Art gallery director seeks collaborators

Art can change the world.

The new director of the Newcomb Art Gallery at the Woldenberg Art Center on the Tulane University uptown campus, Monica Ramírez-Montagut is convinced of the transformative power of art.

“Any issue that anyone brings up, I'm sure we can find an artist that is dealing with that issue.”—Monica Ramírez-Montagut, Newcomb Art Gallery director

“Art has a say on everything,” said Monica Ramírez-Montagut. “Art is part of our lives. So any issue that anyone brings up, I"m sure we can find an artist that is dealing with that issue.”

Well-versed in the contemporary art world, Ramírez-Montagut has brought her convictions to Tulane, and she"s looking for collaborators among faculty and students who"d like to go along for an eye-opening ride.

She sees the potential for exhibitions drawing on the rich material in the archives, libraries, special collections and rare books housed on the Tulane campus.

“It"s super exciting,” she said. “I"m like a little kid in a candy shop.”

She"s meeting as many faculty members as she can to find projects to coordinate exhibitions with what students are studying in their courses.

“The idea is to maximize the experience of the students and the expertise of the professors,” she said.

“Art can address all those issues that we have now in our contemporary society that seem to fall through the cracks,” said Ramírez-Montagut.

Environmental justice, racial prejudice, food access, immigration and violence against women are the kinds of issues that artists can find creative avenues for bringing out discussion — and hopefully, she said, point the way to solutions.

“These issues seem to be no one"s territory,” said Ramírez-Montagut. “Neither the government nor the private industry is diligently addressing them.”

But art can step up. “Art is all encompassing.”

Through Jan. 25, the Newcomb Art Gallery is exhibiting “Prospect 3: Notes for Now.”

Next up is “Edgar Degas: The Private Impressionist,” from Feb. 18–May 17.