CWA IV Runway Panel of Judges
Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, The James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes Deputy Director
Appointed as PEM's first chief curator in 2003 and as deputy director in 2016, Hartigan has led an innovative, ambitious and award-winning curatorial and exhibition program. She has successfully developed a strategic plan for reimagining the museum's curatorial practice and creating its first comprehensive exhibition, publishing and collection initiatives.The leading scholar on American artist Joseph Cornell, Hartigan specializes in American art, especially modern, folk and outsider, and African American art, yielding numerous widely recognized exhibitions and publications. Prior to joining PEM, Hartigan was chief curator of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., where she built the internationally recognized collections of American folk art and African American art and led a major acquisitions initiative for modern and contemporary art. As deputy director, Hartigan leads the interpretation and reinstallation of PEM's collection in the museum's new 40,000-square-foot wing set to open to the public in 2019. Hartigan will also support PEM's Advancement Campaign goals as well as the museum's new Collection Stewardship Center, education, digital and global leadership initiatives.
Hartigan holds a B.A. in art history from Bucknell University and an M.A. in art history from George Washington University and attended the Claremont Graduate University/Getty Leadership Institute. Currently, she is a board member of the Association of
Art Museum Curators.
Jennifer Varekamp, Professor in the Fashion Department at Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Jennifer is a Costume and Clothing Designer committed to sustainability. Recently, she
designed the costumes for HoverDive, a collaborative dance project that focused on fluid dynamics and ocean science, including the impact of climate change on ocean life. Jennifer received her ED.M from Harvard University and her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She has also studied at Domus Academy in Milan, Italy and at the London College of Fashion. In 2012, she received a MassArt Foundation Fellowship to travel to India to explore traditional techniques in textile design and sustainable practices. In 2016 she co-led a MassArt travel course to India with a focus on Sustainable Handcrafts. Since 2009 She has been leading a fashion directed travel course to Paris and Antwerp with her students at MassArt. She was a selected participant in the “Creative Industries and Sustainable Design” Tour of Germany in 2009 and was a Surdna Arts Teacher Fellow in 2005. Jennifer has participated in numerous conferences and workshops on sustainable fashion in the US, Europe and India. She was an invited guest lecturer at NIFT in Delhi, India on this topic and was a guest presenter at the RSA Student Awards in New York. In 2014 Jennifer was a guest presenter at the Design Exchange Boston conference and a facilitator on Sustainable Fashion at the annual benefit for the Ecologic Development Fund. In the summer of 2016 she presented a lecture on “Character Analysis through Costume” at the Heritage Museum based on their special exhibit, Cut!: Costume and the Cinema.
Lauren Whitley, Senior Curator in the David and Roberta Logie Departmentof Textile and Fashion Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Lauren Whitley is senior curator in the David and Roberta Logie Department of Textile and Fashion Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where she helps oversee a collection of 55,000 textiles and costumes. Since joining the staff of the MFA in 1992, she has curated a number of exhibitions including Hippie Chic, Icons of Style: Fashion Makers, Models, and Images , Threads on the Edge: Fiber Art from the Daphne Farago Collection, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend, and High Style and Hoop Skirts: 1850s Fashion. She was also co-curator of #techstyle, a hi-tech fashion exhibition that was recently on view at the MFA until July 2016. Ms. Whitley holds a M.A. degree in Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice from the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, and received her B.A. in Art History from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Humanities at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island. Her recent publications include Hippie Chic and essays in Icons of Style: Fashion Makers, Models, and Images, The Dublin Seminar Proceedings, Massachusetts Quilts: Our Common Wealth (2009), Gee’s Bend: the Architecture of the Quilt (2006), MFA Highlights: Textile and Fashion Arts (2006), and Fashion Show: Paris Style (2006).