In December we received the welcome news that the KMA second-floor space that includes our studio and the visual literacy gallery (the Christine Demler Brown Center for Art ) had been officially selected for an Experiential Learning Space Award! Congratulations to all our student interns and volunteers who have facilitated programming for the community and for their peers in this space.
We started off the Spring semester with OHIO class visits for VTS sessions in the visual literacy gallery and exhibition discussions in Gesture of the Still Image and Centering Black Artists. We welcomed students from across campus for a variety of museum experiences in the galleries and in the collection vaults. Students in Seeing & Knowing the Visual Arts, History, Political Science, Visual Communications, Theater, IARTS, Photography, Museum Studies, Arts Administration, HCOM, Spanish, and Anthropology as well as Painting students from Marietta College, all gathered at KMA with their instructors over the course of the semester.
Dayna Shoulders (BS ’23), Odessa Robinson (BS ’23), and Jailei Maas (’24) facilitated the first “Talk About It” program, with a focus on Black women artists represented in the Centering Black Artists exhibition. Members of the University community, some visiting KMA for the first time, joined students and staff for a thought-provoking discussion and consideration of the potential for growth in the role of the Museum on campus.
Two more Talk About It programs were held:
· “Talk About It: Photography as Language” with the exhibition Gesture of the Still Image, facilitated by Graduate Assistant Ashley Khouri
· “Talk About It: Behind the Scenes of Then & Again” with Logan Lambert (AmeriCorps staff/OMC and graduate students from the Museum Studies class
In March OHIO hosted the Appalachian Studies Conference and participants met with Katherine Ziff for a historical tour of the grounds and Ed Pauley for a current look at Lin Hall.
We celebrated and strengthened the relationship between the Museum and the Friends of Kennedy Museum in many ways this Spring:
· The Friends hosted a well-attended program with Scott Minar, Professor Emeritus of English, titled “Turnstile & Body: A Reading, Storytelling, Brief Lecture and Writing Exercise.”
· KMA staff hosted a members-only behind-the-scenes program with selections from the Southwest Native American jewelry collection.
· FKM Board members continued to be instrumental in their volunteer work with the Memories in the Museum Program
We welcomed preK-12 groups for gallery and studio activities, including the Child Development Center, Vinton Co. High School, Coolville Elementary second graders, Alexander Elementary fourth graders, East Elementary first graders, and over 50 homeschoolers.
Graduate Assistant Hannah Moulen continued to lead the weekend Family Open Studio program with the assistance of Tristen Luken and Emily Van Meter. Lauren Adams kept our communications going with the museum education Instagram presence, and Jailei Maas navigated projects in both the research and programming areas of KMA. As a team, all five represented the Museum in a creative and professional manner. One of our team members, Tristen, was accepted into the Master of Arts Administration program. We will greatly miss her weekly presence at KMA but know we will touch base in other ways as she completes her degree!
Our visual literacy partnership with HCOM continues to gain momentum. In addition to our online VTS sessions with all three campuses (Athens, Dublin, Cleveland), we hosted over 20 Summer Scholars this June for in-person activities and discussions with the artwork on exhibit.
Which brings me to Summer, and it is flying by already. We are fortunate to have Khrystyna Frank on board this Summer as she completes an internship for her MAA degree in Visual Arts Management. She is being mentored by Lisa Quinn, Registrar, and is getting a well-rounded experience with every facet of KMA operations, from collections management to curatorial work to educational programming.
We are also thankful to have both Logan Lambert and Kayla Zehner from the OMC helping our KMA student crew (Khrystyna, Emily, Jailei, and Hannah) with Bobcat Student Orientation Sibling Tours this June (every M/W/F!) and the fabulous group of students who visited us with the College Now program from Greater Cleveland.
I’ll close with two bits of news: we have a NEW PACE position for Fall designed specifically for a student interested in Art Therapy (and it’s still open!), and Lisa and I are looking forward to co-teaching the Museum Fundamentals course this Fall. Which leads to a third bit of news: our director of 15 years, Ed Pauley, retired at the end of this academic year. We wish him all the best in his next adventure!
KENNEDY MUSEUM OF ART at Ohio University 
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