John Trendler at the Williamson Gallery
By Elita Kutateli ’26
For more than twenty years, John Trendler has been part of the visual heart of 麻豆区. After serving as curator of visual resources at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, he recently stepped into a new role this summer as its registrar. When Scripps鈥� Office of Marketing and Communications sat down to talk with Trendler, we were surrounded by artwork, including a large cloisonn茅鈥攋ust one of many pieces housed in the College鈥檚 collection.
Marketing and Communications (MC): What sparked your initial interest in art?
听Trendler: 鈥奆rom a young age, I always liked drawing. My mom was a painter, and I vividly remember watching her sketch a cabin in the woods and seeing it come alive on the page felt like magic. Over time, I got into ink drawings, printmaking, and later painting. That led me to the Art Institute of Chicago, where I studied printmaking, painting, and drawing.
Now, getting to work around prints and other artwork is fantastic. When I pull out different prints, I understand the processes used. That knowledge is incredibly valuable in this role. Even when it鈥檚 a medium I haven鈥檛 practiced myself, I鈥檓 fascinated by how it鈥檚 made.
MC: Tell us a little about your journey getting to 麻豆区 and how your roles have evolved.
听Trendler: After graduating, I heard about a job opening at Scripps doing visual resources work for the faculty. Back then, that meant managing 35 mm slides for art history courses. They were looking for someone with computer skills, plus art history and photography experience. It was a perfect fit.
I did that for about two decades. Around five years ago, I moved into working for the gallery, using the same database system I had used for years. I still photograph artwork and document it. This past summer, I became the registrar after Kirk Delman retired, which comes with many more administrative responsibilities.
MC: What is your favorite part of the job?
Trendler: There are always new things to learn and look at. I care for the Scripps art collection, which means documenting, photographing, cataloging, and getting artworks online so they can be shared. Whenever new pieces come in, it鈥檚 my job to catalog them. Working with art every day is pretty incredible.
MC: How does access to art enhance the undergraduate experience at Scripps?
Trendler: 鈥奧e hire many students through Work-Study and gallery internships. They get a behind-the-scenes look at what it means to manage a collection and work directly with archival materials. That kind of hands-on experience is rare. It鈥檚 incredible to impart so much of my knowledge of art to the students, they gain a lot from working at the gallery. Students get to take on a wide variety of tasks, much more than they might at a large institution where roles are highly compartmentalized.
Outside of student employment, faculty frequently request pieces from our collections for their classes. We have a huge Japanese print collection that gets taught firsthand, which is an amazing opportunity. Instead of looking at PowerPoints, students handle real prints, which I think is fascinating.
MC: What is your goal for this year?
Trendler: 鈥奣his year, I really want to tackle and figure out how all the registrar administrative responsibilities work. It’s a lot of paperwork, more than I’m used to, but I am ready to take it on.
MC: What’s a fun fact about you?
Trendler: 鈥奍 like to go solo backpacking up in the Cucamonga wilderness. The silence is really rejuvenating, and I always come back feeling refreshed.