Sometimes that role is listening and sometimes that role is questioning.

Interviewee: Mary Jane Jacob

Sometimes that role is listening, sometimes questioning. I try not to have it be about authority, though eventually things like budget might feel that way. Instead I think of this process as co-developing. I think the curator is there to keep the process flowing, to help the artist flow with a process and be part of the flow, and for those involved to be absorbed in the process in their own way. Perhaps it's best to think of this as a complementary relationship: that the curator and artist complement each other in the process. So it is very important that I am a curator and that artists are artists. The fact that we work together and even influence each other in the development of a work demonstrates that there can be a synergy in that union works, but it’s critical we come from different places when we are on that path together. And then to sustain the process, follow the unknown path which is always so intensive, so all absorbing. When that happens you see it’s about a real commitment. To me, that is the way it should be.