ABELARDO MORELL
Photographer Abelardo Morell was artist-in-residence between November 1997 and June 1998. Because he is a Boston resident, he never actually lived at the Carriage House. Instead, he extended his interaction with the Museum over a longer period. This extended contact resulted in rich, varied programming for the public and for partnering schools. Morell spent most of his residency getting to know the Museum’s collection and staff, and exploring the relationship between them through his photographs.

The resulting large-format works were featured in the exhibition Face to Face, on view at the Museum from September 18, 1998, through January 3, 1999. Morell discussed his work in a public lecture of the same name on September 24, 1998. He was also the featured speaker at the fall 1998 Teacher Institute, Diversity and Understanding: Teaching in the Gardner Museum.

Morell was an active participant in programs with two partnering schools. Planning with partnering teachers began in the spring of 1998, and the multi-session programs took place in October 1998. Morell met at the Museum with fifth grade classes from the Tobin and Lawrence Schools. Students were first asked to spend time in Morell’s exhibition, looking carefully at the photographs. Because these students had already visited the Museum, they recognized many of the objects and paintings that Morell had photographed. Students then spent an hour with Morell in the gallery, learning about the kind of equipment he uses and the way he goes about making pictures. He set up his view camera in front of Sargent’s El Jaleo and invited students to peer at the painting through the lens of the camera (and of course they were surprised to see the image upside down).

Students were given disposable cameras and asked to photograph their own lives, as Morell had—with the eyes of an artist. Through this activity, they gained a better understanding of the responsibility artists have for the choices they make. Morell visited both classrooms to talk with the students individually about their photographs. Each student then chose one picture, which was enlarged, matted, and shown at the neighboring Massachusetts College of Art gallery in an exhibition called The Artist’s Eye. Student titled their photographs and wrote labels briefly explaining the significance of their works.