Throughout the ‘23/’24 academic year, Champlain College Art Gallery supported 10 Exhibits, with a total of 4,788 total visitors. We created partnerships and collaborations with three co-curators and provided two professional collaboration opportunities with artists, students and faculty. Two exhibits promoted campus-wide participation. We hosted a solo show for faculty, 3 senior capstone exhibitions, 1 pilot program, 6 artist talks and collaborated with the ODI offices on pop up exhibits in the Stairnook Gallery and along various well traveled hallways in CCM.
In July 2024, Gallery Director, Wylie Garcia and Professor Dr. Jonathan Banfill, co-presented at the annual Association of Academic Museum and Galleries Conference. Their presentation, Urban and Flux: Two Exhibitions as Catalysts for Interdisciplinary Belonging and Community Engagement was attended by 65 participants.
If I were to tell the story of the Champlain College Art Gallery this year, it is one where community, belonging, collaboration, and accessibility are at the center of the gallery’s mission. Taking a note from our Champlain College playbook: we created an upside down curation where visitors are encouraged to interact with the exhibits in a variety of hands-on ways. From playing original video game consoles, to participating in art historically themed happenings, to sitting in a data visualization nest of plastics, to quietly immersing oneself in a student and local artist collaborative installation of sound and light, to the various interactive capstone projects- Champlain College Art Gallery brings students and faculty and community members together. We say Yes! to engaging exhibition proposals that not only support our curriculum but also challenge our students to think outside of the traditional white walls of a gallery.
As Curator and Gallery Director, I consider the 23/24 academic exhibition year a great success. Special thanks and shout out to my staff, as well as the faculty, and students I have the pleasure to collaborate with every day.
Wylie Garcia