#JesuitMuseums: Santa Clara University
AJCU’s #JesuitMuseums series is back for the summer! Today’s post on Desert Fire #77 comes from the de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University.
Richard Misrach, Desert Fire #77, 1984, Chromogenic print, de Saisset Museum permanent collection, Santa Clara University, Gift of David B. Devine, 6.332.1986.
“Scholars know Richard Misrach for his photographs of the American desert. Misrach’s photographs are usually large, vivid in color, and intense in their action, which makes Misrach a pioneer and “established poet” in natural photography, according to Nancy Princenthal. Additionally, most of Misrach’s photographs engage with environmental history as he attempts to balance his depiction of beauty with humanity’s destruction of the environment.
“Desert Fire #77 perfectly exemplifies Misrach’s style of landscape photography. Unlike the other photographs in our exhibition, the strong colors in this photograph create a mesmerizing image. You not only see the strength of the fire itself but also the movement of the flames that engulf the bush. Furthermore, the composition of the fire on the right, in juxtaposition with the flames’ direction to the left, emphasizes the spreading nature of the fire as it proceeds to the other bushes in the background.”
- Excerpt from artwork label written by Santa Clara undergraduate students
Amidst the pandemic, and a fully remote educational experience for most students, the de Saisset Museum sought new ways to engage students at Santa Clara University (SCU). In partnership with Associate Professor Andrea Pappas from SCU’s Department of Art & Art History, we developed a completely new model for engaging students in the process of curation and exhibition development. Working from high-resolution images of photographic works in the de Saisset’s permanent collection, students in Pappas’ Winter 2021 course, Art History 140: Photography in the U.S., studied, discussed, and researched the artworks and ultimately developed the content for seven student-curated virtual exhibitions, recently launched on the museum’s website.
In total, the twenty-two undergraduate students enrolled in the course generated exhibitions that collectively feature over twenty-five photographs from the de Saisset’s collection, ranging from works by Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange, to Dugan Aguilar, Janet Delaney, and Richard Misrach. In addition to writing exhibition statements and object labels, students also envisioned a layout within the de Saisset’s galleries, providing a diagram and explanation for their placements.
Reflecting on the experience, one student wrote: “From this class, I have learned how to critically analyze elements of art and look at different photographs with a holistic perspective. I think that I learned how to become a better consumer of information and also further understand pieces of art that have underlying meanings or messages.” Other students noted how the experience also changed how they understand museum work and the curation process.
The object label included here comes from the student exhibition, Landscape Photography: Cycles of Destruction, which utilizes landscape photography to tell a story of vulnerability as a process of degradation, healing, and scars. While past exhibitions at the de Saisset Museum have featured student contributions in research, label writing, and installation, the exhibitions typically still featured museum staff, SCU faculty, or guest scholars in the role of curator. This course project marks the first fully student-developed exhibitions (and the first fully virtual exhibitions led by students).
As Pappas explains in her introduction to the virtual exhibitions: “Students took a variety of approaches to the assignment: some produced scholarly historical narratives, grounded in extended research, while others interpreted their photographs in a more personal manner, reading the works metaphorically, as well as historically. Students brought a range of skills in writing, research, and teamwork to the project. The projects vary widely, as diverse student interests, studies, and voices produced them. Yet, some underlying themes run through the group as a whole. Specifically, compassion for others surfaces in the way that several of these projects address the prolonged isolation of this pandemic year; the work of social justice features in student analyses of images of people; and the pursuit of environmental sustainability drives student approaches to landscape photography. Here we see Santa Clara University’s core values in action.”
We hope you will take some time on the de Saisset Museum’s website to read the other exhibition content generated by our students.
Contributed by Lauren Baines, Interim Director of the de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University.
