In 2011, with generous support from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Ackland began a series of projects that engage graduate students at UNC-Chapel Hill in interpreting works of art in our collection.
In each of the project years, teams of three graduate students — one in Art History, one in Education, and one in Information and Library Science — work together. In keeping with the Kress Foundation’s priorities, the students focus on works of art selected from the Ackland’s collection of European art from Classical antiquity through the mid-nineteenth century. Their task is to identify what makes the objects important and interesting and to communicate those ideas to intelligent, non-specialist audiences.
Visit Artistic Networks: Artists, Printers, and Authors in the Sixteenth Century for an example of the project.