Every year, students in the Ohio University Museum Studies certificate program get together to gain hands-on experience in an exhibit at the Kennedy Museum of Art, located at The Ridges.
The exhibit is called “Merging Concepts,” and every year a new group of students come together to bring their ideas to the table and give their twist to the theme. This year, the students chose the name “In These Moments,” a topic exploring the storytelling process of emotions, narratives and events in the artwork.
The work leading up to the opening day of the exhibition is a dual semester process. Students first apply for the certificate and, if accepted, begin their work in the fall. During the fall semester, students begin with ideas and concepts by choosing particular objects to research and learning museum practices. Going into the spring semester, students make decisions on how to design the space and what to install in the museum.
Lisa Quinn, the registrar, said students get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into the exhibition and very hands-on.
“They get first-hand experience on actually creating an exhibition from the very beginning with the ideas and concepts,” Quinn said. “(From) choosing the objects, to researching the objects and creating, in this one particularly, the idea of common threads, it's very strong. … It's really an exhibition from beginning to end. It's in their hands.”
Sally Delgado, the curator of education at the Kennedy Museum of Art, has been a part of the program since it began 11 years ago. Delgado said the director of the Kennedy Museum of Art usually teaches the course, but this year it is being transitioned between directors. This year, Delgado and Quinn took over teaching the course.
“I think we view ourselves more as mentors,” Delgado said. “The first semester is much more about background like reading some of the theoretical backgrounds for museum studies. But it's a very broad overview of class with that real focused experience of getting to an exhibition together.”
Luvina Cooley, a master’s student studying arts and administration with a specialization in museum studies, said the students gain hands-on experience from multiple different perspectives.
“You get to see all of the different elements that go into it, whether that's design or any supplementary materials,” Cooley said. “We actually split up into three different groups. One handles design, one handles learning and interpretation and then the third handles stewardship.”
Tessa Searing, a master’s student studying arts and administration with a focus on museum studies, was in the design group. Searing said the design group consisted of six people who worked together to create the banners, website image, email image, lighting and email drafting. The group splits the work evenly to accomplish the layout.
“It feels like a lot of chaos at first, and then it slowly gets pieced together, because you're starting from such a broad perspective of what each object is going to look like and where it's going to go,” Searing said. “You have to kind of design all the objects to get together. Color layout, where the supplementary materials are going to go. It's a big process.”
Avery Richardson, a junior student studying art history, said this experience was beneficial to her because it taught her how to collaborate with others and prepare her for her career.
“In high school, you don't really do that, like you have group projects; but in here, everyone really pulls the right way and learns how to work together,” Richardson said. “(This is) what I want to do for the rest of my life. Learning the curatorial process and how installations work helped solidify my future career.”
Quinn said students doing this experience get an idea of how small museums are run and how flexible they have to be. The great part is choosing the pieces and how to set up the displays, but the students also learn how to be prepared for the different things they will be asked to do. The exhibition program prepares students for a graduate degree in museum studies to focus on museum work and entry-level positions.
Student’s work for “In These Moments” will be on display at the Kennedy Museum of Art at the Ridges until Sept. 8, 2024.
