Jonathan Schwartz CEO of Atelier 4, Rajshree Solanki, Chief Registrar for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and Clynton Lowry, Registrar of the Year Judge. Photo: Mark McQueen
(NEW YORK, NY December 11, 2019) Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Atelier 4, and Clynton Lowry, Founder of Art Handler Magazine and Jobs.art announced tonight that Chief Registrar for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Rajshree Solanki is the recipient of the First Annual Registrar of the Year Award. This newly established award aims to recognize significant achievement in the field of logistics management, and raise the profile of these under recognized workers. Selected through a two month public nomination, voting and judging process, Solanski receives $5000 for her significant contributions to the field. The Registrar of the Year Award is organized and made possible by Atelier 4.
The ceremony took place amid an intimate crowd of roughly 70 professionals at the new renovated Artist’s Space. Cheri Summers, the night’s Lifetime Achievement honoree, spoke to an emotional crowd, describing her thirty-five year long career at The Guggenheim, MoMA and The Santa Barbara Museum of Art. “I never in my life thought someone would appreciate registrars!” she said. “So, thank you Jonathan Schwartz and Atelier4.”
Clynton Lowry, ROTY’s esteemed judge, presided over the award’s main event, praising Solanki for managing a 12,000 piece collection and dedicating her time last year as one of 800,000 furloughed government employees towards volunteering. She helped the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. to help with their move of collections. She coordinated with a Facebook group of furloughed federal employees on finding services and help in their area. She raised funds to help DC Diaper Bank and Jose Andres’ organization.
As per Solanki’s request, the $5000 award will be donated to the Smithsonian Institution’s
Office of Fellowships and Internships, and allocated to fund the Minority Internship program, a program that gave Solanki her start. She has been at museums in a registrarial capacity for 20 years.
“I had no idea how much this event encapsulates my own professional career,” said Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Atelier 4. “In no small way, the entire museum logistics field was in response to the challenges and innovations spearheaded by the burgeoning field of museum registrars since the 1970s. While reading the essays sent in with the nominations, and communicating with registrars for the purpose of producing the RotY event, I saw a reflection of my own journey these 30 plus years. I just can’t believe it took this long for someone to create Registrar of the Year!”.
Solanki was selected from a finalist pool of 20, that Lowry further narrowed down to a field of five finalists that included Gaby Mizes Director of Registration, Glenstone Museum, Amy Linker, Museum Registrar, Hessel Museum of Art, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Claire Pingel, Chief Registrar and Associate Curator National Museum of American Jewish History, and Christine McNamara Registrar for the Parrish Art Museum.
“I've been working for 20 years as a registrar, so it's a tremendous honor to receive an award for that work amongst such a strong field of professionals.” said Rajshree Solanki, Chief Registrar for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. “I take great pride in working collaboratively with Native communities, preserving and sharing Naval History, and understanding the inner workings of living artists. As an alum of the Smithsonian Institution’s Minority Awards Program, I am thrilled to be able to donate this award to this program and to offer others an opportunity to experience and learn the museum field at an amazing institution with such diverse collections.”
JUDGE’S STATEMENT
I am pleased to award this year’s Registrar of the Year to Rajshree Solanki, Chief Registrar for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Solanki was selected from a short list of several outstanding nominees.
In some ways Solanki looks like an obvious winner. She received the highest vote count out of all of our nominees, with 450 votes and nearly a hundred more than our runner up Gaby Mizes, Registrar for the Glenstone Museum. The nomination itself spoke of Solanki's selflessness and investment in the country's greatest national treasures—words that strike a chord with so many of us invested in the arts today.
The scale her job at the Hirshhorn impresses. The museum includes the 197,00 square feet of exhibition space when counting both indoor and outdoor space, the Gordon Bunshaft circular floor plan, the 12,000 plus works in its collection not to mention the countless exhibitions and estates and egos she must have encountered and catalogued throughout the years.
Solanki stands out for her willingness not just to take responsibility and care for the well-being of priceless objects, but for the lives of those around her. From her colleagues she works with every day, to the volunteer work she committees to, Solanki makes the world around her a better place.
This award isn’t just about shining a light on the invisible workers in the industry, but recognizing all the people who do it alongside you. The process of judging, introduced me to a group of people who really love the work they’re doing and who are proud of it, and I couldn’t be happier about that.
RAJSHREE SOLANKI NOMINATION (excerpt)
In every part of her life, Raj is an inspiration. She has spent nearly two decades in service to our country in a way many registrars never know. Aside from the Hirshhorn, she has also worked at the National Museum of the American Indian and Museum of the U.S. Navy. I asked her once, if she knew what it meant when she started, to be at the mercy of the government for everything. She replied “I knew that working at SI wasn’t just about working in a museum. It’s about civic pride and protecting America’s treasures.” Being a registrar can be a thankless job. You are constantly asked to make the impossible happen and expected to deliver it seamlessly. And you aren’t really acknowledged until something goes wrong. It such a phenomenal thing that this award will celebrate the impeccable, but nearly invisible, work that hundreds of registrars accomplish daily. It is so wonderful to see all these amazing people in my field nominated for their dedication and expertise and professionalism. But my ROTY vote is for Raj Solanki. She is professional and compassionate. She is discrete and embracing. And she is making this country a better place, one National Treasure at a time.
ABOUT ATELIER 4
Founded by Jonathan Schwartz and Andrew Faintych, Atelier 4opened its doors on September 15, 1989 in Brooklyn’s Vinegar Hill. By growing the team, upgrading equipment and methodology, and keeping current with technology—we argue that we had the first Access-based operating system and the first website among the then small cadre of fine art handling specialists—we became a trusted vendor to the most exacting of clients. Our focus is on the quality and not chasing volume, however tempting the rewards were at times, to avoid the race to the bottom that has become all-too-common in our field.
Thirty years later, our personalized approach to fine art logistics management is a little old school, but our clients like it that way. Sure, we have state-of-the-art equipment and adhere to ICEFAT standards, but we firmly believe in maintaining control over all aspects of the process, in-house over outsource, where permitted.
