Artistic Endeavors

Nothing minor about art majors' role in exhibit

January 22, 2008

Elizabeth Lee and her students review cover options for the exhibit catalog.

Offset the winter chill by basking amid the warm hues of America en plein air: Impressions by Henry Ryan MacGinnis, a student-curated exhibit that marks the opening of the spring semester.

Each year, students in the senior art history methods seminar curate an exhibition of selected works of art, typically from The Trout Gallery's permanent collection. But sometimes—as is the case this year—the works are from outside collections.

MacGinnis, an American impressionist painter, was brought to Dickinson with the aid of alumnus and fine arts major Richard Frey '90, who coordinated the loan for the show. The exhibit opens Jan. 25 at 5 p.m. and runs though April 12 in The Trout Gallery, Weiss Center for the Arts.

Students spent the first two-thirds of the fall semester researching and writing about the artist and his paintings, which depict scenes of the Delaware River Valley and various parts of New England.

"This in itself was no small task since the artist's name and work are not well known today," said Elizabeth Lee, assistant professor of art and art history.

Research responsibilities

Lee, who oversaw the work done by the student curators, said details of the artist's work became better known in 2005 at the Gratz Gallery in New Hope, Pa., and Frey allowed Dickinson to use an archive of materials collected by MacGinnis' family, including the artist's correspondences, photographs and newspaper clippings from his lifetime about his work. Students studied these and other materials to learn about MacGinnis and his many accomplishments.

Designing the show was a hands-on experience, said Kara Carmack '08.

"Dickinson is unique in the opportunity it offers to its senior art history majors," Carmack said. "Very few, if any, undergraduate institutions allow undergraduates to curate an exhibition from start to finish. Though we did not choose the artist or the paintings in our show, we organized the exhibit, wrote the catalogue, and even got to choose the wall color for the show."

Carmack and her fellow curators conducted research and wrote essays describing the works.

The students focused on the artist's life and exhibitions and conducted secondary research on American Impressionism as a movement, "in order to place MacGinnis within the context of a broader artistic context," Carmack said.

Career bridge

The hands-on experience will help students when they leave Dickinson.

"They have learned firsthand what is involved in organizing a museum exhibition and have stepped into the role of professional curator for this one course," Lee said. "This is a valuable experience for all our senior art history majors. Students in the class walk away with a handsome catalogue representing their collective effort as a seminar and featuring their own published writing—an unusual experience for an undergraduate student. Students also see the difference between writing a research paper for a class and for an edited publication. Taking them through that process also helps bridge the experience from college life to a professional career."

—Andrew Williams ‘08