011).
 * Visiting Fellowship at the Sainsbury Research Unit, University of East Anglia (2007).
 * Appointed Fellow of the Canadian Museums Association (2004).
 * Fellow in Museum Practice: Smithsonian Centre for Education and Museum Studies (2003).