Waldron Career Conversation with Priscilla Caldwell '85 & Aimee Resnick '26

In this episode of the Weinberg in the World podcast, Aimee Resnick '26 interviews Priscilla Vail-Caldwell '85, founder of Vail-Caldwell Projects. Priscilla shares her undergraduate experiences at Northwestern, including impactful classes and internships that shaped her career in the arts. She discusses her current role as an advisor and curator, helping clients build art collections with a focus on research and quality.

Aimee:
Welcome to the Weinberg in the World Podcast, where we bring you stories of interdisciplinary thinking in today's complex world. My name is Aimee Resnick and I am your student host of the special podcast episode. I'm a senior studying social policy at Northwestern University who plans to pursue public administration in my home state of Colorado.
Today, I'm very excited to be speaking with Priscilla Vail-Caldwell, who is the founder of the consulting firm, Vail-Caldwell Projects. Thank you, Priscilla for taking the time to speak with me today.

Priscilla:
Thank you, Aimee, for having me.

Aimee:
Of course. To start us off today, we were wondering if you can just tell us a little bit more about your time at Northwestern as an undergraduate in terms of what did you study and what were the impactful experiences you had at Northwestern that led you to your current career?

Priscilla:
I think one thing to note is that I came to Northwestern following a year of study abroad in France. As a senior, I studied in France, and then I came to Northwestern with an idea that I wanted to be at a big university near a city. Logistics had something to do with actually my choice of university, and I think it had to do with the fact that I had this experience that had really kind of opened my mind up about the world, essentially.
There was that, and for some reason I declared an art history major very early on in my time at Northwestern. I think as a freshman, I had already decided that that was what I was going to do. You had asked what was one of the transformative experiences that I had at school, and I was thinking that ironically, in a way, I think it may have been a studio art class that I took because it was very rigorous and I enjoyed it, and I had a lot of respect for the other students in the class who I thought were gifted than I was.
And I then realized that that wasn't really what I should be doing, but I still wanted to be involved in the arts, and I wanted to be involved in art history and working with objects. I always enjoyed those big introductory courses, sort of identifying paintings, and it seemed like a game to me, really. And I enjoyed that. And then frankly, learning about history through the lens of art. That was always something that kind of compelled me.
I think another thing that I did while I was on campus, and I do think this is something that big universities offer, especially ones like Northwestern that are near a city like Chicago, are the opportunities to work in different situations outside of the university campus. I always worked, while I was at Northwestern, I waitressed, I did all sorts of things in order to earn extra money, and I found a job at a gallery downtown in Chicago called Frumkin & Struve.
It's no longer in existence, but at the time, it was one of the big galleries downtown. And I worked there every Saturday. And then I had time in my schedule during the week, and I would work there usually one day during the week as well. And Bill and Debbie Struve were the principals of the gallery, and they gave me a lot... I mean, for a college student, they gave me a lot of responsibility, and they really brought me into the fold in a sense. So, I was included in all sorts of things, and the dinners for the artists, and I got to meet a lot of the artists that they were working with. And it was exciting and engaging, and I thought that that seemed like the kind of life I wanted to lead. I enjoyed the interaction with the artists primarily.

Aimee:
Oh, I totally empathize with your studio art experience, I'm taking painting right now, and there are some incredible painters in that class. But I also wanted to just say, I think that your experience having a really meaningful internship in Chicago is a good reminder to students to look outside the Northwestern bubble for opportunities as they're going through school. And I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit more about what you do at Vail-Caldwell Projects now that you're in New York.

