Theaster Gates Joins Colby College's Lunder Institute for American Art

Peter Libbey, The New York Times, April 4, 2018

Theaster Gates, a Chicago artist known for his engagement with urban issues, is coming to Waterville, Me., a city with a population of roughly 16,000.

Colby College announced Wednesday that Mr. Gates has been appointed the first distinguished visiting artist and director of artist initiatives at the Colby Museum of Art’s Lunder Institute for American Art, a research center.

“I said yes because I was really just excited to be in a place where things are quiet, where I could actually not be distracted by the big city,” Mr. Gates said in an interview.

“I think that sometimes the challenge is that, as a black artist or as an artist who works in the city or someone who has a public practice, it’s hard to take off the public profile,” he added. “If the art practice is going to continue to grow, I need time to retreat and so one of the things that I’m excited about is that I get a chance to retreat.”