Staff Picks

Eliza Guzman, our intern through the Studio Institute’s Summer Arts Intern program: As the Cataloguing and Library Intern at the Woodman Family Foundation this summer, I have had the opportunity to peruse various publications showcasing the exceptional artworks by the Woodman family. Betty Woodman’s artistry, in particular, caught my attention. Her ceramic pieces have undergone a significant transformation throughout her career, illustrating her versatility across several artistic styles.

Over many years I’ve had the privilege of being first the curator of Francesca Woodman’s estate and now in my current role with the Woodman Family Foundation, I’ve had an equal number of “favorite” works by the artist. It’s a real challenge to choose just one! “Small sketch for a piece about bridges and tiaras” for me exemplifies the wit, keen observation, and inventiveness characteristic of Francesca Woodman’s photographs and points to her larger concerns as an artist.

Emma Horning is a Library and Information Science graduate student at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. As the Foundation’s Archives Intern, she has been digitizing photographic slides and prints in the collection and building a database to manage these archival materials: Summer brings us bountiful sun-drenched days. As a family, the Woodmans spent the summer months soaking in the potential the season brings.

Lissa McClure, The Woodman Family Foundation’s Executive Director: When I began at the Foundation three years ago, after knowing Betty and George for over a decade, I thought I knew most of the work each of the Woodmans had made. I soon realized how wrong I was! One of the biggest surprises, and a pure delight, was encountering George Woodman’s early prints from the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Hafsa Habib, The Woodman Family Foundation’s Archive & Library Intern through the Studio Institute’s Summer Arts Intern program: When I came across Betty Woodman's "Fabric Girls" series, I immediately was drawn to the colorful sculptures that were each meticulously adorned in fabric. The dynamic poses of the figures give them each a life of their own.

Ryan Brady, Collections Manager: Betty Woodman was an artist whose pragmatism seemingly stood in contrast to the loose comfort of her artistic style, but those of us who knew her well understood this sensibility as an asset to her prolific output. She kept things. Her Wallpaper pieces, which I had the privilege of closely working with her on during my time as her studio assistant from 2011 until her passing in 2018, resulted from her instinct to put all her materials to use.

Hi, Celia Lê here! I am the Woodman Family Foundation’s Research Intern and my main responsibility is exhibition and provenance research for Francesca Woodman. Personally, I love how Francesca often investigates the relationship between the body and space, from the various textures created by the wall to the extension of her legs outside of the cupboard in this work.

Hi there, Eliza Little here. I am the Woodman Family Foundation’s Collections Assistant. While I now wear many hats in my job that involves helping to manage the artworks and archives of all three of our artists, my main responsibility when I first started in February 2018 was cataloguing the photographic works by George Woodman in our collection. During that time I became very familiar with George’s photographs, and coming from a background in photography myself, I felt an affinity with certain aspects of his work.