Experiential learning is about moving beyond the screen, textbook or classroom. Students in Dr. Sherry Farrell-Racette’s fall 2022 Art History course did just that as they ventured into the depths of Dr. John Archer Library Archives. That first trip into the Archives was just the beginning of a fascinating period of hands-on learning that culminated in the launch of the Meet Mary Filer Exhibition in December at the Archer Library’s Archway Exhibition Space.
In the summer of 2022, Farrell-Racette had been engaging with staff at the Archer Library and Archives in an effort to incorporate experiential or hands-on learning into the fall 2022 course. The Mary Filer collection was a perfect focal point for Farrell-Racette’s Visual Culture of Women course and a semester-long assignment where students would “learn by doing” came into being.
In 2020, David Lemon and his wife Sylvia L’Ecuyer – friends of the late Canadian artist Mary Filer and her family – donated to the Library and Archives, their collection of more than 4,500 items of Filer’s pieces which highlight more than five decades of her artistic style.
“The opportunity to acquire a collection like Mary Filer’s expands the ability of Archives to engage students in primary source research and experiential learning,” said Crista Bradley, University Records and Information Management Archivist. “The Filer collection, along with the others in our care, provide a body of work that students in many disciplines can use to develop critical analysis, as well as communication and curatorial skills.”
The students were tasked with picking three items from the collection to physically study and research. Each student would then write an extended label on the one piece they chose for reproduction and display in the Exhibition, as well as within their online companion project. Members of the curatorial team were tasked with preparing labels to correspond with the reproductions (produced by the Archer Library and Printing Services) and designing the layout in the gallery.
“For those [students] in the class because they’re interested in becoming an artist or an art historian, or a curator – I wanted them to be able to go out into the world and be ready to take an entry level job and feel good about being adequately prepared. And for students who took the course as an elective, it’s about giving insight into the process of curation and getting a chance to brush up on their writing, research, and planning skills.”
- Sherry Farrell-Racette, Associate Professor in the University’s Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance.
“That was one of the best experiences, getting to see the actual works in person because that’s so rare when you’re studying art history, to have the actual piece in front of you. I can put on my CV that I have hands-on experience interacting with art work in an archival setting and have experience putting together an exhibition – it was just a great learning experience.”
- Sage Wosminity, fourth-year Visual Arts student.