The Allen Memorial Art Museum

Profile

As we welcome students and faculty back for the 2010-11 academic year, museum offices are still located on the third floor of the Oberlin Inn while the renovation is underway. Nevertheless, we continue to enrich the College and Conservatory curriculum with a wide variety of programs. A new museum class, "Photography and Politics," will add a much sought after photography course to the curriculum. Our Academic Programs Office has also worked with faculty to offer "Contraband Canvases," a mini-course that explores the genesis of the Nukus Museum in Uzbekistan and includes a public screening of the powerful 2010 documentary Desert of Forbidden Art and an opportunity to meet the film's directors.

The AMAM's loan exhibition, Side by Side: Oberlin's Masterworks at the Met, closed in New York on August 29. It will be on view at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. through January 16, 2011. We extend our sincere thanks to Phillips Director Dorothy Kosinski, Chief Curator Eliza Rathbone, and Assistant Curator Renée Maurer-and many other generous colleagues at the Phillips-who have worked with us to bring these extraordinary works of art to Washington.

The summer also gave us the opportunity to work on several important projects in preparation for the museum's reopening in late spring 2011. We completed writing the first general handbook to the AMAM collection, to be published by Marquand Editions in April 2011. One hundred and seventy-five of the museum's most important works will be featured with spectacular new photographs by Dirk Bakker. To provide a road map for the years leading up to 2017, when we will celebrate the AMAM's centennial, we began developing the museum's second long-range plan. Under the guidance of Katie Solender (OC '77), AMAM staff met with groups both on campus and within the community to discuss values and priorities for a new strategic plan.
Our biggest current project, of course, is the renovation of the museum's facilities to ensure that we take care of our historic building and improve the way we care for and provide access to our art collections. Work continues apace as new mechanical systems are installed and new art storage spaces are completed. Visit our museum blog for continuing reports on the progress of the renovation and our many programs and educational activities. As always, we appreciate your support of the Allen.

Dr. Stephanie Wiles, John G. W. Cowles Director, Allen Memorial Art Museum