Reva Main ’12
Recipient of Willamette University Department of Art History Honors; co-recipient of The Roger P. Hull Art Museum Award; co-recipent of The Joy Lorraine Hayhurst Award
Part of the reason I attended Willamette University was my interest in museums. Willamette’s affiliation with the Hallie Ford Museum of Art helped me gain invaluable hands-on experience early in my undergraduate career. I began interning at the Hallie Ford as a sophomore, continued volunteering throughout my junior year, and was hired as a work-study employee as a senior. Following graduation, I was awarded the Center for Ancient Studies Museology Internship, which allowed me to curate my first exhibition of prints by Ray Trayle from the Hallie Ford’s permanent collection.
I would like to pursue a career in museums specifically working with photography exhibitions; a topic I became interested in as a result of writing my undergraduate thesis on William Eggleston. At the moment, I am applying to graduate programs in Art History and trying to gain more experience with photographic objects and museum work. In January of 2013, I will begin archiving the private collection of Pacific Northwest photographer and photo-curator, Terry Toedtemeier, for an upcoming retrospective at the Tacoma Art Museum. In June, I will start an internship with the Prints and Drawings Department at the Art Institute of Chicago. These opportunities were made possible by the connections of Willamette faculty and alumni, and I am incredibly grateful for all of their support and encouragement.
— Reva Main, Winter 2012
Reva Main pictured with a work by D.E. May at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, 2012