Spring 2013 - Oglethorpe University

engaged creativity
engaged creativity
Bringing
‘Engaged
Creativity’
to Life
Last fall, the Oglethorpe University Museum of
Art, perched on the third floor above the library,
welcomed its first new director since it was founded
nearly 30 years ago. Elizabeth Peterson, who
succeeded founding director Lloyd Nick, is building
on the foundation he established and starting a new
chapter in the museum’s life.
By Caitlyn Mitchell ’13
“Elizabeth Peterson is a collaborative, creative and highly energetic
artistic administrator who will be a tremendous asset to the
Oglethorpe University Museum of Art and the entire campus
community,” said Dr. Denise Runge, provost and vice president
for academic affairs at Oglethorpe. “This is an exciting time to
welcome Elizabeth to Oglethorpe, as we continue to expand students’
opportunities for ‘engaged creativity’ as part of the unique liberal arts
education we provide.”
Elizabeth brings 15 years of experience in museum management,
exhibition and gallery programming and arts education to her new
role. Most recently she served as director of the Julian Akus Art
Gallery, coordinator of Gallery and Museum Services, and adjunct
professor at Eastern Connecticut State University. Prior to that,
she was director of the Print Research Foundation (Connecticut),
a privately owned fine print and library collection. For seven years,
Elizabeth worked in exhibitions administration for the Museum of
Modern Art in New York City. A graduate of Wells College, Elizabeth
earned an M.S. in both art history and conservation from Pratt
Institute. Yet perhaps even more important than her extensive
experience and education are the inspiration, passion and creativity
that she brings to her position.
Elizabeth’s vision for the museum fits beautifully with Oglethorpe’s
strategic plan, which emphasizes “engaged creativity” and putting
classroom theory into practice. What she envisions for the new face
of OUMA is a reintegration of the museum with the student body.
Elizabeth plans “to get the students involved and have exhibits that
directly relate to classes or student interests, to evolve the exhibit
space into a quiet, comfortable area for students to be beyond the
classroom, where they can enjoy art for itself, study or have a quiet
space just to think in. I’d like it to be a learning lab for students.”
Going forward, OUMA will be a teaching museum; curriculum will
drive exhibits rather than exhibits driving curriculum.
With her background in curatorial work both within and beyond
academia, Elizabeth understands the challenges and opportunities
before her. “A lot of people might walk into a gallery setting and,
first, feel it’s not relevant to them, and second, feel incredibly
uncomfortable,” she says. “I want students to feel comfortable and
to feel a sense of ownership of the space. This is a place to study,
a place to be, a place to meet or spend your lunch hour if you feel
overwhelmed and just need to reflect.”
Elizabeth is clearly dedicated to making OUMA as open to students—
and the community—as possible. She is planning exhibits three
years in advance so that students, faculty and staff will have plenty
of advance knowledge of what will be featured in the museum. The
spring 2013 exhibition was “Beta Israel: Ethiopian Jews and the
Promised Land,” which featured a series of photographs documenting
the past 30 years of emigrants moving from the horn of Africa to
Israel. This exhibit not only reached out to Atlanta’s international
community, but also directly addressed the diversity of students
at Oglethorpe. “It’s an international story; it’s an interfaith story,”
said Elizabeth. “Oglethorpe students are passionately interested in
international studies and civic engagement, and that’s what this
show was about.”
The summer 2013 exhibition will feature Japanese porcelains and color woodcuts drawn from
regional private collections and will be on view May 12–August 25, 2013.
“This is a university gallery, but it’s right in the heart of a world-class city,” said Elizabeth about
OUMA. And while the opportunities that such a world-class city affords to any gallery are
boundless, her focus always comes back to the students. “I’d like to see this space filled with
students, and to have the students who work here as engaged as possible; to have students come in
and speak, not just as guest lecturers, but as leaders. I’m very eager to try to foster and retain those
connections to the membership and the donors and the students, and to grow that.”
Elizabeth jumped into her role even before her start date, working remotely from Connecticut
to organize her first exhibit at OUMA, Burden of Proof: National Identity and the Legacy
of War, that ran during the fall semester. The exhibition was inspired by the campus-wide
reading of The Things They Carried, a fictionalized account of author Tim O’Brien’s time as
an American soldier in Vietnam. The exhibit’s goal was to bring art that would tie in directly
with the classroom, giving students visual points for discussion. It featured artists Dinh Q.
Lê, Sheila Pree Bright, Keisha Luce and Kirk Torregrossa, and included Vietnamese-woven
c-prints, a sculpture series depicting the forms of those battling with Agent Orange-related
disfigurements and a selection of original North Vietnamese propaganda posters from the
Shelley and Donald Rubin Private Collection.
“...I’m very eager
to try to foster
and retain those
connections to the
membership and
the donors and the
students, and to
grow that.”
– Elizabeth Peterson
As a graduate of Wells College, Elizabeth is familiar with
the small liberal arts environment and understands the
dynamic of this sort of community. At Wells, she was part
of an honor system similar to Oglethorpe’s and enjoyed
one-on-one interaction and accountability with professors,
as well as the unique traditions of a small academic
community. It’s not surprising that Elizabeth says that she
feels as if she has, in a sense, come home. “I’m reminded
what it was like to be on a small campus where you’re vitally
connected, where you’re learning and you’re charged up,”
she said.
“This is absolutely my dream job. Oglethorpe’s commitment
to liberal arts, combined with the unique and beautiful
mission of OUMA, provides a wonderful opportunity for
students to enjoy and learn by employing the museum as
a learning lab,” said Elizabeth. “It’s an honor to build upon
the legacy of founding director Lloyd Nick and a thrill to
lead the Oglethorpe University Museum of Art into the next
chapter of its future.”
Caitlyn Mitchell ’13 is an English major, editor of Oglethorpe’s
student literary magazine The Tower, and a member of ODK
National Leadership Honor Society. In her spare time, she
writes fiction in hopes of becoming the next Tolkien, and has
worked at southeastern Renaissance Festivals for seven years.
She will work for Whitman Publishing after graduation.
Jiki to Hanga
Japanese Porcelain and Prints
May 12–August 25, 2013
This exhibition at the Oglethorpe
University Museum of Art includes 28
color woodcuts by Hiroshi Yoshida
(1876–1950), one of the greatest
Japanese artists of the modern mid 20th
century shin-hanga style. Yoshida’s work
and several other Japanese prints will
be on loan, courtesy of the Collection
of Dr. and Mrs. Terry Taylor. Porcelain,
books and other ephemera on view will
include 18th century Kakeimon ware and
19th century Imari vessels, which are a
gift from Ms. Carrie Lee Henderson, the
granddaughter of former Oglethorpe
President Thornwell Jacobs. An exhibit
program series will include a Japanese
tea ceremony, workshops in ikebana,
origami and bonsai, and lectures.
The children of the Seigakuin Atlanta
International School will present haiku,
bi-lingual essays and calligraphy.
16 CARILLON | spring 2013
spring 2013 | CARILLON 17