Campus job boards are a treasure trove of opportunity. From ushering at Bienen to working in a lab, there’s a full spectrum of experiences to be had. Weinberg sophomore Elyse Malamud knows that better than anyone.
ELYSE MALAMUD: I really love museums and I love curatorial work and I was looking for a job on campus before my freshman year started and I saw the opening for a job at Dittmar and I thought what better opportunity is this?
Since September of 2023, Malamud has been working at Dittmar Memorial Gallery, Norris’ student-run gallery space, currently as its supervisor and registrar. Operating now for over 50 years, Dittmar is a place of opportunity for new and emerging artists, both the ones on display and the ones doing the curation.
Communication sophomore Gabby Guiterrez started at Dittmar in September of 2024, and now serves as the exhibitions and gallery tech assistant. For Guiterrez and the other five students on Dittmar’s team, their job revolves around the myriad of tasks needed to bring professional level exhibitions to life.
GABBY GUITERREZ: All of us kind of have our hands in multiple areas. So, I often cover a lot of the marketing efforts. Something else that we do is community outreach. So when we’re finding artists to participate in our exhibitions, sometimes we will reach out to an artist in the Chicagoland area that we find inspiring, or we host like applications for a couple of months, and then we review everyone’s submissions as a team. But then sometimes it’s like physical labor and I’m drilling holes in the wall in the gallery and repainting things so it’s very hands on and you kind of do whatever needs to be done.
But one of the main and arguably most important jobs is selecting the theme for an exhibition. Guiterrez and Malamud curated Dittmar’s current exhibit: “Metamorphosis: The Art of Transformation.”
GUITERREZ: We were the ones that chose the theme because we really wanted to see artworks that kind of transcend different mediums.
MALAMUD: We had several shows that incorporated fabric works, quilting and things like that, and people really enjoyed having that visual diversity in the gallery, so I thought to myself, well, it would be pretty cool if we had an entire show about, where every piece had some kind of a different medium.
As this exhibit is Dittmar’s community show, all the work is submitted by artists in the area. One of the pieces featured is “Rebirth,” a digital art piece featuring traditional techniques and brushstrokes. It was designed by Weinberg Senior Ellie Siu.
ELLIE SIU: As an artist, a lot of my artwork comes from introspection. So for me, I’m someone who will think really deeply about, I guess, my personal experiences, the world, and how everything shapes me as a person. So this piece that’s featured, it’s called Rebirth, and then I think it really fits with the theme of metamorphosis because it is telling the story of growth and transformation.
However, the exhibition’s reach stretches beyond the Northwestern community. Socorro Mucino is an Evanston artist who creates photo etchings by creating Photoshop composites, exposing a transparency to ultraviolet light and aquatint film, and running it through an etching press to reveal a sort of collage with a maze of shadows. Her piece, the “Lady of Assisi,” is featured in “Metamorphosis” as well.
SOCORRO MUCINO: I go to Northwestern to look at the work in the gallery so I’m familiar with the gallery. I love the gallery. I love that they have work from all different kinds of artists and all different kinds of processes. Last year, I submitted a piece. I saw the call for art and I thought, well, let me, what the heck? Why don’t I submit.
This is Mucino’s second year in the gallery. It’s Dittmar’s commitment to looking beyond Sheridan Road that not only keeps artists coming back, but also keeps the gallery fresh as well. Here’s Guiterrez again.
GUITERREZ: I love it. I love talking to people. It’s really interesting that we broaden our scope beyond the Northwestern community, because we get to have the opportunity to work with professional artists and people who have been doing this and exhibiting their work for a very long time.
And the result of all this hard work? A dazzling display of 32 pieces with variety as far as the eye can see. From digital art, to photoetching, to fibers, to sculpture, it’s a testament to the community’s creativity and the true diversity of art. Malamud sums it up best.
MALAMUD: Someone at the reception had told me that they really liked it, because every time they turned a corner, they didn’t know what to expect, because the pieces are just so varied, and I think that’s exciting.
If you’re interested in seeing the exhibit for yourself, “Metamorphosis” runs at the Dittmar Memorial Gallery until March 10th.
For WNUR News, I’m Sophia Casa.
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