Course Spotlight: Curatorial Studies Exhibition Practice

Course Description

This course will engage students in all aspects of the preparation of an exhibition for the Chazen Museum of Art or other exhibition spaces on campus. Students will help conceptualize the exhibition and its layout, research and interpret individual objects, prepare wall texts for the display and other materials published in print or online in conjunction with the exhibition.

Enrollment Details

Art History 506: Curatorial Studies Exhibition Practice
3 credits
Monday 4:30-6:30PM
Fall 2017

Photo by Henry Drewal.

About the Instructor

Born and raised in Brooklyn and Hempstead, NY, Henry John Drewal received his BA from Hamilton College majoring in French and minoring in Fine Arts. After graduation he joined the Peace Corps, taught French and English, and organized arts camps in Nigeria. During his two years in Nigeria he apprenticed himself to a Yoruba sculptor – a transformative experience that led him to interdisciplinary studies at Columbia University in African art history and culture, receiving two Masters’ degrees and a PhD in 1973.

Since 1991 he has been the Evjue-Bascom Professor of Art History and Afro-American Studies at UW-Madison. He has published several books, edited volumes, exhibition catalogues, and many articles on African and African Diaspora arts. As Adjunct Curator of African Art at the Chazen Museum of Art of UW-Madison, he curated the permanent African art gallery there, and most recently – Double Fortune, Double Trouble: Art for Twins among the Yoruba at the Fowler Museum-UCLA. He has also produced a number of films documenting African and African Diaspora arts, and lectured widely on these topics (see his website).