Photograph by Paul Myers
Michele Rowe-Shields, the new visual arts director at Montalvo, says she looks forward to getting to know the Bay Area's rich artistic scene.
Montalvo gets a new visual arts director
By Shari Kaplan
"I look at it as a privilege to work with artists. Looking at and studying art always keeps you fresh. Artists are always taking you to someplace new--even if its familiar ground, it can become extraordinary!"
When Michele Rowe-Shields talks about her favorite topic, it's hard for her to stop. That's fine, however, considering her position as the new director of visual arts at Montalvo (formerly known as Villa Montalvo).
Rowe-Shields, who moved to San Jose with her husband and cats from North Carolina, is filling the shoes vacated by Theres Rohan, who curated exhibitions at the Gallery at Montalvo for six years. Rowe-Shields says her position at Montalvo is just the change she was looking for from her previous job as executive director of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, N.C.
"While at SECCA, I was pretty removed from the hands-on stuff. I wanted to be closer to the artists," she recalls. During her two years at SECCA, and before that, eight years as director of the Evanston Art Center in Illinois, Rowe-Shields curated both indoor and outdoor exhibits, recruited artists, created marketing plans, oversaw budgets, secured grants and other activities. Before those two positions, she worked at museums in Michigan, New York and Texas.
Now her road has led her to California. One of the reasons she says she is so involved in the arts is because both her father and her husband are visual artists. "[They've] given me insight into the creative process and the artists' perspective," she says. She suspects spending part of her childhood in San Miguel, Mexico, had an effect, since it was a creative community of artists, writers and ex-patriates.
After earning a bachelor's degree in art and a master's degree in art history, she taught art at the junior high school level for several years in Texas. "The arts are important for giving children self-esteem, self-expression and as a way to stimulate their creativity," she says, including those who visit Montalvo as part of its community outreach programs.
In 1979, Rowe-Shields started on her current creative path when she became curatorial assistant for the Dallas Museum of Art. It's been onward and upward since, with no end in sight.
"My father was an example of the phrase 'follow your bliss,'" she says of Reginald Rowe, now in his 80s. As well as being a prolific artist, he was a teacher. "He's been able to do what he loves his whole life. He's always been an example to me of what is possible.
"I like to draw a little, but I really have no talent for art!" Rowe-Shields adds. That's why she obtained her master's degree in art history, not art, she says, chuckling.
"For me, art represents philosophy and life. Art isn't something that's outside of you or something just for decoration. It's a part of you," says Rowe-Shields, who says she looks forward to becoming acquainted with "a very rich art scene" in the Bay Area. Rowe-Shields said she hopes to make visual arts more prevalent throughout Montalvo and not limit the exposure to just the gallery.
During Theres Rohan's tenure at the gallery, a few exhibitions included outdoor installations, either on the sidewalk in front of the gallery, or on the Montalvo lawn. They engendered much positive feedback.
Taking this a step further, Rowe-Shields plans to seek a variety of sculptural exhibits and place them around the Montalvo grounds. That way, whether visitors come to the estate to attend a concert, hike the trails or enjoy the arboretum, they will be lured into appreciating the visual arts.
"The outdoor setting here is very conducive to art; art and landscape have to complement each other," she says. "I think this will add so much to a person's experience of coming to Montalvo, because right now, not a lot of people are aware of our visual arts."
Saratoga, California Since 1955
