Katie Koca-Polite Found Her Place at Knox and in Galesburg

Katie Koca-Polite ’03, a Knox art history major, is having a big fall. The assistant curator and publications specialist at Krannert Art Museum on the Illinois campus currently has three exhibitions on view. Centering Clay opened at the start of the semester and is on view through Dec 23. Pressing Issues recently opened at the Chazen Museum of Art on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus and is a traveling exhibition that is ​drawing national attention, including a recent story in PRINT Magazine by Stephen Heller. Lastly, In Search of a Future is exhibition opening at Krannert Art Museum on October 8. The exhibitions are far-ranging in their topics and materials and showcase Katie's wide range of interests and expertise. The 2003 graduate currently lives in Galesburg with her husband, Knox College Chair and R. Lance Factor Endowed Professor of Philosophy Brandon E. Polite ’03.

What made Knox the right choice for you?

I wanted to attend a liberal arts college with a diverse student body, smaller class sizes, and a wide range of classes, and Knox certainly ticked those boxes. I also wasn’t a stranger to Knox; I often visited my brother, Todd Koca ’99, which made me more comfortable on campus before I became a student. There are so many reasons why Knox was the right place for me—I found my voice, I met my husband, I found my people. 

How do you manage three exhibitions at once? 

Two shows are new, and one is an exhibition I organized in 2020 that has traveled to three other institutions: Pressing Issues: Printmaking as Social Justice in 1930s United States is currently on view at the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Exhibitions can take years to plan, from conceptualization to research to installation, so, as a curator, you learn how to manage your time for each project. However, it’s not common, or ideal, to have two new shows opening in a semester while promoting another at a different institution. Deadlines become incredibly important and help keep me on task. It also takes a lot of mental bandwidth to keep track of the different content in these three exhibitions, especially when I’m planning tours and being interviewed by radio shows and journalists. But when I see visitors in the gallery enjoying the art on view, or receive positive feedback through reviews or online forums, it makes all the work totally worth it.

What does living in Galesburg mean to you?

I have enjoyed living in Galesburg for the last 15+ years and have met some amazing people during that time. Two things stand out to me: the city has a vibrant, thriving arts community. Not only are there organizations dedicated to the visual arts—Galesburg Community Art Center, Knox College, Carl Sandburg College, and The Box—but there are also businesses and individuals devoted to promoting live music, the performing arts, and so much more. The other gems, to me, are the local businesses, run and owned by genuinely wonderful human beings. Thoughtful products by owners who really care about their community. Some of my favorites include The Beanhive, Fisk Bier & Wine, Malley Farms, Orange Cup, and Sanctuary on Seminary. 

Was museum work always the plan?

Museum work was never on my radar. I came to college intending to major in English literature and took several English lit courses my first year. While I enjoyed reading the texts, I struggled to find my voice in class and in my writing. George Appleton Lawrence Distinguished Service Professor of Art History Greg Gilbert’s second survey course piqued my interest that spring term, I believe, and I never looked back. I declared art history as my major, though I continued to take and enjoy English lit courses. 

However, the interest in curating and museum work stemmed from two summer internships. My advisor, Greg Gilbert, highly encourages internships for his majors, so one summer I interned at the Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences in Peoria (now Peoria Riverfront Museum), where I learned cataloging and other registrar work. Another summer I helped at the Galesburg Civic Art Center (now Galesburg Community Art Center), where I worked with Heather Norman, then executive director. She invited me to shadow an exhibition installation, and I was hooked. “Spotting” an exhibition—determining the placement of objects in the gallery space—is my absolute favorite part of exhibition work, and that night really opened my eyes to curating as a potential career path. Then, during my graduate studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, I took a chance and contacted the registrar at Krannert Art Museum to see if they needed any help. Thankfully, she did, and I have been working there ever since. It’s wild, in the best possible way.

Were you involved in any extracurricular activities at Knox?

I thoroughly enjoyed playing in the intramural volleyball league. To this day, I’m still a little bitter that the faculty team always won in the finals. However, one of my favorite aspects of my time at Knox was the radio station WVKC. My dear friend Megan Bertholomey ’03 and I hosted a show for two years. A hybrid of our musical tastes—R&B, alternative rock, rap, classic rock, electronic music—it was so much fun. We learned new skills—meticulously planning an hour of music and knowing when to cut the mic for curse words—and met new people from the community. I honestly looked forward to it all week. It was so cool hanging out on the fourth floor of George DavisHall, sharing our love of good music (we had impeccable taste) with the good people of Knox and Galesburg.