ART MUSEUM: Closed until further notice
GiveSightlines Tours
Students in the MHCAM Student Guide Program lead themed tours of the museum.
Sightlines Tours
Olivia Brandwein '22
Student Guide, Spring 2020
Everyday objects go far beyond their function, through both the beauty of their forms and the personal meanings we attach to them. Enjoy this colorful pop-up book tour exploring how everyday objects can be art, as well as how contemporary artists can transform utilitarian things into thought-provoking artworks.
Maggie Kamb '21
Student Guide, Spring 2020
How do we depict deities and idols? What qualities do we associate with them, and how are these qualities represented visually? Crossing geographic boundaries and various mediums, this tour will examine art from the Renaissance to the contemporary, looking at how figures are glorified and worshipped through the visual arts.
Maryam Ware '22
Student Guide, Spring 2020
On this tour, visitors will explore how the theme of freedom is expressed through art. We will consider how freedom affects people on an individual as well as collective level, leading to an appreciation of different artists’ perspectives and perceptions of what it means to be free.
Phoebe Pugh '22
Student Guide, Spring 2020
Memory comes in many forms. It is woven into our identities, our histories, our religions, and our personal lives. Visitors on this tour will explore art from multiple time periods and places, considering how as we examine individual visions of the past, we are also creating shared memories in the present.
Sarah Dauer '20
Student Guide, Spring 2020
The objects on this tour, from different time periods and using different mediums, have “lived” like bodies, born as something outside the context of a museum. We will explore how the idea of afterlives can be manifested in five different objects, considering how we are surrounded by “ghosts” of the past.
A'mara Braynen '22
Student Guide, Spring 2020
“History continues into the present and implicates persons still alive.” -Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic, Critical Race Theory (Third Edition)
Reading Narrative in Japanese Screen Painting
On the first episode of Art And..., Mollie Wohlforth '19 sits down in the galleries with Student Guides Prokriti Shyamolima '19 and Hailey Simmons '19 to discuss a pair of six-fold screens with scenes from the Tale of Genji (left screen and right screen). Listen as they analyze the narrative and the visual techniques employed by the artist, Kano Masamitsu.
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From 10th-Century Indian Temple to 21st-Century Western Gallery
In this episode of Art And..., join Mollie Wohlforth '19 as she and fellow student guide Anya Nandkeolyar '19 discuss a 10th-century statue of Ganesha from Madhya Pradesh. Listen as they discuss the experience of seeing the sculpture within its original context versus a 21st-century gallery space, and the debate surrounding the placement of non-Western religious objects within Western museum contexts.
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Money Matters and the Interconnection Between Currency and Art
On this episode of Art And..., join Mollie Wohlforth '19 as she sits down with Professor Desmond Fitz-Gibbon to discuss his course, Histories of Money, and the exhibition Money Matters: Meaning, Power, and Change in the History of Currency. Additionally, they discuss the universality of money in human history, the interconnection of image and the power of currency, and the genesis of the exhibition.
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Photojournalism, Images of War, and the Museum Space
In this episode of Art And..., Mollie Wohlforth '19 is joined in conversation by student guides Anya Nandkeolyar '19 and Joliet Morrill '21 about a photograph from Lynsey Addario's Women at War series, previously on view in the "Conflicts and Commemoration" section of Major Themes: Celebrating Ten Years of Teaching with Art. Their conversation considers the history of war photography, the ethics of photojournalism, and how the museum setting affects the way we view images of conflict.
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Social History and a Turkmen Wedding Camel Trapping
On this episode of Art And..., Mollie Wohlforth '19 discusses a Turkmen asmalyk (a camel trapping for a wedding) with UMass Professor of Art History Walter Denny and MHCAM Associate Curator of Education, Kendra Weisbin. Join them as they discuss what this carpet can tell us about Turkmen society, the lives of the women who made it, and its journey to MHCAM.
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The Sights and Sounds of Worship
In this episode of Art And..., Mollie Wohlforth '19 is joined in conversation by Assistant Professor of Music Adeline Mueller and Mackenzie Stratton '19 to discuss two 13th century Italian musical manuscript pages (“Iste Sanctus” and “Gaudeamus”). They consider how the music and the brilliant illumination together brought the experience of worship to life. Listen to the end to hear both pages performed in Mount Holyoke College's Abbey Chapel by members of the music department.
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Lorraine O'Grady and Black Female Joy in Art History
In this episode of Art And..., Mollie Wohlforth '19 is joined by Arts and Community Engagement Intern Relyn Myrthil '19 to discuss Dancer in Grass Skirt, a photograph from Lorraine O'Grady's Art Is series. Their conversation considers Lorraine O'Grady's experience of making this series and its illustration of black female joy within a fine arts context.
Scroll down to listen on Soundcloud, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts.
