Faculty Resources
Integrate Your Class with the CAM
The CAM offers thought-provoking collaborations with the Niagara University Faculty that tie our collection to the themes of your class. We work with NU faculty to integrate art that challenges students’ critical thinking, context, and perspectives with either a tour or a customized class experience. Inquiries and group tours offered by the CAM must be requested two weeks before your anticipated visit and three weeks if requesting a custom tour. For tour customizations outside the CAM’S regular tours, please make your request known and we will try to accommodate a tour experience for your group. Our full collection is accessible online to customize your class experience.
Book an NU Tour or Program
Curator Tours
Faculty, staff, and students are invited to join a short guided exploration of an exhibition with a CAM curator to gain deeper insights about the artworks and their context while enjoying the beautiful, calming gallery atmosphere. Please contact us for a tour!
Faculty Connections
I feel very fortunate to have such a remarkable resource on this campus. The Castellani Art Museum staff work closely with faculty and students to provide intuitive and structured learning in all academic fields. For example, my students in a 1920s U.S. history course learned about post-World War I trauma and emerging trends in psychology by viewing and discussing art pieces by the Surrealists and Dada Group.
The wonderful staff and artwork of the Castellani Art Museum enrich my classes. I teach American Literature, and the Castellani has worked with me to identify artwork from the collection that opens new perspectives on the literature I teach. When my students read Emily Dickinson’s poem “A Spider sewed at Night,” they view a sculpture by contemporary artist Lesley Dill entitled A Spider Sewed at Night and reflect on Dill’s response to Dickinson’s poetry. When my students read Edgar Allan Poe’s stories, they view a landscape by Albert Pinkham Ryder, dubbed by one of his contemporaries as “the Poe of the brush,” and reflect on what qualities make American Gothic gothic in any medium. A trip to the Castellani challenges students to think about literature and the visual arts in new and exciting ways.
In almost every class I teach, the museum plays a role. This museum is at the heart of teaching humanities ... I can't imagine the university without it.
As a Curator, teaching in the Art History with Museum Studies program enables my students to learn, hands-on, every little thing that goes into the production of a folk arts exhibit: from conducting field research to developing content and installing the exhibit.