Priscilla:
Well, I'm an advisor and a curator, and I've had my own advisory business now for the last... I think it's been about eight years. I've always been in the professional... I've always been in the commercial art world, but in this iteration, I advise private people who are building collections on acquiring works of art for the collection. We're building things oftentimes from the ground up. Oftentimes, I will start working on a project with somebody and there will be nothing essentially, and we will work on that together and build something that is meaningful and very specific in every single case with every client that I work with. All my projects are very, very different. There are clients that I work with who buy only the work of one artist. There are clients that I work with who focus very specifically on certain kinds of movements in, for instance, the California Light and Space Movement.
There are people who are interested in collecting works by female artists. It all ends up having very different kinds of focuses. Each one of the projects allows me to apply my research skills and learn a lot alongside whoever it is that I'm advising, oftentimes about different aspects of the art world. I see what I do, as always, very research-based and obviously sort of a search for quality and also to include different voices in any kind of project that I work on.
I also have a very strong background in modern American painting. I have this kind of hybrid experience where I oftentimes advise people on the purchase of work by contemporary and emerging artists, but I have a strong background in historic American painting. Many of my curatorial projects have been focused on the works of some of the seminal painters of the 20th century.
I've done a series of exhibitions at Paul Kasmin Gallery on the work of Stuart Davis. I worked with Kasmin on a number of projects. Another one was a exhibition of sculptures by Elie Nadelman, who is artist who came to the United States from Europe and is considered part of the canon of modern American painting or sculpture, really. He's not a painter, he is a sculptor. I've also done projects with smaller galleries where I've curated relevant shows of young, relatively unknown artists. And that's always fun. I enjoy doing that. That's really a wonderful way for me to dive in and learn about what's going on out there amongst a group of recent graduates. So that's always exciting and I enjoy that kind of work very, very much.
And currently, I think one of the things that I've just started working on is a collaboration with a gallery in London called Pi Artworks and an artist who they represent, whose name is Jyll Bradley. So I also advise the estate of Stuart Davis.

Aimee:
Yes, it does. And I have a related question, which is that you mentioned having worked with a lot of different genres and periods and different artists in this realm of art history. And while you were going through your education in your early career, was there a certain artist or movement that was particularly influential or touching to you?

Priscilla:
I'm going to answer that question by giving you a little bit more of my background. I left Northwestern, I moved to New York, and I took a job at a small gallery. And that year of working there were like three people on staff. That was an experience that taught me that I wanted to go back to school and learn to become more expert on something. I wasn't sure exactly what that was going to be, but I needed more skills actually in order to have the sort of job in the art world that I envisioned. I was accepted at Williams, which a small... Everybody's always confused because it's a college, but it has two graduate programs, and one of them is an art history program that's associated with the Clark Art Institute. I was one of 12 students in that following year, entering in to a two-year program.
I had the good fortune of... Linda Nochlin was the visiting professor at the time who, if you're not familiar with Linda Nochlin, she was, she died a few years ago, one of the great feminist revisionist art historians of her time. And so studying with Linda, I began to look into the histories of certain artists like Eva Hesse and Jackie Winsor. Eva Hesse, of course, has been dead for many, many years. Jackie Winsor just died recently. At that moment in time, and I'm still very moved by the work and very interested in it, but I was very much focused on the work of minimalist and post-minimalist female sculptors to be extremely specific.
That experience studying with Linda and looking into the histories of these women and the difficulties that they faced in a world that discriminates against women was eye-opening for me. And it's informed everything that I've probably done since.

Aimee:
Well, that's very interesting. And I think it's fascinating how some of these formative pieces of art really brought your eye into the future and your current work. And I know at the Block Museum on campus, we've had several exhibits that kind of follow in line with the types of art that you've just described in terms of the revisionist view of art history, the modernism with their Arabic art exhibit not too long ago. And I'm going to transition us to that because you're currently a member of the Block Museum Advisory Committee, and I just want to hear more about the work that you do there and then how you use that as a way to bring volunteerism and philanthropy into your professional career.

Priscilla:
I have always felt that volunteering my time to certain organizations in the art world is as important as the work that I do professionally. The idea of giving back, which I think frankly is something that either is kind of... For me, it's something that was ingrained in me as a young person. I try to only align myself with organizations whose missions I agree with. And that kind of mission usually includes a sort of mentorship for young artists so that there's a teaching element, which I think is really important. And also this sense of inclusion and diversity in institutions at every level. It's not just the artists that you're showing, but also in integration into the organization itself so that it represents the world in a sense. I mean, that's kind of big, but I think you get the gist of what I'm saying.

I sit on the advisory board, and I mean, I think that I help in a number of different ways, but I have a feeling that my experience in the commercial art world and my interaction with lots of different artists and different galleries helps the director and the curatorial department in different ways. I can shed some insight sometimes that is useful. And of course, there are other people on the advisory board, not just me, who have similar experiences. My colleague Steve Henry, who is a classmate of mine, is one of the directors, one of the partners, not directors at Paula Cooper Gallery here in New York, so he sits on the advisory board with me as well. I think Lisa has been very wise in the way that she's chosen the members of her board, where we all contribute important things in different ways.

Aimee:
Absolutely. And I'm curious, outside of the Block, what other organizations do you volunteer your time to?

