Inside the Art History Building

With its array of flexible museum and exhibition spaces, its classrooms, and its technology-rich auditorium, this new building will transform the experience of art at Kenyon.

It will be a place of boundless possibilities, from exhibitions and lectures to readings and collaborative projects. The building will enrich classes and seminars in art history and allow students to analyze artworks up close, to interact with visiting artists and scholars, curate exhibitions, and to explore collections on loan from museums.

This is a building truly conceived in the spirit of the liberal arts. Here, the study and enjoyment of art will be enhanced by—and, in turn, will illuminate—insights from diverse fields, from culture writ large. The museum and the art history building will support a varied art history curriculum as well as the curricula of such departments as anthropology, classics, and history. According to Professor of Art History Melissa Dabakis, many departments will be able to develop museum studies and practicum courses to introduce students to current scholarship in the field and the professional aspects of museum work.

The new building will enable the College to forge partnerships with leading museums to share exhibitions and collections. Students will be able to undertake a much wider range of internships, research projects, and curatorial experiences. The fledgling curriculum in museum studies will expand. Indeed, the building will give Kenyon the potential to improve its own collection of artwork. It will be a resource for the entire campus as well as the surrounding community.

It is an investment in vision, in imagination, in breadth and depth. In possibility.