States of Art: Modern and Contemporary Works on Paper

January 31-February 24, 2008

This exhibition surveys modern and contemporary works dating from the 1950s to the present. Artworks included represent a number of post-World War II movements, concerns and media including: Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Conceptualism, Postmodernism, Postminimalism, politics and the representation of the body, and recent developments in photography. A partial list of artists includes: Hans Hoffman, David Smith, Willem de Kooning, Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Georg Baselitz, Jim Shaw, Sherrie Levine, Robert Gober, Karen Finley, Elizabeth Murray, Chris Ofili, Martin Puryear, Kiki Smith and Christian Boltanski. Media include: India ink, charcoal, pastel, graphite, acrylic, oil, gouache, watercolor, tempera and photography.

States of Art is the product of a fall 2007 Museum Studies seminar taught in the Art and Art History Department at Kenyon College. Students enrolled in the seminar participated in the selection and arrangement of works drawn from a private collection. Students also researched and wrote all introductory text panels and interpretive labels, and contributed essays to the exhibition brochure. Student curators include: Emily Bierman, Kate Coker, Madeline Courtney, Peter Dumbadze, Jessica Gersh, Louisa Hartigan, Leila Hirvonen, Emma Perry, Leah Rogers, Eugene Rutigliano and Roxanne Smith.

The structure and pedagogy of this Museum Studies seminar paralleled the rigor and the sense of discovery that typically attends the process of curating an exhibition. At the outset, we did not know the parameters of the exhibition, nor precisely how the process would unfold. Working in groups of two or three, students presented information about artists and specific works under consideration. Selections for the exhibition were made by group consensus. Following this, assigned research papers formed the basis of the didactic wall text panels that introduce each section of the exhibition. When writing interpretive labels accompanying selected works in the exhibition, students sought to illuminate meaning through close attention to form and content. Through peer review editing of their writing, students effectively established their curatorial voice during the course of the semester.

Daniel P. Younger
Director
Assistant Visiting Professor
Art History

Melissa Dabakis
Professor
Art History

Acknowledgements

Thanks for funding assistance are extended to Gregory Spaid, Provost; Paula Turner, Associate Provost; Sarah Kahrl, Vice President for College Relations; Chris Kennerly, Associate Dean of Students; Jennifer Delahunty, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid; Lisa Schott, Director of Alumni and Parent Programs; and the Art and Art History Department Mesaros Fund for Art.

We would also like to express our appreciation for the assistance and expertise of gallery assistant Douglas McGlumphy; administrative assistant Aimee Parsley-White; designer Nan Black; Laura Czarnecki '08, who assisted with formatting wall text and the design of the exhibition banner; website technical assistants Steve Klise '08 and Roxanne Smith '11; office assistant Elizabeth Johnson '08; contractor Jack Esslinger; LBIS technical liason Paul Mollard; Art and Art History chairs Sarah Blick and Karen Snouffer; director of campus safety Robert D. Hooper; gallery attendant James Kousoulas; and Olin Art Gallery work study students who served as gallery attendants, and who assisted with the installation of the exhibition.