2023-2024 HIGHLIGHTS

This academic year was full of new opportunities and challenges. Our plates were fuller than ever as we achieved reaccreditation from the American Alliance of Museums and navigated a year-long search for a new director. KMA is so pleased to welcome Sandra Harris as Executive Director of the Kennedy Museum of Art and Director of the Museum Studies Certificate Program. Sandra joined us on July 1! https://www.ohio.edu/news/2024/04/new-kennedy-museum-art-director-sandra-harris-start-july-1

This past year the Museum Fundamentals classes were co-taught by Lisa and Sally, culminating with the installation of Merging Concepts: In These Moments, on view through September 8. Twenty-five students successfully completed the two core courses for the Museum Studies Certificate.

The exhibition In Hand: Contemporary Material Engagements with the Built World, curated by Sam Dodd and Kate Hampel, opened in September and ran through March. Programming included visiting artists Nicole Seisler and eliza myrie; and graduate students Len Loomis and Hannah Moulen facilitated Hand-Pressed Souvenir Walks and family studio activities throughout the run of the exhibition.

There are a few people we have sadly said good bye to this summer. Student staff members Emily Van Meter and Jailei Maas were instrumental over the past two (plus) years in developing and facilitating educational programs. Together they engaged with hundreds of audience members of different ages, backgrounds, and walks of life in tours of exhibitions and studio programs. As we neared the end of this academic year they joined the Visitor Services front desk staff to assist with keeping the Museum a welcoming place to visit for our community this summer. We will miss them greatly and wish them much success in their respective graduate programs at George Washington University and Boston University.

Ashley Kouri, Ella Calhoun, Val Vennard, and Madeline Melragon all graduated from OU this spring after being invaluable members of Lisa’s team. They each stepped up to every challenge and opportunity we engaged in during 2024-2025.

Our social media presence was kept active and reflective of what is on view at the Museum on a weekly basis by our 2023-2024 Communications PACE intern Maia LeClair, who will be rejoining us in the coming academic year. Her summer series of Instagram postings has focused on individual objects in the Merging Concepts: In These Moments exhibition.

This past year we also had the great fortune of two graduate students collaborating on improving the general visitor experience for both KMA and OMC (OHIO Museum Complex). Hattie Phillips and Tristen Luken put their skills to work on creating a welcoming experience as soon as you enter the front door of our building.

KMA’s collaborative approach to curatorial projects with the Museum’s collections continued as we installed the progressive exhibition At/On the Table with our student staff. We moved from one small gallery to later include the hallway, and then expanded into an adjoining gallery. Our student staff experienced every phase of this project, from the selection of objects to fit a theme, to matting and framing, to exhibition layout and installation, to the final steps of touring multiple groups.

We revisited the importance of celebrating named Black artists in KMA collections and addressed the work to be done with a gallery lecture in February by Dr. Brian Stephens, focusing on the work of artist Glenn Ligon in the exhibition Centering Black Artists.

We highlighted new voices in our collections by continuing to feature recently acquired work by Lalla Essaydi, Lissa Rivera, and John Feodorov in the Visual Literacy Gallery and the Tower Lounge Gallery. Over the summer both galleries have been reinstalled with new objects from the collections. Stay tuned for upcoming posts on these galleries!

In May, Rufus visited the Museum as part of programming with local elementary schools coordinated by the Southeast Hub of OhioSTEM and the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service. Our education student staff, including Graduate Assistant Hannah Moulen, and Jai and Emily, met with hundreds of schoolchildren. In June we were joined by returning staff member Campbell Hogue and she, Jai, and Emily provided tours and studio activities for Bobcat siblings during Bobcat Student Orientation.

One of the major things that keeps this museum vibrant is the rhythm of student involvement in experiential learning with every aspect of our operations. As we said goodbye to those who graduated and moved on to their next chapter, we welcomed those who came on board to do an intensive summer internship (Chad Collofello, MAA candidate, Visual Arts Management) and, in the role of new Graduate Assistant, Alex Long, Assistant to the Registrar.

We are thrilled to share that Graduate Assistants Hannah Moulen and Aubrey jo Blue will be returning to KMA this coming year. We installed a new exhibition this summer, curated by Aubrey jo (what makes a river?), and Hannah is already at work on a new schedule of Community Open Studios for the fall. We are grateful for those who will be returning and we look forward to introducing new student staff members this fall!