Today we’d like to introduce you to Katherine Hinds.
Hi Katherine, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse is one of the world’s leading contemporary art collections located in the Wynwood Art District of Miami, Florida. We produce seasonal exhibitions for the enjoyment of our international audience of artists, collectors, students, gallerists & dealers, museum curators and directors, writers and critics and art lovers of all make and media.
Housed in a 55,000 sq. ft. retro-fitted warehouse, our annual exhibitions are comprised of both masterworks and cutting-edge contemporary sculpture, paintings, installation art and new media. We are open to the public 6 months a year from October to April and produce some the most interesting exhibitions in the Southeast region of the United States. Our collection is consistently ranked as one of the top 200 in the world, according to ARTnews magazine.
We open again in October with new exhibitions. It’s a very exciting time of year for us. Some of the works in our exhibition are massive, weighing over 50 tons, others are more intimate. You will always see historically significant works combined with cutting-edge contemporary works in our exhibitions. You will see new art but always within the context of the continuum of art history.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Let’s be honest, Miami is a party town. The local press is geared toward promoting nightclubs, bars and street parties. We get attention from the international art press during the week of the Art Basel/Miami Beach in December but that doesn’t reach local young people. Our challenges are to get the word out to students and young creative people that some of the best contemporary art in the world is available for enjoyment right here in Miami. Curators and artists and scholars visit us from all over the world, likewise, we want local students and young creative people to visit us and discover the art in our exhibitions.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am the longtime curator of the collection and I work with an incredible team of young curators and interns who help me produce the exhibitions and manage all the activities of a large vibrant, growing collection that is open to the public. We work with other Museums who are always asking for loans from us. We also produce educational programming and give tours and host seminars. We are purchasing art almost on a weekly basis and we assist the collector, Martin Margulies with the new acquisitions. This is the age of the global art fairs and we spend a great deal of time traveling and working with the galleries in acquiring new work for the collection. We are very serious about what we do, you’ve got to be when you are working with serious art. But I have to admit we also have a serious amount of fun.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
During Covid, we remained open and active. We purchased from the online viewing rooms to support the international galleries when their foot traffic came to a stunning halt. We also organized a major philanthropic donation to 12 local and New York arts institutions who provided critical support to young artists.