Seminar Curated Exhibitions

Selected DAC exhibitions are organized by Wesleyan students who work extensively on their thematic organization and explanatory labels. Student curators work closely with DAC staff to learn about diverse aspects of museum exhibition, ranging from the initial concept and selection of works to the practicalities of gallery installation.

Working with the guidance of the DAC Curator, they typically view hundreds of works to select the objects to be shown, examining each with a critical eye towards how (and how well) it could serve the exhibition. This mentoring relationship offers a rare window into the aims and methods of professional museum work. Student curators often give gallery talks that are open to the University community and to the general public. Some student-curated exhibitions are accompanied by published catalogs. Student authors learn about museum publication and gain practical experience with the scholarly editorial process.

Some student-curated exhibitions since the mid-1990s have focused on topics such as:

• Reclaiming the Gaze: African American Prints and Photographs, 1930 to Now, curated by students in Advanced Themes in 20th-Century Afro-American Art (spring 2017)
• Passion and Power: German Prints in the Age of Dürer, curated by students in Wesleyan's Museum Studies seminar in fall 2015
• Call to Action: American Posters in World War I, co-curated by Clare Rogan, DAC Curator, and Rebecca Wilton '15, Jim Dine Curatorial Intern in 2014
• (Re)viewing Bodies: Selected American Photographs, 1930-2000, curated by students in Wesleyan's Museum Studies seminar in fall 2012
• Caprice and Corruption: 18th-Century Prints, curated by students in Wesleyan's Museum Studies seminar in fall 2010
• Modern Times: American Graphic Arts, 1900-1950, curated by students in a Wesleyan University Museum Studies seminar
• Satire and Society: Honoré Daumier and French Lithography, curated by students in a Wesleyan University Museum Studies seminar
• Multiple Fascinations: Dutch and Flemish Prints from Bruegel to Rembrandt, curated by students in a Wesleyan University Museum Studies seminar
• A Passion for Prints: The Davison Legacy, curated by Jesse Feiman and Dan Zolli (Wesleyan classes of 2005 and 2007)
• Shades of Black[ness]: Selected Works by African American Artists from the Davison Art Center Collection, curated by six students in Advanced Themes in 20th-Century Afro-American Art (fall 2004 seminar)
• Jim Dine's Prints, curated by Oliver McCarthy-Foecke, Wesleyan class of 2005, with the assistance of Sophie White
• Duality/Dialectic: New Perspectives on the DAC Collection, curated by eight students in Wesleyan's Fall 2003 Museum Studies course (ARHA 360)
• Staging War: Images and Artists in Conflict, curated by John Blakinger, Wesleyan class of 2006
• Truisms and Essays: A Portfolio by Jenny Holzer, curated by Eliza Spaulding, Wesleyan class of 2004
• Some Things Worth Looking Into: Alfred Stieglitz's Camera Work and American Pictorial Photography, curated by Rachel Schuldenfrei, Wesleyan class of 2003
• Five centuries of portraiture, curated by students in Wesleyan's Spring 2002 Museum Studies course (ARHA 360)
• Five centuries of landscape art, curated by students in Wesleyan's Spring 2002 Museum Studies course (ARHA 360)
• Ruin and redemption in urban landscape, curated by students in Wesleyan's Spring 2002 Museum Studies course (ARHA 360)
• Images of dance, curated by Alexis Hutson, Wesleyan GLSP student
• Jim Dine prints and photogravures, curated by Timothy Peterson, Wesleyan class of 2000
• James McNeill Whistler and the Etching Revival, curated by Aaron Fox and Katherine Sanderson, both Wesleyan class of 2000
• Rowing at Wesleyan, also curated by Katherine Sanderson
• The snapshot aesthetic from the 1890s to the present, curated by Marisa Kurtzman, Wesleyan class of 1999
• Postmodern works by artists ranging from Warhol and Rauschenberg to Simmons, Sherman, and Richter, curated by Dahlia Schwietzer, Wesleyan class of 1997
• Berenice Abbott's photographs of New York City, curated by Brett Stilwell, Wesleyan class of 1997
• The influence of formalist critic Clement Greenberg, curated by Jesse Weinraub, Wesleyan class of 1998
• Images of women in the early 20th-century American publication Camera Work, curated by Devon Murphy and Kristen Evangelista (both Wesleyan class of 1997)
• Early scientific prints such as maps, anatomical and botanical studies, and images of new inventions, curated by Danielle Schaff, Wesleyan class of 1999
• Prints by Francisco Goya, curated by Aliki Hasiotis and Samantha Morrow, both Wesleyan class of 1997
• Images of urban modernization in New York City, curated by Min Lee, Wesleyan class of 1997
• Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographs of children, also curated by Min Lee
• Original and collaborative woodcuts by Keiji Shinohara, curated by Elke Pessl, Wesleyan class of 1997
• Juxtapositions of diverse 20th-century photographs, curated by Lowell Pettit, Wesleyan class of 1996
• Jim Dine's working stage proofs for his 1994 Raven, curated by Deborah Stutz, Wesleyan class of 1996
• Nineteenth-century photographs of South and Southeast Asia, curated by Son Tran, Wesleyan class of 1995
• Images of women in Japanese ukiyo-e prints, curated by Ayako Nezu, Wesleyan class of 1994
• Italian Mannerist prints, curated by Genevieve Schmidt-Camacho, Wesleyan class of 1993