Before taking a collections management course at Syracuse University, Anthony White had never handled photography that had been taken during the 20th century. Now, as a graduate student in SU’s museum studies program, White is one of the few students who’s participating in a class project that will showcase more than 100 photographs from that era. 

An anonymous donor gave more than 180 photographs to SUArt Galleries in December. This semester, SU graduate students are working to produce an exhibit at the Louise and Bernard Palitz Gallery at SU’s Lubin House in New York City next fall, said Associate Director of SUArt Galleries Emily Dittman.  

Throughout the semester, students will act as the gallery’s registrar, said Dittman, who teaches the graduate collections management course. The students will be responsible for documenting and analyzing the gallery’s online catalog.  

“It really brings our photography collection up a couple of notches and what we can provide for the students and staff for research,” Dittman said.  

She added that the collection brings new artists to the gallery, like Ansel Adams, best-known for his landscape photos of the American West. The donation also adds to artists’ collections already in the registrar, like Berenice Abbott, known for her urban depiction of New York City during the Great Depression.   

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The yet-to-be-named exhibit will be curated by graduate student Natalie McGrath. McGrath is  also the assistant director of Point of Contact Gallery in downtown Syracuse and curated Point of Contact’s “Sueños” exhibit last fall, which featured a variety of multimedia art pieces. 

McGrath said that, while she has been working on the project for only two weeks, the experience has been different from other exhibits she has worked on. For this exhibit, she’s responsible for handling the photographs, which she said allows her to be more technical in her writing and research.  

Her work curating various exhibits, she said, has made her feel more confident about her abilities since coming to Syracuse.

“I came into grad school wanting to be a curator but not really knowing what that would look like,” McGrath said. “And now as I’m exiting, I’m really glad I know what that means as I enter the job market.” 

McGrath will analyze the 180 works and choose between 25 to 30 pieces to be featured in the show, Dittman said. While McGrath is the only student curator for the project, the work done in the collections management course is instrumental for the exhibit.  

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Kathryn Hill, a graduate student in the class, helps conduct condition reports for the photos. For Hill and her classmates, responsibilities extend beyond earning a passing grade.  

Hill said the work she’s doing — checking and marking any imperfections on the photographs — will help future researchers studying the work when they may have to check on its condition. She added that measuring the size of mold spots or analyzing the texture of the work helps keep an accurate timeline on how the artwork may be adapting to new locations. 

“We don’t just learn theory — we learn and apply the best practices so we’re able to step away and have experience in the field we want to,” she said. “It’s not just, ‘Oh, I’ve written a paper on it,’ it’s ‘No, I’ve actually accessed them.’”  

The work Hill has done so far, such as recording the art pieces, has already given her an edge in a competitive job market, she said. 

While the class has also been useful in gaining more industry-level experience, both Hill and White agreed it’s the collaboration and trust established with the gallery and one another that has made the experience memorable.   

“It’s community, but it’s way beyond that,” Hill said. “All the professors establish really close relationships with each of the students.” 

Published on February 24, 2019 at 10:02 pm

Contact Diana: dianar@dailyorange.com