On the occasion of Locating Girlhood: Place and Identity in Early American “Schoolgirl” Art, Emelie Gevalt, AFAM’s Deborah Davenport and Stewart Stender Deputy Director & Chief Curatorial and Program Officer, joins Person Place Thing host Randy Cohen for a special live taping of the podcast in the galleries of the American Folk Art Museum.
Person Place Thing is an interview show built around the idea that people are often most engaging when they talk not directly about themselves, but about something they care deeply about. In each episode, guests discuss one person, one place, and one thing that holds particular meaning for them.
In addition to Locating Girlhood, Gevalt’s exhibitions at AFAM include the critically acclaimed What That Quilt Knows About Me (2023), Unnamed Figures: Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North (2023), and most recently An Ecology of Quilts: The Natural History of American Textiles. Gevalt received her BA in art history and theater studies from Yale University, her MA from the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, and her PhD in art history from the University of Delaware. Her two decades of art-world experience include positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Christie’s, New York, where she was a Vice President in the Estates, Appraisals & Valuations department.
Cohen began his career writing humor, essays, and stories for newspapers and magazines, including The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, and Young Love Comics. He went on to write for Late Night with David Letterman, earning three Emmy Awards, followed by a fourth for his work on Michael Moore’s TV Nation. He later wrote “The Ethicist,” a weekly column for The New York Times Magazine, for twelve years. He is now the creator and host of Person Place Thing, a public radio program.
The evening also includes a live performance by renowned jazz guitarist Bill Wurtzel.
Wednesday, October 28, 6–8 PM
Doors open at 6 PM; taping begins at 6:30 PM
Limited seating is available and tickets are $15.
For more information, or to request accommodations: education@folkartmuseum.org.
Artwork: Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828), Anna Dorothea Foster and Charlotte Anna Dick, Dublin, Ireland, 1790–1791. Oil on canvas, 36 1/2 × 37 in. Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Gift of Charlotte Hanes in honor of Philip and Joan Hanes.