Three Randolph-Macon College art history majors—Samantha Davis ’16, Moriah Webster ’15, and Ashley Carmichael ’17—helped curate a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) traveling exhibition entitled The French Horse from Géricault to Picasso, currently at the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art at the University of Richmond until April 25, 2016.

In fall 2015, these students were chosen to participate in a highly competitive seminar at the VMFA. During this semester-long course, they studied curatorial practices and public education and outreach with Mitchell Merling, the Paul Mellon Curator and Head of the Department of European Art at the museum; Richard Waller, executive director of the University of Richmond Museums; and Jeffrey Allison, manager of Statewide Programs and Exhibitions at the VMFA.

The students, along with their peers from colleges and universities in central Virginia, conducted research on exceptional art works in the museum’s collections, including works by Degas, Delacroix, Gericault, Vernet and Picasso.

Significant Opportunity
“This seminar presented a significant opportunity of a caliber rarely, if ever, available to undergraduate students,” says RMC Art History Professor Evie Terrono. “These students had spent a semester in my majors-only course, Theory and Methods, studying theoretical and methodological frames of inquiry in the discipline, along with curatorial practices. Firsthand experience is imperative to understanding art works in context, and our students had the opportunity to practice what they learned on a trip we took to New York City, during which we visited museums and private galleries. We are grateful for the support that the college’s Arts Council provides for on-site learning experiences.”

In The News
In news coverage of the seminar in the Richmond Times Dispatch, Webster noted that “the opportunity is really incredible for an undergraduate…it’s a huge gift to us from the VMFA.”

Davis, an education minor who plans to become a teacher in elementary education, said, “The course…allowed me to exercise skills that I developed in my Theory and Methods course in order to encourage learning and inspire learners of all ages to engage with the exhibition’s content.”

Carmichael noted, “I am grateful that Randolph-Macon prepared me for this challenge; the emphasis on research and writing in all art history courses gave me the confidence to undertake in-depth research and scholarly writing and collaborate successfully with faculty.”

Research Presentations
The students presented their research at a symposium that took place in the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art on March 2, 2016.

“They did an exceptional job in their presentations and garnered well-deserved praise for their work,” says Terrono. “Art history attracts remarkable students and we are so very proud of their accomplishments.” The exhibition will travel to the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg and the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia through October 2016.