Helping prepare the next generation of art curators
Age: 38
Job Title: Director and Curator at Mitchell Art Gallery
Though Carolyn Jervis studied art in high school and undergraduate university, she was more fascinated by the work of curators and how they build their careers. In 2012, she enrolled in the University of British Columbia’s graduate program in critical and curatorial studies, hoping to better understand the practice of exhibition-making. She was motivated in part to explore the methodologies and theories that shape curatorial work — and, by extension, the art shown in galleries. While UBC provided her with a strong, critical theory foundation, says Jervis, the practice of curation was, to her surprise and disappointment, seldom discussed.
“There’s something about this work that’s unspoken — as if curators are special,” says Jervis, who is now the founding director and curator at the Mitchell Gallery at MacEwan University. In reality, there are labour and power dynamics at play between curators, artists and gallery staff, especially when working within institutions. “If we can’t talk about how we do it — if we can’t talk about the process by which we curate — all of that other stuff stays invisible.”
Since the Mitchell Art Gallery opened in 2017, she has helped create a space where MacEwan students can exhibit their work alongside celebrated Canadian and international artists — a rare opportunity in a city where gallery space is limited. In addition to her gallery work, Jervis has developed a curatorial studies class at MacEwan. The first of its kind in Edmonton, she hopes it will demystify the relationship between artists and curators.
Last year at a conference hosted by the University Art Association of Canada, she presented a paper she co-authored about curatorial methodologies. The reception, she says, was mixed, but to her satisfaction, many of the students in the room wanted to know more. “Undergraduate students came up to talk to me afterwards, excited that it actually provided a starting place for them to think about how (curation) actually happens.” It’s the conversation Jervis wanted to have when she was in their exact position.
This article appears in the November/December 2025 issue of Edify
