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The exhibition and web content were the results of tremendous hard work by a group of very dedicated students. They represented diversity in every sense, including in their academic areas of study. Here, the students share their thoughts on this UM-Dearborn Art History capstone experience.
The exhibition and web content were the results of tremendous hard work by a group of very dedicated students. They represented diversity in every sense, including in their academic areas of study. Here, the students share their thoughts on this UM-Dearborn Art History capstone experience.
I found it very humbling to work with an ancient artifact. When I first chose my kylix, I kept joking that it would be hard to write a three-page description on a black cup. Since then, I have learned a lot about the Greek symposium and the drinking culture. Working with the ancient artifacts and researching them has helped me understand their cultures more and to see the similarities and differences to our own modern everyday objects and culture.
I am an Art History and Journalism & Screen Studies double major. Working on this exhibition has been a great experience and I have really grown in my skills over time. I got to have my research published. I got to contribute to an exhibition that I am really excited to see finished. I also was able to create the videos on the exhibition that will be featured in the gallery. This connected both of my majors together, and has allowed me to strengthen my skills with both a camera and editing. I have met some really great people and I have had a fun time. I hope that the public enjoys our exhibition.
I enjoyed examining the objects at a much closer level than what I was used to from museum visits. Feeling the texture and weight of the object helped me contextualize its utilization. From this experience, I learned of the mistakes that may have occurred during the manufacturing process, and I learned of ways to deduce the history and use of ancient objects.
Working on this exhibition added a broader perspective to my college experience. Majoring in Psychology, I learned a lot about the human mind and behavior. This seminar showed me the similarities between different ancient customs and our own, from the use of religious objects to the use of implicit meanings within the objects, to convey a relevant message to a culture.
I am an Art History major. The 410 museum seminar was a vital stepping stone in my education as it often simulated a collaborative workspace for individuals in our field. My peers and I frequently practiced communicating with “colleagues” effectively and constructively, which prepared us for future endeavors in our career paths. Throughout the course we were given the opportunity to be enterprising in dynamic projects that had a tangible outcome on the fruit of our labor. The course provided an energetic and motivated space to work with peers who are all taking steps towards the same goal of a substantive and serious exhibition.
Analyzing the ancient Roman glass provided by the Toledo Museum of Art enabled vital research skills to be refined every time I examined my work. I found joy in researching and gaining fresh information each time I visited Mardigian Library.
I am a double major in Behavioral and Biological Sciences and Art History, with a minor in Chemistry. I really appreciated learning about how much this area of Art History draws upon the sciences in order to figure out questions concerning like provenance and for exposing fakes. I am really looking forward to seeing the whole of the exhibition come together. Contributing to an effort such as this for the university allows me to have a better perspective on both, actually working towards something material, and appreciating the amount of work and scholarship that goes into what might seem a simple exhibition.
After the Kelsey Museum object handling sessions, my knowledge and interest in archaeology were piqued each time. I enjoyed being able to hold these ancient objects and learn about them through that interaction by itself, then fully researching them to better grasp my experience. I truly learned about the importance of and gained respect and excitement for ancient objects that may not seem valuable, and for the people who work with them.
My major is Biology, nonetheless, this experience has been one of my favorites so far in college because of the interactivity and the value I have learned about these objects from the past that may not seem that interesting but actually are. I am genuinely grateful for the knowledge I’ve gained from this experience and see myself looking at objects in my day to day life and how the past has influenced them and how might they also be studied in the future.
The Kelsey Museum handling session was such an amazing experience. It was the first time I had the opportunity to physically hold a genuine ancient artifact in my own two hands.
I am a Biology major and I also have an Art History minor, which is why I thought this class would be something I’d enjoy. This class is one of the most important courses I will take throughout my college curriculum. I recently was doing some research about PhD programs in biology at Ann Arbor’s campus and one of the qualifications for applications is having research experience and published papers. This class gave me the opportunity to have my first ever published work. The fact that it is in a field outside what my potential PhD’s discipline will be will make my application even more enticing to the admissions staff.
My first opinion towards the Apulian plate was that it is just an everyday household plate with a woman’s face created for only decorative purposes. However, it wasn’t until researching further into Apulian art during the fourth century, that I learned there is an entire group of people and their funerary culture associated with this artifact.
My major is Mechanical and Bioengineering and being able to feel the artifact at the sessions held at the Kelsey Museum was a new experience. It allowed for us to better understand the manufacturing techniques used to create the object rather than just looking at images to understand the artifact. The study of artifacts does tie into the discipline of engineering. As engineers, we tend to break apart objects and examine the interior to be able to create replicas. It is important to study an object that has been destroyed or examine it to determine the manufacturing technique. If we understand the original artifact, only then would we be able to develop newer, effective replicas of artifacts.
I immensely enjoyed our handling sessions at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology in Ann Arbor. I have never had the opportunity to have such a close experience with an ancient object. Being able to handle, examine, and research objects that were over a thousand years old was incredible. I enjoyed being able to see aspects of these objects which I would not have been able to see from outside of a glass case like textural elements, pigments, or damage. No picture could have given me that experience.
I am a History major and an Art History minor. This experience has been one of the highlights of my college caree because it has taught me the value of experiential learning. This course, in my opinion, is one of the most unique opportunities at UM-Dearborn because of this experiential component which, for many of who wish to work in a museum some day, are skills which will be needed in the future.
