Art Center Sarasota exhibitions director forges her own path

There are licenses to fish, hunt and drive a car. Christina Baril has an artistic license. It’s vital to her work as exhibitions director at Art Center Sarasota (ACS). There’s no official document or card in her wallet. How did she earn it? “I have a background as a sculptor and a ceramic artist,” Baril says. “I’ve been educated in art and art history and worked at different museums and galleries – and I’ve also done my share of manual labor.”

Baril’s track record is impressive. It includes an MFA in ceramics at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing and art/art history from the College of William and Mary. She put that training to work at a host of galleries and museums, including the New Bedford Art Museum in Massachusetts, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, and the Newseum in Washington D.C. Before joining Art Center Sarasota in early 2022, she taught at State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota. On top of that, Baril is also a fiercely original sculptor. She definitely has the right stuff for the work of ACS’s exhibitions director.

So, what does that job entail?

“Organizing exhibitions is obviously my end game,” says Baril. “My work always begins with making connections. So, I find ways to expand our community of artists. That includes finding artists for our solo exhibitions, along with artists interested in showing to the jurors of our open-call, group exhibitions.”

Based on Baril’s answer, “exhibitions director” sounds like a fairly easy job. According to Kinsey Robb, ACS’s executive director, it’s not.

“Christina plans, manages and stages all of the Art Center’s exhibitions,” Robb says. “To put that in perspective, we have four different galleries. Our yearly exhibition season has six different cycles. With each new cycle, we put up four new shows in all four galleries. We also plan our exhibitions for two seasons in advance – with alternate exhibitions in case a show gets canceled. It’s a complicated jigsaw puzzle.”

Putting the pieces together demands advance planning. In collaboration with Robb, Baril compiles a short list of “artists of interest” for solo exhibitions in upcoming seasons. For possible, juried group shows, they discuss a vast range of central themes, including subject matter, mediums and messages. While themes may vary, Baril and Robb want each cycle’s exhibitions to feel connected, but not compete or repeat.

Along with mapping out ACS’s future exhibitions, Baril coordinates installations in the here-and-now. While she doesn’t do the heavy lifting, she oversees the crew that does. Baril also works with Robb to select the jurors for ACS’s juried group shows and creates a professional presentation of the art each juror will consider.

The artists of ACS’s solo shows get the final say on content. But Baril helps the artists refine the visions for their shows. What’s the heart of your exhibition? The organizing principle? What do you want? The art in each one-person show serves the artist’s intention. Once that’s crystal clear, Baril puts the show together. Its art selections may draw on existing pieces. Or reveal new pieces created specifically for the ACS exhibition and site.

That may sound like a curator’s job. According to Robb, that’s because it is.

“Christina’s work has a curatorial aspect in our one-person shows,” she says. “Connecting with artists is a major part of her role.”

Baril recently made powerful connections with Lauren Mann, Iren Tete and Ry McCullough, the three featured artists in ACS’s latest solo exhibitions. She describes them as, “young, gifted and bursting with creative ideas.” Based on their art, that’s accurate.

Collaborating with sculptor Iren Tete

Tete, a Gainesville-based sculptor, was right at the top of Baril’s “artist-of-interest” list. Why?

“Iren’s work really resonated with me,” she says. “We’d both studied at the College of William and Mary, and we’re also both ceramic artists. We share the same passions and really see eye-to-eye.”

Tete agreed to a one-person show at ACS, and they discussed specifics on Zoom and over the phone. The artist enjoyed these meetings of the minds.

“Christina thinks like an artist because she is an artist,” Tete says. “On a conceptual level, that was incredibly helpful to me when we were mapping my show out.”

Tete adds that Baril’s help wasn’t limited to concepts.

“For this show, I wanted to place my pieces up on cement blocks, and paint a few of the blocks. Christina not only procured the blocks, she painted the ones I indicated. Not every exhibitions director would go to that much trouble.”

