Alumnus, curator to speak at benefit dinner

Outside the School of Fine Arts, professors in bright greens and purples smoke cigarettes and watch the students: boys in skinny pants and overpriced loafers, girls with chunky glasses and rainbows for bangs. The smoke clouds drift over their heads and dissipate into the rain and wind. \nEverything in this building is art: the witchy cackles propelling the steam puffs, the swirls in the commercial carpet and the broken-pencil scent filling the hallways.\nTen years ago, Julien Chapuis studied art history in this same building to obtain a doctoral degree. Today he is the associate curator for The Cloisters and The Department of Medieval Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.\nHe will return to Bloomington as a Burke Series lecturer to speak 5 p.m. Saturday in the Fine Arts Auditorium. His lecture, which is free and open to the public, is titled "Handle with Care: A Curator's Work."\nB.J. Irvine, the director of the fine arts library, invited him to speak in conjunction with the 20th celebration of the Friends of Art Benefit Dinner at 6:30 p.m. following the lecture.\nChapuis originates from Switzerland and studied undergraduate art history at Groningen University in the Netherlands. Through his studies, he met Molly Faries, an IU art history professor, who convinced him to complete his Ph.D. in Bloomington.\nChapuis said he remembers his time at IU fondly.\n"I've never heard such good music as I did there." he said.\nChapuis plans to talk about his career at the lecture, which he said he thoroughly enjoys. He said a curator should try to make art as easily accessible as possible and therefore, wants his audience to gain insight into what a museum is and encourage them to visit one.\n"It's not as elitist as some people think it is. A lot of what I do is mediate medieval work for the general public and make them relate to it by giving them, in my labels, a few criteria that are historically truthful to the objects," he said.\nSara Mandel, the Burke lecture coordinator, said Chapuis' lecture is relevant and important to the entire community.\n"I think visual material is reflective of society, and the people who manage it decide how to represent society. A curator's job is to present works which reflect his community," she said.\nPatrick McNaughton, the Burke faculty adviser, said the lecture series typically attracts recently published scholars or those researching innovative subjects. \nTo reserve a place at the Friends of Art Benefit Dinner, contact the Friends of Art office at 855-5300.