Where in the World Was MSAB over Jan Plan?

Every year Colby students from all majors and class years have the opportunity to focus their studies intensively on one subject for the month of January. This year, nearly every Museum Student Advisory Board (MSAB) member chose to focus his or her studies on life outside the Colby campus. Here’s a little bit of what MSAB members have to say about their experiences. . . .

Where were you during Jan Plan?

Clare Murray ’18: This January I traveled to fifteen museums in the Northeast to collect qualitative data for my senior honors thesis in Economics. Through informational interviews with museum educators and fund-raisers, I learned how museum staff perceive the impact of restricted giving on museum education programs.

Nora Hill ’18: I spent January in Belgrade, Serbia, volunteering at a refugee aid center and conducting research for my senior honors thesis in Global Studies. My research focuses on images and representation of migrants and borders.

Elizabeth (Lizzy) Holland ’20: I spent Jan Plan taking an Italian language and culture course in Genoa, Italy. As a History major and Italian Studies minor, the chance to study in Italy constituted the perfect opportunity for me to pursue both of my academic interests in an immersive setting. I was able to practice my Italian, eat amazing food, and visit Genoa’s amazing sites and nearby coastal cities nearly every day after class!

Nina Oleynik ’18: I spent January in Seattle, Washington, visiting my sister, who lives there! I spent time exploring and eating my way through the city.

Gillian Wei ’18: I spent my January visiting my boyfriend in Milan, Italy! While there, I spent a lot of time eating and sightseeing, and I went on a short weekend trip to Rome. I was also working on my Sociology honors thesis paper. I’m writing on analyzing the work of Manet and Degas through a sociological lens, focusing on issues of class.

Rachel Bird ’18: I spent January in Boston, doing an internship at Pucker Gallery. I worked as a gallery intern, where I had the opportunity to engage in a variety of gallery-related tasks and explore the local arts scene.

Gabriela Venditti ’19: This January I stayed on Colby’s campus and took a class called Exile and Belonging in Literature.

Katie Ryan ’18: I spent my January in Verona, Italy, taking an Italian literature course during the week and traveling around Italy on the weekends.

How did you engage with the arts over Jan Plan?

CM: Nearly every day of my Jan Plan included a museum visit. Through research and conversation, I became inspired by the determined work of museum educators to constantly evaluate and iterate programming to best serve community needs. As I subsequently participated in public programs and interacted with exhibitions, I gained an even deeper appreciation for the carefully curated museum experience.

NH: Because my research focuses on images and representation, I spent a great deal of time looking at photographs, drawings, and graffiti created by migrants and the activists who work with them. One of the most interesting interviews I conducted was with a curator from the Center for Cultural Decontamination, an independent arts center, who curated a fascinating online exhibition of photographs taken from migrants’ cell phones.

EH: Living in Italy for the month, I was constantly surrounded by gorgeous art and architecture. I was able to visit beautifully preserved palaces, piazzas, and museums in the heart of Genoa and take daily walks among the tiny, winding streets that make up Europe’s largest remaining historical center or centro storico.

NO: I spent a lot of time in vintage stores and paper shops—Seattle is filled with them. I also spent a day at the Frye Art Museum in First Hill. It is a small, privately owned museum that has a permanent collection of nineteenth-century European art as well as a few contemporary traveling exhibitions. The collection is arranged in salon style in a large, open room that was amazing to stroll around.

GW: While in Italy, I had the opportunity to visit the Vatican, which has one of the largest collections of classical and Neoclassical art in the world. It was amazing to see the sheer volume of art stored there. I also visited historical sites like the Colosseum and Palatine Hill. In Milan, I visited both the Duomo and the Prada Foundation, which had a really interesting conceptual art exhibition on display.

RB: Working in a fine arts gallery, I spent every day getting hands-on experience with arts sales and marketing. Pucker Gallery represents roughly fifty artists, approximately half of whom are 2-D artists and the other half work in 3-D (mainly ceramics). The gallery also has works in a huge range of media, including collage, textiles, wood carving, and mobiles, as well as more traditional painting, photography, and ceramics.

GV: In my Exile and Belonging in Literature class, we read a variety of books by authors such as Shakespeare, June Jordan, and Walt Whitman. We had the opportunity to do creative projects about the reading, such as constructing poems and fables.

KR: I visited a number of museums and churches during my time in Italy. I had the opportunity to travel to Florence and Rome and see much of the art that I’ve studied during my time at Colby. I even had the chance to climb up Brunelleschi’s Dome of the Florence Cathedral while I was there.

Did you have a favorite moment of your Jan Plan? What was it?

CM: The inspiration and admiration I felt after every conversation I had with a museum educator or fund-raiser was noteworthy. One of my most favorite moments was visiting the Drawing Center in Manhattan for the first time and speaking with fellow Colby alum Aimee Good ’87, the Director of Education and Community Programs, about her passion for opening up new means of social and cultural engagement.

NH: Meeting with other young researchers working on migration—graduate students from Serbia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and the United States—was exciting and affirming as I struggled through my first independent research experience. The supportive community of researchers and activists who welcomed me and helped me further my research was definitely the highlight of my time in Belgrade.

NO: I became obsessed with a chef and restaurateur named Renee Erickson, who owns a number of Seattle restaurants. I went to one of her restaurants called The Walrus and the Carpenter after visiting a different restaurant of hers over the summer. Each dish was so beautifully and artfully crafted that it was almost hard to eat. But each ingredient, including local oysters, was so fresh and delicious that I quickly got over it and dug in.

GW: Eating! I absolutely stuffed my face with pasta. I also loved strolling through the small alleyways of Rome and experiencing a different, more relaxed pace of life. It was really amazing to see how much history has been preserved in that city. Traveling with a local who is fluent in the language was also a huge plus!

RB: Towards the end of the month I had the opportunity to go to an artist talk with Ben Owen III, one of the gallery’s potters. I don’t have much of a ceramics background, so seeing pieces being made in person helped solidify a lot of the sculpture and ceramics theory I had been discussing all month.

GV: A favorite moment in my Jan Plan was exposing myself to reading a variety of books and having the ability to be creative with writing an original fable.

KR: I loved eating in Italy! The pasta and the pizza were amazing and totally surpassed my expectations. I also visited a little town near Lake Garda in Northern Italy called Sirmione. It was an absolutely beautiful vacation spot for locals and probably my favorite place I visited.

Is there a picture that best summarizes your Jan Plan?

CM: Here I am jumping for joy along Museum Mile in Manhattan after my first two weeks of museum meetings. Clearly, speaking with museum educators was beyond energizing for me.

NH: I crossed this street—one of the main thoroughfares in Belgrade’s Old City—right around sunset each evening as I walked back to my apartment after a busy day of interviews and volunteer work. Those walks were my time to unwind, process everything I had seen and heard during the day, so I could write up my field notes when I got home, and take in the beauty of the city.

EH: Here I am in the stunning city of Portofino, just a short train ride away from Genoa, along the coast of the Italian Riviera. The sunny afternoons and colorful houses were the perfect escape from a Maine winter!