On Wednesday, July
21, 2010, Summer Arts visited The Studio Museum in Harlem for a private
tour of the newly opened show 'Summer Exhibitions and Projects'. The
museum was closed to the public and the tour was led by former Summer
Arts assistant and BFS alum Dominic Hackley, who is now the
Communications Assistant in the PR and Publications department at the
museum.
The exhibitions featured photography by
South African artist Zwelethu Mthethwa and painting, sculpture, and
animation by the museum’s 2009-10 artists in residence Mequitta Ahuja,
Lauren Kelley, and Valerie Piraino.
After
previewing the show, Dominic felt that it would be an extremely
enriching experience for Summer Arts students to see the new work as it
relates directly to the courses they are taking. “Seeing work that’s
very similar to theirs in a museum setting will blow their minds and
allow them to aspire to and imagine having their work exhibited in a
museum one day. It will reinforce the importance of the art that they
are making in their classes at Summer Arts,” he explained.
The
students also viewed works in the museum’s permanent collection gallery,
which the curators switch seasonally, and were invited to eat lunch in
the museum’s courtyard.
Rachel Webber, the
Director of Summer Arts, explained that, "Summer Arts had never visited
the Studio Museum of Harlem before, so it was exciting to go somewhere
many of the students had never been. In addition, the museum was closed
to the public on the day of our visit, so the Summer Arts students had
the rare opportunity to be in the museum all by themselves and
thoroughly explore the exhibits. Because of this, they were able to
focus on the artwork and connect what they saw to what they have been
learning in their classes. This trip was a fantastic experience for the
students. ”