2019 Summer Intern Maija Brennan and I were pleased to accept an invitation by University of Tennessee Knoxville’s Dr. Mary Campbell to visit her art history class in Paris. Maija is completing work on her internship project – a digital exhibition of portraiture by Knoxville native Beauford Delaney – and Dr. Campbell requested that Maija share what she could about the project.
Dr. Campbell has agree to write a critique of the exhibition that will be posted on the Web page where the exhibition will be hosted.
We met in the Salle Marianne at Accent, an international consortium for academic programs abroad, in the 12th arrondissement. Introductions were made and Dr. Campbell gave a brief overview of Delaney’s life. Then Maija began an extensive preview of her project.
Maija explained why she elected to focus on Beauford’s portraiture for this project and responded to Dr. Campbell’s questions about where she performed her research and how she selected the digital platform on which to mount the exhibition. She then proceeded to present each element of the show in detail, from the panel texts to the individual portraits she selected.
The session ended with Q&A. Maija responded to questions from Dr. Campbell and the audience about her experiences and aspirations as an art history major with a concentration in museum studies. I asked the students why they believe women far outnumber men in study abroad programs, how much art produced by women they had experienced in Paris, and how many of them wanted to pursue some form of art as a career. All combined for lively and thought-provoking conversation.
Come back on August 6, when the results of Maija’s research will be presented in their entirety on this Web site!
