Emily Letourneau
Donald Young Gallery: 224 S.Michigan Ave., 312-322-3600; donaldyoung.com
Years with gallery: 12
On her resume: Degrees in art history from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of Michigan
Recent highlights: In addition to partaking in June’s Art Basel, Letourneau names the gallery’s upcoming participation in London’s Frieze Art Fair as well as next month’s Rodney Graham exhibition.
Julia Fischbach
Kavi Gupta Gallery: 835 W. Washington St., 312-432-0708; kavigupta.com
Years with gallery: 15
On her resume: A past life as an artist: Kavi Gupta put Fischbach in a group show years ago, and eventually offered her a job. Fischbach’s response? “I already have a job.” She took it anyway.
Recent highlights: Between Gupta’s galleries in Chicago and Berlin (overseen by a separate director), Fischbach juggles curatorial demands from all over the world. This week she traveled to Los Angeles to staff the gallery’s booth at the Art Platform — Los Angeles fair while producing a major solo show for Theaster Gates at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Here in Chicago, “most of our shows are solo exhibitions where the artists and I collaborate about the installation and works exhibited,” Fischbach says.
Ellen Hartwell Alderman
Alderman Exhibitions: 350 N. Ogden Ave., #4C; aldermanexhibitions.com
Years with gallery: First
On her resume: Program coordinator, Graham Foundation, 2010-present. Hartwell manages Alderman Exhibitions in her free time.
Recent highlights: Since its premiere show in January, Alderman’s exhibitors have been encouraged to curate sets of related fiction and creative nonfiction readings. It’s all part of the gallery’s mission to collaborate across disciplines, Alderman says, which is why the current show, Michael Hunter, “Isn’t It Always?” will feature a reading group as well as a Situationist potluck dinner.
Sara Ebers and DominicPaul Moore
Ebersmoore: 213 N. Morgan St., #3C, 312-772 3021; ebersmoore.com
Years with gallery: 2
On their resumes: Ebers was gallery assistant at Melanee Cooper Gallery; Moore was gallery assistant at Packer Schopf Gallery.
Recent highlights: The current show — Rob Carter, “Culte” — is “one of the best we have put forth yet,” says Moore. But the biggest highlight was the birth of their daughter, Maddalyn Nova in 2010 on opening night of an ambitious site-specific exhibition featuring Michael Rea. “Mike was a good sport being upstaged for the first time,” Moore jokes.
Whitney Tassie
Moniquemeloche Gallery: 2154 W. Division St., 773-252-0299; moniquemeloche.com
Years with gallery: 6
On her resume: An undergraduate exhibitions coordinator stint at Cornell University’s massive Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, which boasts more than 35,000 works of art, where she helped produce 25 exhibitions annually.
Recent highlights: With the premiere Gallery Weekend Chicago behind her, Tassie returns her focus to Moniquemeloche Gallery’s “On The Wall” storefront installations for which Kerry James Marshall will be featured in 2012 via city funding — unheard of for a commercial gallery. Outside of the gallery, Tassie is involved in the WPB Arts Committee’s mural project, for which six murals are currently under way in the Wicker Park-Bucktown neighborhood.
— L.V.
