The Colby Museum of Art hosted the latest installment of Art Queeries, a program devoted to amplifying queer perspectives and histories within visual art. Rather than functioning as a traditional lecture, the series invites attendees into an open, participatory conversation shaped by collective observation and interpretation. This session was led by Mirken Director of Learning and Engagement Christian Adame, Lunder Curator of American Art Sarah Humphreville, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Christopher T. Richards, and several Colby students, who guided the audience through the galleries and the evening’s discussion. From the outset, the program emphasized shared inquiry, encouraging visitors to approach each artwork with curiosity and to contribute their own insights as part of the interpretive process.
This session centered on Gertrude Abercrombie, the mid-century Chicago painter whose exhibition The Whole World Is a Mystery is currently on view at the museum. The program, titled “A Continuous Gathering” highlighted not only her paintings but also the vibrant social world she cultivated throughout her life. Abercrombie was known for hosting late-night salons in Chicago that brought together musicians, writers, queer friends, and fellow artists, creating a community where creative exchange and experimentation flourished.
Before turning to individual works, the facilitators situated Abercrombie historically. She spent most of her life in Chicago, painting from the 1930s until the late 1970s. While often associated with surrealism or magical realism, she never fully aligned herself with any movement. One speaker noted that this is partly “why we don’t always know who she is,” but her refusal to fit neatly into categories is also what makes her compelling.
The program then turned to queer art history itself — what it means, and how one might practice it. Richards explained that queer art history is “very, very difficult to define,” and not limited to identifying LGBTQ artists. Instead, queerness can be understood as a “position against the norm,” a way of looking “askance” or “awry” at artworks and institutions. Rather than clinging to fixed narratives, queer interpretation asks viewers to “use their imagination,” to read images “against the grain,” and to embrace ambiguity. Abercrombie’s paintings, with their dreamlike spaces and deliberate strangeness, are especially well suited for this kind of open-ended interpretation.
The event focused on a handful of paintings within the large gallery. The first piece discussed was titled Strange Shadows (Shadow and Substance) (1950). The group gathered with folded chairs before the canvas and began, in true Art Queeries fashion, with an open question: What do you see here?
Attendees pointed first to the shadows, which are symmetrical and orderly yet do not correspond to the objects that supposedly cast them. A woman with her arm outstretched stands on one side of the composition, while her shadow falls in an entirely different place. These discontinuities create a network of “crisscross” relationships that unsettle the viewer’s sense of logic and physical space. The facilitators emphasized that this slippage between object and shadow is a key to the painting’s queerness.
Some contextual interpretation was offered as well, drawn from Abercrombie’s biography. The painting has been linked to a period when Abercrombie was navigating the difficulties of her divorce while raising her daughter. One facilitator noted that the small clock at the painting’s center is set to the time of her daughter’s birth. But even as participants shared their unique takes, it was emphasized that “none of this is easy or simple or easily defined to be there,” and that Abercrombie’s work invites, rather than restricts, interpretation.
In the final portion of the program, several Colby students stepped forward to guide the group through additional works on display, offering their own takes and acting as moderators for a group discussion. The session then ended with a shared meal in the museum’s lobby, a fitting conclusion for a program rooted in community and conversation.
~ Sophia Ikiri `29
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