UD African studies students Delaware get hands-on experience with gallery’s african arts and artifacts.
Katie Payne, a senior majoring in art conservation,
examines a piece of African art from the University Gallery collection.
Photo by Eric Crossan
Located in Old College, the Delaware University Gallery uses its collections and
resources to create exhibitions for the public and to educate students in
various disciplines about the pieces and about all aspects of museum work.
found: http://www.udel.edu/
1:38 p.m., Dec. 11, 2003--
Peter Weil, associate professor of anthropology and director of the
University’s African Studies Program, uses the gallery’s art and artifacts
as a teaching resource for his cross-listed anthropology/art history class on
African art, allowing students to work with the gallery’s collection while
leaving a legacy for others. He begins the course, which he has taught four
times, by reviewing conceptual issues and methodologies that will be valuable to
students when they choose specific objects from the University Gallery and
conduct in-depth research and analyses of original pieces.
The objects from which students can choose have been donated to the
University over the years—from the last half of the 20th century—and have
had little to no previous documentation.
“First the students identify the object by name, which can sometimes be
very difficult for them to do,” Weil says. “For example, there’s a piece
from Nigeria that looks like it’s part of a doll, but it’s not a doll. The
students have to make judgments based on the evidence they discover through
library research.”
After identifying the objects, the students place them into a cultural
historical context. “They find out where in Africa the objects are from, when
they were made, how they were experienced and their meanings,” Weil says.
“The goal is to have a cultural biography of the object.”
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Peter Weil, associate professor of anthropology and
director of the University’s African Studies Program
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson
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Katie Payne, a senior majoring in art conservation, took Weil’s course last
spring. For her project, she researched a Senufo mask from the northern Ivory
Coast that was part of a men’s coming-of-age ritual. “The mask resembles a
full human face, but it has long, pointy features that are either ears or horns.
The wood it’s made of is dark and the mask is shiny and smooth to the
touch,” Payne says.
The opportunity to physically handle works of art—not merely view them on
slides—is an important aspect of the course. In addition to using the
University’s collection, Weil gathers objects while doing research in Africa
and brings them to class to train students in how to study them. Though handling
the objects results in wear on the materials from which the objects are
constructed, Weil said he believes it is valuable for the students to interact
with the pieces, to actually see the colors and textures that a slide may not
fully convey.
“He wanted us to handle the pieces—that’s why he bought them,”
Payne said. “We learn about the pieces by seeing them, and, when we handle
them, we become a part of their histories.”
The opportunity to engage in original research is just as profitable for the
students as the opportunity to handle the works of art. According to Weil,
“The students become part of the process of research. The documentation they
do matters because future researchers will use their work.” The groundwork
Weil’s students establish through documenting and researching the pieces also
will enable the University Gallery to better incorporate them in future research
and into exhibits, he said.
Article by Lila Naydan
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