Priscilla:
Right now, the Block is my focus, but I was for a long time on the board of an organization here in New York. It's actually on Long Island City called Sculpture Center, which is a Kunsthalle and a place that essentially acts as an exhibition space oftentimes for artists who live outside the United States to have their first museum exhibition here in the US.
It's a place of discovery, I think for a lot of people. It's a place that is very research-based, and they have a very knowledgeable curatorial staff that is very involved in the international art world. They do that. And then they also do a very, what I think is a really important annual exhibition that is an open call to artists that is directed at younger emerging artists, again, who haven't exhibited in an institutional space. And there are funds provided and mentorship provided. And it's a kind of learning lab for a group of artists who then create a group show. There's also a curator who's hired from outside who comes up with a theme for the show, and then they work together to put on these annual exhibitions. And they're amazing shows, and they do great work, and it's a very rich environment.

Aimee:
Next time I'm in New York, I'd love to come see the gallery. That is so interesting.

Priscilla:
It's a beautiful space. It's a beautiful, beautiful space in Long Island City. I would be happy to take you there, so let's do that.

Aimee:
Thank you.

Priscilla:
Yeah.

Aimee:
I think we're going to pivot a little bit from your specific career more to the field of art history on the whole, and a big part of being in art history is curating relationships with your clients, which you mentioned previously. What is your advice for students who are looking to foster quick relationships with other people, be it interviewers, co-workers, anyone in the professional world that they need to have a really strong bond with?

Priscilla:
Well, I will say that when... I did a lot of research on people before I meet them, so that at least I understand what it is that they do, what some of their interests might be. I feel like... I mean, in any case, in any field, if you're going into an interview, if you're meeting somebody for the first time, if it's an important engagement of any sort, it's really good to know who it is, who you're talking to. I think first of all, I would say do your research and figure out, find some interesting things to talk about that will interest the person who you are meeting with. And also will give them a sense that you actually know who they are. I think that's always... That's just flattering for one thing, and it also makes you look like you've paid attention.
I used to take every opportunity to go out and do things, and I mean, I go to a lot of openings. I get myself into situations where I will meet people. I think that it can be uncomfortable. You might not know anybody where you're going. You could feel sort of nervous and shy, but I think you have to push yourself to be in situations where you might not feel comfortable, but something will come out of it almost inevitably, and you'll walk away knowing somebody who you didn't know before, and you never know where that's going to lead you. I'm a big believer in that, and I sort of feel like I have two personas. I have the person who doesn't like to do those sorts of things, and then I have the person who has to get up in the morning and go to work and for whom it's a requirement.
I think those are two bits of advice that I would have. I mean, for students at Northwestern, of course, if they're looking to create networks for themselves, I mean, they have one, right? I mean, you all have an amazing network through the university, and you have professors who want to support and help you. Again, even though I think sometimes it's difficult to push yourself to go in and talk to your professors, they are there for that reason and they want to support the student body and see them be successful and help you to find things outside of the university that will engage you and also perhaps end up being a path towards a career. I don't know if all of that necessarily answers your question, but you've got... I think sometimes you wake up in the morning and you think that you don't have the tools at your fingertips, but you do and you just have to press the button.

Aimee:
That's good advice. I think a lot of times students at Northwestern are too timid to take advantage of many of those resources. That's really good advice.
I have a little bit of background for this last question, which is that I, myself, was an artist history major for two years, dropping the major because I realized I was never going to get a job in art history because I don't necessarily have a family background or the connections to leverage to get a job in art history. And I was just curious, understanding that art history enrollment is rapidly declining. The cover story of the Nation magazine in early April was about how art history enrollment is declining.
What advice would you offer to people who might not traditionally undertake a career in art history who are interested in becoming art historians or people in the art world?

