Student-curated Exhibition
The de Saisset Museum's permanent collection offers a rich selection of objects for research and exhibition. In 2015 Assistant Professor Karen Fraser worked with her Japanese print class to research works from the museum's collection and develop an exhibition and catalogue. Ukiyo-e: Woodblock Prints from Japan, which included twenty-five works from the collection, was shown on the second floor of the University Library from June 8 - August 21, 2015.
Musical Responses
In 2013, twelve students in Alex Christie's MUSC 119: Music, Technology, and Society class composed original works in response to the pieces on view in Clay in the Bay. Their sonic responses were presented as part of a special reception and were also made available to visitors as free downloads.
What's Your Story?
In 2010, Communication Department professor Jonathan Fung developed a project called What's Your Story? He asked students enrolled in his visual communications courses to create self-portraits using five visual images and sound. They were encouraged to use association and metaphor rather than literal representation. Upon completion of these video projects, works were selected to be included in What Makes a Picture a Portrait?
Student-authored Didactics and Audio Tour
In 2008, the de Saisset Museum presented Eye on the Sixties: Vision, Body, and Soul, an exhibition drawn from the collection of Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson. The exhibition celebrated the artistic legacy of the 1960s in all of its dynamic diversity and looked beyond 1960s Pop to include neglected movements of the period such as post-painterly abstraction, Op Art, and new approaches to figuration.
Santa Clara University students who were enrolled in the art history course Exhibiting the 1960s played an important role in this exhibition. Under the guidance of Andrea Pappas, SCU professor and exhibition curator, and former de Saisset Assistant Director Karen Kienzle, students contributed their own writing to labels in the galleries and bios for the artists. They also helped organize Guide-by-Cell content and lesson plans for the museum's student Explore with Me Docents.