After 35 years of collecting, the University Gallery will open its permanent collection to the public, by appointment.
The collection, which was started by professor emeritus Walter Kamys as a teaching collection for art students, has grown to over 2500 works on paper. It is the most expansive compilation of contemporary photographs, drawings, and prints to be housed in a Massachusetts public institution outside of Boston. By opening a collection study-storage room, we will renew our commitment to serve UMass students and faculty, the Five College community, and the public at large.
Loretta Yarlow, director of the University Gallery is pleased to have brought the collection to this stage of development.
“It took several years,” she said recently, “of organizing, cataloging, and digitizing the collection. We needed appropriate storage and viewing space to enable research and study of individual art works. Without the generous help of our donors, the project would not have been possible.” The UMass collection database (with digital images, provenance, artists’ bios, etc.) is linked to the Five College Museums/Historic Deerfield Collections Database.
As we move forward to this new level of public involvement, the University Gallery will increasingly engage students by teaching visual literacy and imparting tools they can use to not only look at, but really see and understand the artwork before them. This is a vital skill for students living in a media- saturated world, and it is our goal that all UMass students, by the time they graduate, will be able to skillfully navigate the visual, as well as the textual world.
We will arrange for requested artworks to be available at a particular time for a class of up to 10 students, or individual faculty or student visits. The collection study room will be open to the public by appointment. To view artworks online search here.
For more essential database tips, please see the in-depth manual created by our colleagues at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College.
Appointments
To make an appointment to see works in the collection, please complete the form below. Please direct any questions related to your request to : Justin Griswold
- Please give as much advance notice of your visit as possible—at least one business day, and preferably two weeks. This will provide sufficient time for the gallery’s staff to locate the artwork in storage and transport it to the study room, and to ensure that space will be available at the time requested for your visit.
- Your requested appointment is not considered valid until confirmed.
Your privacy is protected, the Fine Arts Center does not
sell or share this information.
Please fill in all the fields
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| First Name |
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| Last Name |
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| Date of Visit |
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Time
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PM Duration of visit
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Open by appointment Tuesdays through Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m, and from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. |
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Class
- if class please include course number and title
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| Estimated attendance (up to 10) |
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Accession Numbers (such as “UM1973.68”):
Accession numbers are listed near the bottom of each Object Record screen. Search the database here |
Guidelines
To help the University Gallery continue to make this opportunity possible while insuring the safety of our original artworks, we ask all visitors agree to the following guidelines:
- Please leave all bulky items (coats, jackets, bags, large notebooks) outside.
- Please use only pencils, paper, and battery operated laptops; no pens, please.
- Please do not eat or drink: no food, gum, cough drops, drinks, other other liquids, please.
- NEVER touch the works of art. (Museum staff is always available to move artworks for visitors, if necessary).
- Please do not point at the artworks with objects such as pencils.
- If you must sneeze or cough, please do so away from the works of art.
- Please leave cameras and mobile phones outside. Photography is not permitted in the Study Room.
By clicking Submit you are agreeing to these guidelines |
