40 Under Forty: Staying outside the Worcester Art Museum

Photo | Erika Sidor 40 Under Forty winners and members of Team WAM (from left) Kate Campanale, Ryan Canuel, Alvara Gjylapi and Bert LaValley.

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By Brad Kane

After we decided to shoot this year’s 40 Under Forty photos at cultural destinations around Central Massachusetts, the one place I put at the top of my must-get list was Worcester Art Museum. It also was the one location I was most concerned about.

Despite the emergence of more youthful and interactive art spaces in the region, the 120-year-old Worcester Art Museum remains the iconic symbol of Central Massachusetts’ cultural identity. Housing nearly 40,000 pieces of art and situated in a grand building anchoring Salisbury Street, it would have been wrong to do a Cultural Destinations theme and not have the museum.

Yet, the museum is notoriously difficult to get pictures in. That’s partially understandable. You can’t have models, photographers and heavy equipment moving unfettered around all those priceless pieces of art. To shoot photos there, you have to get security guards to follow you around, are you’re restricted in how close you can get to the art, as well as what type of equipment you can use.

Because we wanted to create a more youthful vibe for all the 40 Under Forty photos and largely be unfettered as we did the shots, we decided just to stay outside the Worcester Art Museum.

Luckily, the 40 Under Forty winners who were members of Team WAM – Kate Campanale, Bert LaValley, Alvara Gjylapi and Ryan Canuel – were gracious and careful models. Campanale even created an elaborate prop using a gallery frame and iconic Worcester symbols to inject some liveliness into the proceedings.

We only really had two minor incidents with the Worcester Art Museum rules.

The first came when we wanted to move from the outside staircase to the outdoor courtyard on the other side of the building. Rather than walking three blocks around the museum, I asked if we could simply cut through the lobby and empty cafe inside the building. We eventually got the approval, but we need a chaperone to walk us through the building. It felt a little weird needing to be watched in order to go past some empty tables and chairs. (I’m guessing the issue was you can access the rest of the museum from this cafe, but I never asked.)

The second – and much more egregious issue – came in the outdoor courtyard when Campanale, LaValley, Gjylapi and Canuel were taking photos behind a twisting rusted sculpture. One of the winners (who shall remain nameless) almost hit his/her head on the sculpture when standing up and had to grab onto it for support. That elicited a “Please don’t touch the art” warning from the museum observer. That was as dangerous as we got.

Ultimately, I’m grateful to all the 10 locations that allowed us to shoot photos – for free – in ways both potentially loud and disruptive. Because of this, we were more than willing to abide by any of the rules they laid out ahead of time. Worcester Art Museum might have had more rules than any other location, but – in the end – our cultural-destination-themed 40 Under Forty included the region’s most iconic cultural destination.