Museum Object Students Developing Exhibition with WWII Institute

This fall, Art History undergraduates in the Museum Object class under the direction of PhD student Ali Reilly are developing the exhibition This Is How It Happened: An Officer’s Perspective on the Okinawa Occupation, to open on November 18 in the WJB Gallery. Curated from and with the help of the FSU Institute on World War II and the Human Experience collection, the exhibition will follow one Naval Officer’s perspective on the end of World War II and the Occupation of Okinawa using photographs that he took during the war. The exhibition will be open to the public weekdays through December 4 (specific hours will be posted here and in the Gallery).

Dr. Kurt Piehler, Director of the Institute of World War II and the Human Experience, will be at the opening to answer questions about the Institute and the exhibition materials. The opening will be held on Wednesday, November 18 at 6 pm.  The WJB Gallery is located on the main floor atrium of the William Johnston Building, which faces Landis Green at 143 Honors Way.

Student-curated exhibitions are an increasingly important and lively component of the Museum & Cultural Heritage Studies program. Thanks to the availability of the exquisite WJB Gallery, helpful collaborations with faculty and staff, and the generous cooperation of university and local collections, students are able to mount a new exhibition every semester. From curating to promotion to exhibition design, the entire production is a hands-on learning experience for our students. The Spring 2015 class under the direction of PhD student Amy Bowman curated the Photobook exhibition Bound by Community, using materials generously shared by FSU’s Strozier Library Special Collections and the Museum of Fine Arts.

This semester, the class added a fundraising component to the process, allowing students to learn the fundamentals of development while also supporting their ambitious plans for the exhibition. The project was hosted by SparkFSU, a university fundraising platform that allows students to initiate and design innovative and entrepreneurial projects with financial support garnered from alumni and friends.  Many thanks to all who contributed to this very successful campaign.