by: Erich Maynard
Some
say a museum on a college campus is an asset because it adds culture along with
artistic outlets for students. while expanding many artistic horizons museums
on college campus open students eyes to what the world has to show them.
In
one year at the Williams College Museum of Art over 33,000 people visited the
museum.
“Fifteen people if theres no event
come in on an average week to see the gallery, and I’m
being really optimistic, and probably zero when it comes to people who don't go
here,” said Kelly Henry, a work study
student in the art gallery.
Leonie
Bradbury, Vice president of the association of Academic Museums and Galleries
who is the director and curator at the Montserrat College of Art Galleries Said
museums on campus are important for students and the community at large.
At
Montserrat, a small college solely based on visual arts, in Beverly
Massachusetts, the galleries in the museum are a central point of the learning
experience of the school.
“We organize workshops, do lectures,
and have forty exhibitions every year, twenty two of those are by students and
the rest are curated exhibitions. We’ve worked really hard to be fully
integrated and to fully participate with students on campus. So i think our
impact is pretty significant,”
Bradbury said.
Professor
Allyson Sheckler at Stonewall College is a strong proponent of college campus
museums and galleries.
“I think they can have a great deal of
influence they open up students eyes in terms of communication an what people
are thinking about. I think that those are important things that we don't do
enough of in the larger sense os campus. If the student takes the time to come
in, that’s
the thing,”
Sheckler said.
At
Wheaton College, in Norton, Massachusetts the college has the Beard and Weil
gallery. The gallery primarily focuses on dynamic features of art by
contemporary artists in all media.
Wheaton’s
goal as a gallery is to encompass all forms of creative expression in an effort
to forge meaningful connections between objects and their histories.
“I
would say its a pretty big influence on campus not only does our faculty
exhibit in the gallery, but also our senior art major exhibit in the gallery
and we also have a wide range of outside artist who come in and exhibit, we
also exhibit our permanent collection,”
said Jessica F. Kusaj, manager of
arts events and publicity
Having art by such a wide range of artists at
the gallery on campus students don't have to travel to experience meaningful
pieces of art because they have it right on campus.
Professors
and Museum workers alike they both recognize the benefits of having a museum or
gallery so close to where one lives.
Adam
Branco a freshman at Stonehill college said,
“Not
many students realize there us an art gallery on campus.”
When
asking Branco his opinion of having a gallery and its art on campus, “I
have no idea what kind of art they have. In terms of the gallery overall, it
doesn't improve anything on campus since nobody really knows about ion campus,” Branco said.
“I believe the gallery is really
interesting on campus, I’ve walked through it a few times
since it doesn't take long with how small it is. I feel like many students
don't really know about it because when they think of an art gallery they think
of something much bigger,”
Molly Birmingham said.
Birmingham
is a freshman at Stonehill college who see the importance of museums close by
and appreciates how local art museums change a community for the better.
“I really like art, I think its pretty
important for a community, because it helps people see what others feel and how
they think about certain issues that are going on in the world,” Birmingham said.
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