Diversity, inclusion and community involvement have been themes for gallery director, curator and Bowling Green State University art administrator Jacqueline Nathan, who retired on July 29.

“I’m gallery director for the School of Art. However, I have used other spaces at the university,” Nathan said. “Another thing I’ve done throughout my professional career is do things that engage the community.”

For Nathan, art is not limited to well lit galleries and professional artist.

“I came here for this job,” Nathan said. “I do a little bit of everything. The fun part is developing shows, which means to develop an idea, find artists make all the arrangements and bring an idea together that the art in that exhibition will illustrate, hopefully, illustrate new ideas and inspire an audiences to think in new ways about things.

There were also the practical aspects of the job: arranging shipping, making sure the floors are clean, writing grants and supervising students.

“There are all the annual shows we do, to give the students the opportunity to show off their accomplishments,” she said.

Nathan is popularly known for her curating of the Willard Wankelman Gallery at BGSU, but her career was much more encompassing. All of the galleries in the School of Art were part of her realm, but that would occasionally also cover art installations anywhere on campus, including the open areas outdoors.

She was on the job at BGSU for 36 years and estimated putting on an average of 10 shows per year.

“Sometimes we sneak another show in here and there,” Nathan said. “I’ve always had a focus on certain things that interest and excite me, that I think art can build on. One of the things I’ve tried to focus on is inclusion for Bowling Green. I’ve included black and women artists, especially of national and international repute.”

The list of artists, is extensive, including Carrie Mae Weems and Faith Ringgold.

“A few years ago we brought in Jess Dugan, a photographer, who worked in issues of gender and LGBTQ … Clarissa Sligh, a black female photographer, who did ‘Jake in transition from female to male.’”

With each show she has tried to engage the community and push herself further.

“I brought in a nationally known art car artist, David Best. We built an art car in the sculpture studio, and we drove it through the gallery,” Nathan said.

With Patrick Dougherty they worked with the Wood County Park District.

“He did amazing woven house-like sculpture structures,” Nathan said. “The huts were out in the middle of the university. We had scaffolding and probably 50 people taking part. They were big.”

She described the sculptures as being built with branches, brought from the parks when they were thinning out grassland areas. The structures stood for a couple years, outside of the library, and were inspirational enough that one of the art faculty was married in it.

“Both of those projects had huge community involvement. We had high school classes, we had younger kids, we had all ages of the community for both those projects. The art car is still in the area, being driven in the King Wamba (parade),” Nathan said.

She is also very proud of the annual NOW Ohio exhibit, started 15 years ago, as part of an arts administration class. They wanted to create an opportunity for local artists.

“What’s special is it’s not a juried show, but there are cash prizes awarded,” Nathan said. “They have all graduated and moved away but the show lives on. It’s an absolutely wonderful way to use this beautiful space here, when the students aren’t around, but the community is here.”

She’s called it “the people’s art exhibit,” and noted that it has been very successful.

Social issues are frequently associated with art and Nathan is proud of the part she has played in pairing them up.

In 2003, for the 30th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, the department held the “Wake Up Little Susie: Pregnancy and Power Before Roe vs Wade,” event. It explored themes of pregnancy and race between 1945 and 1965.

“Even then it was a controversial issue, and more so now,” Nathan said. “It was about the history of abortion rights, pregnancy and race.

“It was a giant chess game, three-dimensional, by three artists. It was inspired by a book and the three artists collaborated on making it, illustrating, artistically, all the issues. It was a very wonderful show,” Nathan said.

It was a true collaborative installation between the Art Department, the Women’s Center and the Women’s Studies program. The title emerged from the book by the same name, by Rickie Solinger, who lectured on the topic. On the art side, there was the three-dimensional mixed -media collaborative installation by artists Cathleen Meadows, Kay Obering and Kathy Hutton.

She also brought in Peter Gourfain, whose ceramics, sculpture and prints portray the human struggle, while making vivid comments on social injustice in America, often in a wryly humorous fashion.

The sciences were also part of exhibitions. Several shows dealt with water issues, with a focus on the Great Lakes and harmful algal blooms. There were discussions with scientists, activists and artists.

“I think art can illuminate and inspire people, sometimes in ways that just hearing about issues and problems might not motivate people as much as viscerally experiencing a visual interpretation. Art can be inspiring, exciting and educational. It can sometimes take you places that it’s hard to get to any other way,” Nathan said.

While this is retirement, she did add, “I think I will still be getting calls, answering questions.”

She will continue to try to get students to be aware of art and art at the university. While it’s never too late to find out about art and the galleries, she is always a little disheartened to learn that a senior finally discovered it, just before leaving.

“I think the university has a wonderful resource. I think the university can make better use of it,” Nathan said. “The whole time I’ve been here I’ve tried really hard to engage the rest of the university and engage the community. I do think we’ve succeeded. We’ve improved a lot.”