Priscilla:
I think that oftentimes when people approach the idea of being an art historian or being in the art world, that they don't think broadly enough about all of the different things that happen in the art world. Of course, the glamorous jobs are to be a curator at a museum and to be a director or a principal at a gallery. And frankly, not everybody... I mean, as far as gallery work is concerned, really... I mean, there's curation going on, but it's sales primarily. So that might not be for everybody for one thing. Sales is not exactly the job that everybody wants to have. But what I've been thinking about a lot recently, and certainly a lot of the people in the art world who I rely very, very heavily on and whose expertise is impressive are there are registrarial departments at galleries and museums. Those are people who work with the objects and who have to deal with whether it's insurance or packing or moving objects from one country to another.
And all of these things, while it may sound less glamorous, are still very interesting and complicated. And so those are jobs, I think that certainly registrarial departments, we depend on them. They're extremely important. And they have their own networks as well, by the way. There's also art restoration and working directly with objects, which is an interesting kind of combination of the scientific and the art historical. Especially for people who are interested in the sciences, there's an application for that in the art world. And there's a lot of ways of... There's all sorts of things that happen like carbon dating and various different X-ray techniques and all sorts of things that help to say define an object isn't really what I mean. But you have to understand organic chemistry in order to be a painting conservator.
I think that we should think maybe differently about the art world a little bit than we do sometimes. And art history will inform all of those things. I mean, all of those people who are working in those different departments need to understand art history. They probably wouldn't even be doing that work unless they did. But you can come at it from a different angle. And I think that that's something that should probably be more emphasized. We need more art conservators out there. We really do. And there are a lot of objects to work on.

Aimee:
Definitely. Definitely.
And I have one more follow-up question on that, which is my worst job I ever worked was at the American Museum of Western Art. I love the museum. I think it's a beautiful museum. I love pictures of cowboys, my favorite genre, but at the same time, it was just scanning documents all day as an unpaid internship. And I think that finances are often a really big barrier to entry for people in art history, given the precedence of unpaid internships, years long fellowships where you're not compensated. I'm just going to narrow in on my question, which is what advice would you give to people from non-traditional backgrounds who want to pursue a job in art history at all?

Priscilla:
Well, a lot of graduate programs now are fully funded, so that might be something to explore a little bit. I know that for instance, Williams, there are a lot of... I don't know that every single one of them, but many of those students are fully funded and also receive help with living expenses, health insurance, all of their expenses are accounted for.
That isn't exactly what you're asking me. But I do think that it's good to... If art history is something that you're serious about, and frankly, if something you're serious about an advanced degree is something to consider, there are programs that will essentially fully fund you to study. So that's one potential way.
The art world's a little hard actually in terms of entry-level jobs, and people aren't really paid a living wage. And I would like to know a way around that, too. It's a funny thing. It does prevent a lot of people who are gifted and able and should have access to the field, it probably prevents them from entering the field and that's our loss really.

Aimee:
I totally agree. And hopefully, we'll see some change in that arena during our lifetimes.

Priscilla:
I hope so. Yeah. I wish I had a better answer to your question, but also I think that when people go in for interviews, sometimes you are hesitant to be realistic about what you need. And I do think that there's no harm in being forthright about that. That's just a practicality, and you should expect it.

Aimee:
Yes, self-advocacy is very important. And I think that leads us to our very last question. This is our closeout question we ask every interviewee, which is what advice would you give to a senior in college who is about to graduate? From any field, from any major, what advice do you have for young people in this transitional moment?

Priscilla:
Well, try not to be discouraged. The world is in upheaval right now, but it won't remain that way. Or I think that we hope that it won't, and we've got to believe that it won't. And that it's funny. This is a kind of big question right now, Aimee.
Also, don't close yourself off to opportunities that may not fit exactly into the vision of what you have for yourself. I mean, we do meander sometimes, and I think that it's actually important to because you learn a lot about yourself when you sort of take a fork in the road that you didn't expect that you might. I guess proceed without fear if it's possible, and have confidence in yourself. I mean, anybody who's graduating from Northwestern has done an amazing... They're capable. You're able. You can go out there and get it done. So yeah, I guess we all just remain... I know it sounds sort of like trite, but be positive.

Aimee:
Absolutely. That's all we can do. All we can do is control our own-

Priscilla:
Yeah. And fight and stand up for the things that you believe in. Give me the opportunity. Say it, say it out loud. Say what you mean. Don't be scared that somebody might disagree with you.

Aimee:
Absolutely. It's tough to keep that in mind with the current challenges the university is facing, but that is very good advice. I just want to say in general, thank you so much for your great advice and for chatting with us today. I think this podcast will be so helpful to many students who are interested in either going into art history or just looking at the state of the world right now. So thank you for being with us.

Priscilla:
Aimee, thank you. You're a very impressive young woman, I appreciate the invitation and it was fun talking to you.

Aimee:
Thank you. So to all of our listeners, thank you for listening to this special episode of the Weinberg in the World Podcast. We hope you have a great day and go Cats.