Multidisciplinary artist Ry McCullough

McCullough was also on Baril’s shortlist. This Tampa-based, multidisciplinary artist is a postmodern da Vinci who straddles a range of mediums. His work in the “Skyway 20/21” exhibition at USF blew Baril away, and she quickly reached out, and he agreed to a one-person show.

Art selection would not be a problem this time. McCullough’s solo show would feature all-new work. That’s his style. While his multimedia pieces are abstract, they illustrate a narrative (a private story McCullough doesn’t share). As the artist’s tale comes together, his art does too. But that takes time.

Baril gave McCullough time. And it paid off.

“She left me alone to develop my work for awhile,” he says. “About three months ago, she dropped by to check up on my progress. We had a fantastic studio visit! Christina’s amazingly perceptive. She’s an artist, an art curator, and an exhibitions director, and has all those different perspectives to draw on. I had about 100 pieces for her to look at, but she’s also very patient.”

Baril’s input continued in the following months. When McCullough needed her input, she was there. When he needed to be alone, she wasn’t.

“When I needed editing or clarity, Christina steered me in the right direction,” he says. “She helped me complete this body of work. I really enjoyed the process.”

Portrait artist Lauren Mann

Baril’s solo show planning sessions aren’t always this intense. Some artists love to brainstorm. Some leave the ball entirely in her court. Others enjoy discussing their exhibitions, but keep it short and sweet. Lauren Mann, for example.

This Clearwater-based portrait artist was definitely on Baril’s list. Colored pencil drawing is Mann’s medium but it looks like electricity on paper. Her portraits crackle with fierce energy. Baril had been suitably electrified by her pieces in the “Fresh Squeezed 6” exhibition at the Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg. When Mann agreed to a one-person show at ACS, that was also a thrill.

“Lauren was very easy to work with,” Baril recalls. “In the beginning, we agreed on the direction her work would take. About a year later, we looked at what she’d put together. That was pretty much it.”

Some artists need Socratic dialog. Some need to be left alone.

Either way, it’s the art they create that counts.

The art in ACS’s current solo exhibitions has a powerful impact. But it’s also very different. Tete, McCullough and Mann have all created great work. But why does it go great together?

According to Baril, because it’s all so different.

Sameness is dull, obviously. Difference is fun, obviously.

Baril says it’s more than that.

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Bringing it all together

In her view, the different flavors of each cycle’s solo shows make viewers take a second look. And that changes their perceptions. They start to see the artists’ work in a new way.

“Ry and Iren’s work is more abstract,” Baril explains. “Lauren’s work is extremely literal and representational. Juxtaposing her pieces with their non-representational pieces shines a new light on everything. You can see the artists’ different ways of thinking. But you also see their commonalities. Lauren’s work has abstract elements; Iren and Ry’s abstractions have hints of representation. The viewer would miss all that if the shows were all the same.”

Robb says Baril’s definitely made a difference at ACS. “Christina has a remarkable sense of vision for her position,” she says. “We run so many exhibitions each year, so it’s a very large role. But she’s really stepped up and become a leader. I know she’s made my job so much easier.”

Baril’s proud of the exhibitions she organizes at ACS. But there are more shows ahead. Her mind is set on the complicated puzzles of 2024 and ’25. The work of an exhibitions director never ends. That’s OK with Baril. She loves her work.

“Earning my artistic license wasn’t easy,” she says. “But confining that ‘license’ to the pursuit of my personal artistic ambitions isn’t enough for me. Being an exhibitions director lets me apply the skills and knowledge I’ve learned to something other than my own art. That’s very, very satisfying!”

Art Center Sarasota solo exhibitions

“Lauren Mann: The Ephemerality of Being,” “Ry McCullough: Superpositions,” and “Iren Tete: systems of (entanglement)” run through Sept. 30, at Art Center Sarasota, 707 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. 941-365-2032; artsarasota.org Artist Talks: Lauren Mann, 5:30 p.m. Sept. 7; Ry McCullough, 5:30 p.m. Sept. 14, 5:30 p.m. $5.

Read more visual arts stories by Marty Fugate

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Artist Christina Baril puts her stamp on Art Center Sarasota shows