2007-8 Hood interns, left to right: Craig Lee, Mellon Special Project Intern;
Virginia Deaton, Curatorial, The Homma Family Intern; Ben O’Donnell, Curatorial
and Coin, Class of 1954 Intern; Melissa Fan, Interpretation and Programming,
Levinson Student Intern; Marissa Slany, Interpretation and Programming, The
Kathryn and Caroline Conroy Intern.
Now in its seventh year, A Space for Dialogue: Fresh Perspectives on the Permanent Collection from Dartmouth’s Students affords Hood Museum interns the opportunity to curate a small exhibition centered on a theme with objects from the permanent collection. Working closely with museum staff, interns determine a focus, select artwork, write objects labels and a brochure, consider design elements, and deliver a public gallery talk. For the first Space for Dialogue installation of this academic year, Ben O’Donnell '08, the Class of 1954 Intern, curated The Art of Drinking: Four Thousand Years of Celebration and Condemnation of Alcohol Use in the Western World, presenting his gallery talk on January 16, 2008. The exhibition's overview of changing attitudes toward alcohol consumption over the course of Western history included varied objects from the Hood's collection, ranging from a c. 2250 BCE Egyptian beer jar to eighteenth-century engravings by William Hogarth to photographs of the New York City club scene in 1978 and 1990. The next Space for Dialogue exhibition, installed in mid-February, examines reconstruction-period art in the South. In "Bringing the Thing Home": The Aftermath of the War Between the States in Consumer-Driven Art, Virginia Deaton '09, the Homma Family Intern, incorporated wood engravings by Winslow Homer, woodcuts by Thomas Nast, and sculpture by John Rogers, among other objects.
A Space for Dialogue, founded with support from the Class of 1948, is made possible with generous endowments from the Class of 1967 and the Bonnie and Richard Reiss Jr. '66 Education Access Fund.
