Student Curated Exhibitions

Museum studies courses will explore theoretical issues critical to the rise and role of the museum and its relation to history and culture. The AHM program will also provide courses that help prepare students for internships and entry-level positions in museums, galleries, or other arts organizations.

Additionally, the program will also prepare students for continued academic work at the Masters and Ph.D. levels. Our partnership with the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, centrally located on campus, is an integral part of the museum studies component, providing opportunities for museum internships and exhibition-based courses.

The Art of Math: Tessellations

Local artist Kristin Brandt with the Puzzelation mural

MAT351 students painting templates of the tessellation pattern for the Puzzelation mural

Kristin Brandt, Dr. Joanne Basta, and students in Niagara University Course MAT351

Puzzelation Mural, created by Kristin Brandt and students in Dr. Basta's MAT351 Niagara U. course

The featured mural "Puzzellation" was created by Niagara University students in Dr. Joanne Basta's Mathematics 351 course along with local artist Kristin Brandt from Young Audiences WNY.

The design features a tessellation, an arrangement of shapes created through translations and fitted together in a repeated pattern without gaps or overlapping. The students' work exemplifies an area of study known as transformational geometry.

This mural celebrates the creativity inherent in mathematics and aims to broaden viewers' perspectives of what constitutes mathematics. Other student designed art works will be on display, as well as information about the artistic elements found in the mathematics

AHM357A: Exhibiting Cultures

Students in AHM357A learn how to conduct interviews with local traditional artists

Students learn about the chanter from Duncan Hollinger of the MacKenzie Highlanders' Pipes and Drums

Students experience every step of the exhibit process, from writing content to using power tools

Local ebru exhibition curated by students in Spring 2017's AHM357A: Exhibiting Cultures course

Opening reception of 2019's AHM357A exhibit with the Niagara Frontier Wood Carvers

AHM357A: Exhibiting Cultures is a hands on course taught by the Curator of Folk Arts at the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University.

Serving as an interdisciplinary introduction to museum exhibitions, this course examines the theoretical, ethical, and methodological issues underpinning the practice, especially those concerning the representation of people, their lives and creations.

Through hands-on coursework, students learn everything that goes into the development of a folk arts exhibition or program: from learning to conduct interviews, to using fieldwork to draft exhibit text, to framing artworks and installing exhibits.

The semester long course culminates in an original, class-generated and curated exhibition or program rooted in fieldwork conducted by the professor and students in the course.

HERStory of Art: Selections from the CAM Collection

Exhibit Installation of HERstory, curated by NU course AHM 252 - Introduction to Museum Studies.

HERstory of Art explored works by women artists in the museum collection.

AHM 252: Introduction to Museum Studies provides students with hands-on learning of museum curation.

Students in Fall 2019’s Introduction to Museum Studies class curated an exhibition titled HERstory of Art, organized in celebration of the upcoming 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment.

The works chosen represent a wide range of artistic styles and media by regional, national and international artists (including Linda Benglis, Mary Cassatt, Sonia Delaunay, Barbara Kruger, Marisol Escobar, Susan Rothenberg, and Cindy Sherman).

These selections complement additional works by women artists on view in several other galleries in the Castellani Art Museum, including Joan Mitchell, Grace Hartigan, Helen Frankenthaler, Alison Saar, and Niki de Saint Phalle, among others.