In the two years since Lisa Corrin was appointed the new director of the Block Museum on Northwestern’s campus, she has already raised the institution’s profile with major exhibitions of artists like Terry Adkins and the current survey of Wangechi Mutu. She’s overseen a smartly designed facelift to the Block’s first floor that seeks to make the museum an inviting space for its audiences and the university’s student population. Her passion is palpable in every project she oversees and conversation she strikes up.
Fear on LSD: Based on a “Terrifying” True Story “Newcity,” I tell my wife as we turn northbound onto Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable Lake Shore Drive, “is doing a special issue on fear.” “Oh,” she says, “that’s right up your dark alley. You’re afraid of everything.”
Fine Arts Building Staff Profile: A Job with Ups and Downs Press the doorbell-style button to call an elevator—a pleasingly mechanical BRRING!—and you’ll hear a soft rattle of chains as the car descends from above. Step inside, and the operator closes the heavy outer door with a crisp BANG, then lowers the rod that locks it in place. The elevator men (they are all men) navigate not by pressing buttons but…
Fine Arts Building Staff Profile: Stationary Engineer on the Move The term “stationary engineer” goes back to the days when sawmills, power plants, and factories were powered by steam engines mounted to the floor. In the 1800s, before safety was standard, a boiler blew up somewhere in the United States every thirty-six hours.
