New Exhibit in the Kelly Library Transforms the Classroom into a Gallery
A new student-curated art exhibit in the John M. Kelly Library invites visitors to engage with the Donovan Collection in new ways. Ted Rettig in Context places works by one the collection’s most represented artists, Ted Rettig, alongside other pieces in the collection.
The pairings were selected by first-year students enrolled in the inaugural SMC One Course, “The Donovan Seminar: Visual Art and Meaning” and are accompanied by student-written curatorial statements.
Throughout the semester, students explored the relationship between art and meaning, using pieces from the Donovan Collection, which can be found all around the St. Michael’s campus, as their primary material.
“This course taught me that I need to look a little deeper and have more context to understand art and the world around me,” said Ella Doubleday, a first-year student enrolled in the Donovan Seminar. “I really appreciated how we were able to bounce ideas off of each other during the seminar and that collaboration really helped the exhibition flow nicely.”
Professor Stephen Tardif, who led the seminar, praised the students’ work, saying, “I am very proud of my students. They leaned into the seminar format of the class by collaborating and conducting high-quality research. Their hard work paid off with an exhibition that can be enjoyed by the greater community.”
The exhibit is set up in the Kelly Library Multi-Purpose Room, which also served as the seminar’s classroom.
“The students took the lead on how the art was to be displayed. In our final seminar we talked a lot about how the exhibit would flow. We explored the space together and thought carefully about the layout. It’s fitting, because we turned the classroom into a gallery space, just as the Donovan Collection turns spaces on campus into a gallery of sorts,” says Professor Tardif.
In addition to students gaining hands-on curatorial experience, the exhibit also makes the Donovan Collection more accessible to the campus community. The opening on December 4 drew students, staff, faculty, and community members, including friends of Ted Rettig.
“I hope the impressions that the students managed to create by pairing these works together will challenge and stimulate people to think, feel and experience different ideas that maybe they are not accustomed to,” said Linda Roy, a parishioner of St. Basil’s and friend of Ted Rettig who attended the opening.
One of the draws of the exhibit is witnessing the students’ curatorial choices.
“I think it’s wonderful because you really do get multiple perspectives on how these works can be viewed, interpreted and experienced. Art can touch people differently at different stages of life and here I get insight into the younger generation’s outlook. What speaks to me about this exhibit is that you don’t have to be an art major to understand why these pieces are placed together. You don’t have to be an already practicing or aspiring artist or a student of art to understand or experience the pairings,” says Alice Wong-Rettig, who is also connected to the artist and attended the exhibit opening.
