The Art of Curating

The course was created in 2021 by William Crow, director and professor of practice at LUAG, to offer a unique educational experience.

“We are believers in learning by doing at LUAG and at Lehigh broadly,” Crow said. “Experiential learning is such a fundamental aspect of what we do. There’s nothing quite like having the experience of going to a major global center of art and talking to the gallery directors and asking questions. That is something I hope the students will carry forward for the rest of their lives. The students will forever be connected to this piece of art that we are acquiring for Lehigh.”

For the first part of the semester, students had robust in-person classroom conversations.

“We look at a range of aspects of collecting—why do museums collect, how do they collect, how do they present those collections to a broad audience in order to make meaning from them,” said Crow. Students learn about the LUAG collection—20,000 works and growing—and its mission and guidelines and policies.

The second half of the course involved researching works for purchase with funds provided by LUAG’s Fine Art Endowment. Works students explored were by artists included in a traveling exhibition that came to LUAG in Spring 2022 called “Young, Gifted and Black.” The works speak to current times and address Lehigh’s goal of exploring themes of diversity, inclusion and equity.

Students were divided into groups based on their artists of interest, then traveled together to Manhattan to check out works during a tour of galleries described by Crow as a “marathon.”

Finally, students wrote acquisition proposals for their chosen works and advocated for them to LUAG’s collections committee. The committee ultimately chose the Halsey work.

Karine Marculino ‘23, an Integrated Business and Engineering major who wants to pursue a career related to museums, was one of the students who advocated for Halsey’s work.

She said it really spoke to her, as it did for the other people who were gathered around it at the David Kordansky Gallery in Chelsea.

“Most of the course was about essentially why do museums collect and what is the purpose of exhibiting collections and what are the tactics to exhibit collections in a way that is responsible to the artist and also to impart people with knowledge. What value does it have? It sounds pretty ambiguous, but it’s a really fascinating progression. “

Darling advocated for a work by Chiffon Thomas, an artist from Chicago who creates multimedia works from embroidery and paint. “Macule,” from Gallery PPOW, is a large piece that speaks to the subject of identity. Its frame is made from banister rails, and the charred canvas has a tear in the torso.

“Chiffon elevates trans voices,” said Darling. “It’s a pertinent issue in our time. It’s really valuable for LUAG to empower voices that are underrepresented in art.”

This was the second time ART275 was offered—the first time was in the spring of 2021 when Covid-19 restricted in-person everything. Students met virtually and explored art to acquire virtually. They targeted prints by Durham Press and Raven Fine Art Editions to complement LUAG’s collection. The selected works have been on display for two years. They include Chitra Ganesh’s “Architects of the Future,” a portfolio of four serigraphs; Hurvin Anderson’s “Paradise,” a woodblock print, and Curlee Raven Holton’s “Hands Up, Nimbs” and “Spinning Glory.”

ART275 will continue to be offered every other year, said Crow. He noted that it has value for students from any major.

“There are majors in finance and the sciences and engineering and other areas,” he said. “We feel like this type of project really allows students to engage from a wide range of angles. Some students looked at it as more about business, others through the lens of public engagement and others from the lens of, how do we bolster issues of diversity and equity.”

– Story by Jodi Duckett