News Detail
Eden Phair '06
At the tender age of eight, Eden Phair (‘06) was deeply disappointed by her first visit to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Her complaint had nothing to do with being dragged to a museum or forced to stay longer than she wanted. Eden’s complaint was that Alexander Calder’s Circus was not on display. Little did she know, it would be a decade before she saw it.
“On a business trip last fall, I was finally able to see Calder’s little wire sculptures of the lion, strongman, and ballerina exhibited in the Whitney's beautiful new building,” Eden said.
Given her fascination with art from a very young age, it isn’t surprising that Eden has pursued a career as an artist liaison and exhibition curator. “I have a distinct memory of seeing Edward Keinholz's sculpture Back Seat Dodge '38 for the first time: the eerie radio playing, dim lights, and wire legs kicked up in the back of the car,” said Eden, whose parents routinely took her to local museums.
Today, Phair channels her appreciation for the details and nuances of art as the associate director at Honor Fraser Gallery in Los Angeles, where she acts as an artist liaison and works with collectors. She’s had the opportunity to curate exhibitions at Honor Fraser, such as default last spring, as well as installations in other spaces.
“I feel very lucky to have landed at Honor Fraser Gallery,” Eden said. “Honor is so lovely to work for and I am so proud and excited of how the gallery is consistently evolving and growing.”
Eden may feel lucky, but her success likely has more to do with persistence in pursuing her lifelong passion than with luck. She attributes her success in part to her Sage Hill education and to teachers who inspired her there. Among them was Donna Okamura, from whom Eden took fine art classes all four years. Noting that two of her classmates from AP Studio Art now work for architecture firms, Eden said, “It is really inspiring to see us pursuing careers in artistic fields, and I think that part of that can definitely be credited to teachers like Ms. O. She emphasized drawing from real life and strongly discouraged using photographs as reference. I felt exhilarated the first time I completed a blind contour drawing and really got it.”
Eden also took AP Art History and various art classes during the summer, volunteered in the bookstore at the Laguna Art Museum, and interned at the Orange County Museum of Art.
“I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity for such an amazing education at Sage,” Eden said. “When I started my freshman year at Connecticut College and during my sophomore year at NYU, I was taking upper level Art History courses reserved for junior and senior students such as Theorizing Women and Art. I was most definitely prepared.”
An NYU course called Museums and the Art Market gave Eden further clarity about her goals. She transferred again to California College of the Arts in Oakland, where she interned in several Bay Area art galleries while completing her degree. Now happily living in Venice, Eden says the arts in Los Angeles are “booming.” She encourages Sage Hill alumni and current students who are interested in the arts to volunteer at any of the many museums in L.A. and Orange Counties. For her own future, Eden would like to help enrich the Orange County arts community, and possibly create her own art again. “For now, I truly enjoy working with artists and facilitating their vision,” she said.
Sage Hill School
Sage Hill School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. The School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship programs, and athletic and other School administered programs.