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To Whom it May Concern:
I am writing this letter at the completion of Helen Klisser During's tenure as Curator and Gallery Director at the Silvermine Guild Arts Center, New Canaan, Connecticut. During this seven year period Ms. During achieved almost unimaginable advances for the national and even international reputation of the Silvermine. She was simply "Ambassador without Portfolio" giving a small place a worldwide visibility.
Along with her own consummate professionalism, and highly refined sense of art world 'ethics' [a characteristic which is becoming a rare commodity in this field], Helen brought her own graciousness and dynamic energy to the gallery's programs. I know of few individuals who could have done so much with so little [funding] if we review her sterling record of achievements at Silvermine over this brief time span. The range of her exhibition schedule demonstrated artistic focus, innovative choices, and a refined sense of balance between the 'traditional' versus the 'new.' Rather than separating and dividing stylistic and cultural forces at the Guild, she was a unifying presence; the avant-garde members appreciated her more conservative choices and vice-versa, the traditionalists in the flock were able to tolerate the excesses of anti-art creativity as part of a larger understanding of modern and post-modernist conflict and dialogue.
On a personal note I want to express my gratitude to Ms. During for her collegiality and willingness to participate in our programs here at Fairfield University. She was instrumental in a very successful program she moderated called "Art with the Experts" bringing to our campus community a number of top-tier players in the international art market and art publishing worlds. We are forever grateful for Helen's open embrace of academic programs benefiting a sophisticated audience here in Connecticut. For this and many other curatorial and intellectual virtues, I am pleased to write this letter of commendation for a job at Silvermine Guild which can only be "very well done!"
Sincerely yours, Philip Eliasoph, Ph.D.
Professor of Art History Director, Open VISIONS Forum
Fairfield University
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Testimonials