Curating Connections

Virginia Arce, M.F.A. ’17, a OC Arts Awards 2024 Emerging Arts Leader, shares her curatorial philosophy at the Irvine Fine Arts Center: A Q&A session

UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) alumna Virginia Arce, M.F.A. ’17, will be honored as an Emerging Arts Leader at the 24th OC Arts Awards. This recognition, presented by the non-profit organization Arts Orange County (ArtsOC), highlights creative leaders in Orange County who are dedicated to fostering cultural enrichment and community engagement.

Arce serves as the exhibitions program coordinator for the City of Irvine, where she curates shows and events at the Irvine Fine Arts Center (IFAC). Her work highlights emerging and professional Southern California artists, balancing contemporary, high-concept work that resonates with the public.

Q: How does it feel to be recognized as an Emerging Arts Leader by ArtsOC? 

Virginia Arce (VA): This is a humbling recognition, especially for someone like me who is generally averse to being in the spotlight. I strongly believe that no person is an island and that the work I’ve done throughout the past five years is impossible without the trust and collaboration I’ve been fortunate to have from the artists, creatives, mentors and collaborators I’ve worked with. This award is a recognition of all the work I’ve done with those folks — and by extension — a validation of the long and quiet work we all do to sustain the cultural life of the region. 

Q: In your position as exhibitions program coordinator for the City of Irvine/IFAC, what projects have had the most significant impact on the local arts community?

VA: This answer might seem sentimental — but I think the annual high school exhibitions and the few in-memoriam exhibits I’ve had the opportunity to co-curate are among the most impactful exhibits in terms of their meaning to the community. My career path was sparked by my highly influential high school art teacher, Ms. Allison Stewart, who put this crazy thought into my head that I could have a fulfilling life following a creative pursuit. Now that I’ve been at IFAC long enough to see a freshman class of high school students graduate and get to know and work with local high school teachers, it’s heartening to see a cycle start anew. 

The in-memoriam exhibitions I’ve helped organize for members of the creative community like Paul Gardner and David Kawashima have also been moving because they honored the life work of people who aren’t in art history books but whose work touched others, had meaning, and who themselves never gave up on their creative practice.

Q: How would you describe your curatorial philosophy? How does it guide you when selecting artists and artworks for exhibitions?

VA: My curatorial philosophy shifted when I began working at IFAC — which I think is for the best and has made me a stronger curator. Working at IFAC, I quickly learned that I needed to be able to talk about the artwork — its materials, concepts and context — clearly and without jargon. However, my practice still teases out interesting and unexpected connections between artworks — juxtaposing ideas or themes that might seem disparate but have commonalities and speak or write about them in a way that is accessible. 

With my selection of artists, studio visits are the backbone of my curatorial practice. I love meeting artists wherever their studio might be and usually, I have several visits to understand their practice better. I pride myself on listening to artists talk about their work and not immediately jumping to comparisons to other artists. 

Q: In what ways do you engage with the local community through programming, and why is this connection important to you?

VA: Since IFAC is a municipal arts center, it’s important to consider the community in some facets of my approach to curating an exhibition or opportunities for artworks to be accessible to audiences of various backgrounds. Sometimes, that engagement is done through the content of an artwork, sometimes it’s done through interpretive text on the walls or handouts, and sometimes it’s done through curatorial walkthroughs or organizing artist’s talks. 

Spaces like IFAC are increasingly rare but highly important. There aren’t many places where you can learn a specific creative skill and see high-quality, contemporary artwork made by emerging to established regional artists. IFAC is a place where art is still accessible, thriving, and supported by public funding. For all these reasons, it’s important that the local community always feels like they can connect with the space. 

Q: Can you share a recent exhibition you are proud of and why it stands out?

VA: Apart from my work at IFAC, yet still aligned with my goal of supporting communities that aren’t in the spotlight is a recent issue of a journal I co-edit called The Invisible Archive, which was dedicated to the Nodeul School for the Disabled. 

The experience was incredibly illuminating. This was my first time editing text by a writer whose first language was not English. I learned to honor the nuances of their use of language while keeping their voice intact. I also gained insight into the school itself. The Nodeul School for the Disabled in South Korea is a truly radical institution that advocates for the labor of people living with disabilities to be recognized as legitimate and important as anyone else. This project reinvigorated my belief that independently run creative projects can add to important discourses that have an impact beyond the arts and influence the material conditions of other people. 

Q: How did your time at UCI shape your approach to curating and supporting the arts?

VA: My time at UCI in the Critical and Curatorial Studies program helped instill the rigor that curation should entail — research, original writing, and the production of a unique framework to show artwork. I still try to implement those three tenets in what I do whenever possible. I think my most valued asset from UCI is my cohort — friends who are now doing amazing and valuable work with their practice and who support one another. 

Q: What does the future of arts curation in Orange County look like, and how do you plan to contribute to that vision?

VA: I think the future of art in Orange County can be bright, given more funding, more spaces to make or show art, and more opportunities for emerging curators and artists to work together and be able to take risks. I hope that art publications and people writing about the arts return to OC so that the projects developed here — which require so much time, effort and commitment — get attention outside of the region.

I hope that the work I do continues to maintain a caliber worthy of attention. My role in contributing to these high hopes is to support the artists I work with and champion them through to their next stepping stone. 

Q: What advice would you give emerging artists and curators who aspire to make a meaningful impact in the arts community?

VA: If you’re new to a community, de-center yourself from whatever your idea of community is and instead, meet and engage others who have been doing long, diligent and unglamorous work for their peers. Through them, you’ll find tremendous mentors. Lean into your curiosity about others’ practices and histories and listen to people talk about why their work is important to them. Don’t try to reshape the creative landscape of a place before understanding what it is; be creative with your resources and learn to turn quirks into assets. Consider who is being underrecognized and underserved. Share credit, recognition and resources; no person is an island.

Image: Installation view of "Manos" curated by Virginia Arce featuring artworks by Kiara Aileen Machado and José M. Flores Nava. Photo by Yubo Dong — ofphotostudio.

The 24th OC Arts Awards, hosted by ArtsOC, will be held at the Samueli Theater at Segerstrom Center for the Arts on Tuesday, September 24, 2024. 

To learn more about IFAC, visit cityofirvine.org.