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      Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home is closed to the public from 7/27-7/31 and 8/3-8/7

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      Curator Talk

      Curator Conversation: Isamu Noguchi: "I am not a Designer"

      Saturday, September 19, 2026 from 1—2 pm

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      Isamu Noguchi, 1955

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      Location: Morse Auditorium
      Included with admission. Preregistration encouraged. Registration link coming soon. 

      TOP IMAGE Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Isamu Noguchi, 1955, gelatin silver print. © 2025 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. © 2025 The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

      Join PEM curator Ruthie Dibble and High Museum of Art curators Monica Obniski and Marin Sullivan for a conversation celebrating the opening of Isamu Noguchi: "I Am Not a Designer." Learn how the exhibition explores Noguchi's boundary-defying practice through immersive installations, archival materials and iconic works. The curators will discuss Noguchi's vision of unity among cultures, people and the built environment, as well as the collaborative process behind the exhibition.

      About our collaborators

      Ruthie Dibble
      Ruthie Dibble

      Ruthie Dibble, Ph.D., is PEM’s first Robert N. Shapiro Curator of American Decorative Art. Most recently serving as curator at the Chipstone Foundation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dibble specializes in American and British decorative arts from the 18th century to the present. Her curatorial work expands the field of American decorative arts by examining the global circulation of objects, the relationship between craft and identity and the role of craftspeople as agents of social change. Emphasizing collaboration and community connection, Dibble's curatorial projects empower diverse perspectives and audiences.

      Monica Obniski
      Monica Obniski

      Monica Obniski is the Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the High Museum of Art, where she is responsible for collecting, exhibiting and programming a global collection of decorative arts and design, which includes a yearly piazza design commission, most recently with Bryony Roberts, Tanya Aguiñiga, Sabine Marcelis and gt2p. Her curatorial practice engages social issues and is rooted in architecture and design history. Obniski’s most recent projects include Scandinavian Design and the United States (2020-23), Stephen Burks: Shelter in Place (2022-24), Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other (2023-24) and Isamu Noguchi: “I am not a designer” (2026-27).  She has held curatorial posts at the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

      Marin R. Sullivan
      Marin R. Sullivan

      Marin R. Sullivan, Ph.D., is a Chicago-based art historian, curator, consultant, educator and writer. She specializes in the histories of modern and contemporary sculpture, especially its interdisciplinary, intermedial dialogues with photography, design and the built environment. She is the author of Sculptural Materiality in the Age of Conceptualism and has edited and contributed to publications including American Art, Art History, History of Photography, the Journal of Curatorial Studies, and Sculpture Journal. Sullivan is the Director of Research and Programs for the George Rickey Foundation and was previously Director Research for the Harry Bertoia Foundation. Recent curatorial projects include Harry Bertoia: Sculpting Mid-Century Modern Life (Nasher Sculpture Center), Edgar Miller: Anti-Modern, 1917-1967 (DePaul Art Museum) and Luftwerk: COLORSCAPES (Cheekwood Estate & Gardens). Sullivan is currently at work on a biography of the artist-designer Claire Falkenstein.

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