Teaching from the Collection

Wesleyan courses in a wide range of disciplines use the DAC Collection for class viewings and research assignments.

The collection is used especially heavily for classes on printmaking, the history of prints and history of photography, and museum studies. Temporary study exhibitions are frequently installed for many courses.

Some aspects of teaching and learning from objects at the DAC involve extensive student work with the collection.

This behind-the-scenes exploration of the museum's holdings can be guided by class assignments or can take place in connection with individual research projects developed by undergraduates and their faculty mentors.

Rich possibilities for discovery arise when Wesleyan students explore the museum collection by working directly with original objects.

The original object held in the hand becomes a vital force extending back to the maker. Students learn to ask questions of the objects they hold. Was the print before one intended to disseminate another person's ideas? To spur a critical view of society? To explore a painter's own ideas in a new printmaking medium?

Education has been the central mission of the Davison Art Center since it was founded half a century ago, and the DAC continues to serve teaching and learning in new ways. Another education page has photographs of classes from the museum's early years. The DAC Digital Imaging Initiative now produces images for online viewing by students in Wesleyan courses, often in conjunction with class visits to the DAC for first-hand encounters with original objects in the collection.