“From a curatorial perspective, this project could not have been more ideal for our students,” says professor Stokes-Rees. “To be presented the opportunity to explore largely untouched primary source collections, University Archives, and then choose objects, interview some key figures in the Club’s history and develop and write the story of SU Rowing – it’s a curator’s dream.”
The ensuing collaboration involved multiple courses taught in the Spring 2018 semester in the museum studies program. Stokes-Rees utilized the opportunity to engage her Historic Curatorship students with more than a century of artifacts and archival collections, making selections from materials both at the Ten Eyck Boathouse as well as at University Archives in order to tell the story of rowing at the University. Saluti seized the opportunity to use the project as a non-traditional exhibition design assignment for his Museum Graphics class, which created 3D digital models and graphic layouts for the proposed installation.
“The space at the SU Boathouse presented multiple design challenges,” explains Saluti, “but the students, working closely with their colleagues in [Stokes-Rees’] curatorship class, proposed what would become a very engaging and dynamic installation, one that we hope will educate and inspire future athletes and visitors alike.”
“It was an absolute honor to collaborate with the museum studies program on this project,” says Reischman. “The students were very passionate, professional and thorough as they worked through the research and design phases. We were amazed at their efforts to capture the spirit of our program and the depths to which they dug, including in our boathouse attic, to find the right materials.
“Our alumni and student-athletes were blown away by the finished exhibit—it adds a unique feature and ‘wow factor’ to our boathouse.”