Students open exhibit at Kresge Art Museum

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When Kalia Barr first saw the room she would be required to fill with photographs as a final project, she said she had her doubts.

Barr, an anthropology junior, and her fellow classmates opened the The Working Woman: A History Through Photographs exhibit at 5 p.m. Thursday in Kresge Art Museum, which will remain on display in the museum until Dec. 18. Throughout the semester, students in the Curatorial Practices: History of Photography class worked in groups and with Kresge Art Museum personnel to create the exhibit. Barr said she still can’t believe they were able to fill the exhibit area’s once-empty display cases.

“It’s quite the sense of accomplishment,” Barr said.

Students worked on the different aspects of creating the art exhibition, such as installing the exhibit, advertising, researching and selecting photographs for the exhibit. Laura Smith, an assistant professor in art and art history and the professor for the course, said this experience will help give students experience to apply in future jobs.

“It’s really a unique opportunity to give them practical experience before going out in the world,” Smith said.

Though art history senior Emily Walz said selecting the exhibit’s 18 images was challenging, one of the most difficult parts of the project for her was finding images that would tie into the theme.

“We brainstormed in class (to get the theme),” Walz said. “Someone said ‘women’ and someone else suggested ‘working through time.’”

Christine Nichols, Kresge Art Museum communications and events coordinator, said the museum has worked with classes in the past. Nichols said it’s a learning experience for everyone involved.

“It’s a real-world experience,” Nichols said. “I’m sure people think it’s all glamorous, but it’s not. There’s a lot of thought that goes into staging an exhibit, the details, studying the collection and choosing the pieces.”

Walz said working with the Kresge Art Museum staff helped give her more insight into whether she would like to work in museum studies after graduation.

“Working with the staff was great because normally you don’t have the opportunity to do that,” Walz said.

Barr said working in this exhibit gave her a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to create an art exhibition, which she said is something she might be interested in pursuing after graduation.

“I never knew what went into it,” Barr said. “I thought it was easy, but there’s a lot more research and time-consuming work that goes into it.”

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