Teagle Conference - Tang Teaching Museum

About the Conference

On Friday, June 21 and Saturday, June 22 we held a conference on exhibition-based pedagogy—sponsored by The Teagle Foundation—as the culmination of a three-year collaboration by faculty members and museum staff at Colgate University, Hamilton College, Skidmore College, and the University at Albany, State University of New York. Open to the public, it featured various opportunities to discuss the educational potential of museum objects for teaching and learning in all disciplines, and explored the vital role of museums at both liberal arts colleges and research universities.

Susan Cahan, Angel Abreu, and Rick Savinon laughing and in conversation before their panel

Keynote discussion with Susan E. Cahan, Angel Abreu, and Rick Savinon, Teaching & Learning with Museum Exhibitions—Innovations across the Disciplines, Tang Teaching Museum, June 22, 2019, photo by Dan Lubbers

a moderator and the four museum directors sit on the stage during their panel

Teaching & Learning with Museum Exhibitions—Innovations across the Disciplines, Tang Teaching Museum, June 22, 2019, photo by Dan Lubbers

multiple people look at art objects on a table in the print study room

Teaching & Learning with Museum Exhibitions—Innovations across the Disciplines, Tang Teaching Museum, June 22, 2019, photo by Dan Lubbers

five grant collaborators doing a panel discussion

Teaching & Learning with Museum Exhibitions—Innovations across the Disciplines, Tang Teaching Museum, June 22, 2019, photo by Dan Lubbers

people sitting around a table for a roundtable discussion

Teaching & Learning with Museum Exhibitions—Innovations across the Disciplines, Tang Teaching Museum, June 22, 2019, photo by Dan Lubbers

Friday, June 21

3:00–4:30pm Opening Showcase and Reception
Multiple spaces at the Tang Teaching Museum will feature examples of exhibition-based teaching and learning across the disciplines; refreshments available

4:45–6:30pm Panel: Reflections on the Teagle Project
An overview of the achievements and challenges that have shaped the inter-institutional collaboration, followed by discussion with audience. Moderated by Mimi Hellman, Art History & Teagle Project Director, Skidmore College. Panelists include:

Katherine Alcauskas, Collections Curator and Exhibitions Manager, The Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College

Daniel Goodwin, Associate Professor of Photography, University at Albany

Elizabeth Marlowe, Associate Professor of Art and Art History, Colgate University

Rachel Seligman, Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs and Malloy Curator, Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College

7:30pm Dinner Downtown
An invitation to foster dialogue across institutions, disciplines, and roles. Participants will be assigned to reserved tables at various restaurants in downtown Saratoga Springs, each with project leaders to facilitate conversation. Participants pay their own way

Saturday, June 22

8:00am Continental Breakfast in the Tang Museum atrium (complimentary)

9:00–10:15am Roundtables: Promising Practices in Exhibition-Based Teaching & Learning
Concurrent discussions of different topics, moderated by project participants. The topics include:

Writing in the Museum

Exhibition interventions (projects that alter or are presented in the exhibition)

Curating for interdisciplinary teaching & learning

STEM in the museum

Exhibiting & teaching challenging material

10:30am–12:00pm Object Lessons
Eight short presentations on the goals, methods and outcomes of specific exhibition-based assignments, moderated by Elizabeth Marlowe, Colgate University

12:15–1:15pm Lunch (complimentary)

1:30–3:00pm Keynote Discussion
The keynote speakers are Angel Abreu and Rick Savinon, who were both part of Tim Rollins and K.O.S. and are part of the group continuing Rollins’s legacy as Studio K.O.S., in conversation with Susan E. Cahan, the Dean of the Tyler School of Art

3:00–3:30pm Coffee break

3:30–5:00pm Panel: Exhibitions as Multidisciplinary Learning Spaces
Museum directors from the four partner schools discuss the vital role that campus museums can play in supporting educational goals across the disciplines. Moderated by Tom Shapiro, Founder of Cultural Strategy Partners, the panel includes:

Tracy L. Adler, Johnson-Pote Director, Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College

Ian Berry, Dayton Director, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Skidmore College

Anja Chávez, Director of University Museums, Longyear Museum of Anthropology/Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University

Corinna Ripps Schaming, Interim Director/Curator, University Art Museum, University at Albany, State University of New York

5:00–6:30pm Closing reception

About the Teagle Collaborative Project

Beginning in fall 2016, the Teagle Collaborative Project, “Teaching and Learning with Museum Exhibitions”, supported by a grant from The Teagle Foundation, has allowed faculty members and museum staff at Colgate University, Hamilton College, Skidmore College, and the University at Albany to collaborate in developing, documenting, and assessing innovative approaches to museum-based teaching and learning. Faculty in more than one hundred courses across almost thirty departments have taught with numerous exhibitions at their campus museums. Many of the curricular innovations were based on This Place, an exhibition of photographs by artists working in Israel and the West Bank that was shared among the four museums in Spring 2018.

The wide range of disciplines represented in this project includes mathematics, environmental studies, gender studies, political science, history, anthropology, religious studies, languages and literatures, theater, dance, and studio art, among others.

Conference: Teaching & Learning with Museum Exhibitions—Innovations across the Disciplines

Friday, June 21

Saturday, June 22