In addition to the practical skills needed for work in a museum setting, this course also teaches the value of careful research and peer reviewed work as well as the necessity for teamwork and collaboration in a big project such as this one. These are skills that apply to every career path.
My major is Art History, specifically the Museum Studies track; I am also a pre-medical student. I feel that this course has given me a perspective on the gears working behind the scenes of a museum exhibition, which will be invaluable during the internship which is required for my studies. As a pre-medical student, I have also benefited from the collaborative environment of the class; this is in addition to the analytical and systemic perspective which is provided by every Art History course.
The Kelsey object handling experience gave me an opportunity to experience the objects personally and haptically, rather than conceptually, as we usually do in an Art History class. There is something enlightening about feeling the texture and mass of an object that makes it much easier to understand how that object might have been used or experienced in its original context.
Handling the artifacts at the Kelsey gave me a sense of the age and use of the objects and made me realize that these just weren’t just art objects but items that were used in daily life.
I am an Art History major and this experience gave me the valuable opportunity of planning a museum exhibition and helped me to learn the many different aspects of museum work. It also helped me to further develop my research and writing skills.
This experience has been unlike any other class I’ve taken at UM-Dearborn or at other colleges I’ve attended. Most people have had an encounter with antiquity from visiting a museum, or viewing a documentary. However, the opportunity to touch and analyze an object used by humans thousands of years ago is just incredible. The analysis of an object, followed by research and writing several drafts, is valuable for any college student. It has taught me to be cognizant of what actually needs to be translated for the reader and how to organize this information. I have no doubt that I can use this newly learned skill in the future as a student.
I am currently deciding on a General Studies or Art History major. The experience of working on an exhibition has been valuable for either major. Having worked with a specific institution, budget, and the involvement of classmates and the instructor will enable me to relate this knowledge to other classroom projects. We also worked with the curator, to learn about placement and preparing cases for the visitors to view.
I really enjoyed handling my object at the Kelsey Museum and to research it in depth, to learn what it was made for, how it was made, and what the context was surrounding it. I feel there's a new sense of appreciation after putting in all the work and effort. I'm majoring in Art History so this experience was essential and rewarding all at the same time. I never imagined having published work as an undergrad.
I learned how to apply the knowledge that was researched and discussed in class to form my own opinion of what the juglet might be made for. Handling the objects to write the catalog entry allowed students to become an art historian and find an appropriate context for various ancient artifacts.
My major is Biology. This experience added to my college experience because it allowed me to think critically in order to apply what I learned. Most often, we are taught biological pathways or terms and are expected to reiterate them on tests. However, in the real-world, we must be able to think logically and apply that information. I am pursuing dentistry, which is also a form of art, in my opinion. This field requires one to be detail-oriented. I think this course required the same thing. We needed to carefully consider the artifact, which we were able to physically hold, and examine its height, width, texture, color, and composition. We needed to be able to use all of that information to deduce its context and function. Similarly, as a dentist, I will need to follow similar steps to carefully consider and treat a patient.
I thought handling the objects was an incredible experience, I really enjoyed it. I learned a lot about ancient currency through my research.
I am an Art History with a concentration in Museum Studies. Working on the exhibition and catalog has added to my college experience by showing me all of the extra work that goes into curating an exhibition and a lot of other things that I never thought about. It's given me a better understanding of creating an exhibition and showing all of the little details that have to be thought about for one to function well.
The Kelsey Museum object handling session was an unforgettable experience. Growing up I have always wanted to reach out and grab hold of ancient artifacts but instead, I stared with my nose pressed up against the glass. Being able to hold the artifact in my hand proved to be beneficial in that I realized just how small my object was. I could feel every small detail that decorates the flask, details you can’t see in a photo or from a distance. The experience with the artifact made it more personal. At the end of the session I was excited to start my research on my little baby.
I am double majoring in History and Art History. This is definitely the highlight of my college career. Through this class I had the opportunity to hold ancient history in my hand and become a published author all while gaining experience of working on such a huge and important project for the university.
I thought it was so interesting that we got to handle artifacts that are from the ancient world. The fact that we held objects that were held by humans from around 2000 years ago is so special, because it’s not something that everyone can say that they got to experience.
I am majoring in International Studies with a focus on French and Art History. This was a very important experience because being in art history classes, you always learn about the past and how certain objects are displayed, and this class was a chance for us to do that ourselves.
Working in class, leading to developing this exhibition of ancient everyday objects, was a rewarding experience. It was also challenging, naturally, because staging an exhibition requires a considerable amount of effort, but as an Art History major, I was thrilled just to be part of this group that got to handle, research, and write about a set of artifacts from the classical era. I got an impression of what it could be like doing museum work and learned methods of carefully handling pieces from a collection, in particular a Roman statuette from two thousand years ago.
I'm really fortunate to have done this because most of what I've researched previously didn't inspire the same feeling of familiarity toward the material as I had this time, because I got to work with this object so closely. And to be published in an exhibition catalog, having written about this ancient piece, makes my experience as an Art History student more fulfilling, because I was able to apply what I've learned in a lasting way. I feel really honored to have been able to work on this exhibition.
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