Art Museums Customize Tours for St. Luke’s Seniors

On Tuesday, Nov. 9, seniors Catherine Clark, Sara Minuesa, and Emilia von Lilien-Brockmeyer, members of the Advanced Art Practices: Senior Thesis course (formerly AP Studio Art), toured two local art museums, where they attended special sessions on curating and installing exhibitions.
 

In the morning, the students visited The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT, accompanied by Upper School Art Department Chair Sean Lynch and me. There, students received a customized tour of the facility and its exhibitions. They learned about installing an exhibition from the ground up: from shipping and receiving, working with artists, and installing the work, down to the color of the paint on walls and the brightness of the gallery lights. Students toured the gallery spaces, both inside and outside the building, and studied five contemporary artists whose work is currently on exhibit.  

In the afternoon, the students headed to The Katonah Museum of Art, where they toured the current exhibition with a docent. There they met with the Associate Curator and the Education and Public Engagement Coordinator and heard firsthand about the process of curating and installing exhibitions. 

These specialized field trips allowed the students to learn more about contemporary artists and the process of organizing and installing an exhibition. The local museums are not only great resources for viewing and learning about contemporary art, but also excellent resources for students to gain a better understanding of the business operations and structure of galleries and museums.